Remote Sensing Archaeology Investigation And Research On Zhangku Road(Inner Mongolia Section)

Zhangku Road got the name from connecting Zhangjiakou and Kulun(Ulan Bator).It extends south to Hubei,Fujian,north to kyakhta,Moscow forming the “Tea Road” that spans the Eurasian continent and the length much longer than 5,000 kilometers.After the decline of the Grassland Silk Road,the Tea Road became another important land route connecting the Eurasian continent during the period between the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China.The Tea Road is rich in cultural connotation and contains a lot of historical relics and historical materials.It is a precious cultural heritage shared by China,Mongolia and Russia,and it is the “Century Artery” connecting China and Russia.As a across multiple countries Lineal or Serial Cultural Heritages with important cultural,political and economic values,the Tea Road is actively applying for joining the World Cultural Heritage(referred to as "Shenyi").Zhangku Road,as the middle line of the Tea Road in Inner Mongolia,is the most representative route of the Tea Road in northern China.It contains Zhangjiakou Post Road,Zhangku Business Road,Zhangku Automobile Road,and Zhangku Telegraph Route four different function routes,is an important transit point for the Tea Road to enter the Mongolian-Russian region.In-depth research on it can provide important support for the Tea Road's application for joining the World Cultural Heritage,scientific research,heritage protection and economic development along the route.At present,the academic research on Zhangku Road mainly focuses on trade,business culture,rise and fall,etc.It is still blank to investigate and study the route of Zhangku Road from the perspective of archaeology,the sites and the environment along the route.The Zhangku Road covers a very large area,with overall area nearly 60,000 square kilometers and a distance of more than one thousand kilometers of transportation lines.The geographical environment of the area is complicated and sparsely populated,which is not conducive to field archaeological investigations,but the method of remote sensing archaeology to investigate and analyze.Although remote sensing archaeology appeared late in China,but developed rapidly,and has been widely used in archaeological exploration and cultural relics protection.Because of its time-consuming and financial resources,less manpower,wide survey scope,little damage to the sites and little impact on the natural environment,the remote sensing archaeology it is very suitable for the investigation and protection of such Lineal or Serial Cultural Heritages as Zhangku Road.Based on the collection and analysis of the indoor literature,the interpretation and visual interpretation of the satellite remote sensing images,this thesis determines the investigation area and suspected point of the field archaeological investigation on Zhangku Road(Inner Mongolia Section),and based on the collected data of the field archaeological investigation,a road map of Zhangku Avenue was drawn,and related spatial GIS analysis was conducted to analyze the environmental profile of Zhangku Road.At the same time,the characteristics of the sites along Zhangku Road were analyzed through field archaeological investigations and archaeological excavations.This thesis is mainly divided into six parts:The first part introduces the selection background,research significance,research review,research methods and innovations.The second part introduces the origin,development and theoretical basis of Remote Sensing Archaeology,combs the research achievements and applications of Remote Sensing Archaeology in China,and analyzes the internal connection between Lineal or Serial Cultural Heritages and the Tea Road's applying for jioning the World Cultural Heritage,and the demand for Remote Sensing Archaeology from Lineal or Serial Cultural Heritages,Provide theoretical and technical support for remote sensing archaeological investigation of Zhangku Road.The third part introduces the formation background of Zhangku Road and Tea Road,discusses the changes and the rise and fall of Zhangku Road from the perspective of traffic lines,clarifies the important historical role and significance of studying Zhangku Road,and demonstrates its necessity of remote sensing archaeological investigation and research.The fourth part preliminary determines survey scope and key survey locations of Zhangku Road,through the analysis of the collected literature and map data,combined with modern research results.At the same time,it summarizes the terrain,geomorphology,climate and hydrology in the area,and provides relevant argumentation support for subsequent GIS spatial analysis.The fifth part is to use Arc GIS software to vectorize the Zhangku Postal Road and Zhangku Automobile Road in the old map to determine the collection area of the satellite remote sensing image and the standard of visual interpretation for the suspected site.Then,through the interpretation and visual interpretation of the Google Earth satellite imagery to determine the suspected sites to be investigated,and provide data support for the field archaeological investigation.The sixth part is to conduct field archaeological investigations on the suspected sites,the suspected area and the key suspected villages and towns,and to summarize the characteristics of the sites along Zhangku Road based on the data collected from the field investigations,and meanwhile,use the archaeological excavation of Ealin Station as an example to verify the criteria for visual interpretation on suspected sites and the characteristics of sites along Zhangku Avenue.After that,based on the relevant data collected in the field investigation,a line map of Zhangku Road was drawn,and the GIS spatial analysis of hydrology,population,and slope of Zhangku Road was carried out,and then the geographical environment and population distribution along Zhangku Road were analyzed.The seventh part is to sumarrise the viewpoints and weakness of the thesis and make a prospects of the further work.