| Prince Shu Residence,the palace and mansion of prince Shu in the Ming dynasty,which was built in 1390 AD and burned down in 1646 AD.During 2013-2017,Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology excavated large-scale historical construction remains of Prince Shu Residence around the area of DongHuaMen and Chengdu sports center.The layout of this group of construction complex is in the north to south direction,separated into the south and north parts by the excavated area.The north part is the extension of a channel and the pool(C4),where there are facilities such as platforms,footpaths,and wooden buildings.The south part is mainly a channel(G4),which is equipped with waterways,convex terraces,footpaths,bridges,wooden structures and other facilities.The animal remains studied in this paper are all from the C4 pool and the G4 channel.There are totally 68798 pieces of animal remains,of which 65339 pieces were unearthed from C4,and 22958 specimens could be identified.3639 pieces were unearthed from G4,out of which 1503 specimens can be identified.5 pieces of conchs,173 pieces of fish,1 piece of a certain amphibian,13 pieces of reptiles,36957 pieces of birds and 31829 pieces of mammals were unearthed from the site.Among the unearthed animals,birds are the most abundant species.It can be seen that ancestors at that time fed on birds most.According to the statistical results,chickens and geese are the two kinds of poultry that ancestors ate most.Among mammals,the numbers of pigs is the largest,which shows that pigs played a very important role in the diet of ancestors.There are also a large number of rabbits unearthed,which may be related to the diet habit of eating rabbits that still exists in Chengdu.The animal remains show that those animals were served as food.There may be specials reasons that animals such as cats,horses,dogs,porcupines,civets,bears,cranes and crows appear as food.Among those animals,cats and dogs could be pets raised in palace;the horses can be raised for riding;and porcupines,masked civet,bears,cranes and swans may be raised for appreciation.The bones were badly broken though there is not much chopped and cut marks on the surface of the bones.It can be inferred that there must be dismembered behaviors.The reason why there were fewer chopped marks remaining may be that the ancestors had excellent dismemberment skills,fewer cut marks may be because the ancients de-fleshing skill was superb,besides,the knife is sharp.All reasons above make it rare to leave marks on bones.The unearthed rates of different skeletal parts show that the parts with more meat and better taste were the main parts that ancestors chose.While less meat and less palatable parts such as skull,upper and lower jawbones and hoof bones were unearthed in a smaller proportion,which show the pigs,rabbits,geese and phasianidae animals were not on-the-spot slaughtered,but may be similar to today's society,centralized purchasing meat parts with more flesh and good taste.Most of the unearthed animals are adult individuals,with a small number of immature individuals.Horses,cattle,dogs,bears,porcupines and civets are all adult individuals,but no minor individuals have been found.It can be inferred that dogs may be pets raised by the ancestors of the Royal palace.The pathological changes of mammal found lack diversity.The hyperplasia of pig bones was the main one,which may be because of the elder age and environmental problems in feeding.Among birds,there were abundant varieties of pathological changes,mainly on poultry,including arthritis(joint deformation,bone hyperplasia,bone change,bone fusion),fracture healing,two parts of the bone fusion and overall deformation,hematoma,swelling,may be caused by the old age or crowded feeding space during the feeding process or poultry fights.There are some differences in the size of the poultry unearthed in the site,which may be related to gender or species.According to the unearthed status,identification results and preservation status of animal remains,we infer that a large number of animal remains unearthed in the pool of'the palace garden of prince Shu should be accumulated in a short period.Through the analysis of the identification results of animal remains and the comparative study with the animals unearthed at the site of Laosicheng in Yongshun,we believe that these remains are not the remains left by the members of the royal family after their daily consumption.Referring to relevant literature records,we speculate that these remains may be the remains of large-scale banquets and mass consumption after Zhang Xianzhong's regime occupying the royal palace.From the perspective of the fact that the animal remains in the upper layer have deep burned marks which look gray,white and black,it is likely to be related to the burning of the palace and mansion of prince Shu before the evacuation of Zhang Xianzhong's troops. |
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