Centuries-old relics found in northeast China

CHANGCHUN, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Archaeologists in northeast China's Jilin Province have released details of their latest findings at a relics site that dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

The site is located near a highway in Xihu Village, Xinhu Township, Changchun, covering a total area of 200 square meters, according to the excavation team of the Jilin Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

Around 60 artifacts were unearthed, including ceramics, porcelain, stoneware, iron tools, and copper coins, offering clues suggesting that the site could be traced back to the period spanning from the end of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) to the early Ming Dynasty.

The stone tools excavated were mostly stone pestles, stone mortars, and millstones for processing millet and grain, which indicates that agriculture had become a crucial means of production at the time, said Zhang Liyan, a professor at Northeast Normal University.

Zhang added that the relics were believed to be products of the Jurchen people, predecessors of the Manchu nationality, offering evidence of its southward migration during that period.