Ancient porcelain kiln excavated in C. China

标题：湖南浏阳发掘南宋末年“龙窑” 出土一批珍贵瓷器和窑具

摘要：为配合蒙华铁路建设，过去几个月湖南浏阳市博物馆在湖南省文物考古研究所支持下，对浏阳盐泉窑址进行了抢救性考古发掘。目前，初步发掘结果表明，盐泉窑址的年代为南宋末年至元代早期，并出土了一批珍贵瓷器和窑具。

Archaeologists in central China's Hunan Province are excavating a site of a porcelain kiln to make way for a new railway.

The Yanquan kiln, on a hill in Shantian village, Liuyang city, was used between the Southern Song Dynasty (1127 - 1279) and the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368), said Xun Chunlin, curator of the Liuyang city museum on Monday.

Archaeologists have found a kiln workshop, a pit for storage of the clay used in porcelain making, two channels and three walls. They have unearthed porcelain utensils, mostly greenish white, and tools used in the kiln.

"Although it was an unofficial kiln, the excavation helps us learn more about life of people in the Song and Yuan dynasties," Xun told Xinhua.

"It also demonstrates the spread of porcelain making from east China to Hunan," he said.

The kiln, discovered in 1984, is on the route of a railway linking Inner Mongolia and Jiangxi Province, intended to be a major coal transportation line, stretching more than 1,800 kilometers and scheduled to begin operations in 2020.

The relics unearthed will be kept in the museum.

(Source:XINHUA)