Chinese archaeologists in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province, found important clues to a bronze casting workshop during the recent excavation at Haojing Site.

According to Yue Lianjian, a researcher with the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeology Institute and head of the team carrying out the excavation at Haojing Site, the capital area of the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BC), the bronze ware casting tools were unearthed during the archaeological excavation that started in July.

The excavation covered an area of 400 square meters, from which archaeologists found more than 80 ash cans, six civilian tombs and a large amount of pottery made in the Western Zhou period.

Yue said that nine bronze casting tools included a graver, a sharpener and seven cones, which were all made of copper and were the most important discoveries during this excavation.

"The Bronze Age is an important part of the history of human civilization. With the unearthed bronze casting tools, we can speculate that there may be a bronze casting workshop in the vicinity of the site," Yue said.

Haojing Site is located in the southern suburban Chang'an district of Xi'an city, where the core area of Haojing was located. Archaeologists found large-scale ancient building ruins, a large area of civilian tombs and a pottery production area in previous excavations, but did not find a bronze casting workshop area, which was one of the key functional areas in the ancient city.

Archaeological experts said that the new discovery further indicated the position of the bronze casting workshop and provided important evidence for research on urban function zoning and bronze civilization in the Western Zhou Dynasty.