Archaeological Findings From The Site Of The Han Hangu Pass And Research On Related Problems

The Han Hangu Pass was first built in 114 BC in present-day Xin’an and Yiyang in Luoyang city. the giant system is composed of walls, forts and beacon towers. An adequate system was established to manage the pass in the Western Han dynasty, although the officialposition of Guanduwei who charged the pass was canceled from time to time in the Eastern Han dynasty.From 1998 to 1999, the former Second Archaeological Team of Luoyang excavated some grain storages at the site of the Hangu Pass; Between 2012 and 2013, the Luoyang Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology excavated the “pass city” of the pass;Between 2015 and 2016, a survey of the Sanguan Pass was conducted.Archaeological data shows, the Hangu Pass defense system was not formed before 114 BC and its parts were abandoned in different period. The grain storages were in the reins of Wang Mang or in the Eastern Han period, the system had not fully functioned by the Wei-Jin period. This conforms to the records in historical texts.This author examined related ancient documents and the archaeological data and thinks the pass city have three features which are different form other cities in that time. 1. Largely because of defense needs, it was built in a deep valley which made it effective against attacks and to control the traffic. 2. Adapt to the terrain, the city was not built square. 3. Its walls were thick and strong suggesting a military defensive function. based on the record in historical texts and archaeological excavations, it can be estimated that scale of the pass city and the location of the Sanguan city.