The 1,O00-Year-Old City of Urabo and Nearby Tombs
About ten kilometers from Urumqi stands the ancient city of
Urabo, the earliest and best-preserved ancient city to be discovered
near the city of Urumqi. Dating back 1,000 years, the ancient town
nestles against the Tianshan Mountains and commands the only way
through White Poplar Vailey linking northern and southern Xinjiang.
In the shape of a square, the ancient city of Urabo was surround-
ed by a rammed earth wall extending more than two kilometers.
Parts of the collapsed wall stand seven meters tall, and vestiges of
the four square towers still remain at the four corners of the city
today. The whole wall is patterned with many horse-head designs in
relief. There was an enclosure outside each of the four city gates for
the defense of the city, while inside the city were three walls of
rammed earth dividing the area into three inner cities the north-
eastern, northwestern and southern parts.
Pieces of Tang and Song pottery were found all over the ancient
city, as well as a few dating from the Yuan Dynasty. Nearby, farmers
have picked up large numbers of ancient coppers in the city. These
coins with a square hole in the center were issued at different times
during the Qing Dynasty, fromEmperor Qianlong's reign to the time
of Emperor Guangxu.
All these relics show that the ancient city of Urabo has survived
the vicissitudes of successive dynasties for over a thousand years.
Some say Urabo was the former important town of Luntai (Bugur)
on the northern route of the Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty,
while others dispute this claim. One thing is certain, however; it is
the earliest and best-preserved ancient city ever discovered in the
area and is of great value to those who study the history and
development of the city of Urumqi.
Ancient tombs discovered near Urabo can be traced back to
2,000 years ago, when the ancients inhabiting this area had a fairly
well developed social economy during the time of the Warring
States, 1,000 years before the city of Urabo was built. Unfortunately
the area is now the site of a reservoir, and so the remains of many
ancient dwellings are now under water. However some ancient
graves left on high ground have provided information about the early
settlers and their villages in the depression near the graves.Piecing together information from their excavations and finds,
archaeologists believe the early inhabitants of the area were chiefly
engaged in raising livestock, and growing food crops. Their house-
hold utensils were made of pottery, although gold earrings, bronze
mirrors and small iron tools have also been unearthed, demonstrat-
ing that they ran gold, copper and iron smithies. Two bronze mirrors
have been excavated, one intact and the other damaged. The shape
of the intact one resembles that of ancient bronze mirrors discovered
in graves in the Ili River valley to the far west, while the shape of
the damaged mirror shows that it was a Han mirror brought from
the Central Plains to the far east. From this we can see that there
were economic and cultural contacts between Urumqi, Ili and Cen-
tral China from the very earliest times.