China News Service Client, Beijing, July 2 (Reporter Shangguanyun) When talking about archaeology, many people may associate it with various boring data, but this is not the case. Many discoveries in archaeology can help people understand all aspects of the ancients' clothing, food, housing and transportation.

  Zheng Jiali is a researcher at Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. A few years ago, he inadvertently said a sentence "I am doing archaeological work, work is equivalent to going to the grave". It became popular on the Internet. Later, this sentence broke away from the specific text and context and has been circulating to this day.

  A few days ago, his work "Archaeologist Says", which recorded his work experience and knowledge, became popular again. This book shows the life of the ancients from one side, and also unveiled the "mysterious veil" of archaeological work.

What does the ancient toilet look like?

  Because of the popularity of the phrase "going to work as a grave", many people think that Zheng Jiali is a "duanzi", but he said that from the beginning, he was a serious and sincere communicator.

The archaeologists rejuvenated and restored the historical fragments unearthed from the site into complete pieces. Photo courtesy of Zheng Jiali

  In "The Archaeologist Says", he often sees his popular science on various historical and archaeological knowledge. In the "Toilet" article, he even specifically mentioned the evolution of ancient toilets, and the language style is as humorous as ever.

  There are records related to toilets in ancient books. "Historical Biography of Kui Li" mentioned: "Taste from Shanglin, Jia Ji went to the toilet, Ye Ye died into the toilet," said that when Emperor Han Jing's favorite Ji went to the toilet, he suddenly broke into a wild boar and took her Frightened and disappointed.

  "It can be seen that the ecology of the Han Dynasty's gardens is good, and it also proves the simplicity of the toilets in the royal garden." Zheng Jiali introduced, "In the Han and Jin dynasties, the more elegant houses, the toilets were mostly connected to the pigsty. The toilets were built above the pigsty or In front, start a new house with a pit inside."

  In order to get rid of the odor, the way ordinary people thought at that time was probably to clean up frequently. For rich people, use dried dates to stop noses and contaminate them, or burn incense to deodorize, or simply change to new clothes, called "changing clothes".

Porcelain fragments historical information

  One of the great significances of archaeology is that the achievements of this work can be used to understand the different aspects of the ancients' production, life, fun, and thought.

  All are cultural relics workers, but field archaeologists and museum practitioners will have different emphasis on the value of cultural relics. In Zheng Jiali's view, the latter obviously needs more exquisite utensils unearthed in the tombs and ruins to enrich the collection-the ruins cannot be moved into museums and cannot be used as exhibits.

  But for archaeologists, the ruins and even fragments of ancient relics are of great value. For example, Zheng Jiali said that the chronological sequence of prehistoric sites mainly relied on massive pottery to be established in stages, rather than "national treasure" cultural relics enjoying star treatment.

  He also recorded one thing in "Archaeologist Said": He excavated the Yue kiln site in Shanglin Lake, Cixi more than ten years ago. The chronology of the Yue kiln celadon in the Tang and Song Dynasties and the evolution of the firing process also relied on massive Porcelain pieces are established.

  "I also don't think that complete porcelain has more academic value than fragments. At least fragments can observe the characteristics of porcelain enamel, molding, etc. to obtain more historical information." He said.

What do epitaphs generally record?

The cemetery of the Six Dynasties in Han Dynasty will soon become a high-end residential area in the suburbs. Photo courtesy of Zheng Jiali

  Excavation of ancient tombs can often see epitaphs. The epitaph refers to the stone inscription in the tomb with the life story of the deceased, and also refers to the text on the epitaph. The names, birth and death years, and life stories of the owner of the tomb are often recorded on it.

  In recent years, Zheng Jiali often worked late into the night to collect and sort out the epitaphs of Song and Yuan Dynasties in Zhejiang. In "Archaeologists", he introduced that there are many classifications of epitaphs. Among them, the dichotomy between male and female epitaphs is the most concise and effective one.

  Zheng Jiali spent five years investigating and excavating the tombs of the Southern Song Dynasty in Zhejiang and found a slightly decent Song tomb, usually a tomb of a married couple. The tombs of husband and wife are usually buried in parallel with each other. The male to the left and the female to the right are also testimonies of "death as the same point".

  Some of the couples buried their tombs in the tombs and placed a tomb in each of the husband’s and wife’s tombs, describing their ancestors, birthplaces, spouses, heirs, character, talents, birth and death years, and burial sites. This is the conclusion of life.

  Husband is a man. According to traditional ideas, "outside the Lord", his epitaph is mainly used to record the three major events of "Lide, meritorious service, and speech"; the wife is a woman, "inside the Lord", and her epitaph is often recorded. What she does is how kind and filial she is, a kind mother who manages her family in an orderly manner.

  "It can be seen from the tombs of the Southern Song Dynasty that many couples have achieved the ideals of living together in the old age and dying together. I am very happy to praise this, but whether they are happy or not, we can never answer the question for the ancients." Zheng Jiali Wrote.

Archaeological life recorded in a group of articles

  The above story is nothing but the "tip of the iceberg" that Zheng Jiali has seen and felt in field archaeological excavations for more than 20 years. More insights are recorded in "The Archaeologist Says".

"Archaeologists". Published by Guangxi Normal University Press

  He is engaged in the "Song and Yuan Archaeology" in the archaeology of the historical period. Articles often written by archaeologists are probably archaeological reports written on excavated tombs, ruins, etc., or personal academic opinions, and he is no exception.

  However, in the specific field work, Zheng Jiali also found many rich details of life: "At the excavation site, I faced some cultural relics left by the ancients, I can imagine their joys and sorrows, and lived with the people all day, Seeing their current joys and sorrows."

  He said that he always wanted to accomplish one thing, that is, to prove that cultural relics protection and archaeological work are closely related to our daily life and life experience.

  As he wrote in "Self-Preface": "If there is a common theme in this loose set of texts, it is that archaeology is related to our emotions, interests and thoughts. To protect cultural relics is to protect our own living environment." (End)