北园Beiyuan

为配合古城区基本建设，2023年秋冬遗址所在地块开展前置考古调查勘探发现文化遗存。经国家文物局批准，2024年4月起，苏州市考古研究所对遗址开展发掘，取得丰富考古成果。发掘表明，北园遗址是苏州古城区一处自商周延续至明清时期的重要遗址，共计清理灰坑、灰沟、水井、柱洞、墓葬等遗迹1500余处，其中水井450余口，出土陶、瓷、铜、玉、石、漆木、骨角、建筑构件等各类器物2000余件（组），大部分遗迹、遗物属东周秦汉时期。东周时期器物群包含黑皮（衣）泥质陶器、夹砂陶器、印纹硬陶器、原始瓷器、青铜器、石器、木器、建筑构件等。泥质陶器包括各式罐、折腹盆、浅腹盘、三足鉴、矮裆鬲、高柄豆、贯耳壶等，器表附着磨光黑皮，简洁光亮，局部饰以弦纹、戳印纹、篦点纹、篦划纹；其中，汲水罐类有敛口、直口、侈口、敞口之分，肩部常附各式双耳，平底下多附三乳钉状足；另有一类形体较大的罐、瓮、盆类泥质陶器，器表黑衣易脱落，流行拍印纹、附加堆纹、弦纹等。夹砂陶器较少，有釜、鼎、鬲，多残碎。原始瓷器有碗、钵、盘、罐等，碗为大宗，分为直口内收腹和子母口斜直腹两类，直腹杯状稀见，流行轮旋纹、米筛纹、水波纹、刻划纹等；印纹硬陶器主要是罐、瓮、坛，罐器形大小不一，流行菱格填线纹、席纹、米筛纹、方格纹等几何纹饰，组合几何纹和麻布纹少见。石器有锛、凿、砺石等。建筑构件有泥质陶筒瓦、板瓦，筒瓦同样器表附着光亮黑皮，内壁突出瓦钉，瓦舌与瓦身一体成型，侧缘线割痕迹明显。青铜器有剑、镞、削刀、带钩、鱼钩、扣件、蚁鼻钱等，于井中出土了一柄青铜剑是苏州古城区第一次经科学发掘所获。2023年勘探，2024年起发掘。

To support basic construction in the old-city district, a preliminary archaeological survey and exploration in autumn-winter 2023 discovered cultural remains at the site. With approval from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Suzhou Institute of Archaeology has excavated the site since April 2024, achieving substantial results. The excavation shows that the Beiyuan site is a major site in Suzhou's old-city district spanning continuously from the Shang-Zhou period to the Ming-Qing period, with over 1,500 features cleared in total -- ash pits, ash ditches, wells, post holes, and tombs -- including over 450 wells, and over 2,000 pieces (or sets) of pottery, porcelain, bronze, jade, stone, lacquerware, bone and horn objects, and architectural components recovered; most features and finds date to the Eastern Zhou through Qin-Han periods. The Eastern-Zhou-period assemblage includes black-slipped clay-paste pottery, sand-tempered pottery, stamped hard pottery, proto-porcelain, bronze, stone, wood, and architectural components. Clay-paste pottery includes various jars, folded-belly basins, shallow-belly plates, tripod jian basins, low-crotch li-tripods, tall-stemmed dou dishes, and guan'er hu jars with pierced-lug handles, their surfaces coated with a burnished black slip, simple and glossy, locally decorated with cord marks, stamped patterns, comb-point patterns, and comb-incised patterns; among these, water jars come in constricted-mouth, straight-mouth, flared-mouth, and open-mouth variants, commonly with paired handles of various forms at the shoulder and, more often than not, three nipple-shaped feet under a flat base; another category of larger clay-paste jars, urns, and basins has a black slip prone to flaking, commonly decorated with paddle-impressed patterns, appliqué bands, and cord marks. Sand-tempered pottery is less common, comprising fu cauldrons, ding-tripods, and li-tripods, mostly fragmentary. Proto-porcelain includes bowls, bo bowls, plates, and jars, with bowls the most numerous, falling into two types -- straight-mouth with an incurving belly, and lidded-mouth with a slanting straight belly -- with straight-belly cup shapes rare; commonly decorated with wheel-thrown ridges, rice-sieve patterns, water-wave patterns, and incised patterns. Stamped hard pottery is mainly jars, urns, and jugs, in varying sizes, commonly decorated with diamond-grid-filled-line patterns, mat patterns, rice-sieve patterns, and grid patterns, with combined geometric patterns and hemp-cloth patterns rare. Stone tools include adzes, chisels, and whetstones. Architectural components include clay-paste pottery tube tiles and flat tiles; the tube tiles likewise have a glossy black-slipped surface, with a raised tile-nail on the inner wall, the tile-tongue formed as one piece with the tile body, and clear line-cutting marks along the side edges. Bronze objects include swords, arrowheads, paring knives, belt hooks, fish hooks, fittings, and ant-nose coins; a bronze sword recovered from a well is the first such find from a scientific excavation in Suzhou's old-city district. Surveyed in 2023, under excavation since 2024.