The Yaozhou Kiln was one of the Six Famous
Kilns in ancient China and also the main celadon-producing area in the north. It
was reputed as the Ten-li Kiln (1 li=1/2 km.) for its grand scale.
Between 1984 and 1986, 14 pottery workshops
from the Tang (618-907), Five Dynasties (907-960), Song (960-1279), Jin
(1115-1234) and Yuan (1271-1368) periods were unearthed at the site, including
18 stoves, thousands of intact pottery wares and over 30,000 shards. All pottery
wares and shards have a solid base of a high pottery content. The wares were
adorned with hundreds of patterns, such as landscapes, human figures and
flowers. The Yaozhou Kiln wares were painted with a greenish-black glaze to
appear bright and smooth, like jade.
Also unearthed at the site are workshops
that produced Tang San Cai (tri-colored glazed pottery of the Tang
Dynasty) and over 1,000 other wares. Such a large scale indicated that the
Yaozhou Kiln was a main base for making Tang San Cai. The long-lost
Tang San Cai tiles and dragon decorations were also first unearthed at
the site.
The discovery of the Yaozhou Kiln Site
provides plenty of materials for the study of the Chinese history of ancient
pottery, as well as the political, economical and cultural development of that
period. The kiln site is reputed as a natural museum of ancient pottery due to
its high academic value.