Research On The Remains Of The Northern Border Defense Facilities In The Ming Dynasty From The Perspective Of Archaeology

The construction of the northern border defense system in the Ming Dynasty experienced the formation process as follows—military strongholds,military lines and military settlements;and this system constructed a huge military defense system of the Great Wall from Yanjiangtai along the west bank of Yalu River in the east to Hongquan Pier,southwest Maolaibu Fort,in the north-west.In the northern part of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty,thirteen military towns were set up along the border.Governor Jiliao Baoding had jurisdiction over Liaodong Town,Shanhai Town,Jizhou Town,Changping Town and Baoding Town;Governor Xuanda Shanxi Xuanfu Town,Datong Town and Shanxi Town;and Governor Shannxi Sanbain Yansui Town,Ningxia Town,Guyuan Town,Lintao Town and Gansu Town.The main research object of this paper is to completely and truly restore the specific shape of the border defense facilities in the northern Ming Dynasty.This paper is divided into six chapters to study and analyze the specific shape of the wall,the enemy platform,the beacon platform,the military fortress and the auxiliary facilities of the Great Wall as well as their differences in different regions.The first chapter describes the formation of military settlements in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty,which experienced three periods of changes in the construction of military strongholds.In the early Ming Dynasty,a large number of military strongholds were built in north,mainly military strongholds,with the Great Wall as supplementation.After the battle of Jing Nan,the northern defense line of the Ming Dynasty shrank and lost its military strongholds in the north of the Great Wall in Xuande period.In the mid-Ming Dynasty,the construction of military strongholds were temporarily shifted from Liao,Ji,Shan,Chang,Bao,Xuanfu Town in the north-east and the centre to Datong Town,Shanxi Town,Yansui Town,Ningxia Town,Guyuan Town,Lintao Town and Gansu tTown in the north-west.In the end of the Ming dynasty,the construction of military fortresses was on the downward trend as a whole.Chapter two focuses on archaeological typology of the wall remains and auxiliary facilities of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty.The site of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty is mainly composed of earth wall,brick wall,stone wall,shovel wall,mountain danger and river danger.Not any wooden barrier wall remains have been found throughout the whole area.The brick wall sites are mainly concentrated in Ji town.The distribution,shape and function of trenches and pits are analyzed,as well as the main construction methods of the wall of the Great Wall which include tamping,piling,fortification,masonry,excavation and additional construction.This paper also analyses the specific shapes of the auxiliary facilities of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty,such as buttress wall,female wall,perforation,drainage facilities,pebble hole,enemy platform,horse face,hidden door,barrier wall,horseway,footpath to stage,stepping-stone to stage and water gate.In the third chapter,the shape of piers,the disposition and the function of ancillary facilities are analyzed based on the documents and inscriptions.Enemy platform is an important accessory defense facility on the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty,which is built attached to the wall,protruding inward,outward and riding on the wall.The internal structure of the hollow enemy platform can be classified into seven categories and fifteen types,and the disposition relationship between the enemy platform and its subsidiary facilities can be divided into eight categories,with rectangle as the dominant plane modality.Most of the beacon platform have rectangular plane shapes,and the disposition relationship between the beacon platform and its subsidiary facilities can be divided into seventeen categories.Enemy and beacon platform are mainly built by tamping and brick masonry.The fire pool is an auxiliary facility for the beacon platform of Ji Town Great Wall.Chapter four focuses on the analysis of the northern frontier defense garrison facilities of the Ming Dynasty.The main types of garrison facilities are town,road,acropolis,institute,castle and gate and are built by loess tamping,stone and outer brick.The plane forms of road,acropolis,institute and castle are mainly rectangular.The auxiliary facilities of military fortresses mainly include horse face,corner tower,urn city,trench,moat pier,water gate,horse road,etc.The disposition relationship between military fortresses and auxiliary facilities can be divided into fourteen categories.According to the geographical location,the camp fortresses can be divided into five categories:camp fortresses and mountains,rivers,lakes,springs and deserts.In the fifth chapter,the distribution of paving and residence remains along the northern side of the Great Wall is sorted out and is analyzed further according to the archaeological typology.The residence remains in Tianjin are mainly build by stones,while the cave-style brick houses in Ningxia are tamped by loess including six categories based on its disposition relationship with the subsidiary facilities.Water cellar remains whose walls are built of stone are mainly distributed in Tianjin,while water well remains in Tianjin,Hebei,Ningxia,Shaanxi.Chapter six is the summary of the temporal and spatial differences and influencing factors of border facilities in the northern Ming Dynasty.The defense line in the north was shrinking;the number of military fortresses was increasing;the scale of the wall of the Great Wall was expanding;and the disposition of ancillary facilities was gradually complete.There are significant differences in the Great Wall and military fortresses'scale,distribution,material and the disposition of ancillary facilities between Liaodong Town and Ji Town,Chang Town,Shanhai Town and Zhenbao Town;there exist differences in the scale of military fortress and the Great Wall as well as the disposition of ancillary facilities between Xuanfu Town,Datong Town,Shanxi Town and Yansui Town,Ningxia Town,Guyuan Town,Lintao Town and Gansu Town.The spatial distribution,forms and disposition of ancillary facilities of border defense facilities in northern Ming Dynasty are influenced by many factors,such as politics,economy,military,nationality,ecological environment,climate change and earthquake.Through the archaeological study of this topic,we can truly and completely reproduce the basic situation of the northern border defense facilities in the Ming Dynasty,including the forms and disposition types of subsidiary facilities,and analyze their role and function in the northern border defense system of the Ming Dynasty.The Great Wall defense system is not only a military defense line,but also a demarcation line between the agricultural and pastoral nationalities.The research significance of this topic is to show the structure and form of defense facilities such as the Great Wall and military fortresses in the northern part of Ming Dynasty by archaeological means,and to analyze the reasons for the differences in the form of defense facilities in different regions,in order to provide reference for the construction of present defense facilities in the northern part.