A few days ago, after careful research, archaeologists from the Anhui Chaohu City Cultural Relics Management Institute officially disclosed that the folk legend about the origin of Chaohu, that is, "falling into Chaozhou" is very likely to be true.
According to reports, there have been divergent opinions on the formation of Chaohu Lake, and there are mainly three types: one is spread among the people and recorded in history books - the legend of "falling into Chaozhou", which believes that the waters of Chaohu Lake are in It was a city in ancient times and later sank to the bottom of the lake. The other is the view of geologists, which believes that Chaohu Lake was formed by the subsidence of land during the crustal movement. It is a subsidence lake. It was before the Qin and Han Dynasties and has nothing to do with folklore. There is also a view held by historians. They have repeatedly argued over the historical data, found some loopholes, and concluded that the legends about "Chaozhou" recorded in the history books are just myths and not based on facts. .
At the end of 2001, after the media reported the news that "the kiln site of the Sui Dynasty was discovered in Chaohu City", some people provided clues that when the water level dropped on the north bank of Chaohu Lake in winter, a large number of pottery fragments were exposed on the riverbed. Related to the kiln site. Archaeologists rushed to the site not far from the city and found that pottery shards were scattered everywhere on the river bed about 200 to 300 meters above the water under the slope protection along Lakeside Avenue. The distribution range of the pottery shards extended into the lake. It is 4 or 5 kilometers away, and there is a thick layer where there are many pottery fragments. These pottery are mainly muddy gray pottery and sandy gray pottery, as well as muddy red pottery, brown pottery, sandy black pottery and some hard pottery with slightly higher firing temperatures. The utensils are mainly ring-foot vessels, which are generally relatively large, with large rims and bases. The varieties include urns, basins, cylinders, jars, altars, cauldrons and other daily necessities. A small number of pottery has prints on it, mainly including checkered patterns, mat patterns, Hong patterns, rope patterns and carved water ripples. Some muddy gray pottery is relatively fine, with a very thin carcass and plastic coating on the surface. Local fishermen can also tell the location of the four gates of this city. In a normal year, you can see more than a dozen wells on the river bed in winter, and you can see a tree next to one of the wells. The roots of ancient trees cannot come here. Many people have found bronzes, ancient coins, seals and complete pottery here. At the villagers' homes, the archaeologists also saw complete pottery cauldrons and pots that they picked up on the river beach. After months of painstaking research, the archaeologists confirmed that these items were products from the heyday of pottery production and use. They basically concluded that this was a Qin and Han Dynasty city ruins that sank to the bottom of the lake, and naturally compared it with "Slumped Chaozhou". historical legends.
Archaeologists from the Chaohu City Cultural Relics Management Office said that although there are many historical records recording the formation of Chaohu Lake in the Qin and Han Dynasties, these records are only fragmentary. Juchao Kingdom was an important country during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. When exploring this ancient country, there are always some mysteries that are difficult to solve, and these mysteries seem to be related to its mysterious disappearance. First of all its geographical location is very imprecise. Some people say it is in Chaohu, others say it is in Tongcheng, and still others say it is in Shouxian County. There is no conclusive evidence to explain its exact location. Secondly, before the Han Dynasty, the vassal states of "Chaobo", "Nanchao" and "Juchao" were mentioned in many historical books. However, after the Han Dynasty, there were no records of people and events related to the city of "Chao". Rarely, this phenomenon indicates that its social status has greatly declined or disappeared. Judging from the archaeological excavation results in Chao City in recent years, it can also be clearly felt that the development of civilization in this area has been interrupted. The unearthed cultural relics before the Han Dynasty reflect that this was a politically powerful and economically prosperous region. For example, many very precious cultural relics have been unearthed from the Warring States Royal Tombs at Beishantou. The Han Dynasty Lu Ke Tomb at Fangwanggang was nominated for the top ten archaeological discoveries in the country. Whether in terms of specifications or scale, there are only a handful of tombs of the same era that have been unearthed nationwide. However, after the Han Dynasty, no continuity of this social development can be seen. Few high-level tombs and sites have been discovered.
The exploration of the formation of Chao Lake and the Chao Kingdom has always been within the scope of history based on ancient historical materials. This chance allowed modern archeology to get involved. The discovery of this ancient site at the bottom of the lake confirms the possibility of the story of "Slumped Chaozhou" recorded in historical materials from an archaeological perspective. A large number of pottery fragments and relics of ancient people's lives tell us that there is an extraordinary history under the vast 800-mile lake. Of course, whether this site is the historical Juchao Kingdom, whether there are other sites in the lake, whether it was submerged due to rising water levels, or whether it collapsed due to ground subsidence, we can only wait for comprehensive and systematic scientific archaeological excavations. We won’t know until later.