The palace sprawls over 9,000 square meters (about 100,000 square feet), or nearly twice the floor space of the modern-day White House.Archaeologists have been excavating the palace, learning how it was designed and decorated.
Made of fine, red, baked clay the dragon heads would have been attached to the ends of beams and used asdecoration. They “are lifelike and dynamic” and “have yellow, blue, white and black coloring” glazed on them, researchers wrote in a report published recently in the journal Chinese Cultural Relics.
The construction of Xanadu, known in China as Shangdu, started in 1256 at a time when the Mongol Empire, led by Möngke Khan (grandson of Genghis Khan), was in the process of taking over China. After Möngke Khan’s death in 1259, his successor, Kublai Khan (also a grandson of Genghis), finished the conquest of China.Kublai had helped design Xanadu and when he became ruler he used the city as China’s capital during the summer months.
“The site is composed of a palatial district, an imperial city and an outer city, containing remains of three layers of city walls, and occupies an area of 484,000 square meters [about 120 acres],” the archaeologists wrote in their report.
While Xanadu was occupied only briefly, being destroyed in 1368, it became a place of legend, its name romanticized in popular culture as awondrous exotic place where one of the most powerful rulers in the world held court. The discovery of the dragon heads, and other remains from Xanadu, paints a picture of what the site looked like.
While the dragon heads are some of the most eye-catching finds at the palace, archaeologists also discovered a type of ramp called “mandao,” meaning “path for the horses” inChinesewhich allowed horses and vehicles access to the palace.
These ramps “would have been strongly connected to the pastoral way of life of the Mongols,” the archaeologists wrote.
The ramps were important because horses and pastoral animals were an essential part of Mongolian life. Recent research suggeststhat an unusually wet climate in Mongolia helped these animals flourish in Genghis Khan’s time, helping him and his successors conquer a vast amount of territory.
Archaeologists also found artifacts showing more of the rich colors that would have been seen by those who set foot in Xanadu at the time. These artifacts include the remains of aclayfish head whose body “is glazed yellow and green” with “bright and lifelike” scales, the archaeologists wrote.
Read more at Discovery News
No comments:
Post a Comment