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21.

 The details of these new discoveries will be treated in the following chapters. Here it will be sufficient to give an account of the circumstances of their discoveries and their significances. 

Most of the important artifacts were recovered from Tr. La 13bc, Tr. La 13.5bc and the pit G.C. connecting these two trenches. A whole month's time was devoted to this place, with a working force of 12 to 15 workmen every day. Except uncovering the surface and protective layer, only hand-spades and fingers were used in excavating this places; sieves were frequently employed, as tiny fragments of turquois, shell ornaments and gold leaves were met with. With the exception of a few burials of the Sui and T'ang Dynasties, there had been no other later intrusions in this place. The cultural stratum here was well preserved when we started the work these. The general distribution of the various artifacts hidden here were concentric, but irregular and disorderly; their contents show such a great variety, ranging from complete piece of tortoise shell to the most fragmentary piece of potshards, and including bronze weapons as well as beautifully decorated art-works; it is quite and will probably remain a puzzle as to whether this place was abandoned after the occurrence of some violent disaster or peacefully abandoned.

Among the important new discoveries made here, we should perhaps first mention the inscribed tortoise shells and scapulae, numbering more than two thousands; about four of the plastrons are half or more than half complete, and one is inscribed with more than three hundred characters. The potteries, none of them complete, were of course much more abundant; they include quite a number of new varieties. Besides the white pottery which has been famous for a long time, a type of thin, hard-baked, and decorated with simple incised markes was found. Some of these pieces, are covered with a thin spread of salt glaze, which, judged by all circumstances could not have been merely accidental.