Ancient public bath ruins discovered in Xinjiang. What were the ancient public baths like?

The ancient bathroom excavated this time is located in Qitai County, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, at the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain. It was built around 10 century, with a total area of about 400 square meters. According to the function, it can be divided into three areas: hall area, work area and bath area.

Wei Jian, a professor in the Department of Archaeology and Culture of Renmin University of China who is in charge of the excavation of the bathing place, said that the bathing place structure consists of the main building, adobe building, kitchen ruins and wells at the left and right ends.

The toilet is a semi-crypt structure, which consists of two floors: the lower floor is located below the original ground and is the basic building space for flue and heating; The superstructure is basically located on the original surface and is the activity space of the bath.

What is this structure called in the Ten Books of Ancient Roman Architecture? Pick an empty floor? That is, using the heating system below the bath, the fireworks burning in the furnace can flow in the lower layer of the bath through the flue between the support columns, forming? Geothermal? To maintain the upper bath temperature of the bath.

Pots, pots, square bricks and other artifacts unearthed in the bathing place are basically the same as those unearthed in other excavation areas of Dun ancient city site in Tang Dynasty from Gaochang Uighur to Mengyuan period. According to the relationship between the horizon and the unearthed cultural relics, archaeologists determined that the bathing place was built in Gaochang Uighur period, which was about the early Tang Dynasty in the 7th century. After three periods of Tang, Gaochang Uighur and Mengyuan, it was gradually abandoned in14th century.

The ancient city of Dun in Tang Dynasty is located in the inland area of Eurasian grassland, with hot and windy summer, cold winter and short frost-free period. In addition, the excavated bathing beach has a large scale, high building specifications and long service time, during which it has been repaired many times. Professor Wei Jian speculated that this bath is most likely an urban public bath.

The ancients generally believed that bathing was a private activity. With the development and change of the times, people's ideas and consciousness are constantly updated and opened, reaching its peak in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. In the Song Dynasty, bathing places were all over Kaifeng City, providing services such as back rubbing, manicure, massage, tea and snacks, which were comparable to the current bathing centers.