(Focus on China face to face) Is the mysterious Sanxingdui from the "you of the stars"?
China News Service, Beijing, March 31st, title: Mysterious Sanxingdui, is it the "you of the stars"?
——Interview with Shi Jinsong, researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Author Huang Yuqin Yu Zhanyi
In 1986, more than a thousand pieces of precious cultural relics unearthed from the sacrificial pits of Sanxingdui No. 1 and No. 2 showed the world the glorious culture created by the ancient Chinese ancestors more than 3,000 years ago.
Sleeping for thousands of years, I woke up and shocked the world.
After 35 years, the Sanxingdui site has restarted excavations, and the unearthed cultural relics have added a strong touch to the mysterious ancient Shu civilization.
What is the charm of the mysterious Sanxingdui?
How will the unearthed cultural relics promote people's understanding of the ancient Shu civilization?
Looking back on the 100-year history, where is the future of Chinese archaeology?
Shi Jinsong, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "China Focus Face-to-face" for a professional interpretation.
Excerpts from the interview are as follows:
China News Agency reporter: Sanxingdui has been one of the biggest puzzles in Chinese archaeology since its discovery. Since 1986, the cultural relics unearthed in Sanxingdui have different shapes and there is no written record. There was even a conjecture about "extraterrestrial culture" in Sanxingdui. How do you feel about this problem?
Shi Jinsong: The
cultural relics unearthed in Sanxingdui are very strange, but not so strange, and they are unlikely to be alien civilizations.
The reason why some people say this may have a pre-established premise, that is, that ancient civilizations are known and single.
But in fact, ancient civilizations are rich and colorful, and many civilizations are still being explored, and the exploration process is long-term.
We cannot think of a civilization as an alien civilization just because it is unfamiliar and unknown.
The Sanxingdui civilization has its own generation and development pedigree.
Specifically, it developed from the Baodun culture in the late Neolithic period on the Chengdu Plain. During this period, it absorbed some elements of other regional cultures and later developed into the Jinsha culture.
The continuation of the Jinsha culture is the Bashu culture of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty that we are familiar with, and then the Qin and Han civilizations.
Therefore, the Sanxingdui civilization has its ins and outs, has its own pedigree, and exchanges with other cultures, so it is not an "extraterrestrial culture" at all.
Why do people ask such questions?
Perhaps people have a hope for science and archaeology, believing that archaeology can answer all questions.
But in fact, both archaeology and science are always facing new uncertainties, so research and exploration are long-term.
Reporter from China News Service: One of the highlights of the Sanxingdui archaeology is to move the laboratory to the archaeological site to realize the seamless connection between the archaeological unearthed cultural relics and the protection of cultural relics. What new technologies and new methods have been used in the excavation and protection of cultural relics this time?
Shi Jinsong: When
we went to the excavation site, we could see at a glance that a large shed was set up on the site, an excavation cabin was set up in the large shed, and there was a multifunctional excavation system in the cabin.
During the excavation process, a lot of analysis and testing methods were used, and Tan Fangbian also established a laboratory equipped with analysis and testing and emergency equipment.
These technologies and methods are mainly to extract information to the maximum extent, including on-site archaeological information and various image materials.
So a major feature of this excavation is that it is very technically complete.
In addition, there is also multidisciplinary cooperation.
More than 30 teams participated in the excavation, including the preservation of cultural relics.
Different teams can communicate on different excavation concepts and experiences, which is also the characteristic of this excavation.
In addition to technological innovation, what is more important is that this is a research excavation.
Since the discovery of Pit No. 3 at the end of 2019, six pits have been discovered one after another. At that time, they were not eager to excavate, but conducted thorough verification and formulated a plan. After full verification, the development and excavation were carried out in an orderly manner.
I personally think that it is very important that it has been 35 years since the excavation of Pit No. 1 and Pit No. 2. This time the excavation was carried out with the knowledge and problems accumulated over 30 years. This is the biggest difference from the excavation in 1986.
I hope that through this excavation, a new model of research excavation can be explored.
Data map: The most representative giant longitudinal-eye bronze face in Sanxingdui cultural relics.
Photo by Du Jia Source: Visual China
Reporter from China News Service: The characteristics of the bronze vertical-eye mask, such as high nose and deep eyes, protruding cheeks, wide mouth and big ears, make many people feel confused. They think that these bronze figures are not like Chinese, but some are like Europeans and Americans. What do you think of this problem?
Shi Jinsong:
The portraits found in Sanxingdui are all works of art. Some of them are more realistic and include different hair styles. However, these portraits also have exaggerations in form or demeanor.
There are also some portraits and masks with mythological colors, including bronze portraits with eyes, human faces and bird figures.
This type of character image reflects some primitive religious beliefs, such as sun worship, and does not show real people.
From the perspective of the whole world, there are many exaggerated and abstract figures in ancient and modern China and abroad. This is a common artistic technique.
Especially some early works show mythological thinking, not real people.
From the sphinx of ancient Egypt to the giant stone statues on Easter Island in the South Pacific, they are all such works.
We cannot correspond to people in reality based on these works of art, let alone infer their race.
I think this is neither an academic question nor a scientific research method.
Reporter from China News Service: Among the cultural relics unearthed in Sanxingdui, the golden mask is also intriguing. In your opinion, is there any connection between it and the golden masks unearthed in other countries such as Egypt and Greece?
Shi Jinsong:
Since the excavation of Sanxingdui Pit 1 and Pit 2 in the 1980s, scholars have paid attention to this issue.
Golden masks, golden rods, bronze statues, sacred trees, etc. were unearthed from the Sanxingdui artifact pit. Such relics are indeed found in Egypt and West Asia, and they have a certain similarity.
But before a comprehensive study is carried out, it is difficult for us to determine what connection they have, and there is no evidence chain for this.
It is also possible that these similarities indicate that there are some common cultural phenomena across the world, and even common ideas or religious beliefs.
This is worthy of a comparative study of different ancient civilizations in various regions.
China News Agency reporter: The academic circles generally believe that the greatest value of the Sanxingdui site excavation is to demonstrate the integration of Chinese civilization. In your opinion, from what angles do you think the Sanxingdui archaeological excavations can prove this point of view?
Shi Jinsong:
I personally think that the Baodun culture in the Neolithic Age was the earliest in the Chengdu Plain. The representative of the Bronze Age culture was the Sanxingdui-Jinsha culture, followed by the Bashu culture in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and finally the Qin and Han civilization.
Sanxingdui-Jinsha culture is a unique regional culture. If we summarize its most important characteristics, it can be said that the most prominent is the coexistence of royal power and divine power, and sun worship may occupy a dominant position.
At that time, the upper class of society controlled valuable resources, important production techniques and hand-made products, and used the valuables of the whole society for religious sacrificial activities, rather than expressing personal hierarchical identity.
These characteristics are completely different from the Shang and Zhou civilizations of the same period.
Judging from these characteristics, the Chengdu Plain at that time had formed an early country, and only the early countries needed special bronze products and other valuable artifacts.
After the development of the Sanxingdui-Jinsha culture to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the Chengdu Plain may be more influenced by the Chu culture and the Central Plains culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and relatively large changes have taken place in culture and society.
Later, with the unification of the Qin and Han dynasties, the regional culture of the Chengdu Plain merged into the unified Qin and Han civilizations.
Such a process reflects the formation of a pluralistic unity of Chinese civilization from a regional perspective.
Shi Jinsong, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "Focus on China".
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Xinglong
China News Agency reporter: More than 500 cultural relics have been unearthed in the 6 sacrificial pits of Sanxingdui, but there are still many puzzles that have not been scientifically answered. In the future archaeological work, what other aspects can the research on the Sanxingdui site continue to carry out?
Shi Jinsong:
Over the past 30 years, a very comprehensive discussion has been conducted on the age, nature, origin, function and meaning of the unearthed relics of Pit No. 1 and Pit No. 2, and a rich theoretical system of interpretation has been formed. The research has been further extended to The culture, society, religious beliefs, and cultural exchanges at that time.
The sacrificial pit we are talking about is just a point of view, and there are still opinions that it is not a sacrificial pit, and various viewpoints coexist.
This new discovery will first test the understanding formed in the past research. This is the first level of significance.
The second level of significance is that the new discoveries will promote the research on many specific issues of the Sanxingdui site and the Sanxingdui culture.
For example, regarding the age of the artifact pits, 6 pits were excavated this time, and the first batch of carbon-14 age data has been obtained.
Among them, the age of Pit No. 4 is determined to be (before) 3200 to 3000 years.
If you have a clear understanding of the age of the six pits, it will lay a foundation for the next step to explore the nature of the artifact pits, and then you can explore the nature of the Sanxingdui platform, the relationship between the various relics in the Sanxingdui city site, the age of the Sanxingdui culture, and the Sanxingdui Our understanding of cultural exchanges with other regional cultures will surely advance.
The third level of significance is that new discoveries will definitely bring about new problems, and new problems will drive us to conduct new research, and the cultural research of Sanxingdui will enter a new stage.
In addition, the ultimate goal of archaeology is to construct history through archaeological materials. This is a long-term process, and long-term efforts will be made around this goal in the future.
China News Agency reporter: Some time ago, Zhong Fangrong, a student who applied for the archaeology major of Peking University, attracted social attention and was called the "archaeological girl". This phenomenon also reflects to a certain extent that archaeology has always been a topic of "hot" but professional "cold". How can there be successors to the archaeological career? What kind of talent does archaeology need?
Shi Jinsong: There
will be people interested and passionate about any subject and any major.
I think archaeologists should convey knowledge about archaeology to society and the public, especially to young people, so that they understand what archeology is.
In this way, more young people will devote themselves to archaeology.
An important feature of archaeology now is the integration of multiple disciplines.
Our discovery and research are all multidisciplinary cooperation.
The future of archaeology needs talents with multiple disciplinary backgrounds, including backgrounds in humanities and social sciences, as well as backgrounds in natural sciences.
China News Agency reporter: In recent years, film and television works on the subject of tomb robbery have attracted public interest. On the one hand, some people think that this subject has aroused public interest in archaeology, but there are also opinions that this is a misinterpretation of archaeology. What do you think about this?
Shi Jinsong:
Tomb robbery is illegal and criminal in our country.
Tomb-robbing novels or some works based on this theme, although they did not directly damage the cultural heritage, I think the message conveyed is negative and immoral.
In fact, this type of work is not only available in China, but also abroad. The most famous is the Hollywood series "Indiana Jones".
What the film expresses is not true scientific archeology, but treasure hunting, adventure, and destruction.
In fact, there are some serious and scientific general works of archaeology in our country.
For example, Professor Tong Enzheng of Sichuan University has created many science fiction, historical novels, and popular science books on archeology.
In addition, Mr. Tong has created a batch of archaeological novels.
One of the most famous is "The Mist in the Ancient Gorge", which attracted some young people to read it at the beginning, and (these young people) finally engaged in archaeological research.
This type of archaeological novel is based on archaeological discoveries as a background, fusion of science and art, intertwining the spirit of science and reasonable imagination, and telling everyone in the way of storytelling, what archaeologists want to know, what archaeology can do, What archaeology cannot do.
This is a good popular science book, what we need today is a work like this.
Data map: Archaeologists are working at the excavation site.
Photo by An Yuan
China News Agency reporter: This year is a century of Chinese archaeology. Looking back at the history of Chinese archaeology, what do you feel most about it? How will China's archaeology continue to advance in the future?
Shi Jinsong:
In the past 100 years, we have made remarkable achievements in Chinese archaeology, whether from the establishment and development of disciplines, or to use archaeology to reveal culture and construct history. Chinese archaeology has made great achievements.
We have a large number of new archaeological discoveries every year, and these new discoveries continue to update our knowledge.
Especially nowadays, (archaeology) integrates multidisciplinary research, so the archaeological information we obtain is increasing at an incalculable rate.
These new discoveries continue to expand the field of research, bring new ideas, and expand our perspective.
It can be said that in the past 100 years, archaeology is one of the fastest-growing sciences in China's humanities and social sciences.
We also have a deeper understanding of archaeology. Archaeology faces and studies history, but we study history, after all, to understand the present and face the future.
It is precisely because of the efforts made in the past 100 years that Chinese civilization has entered the pedigree of ancient civilizations in the world with a scientific outlook.
The prospects for the future development of archaeology are broad, and there are many aspects that need to be strengthened.
For example, the first is the integration and development of multiple disciplines.
The birth of archaeology was promoted and influenced by the development of multiple disciplines.
In the course of the development of archaeology, archaeology has continuously absorbed the advanced science and technology of the same period, which has also brought about revolutionary achievements and major turning points in archaeology.
In the future, Chinese archaeology also needs to further absorb multi-disciplinary concepts, methods and results.
Second, archaeology will need to strengthen theoretical construction in the future.
Because archaeological materials are scattered and fragmented, we need bridges between materials and history, and bridges are archaeological theories.
Archaeological theory is an explanatory thinking framework summarized and refined from archaeological materials.
With the theory of archaeology, we can have a better and deeper understanding of archaeological materials and a more comprehensive view of history.
Third, it is necessary to carry out comparative studies of different civilizations.
The Chinese civilization should be researched in the context of ancient civilizations in the world.
Only through comparative research can we have a deeper understanding of the characteristics of Chinese civilization and the path of its formation and development.
Shi Jinsong, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "Focus on China".
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Xinglong
China News Agency reporter: During your exchanges with international archaeological colleagues, what aspects of Chinese archaeology do you think foreign colleagues are most interested in in recent years? What is the significance of the international cooperation in Chinese archaeology to promote the exchange of civilizations between the East and the West?
Shi Jinsong:
Everyone's interests and concerns vary from person to person.
As far as I know, there are some foreign archaeologists who may be more concerned about some new archaeological discoveries in China.
There are also some archaeologists who are concerned about our understanding of some major issues.
For example, regarding the origin of Chinese civilization, what new progress has been made in our research?
More colleagues are concerned about how Chinese archaeologists get their knowledge through archaeological materials.
There are also some archaeologists who are more concerned about the diverse lifestyles of ancient societies.
For example, after a delegation of foreign archaeologists visited Yinxu, Erlitou, and Xi’an Terracotta Warriors and Horses, more than one person asked me if I saw so many palaces and tombs, where are the residences and tombs of civilians, and how they are. of.
It can be seen that they paid attention to different life styles in ancient times.
Of course, I also think that more foreign archaeologists actually lack understanding of Chinese archaeology.
Regarding the significance of the comparison of civilizations, the first is that ancient Chinese civilization is not isolated, and civilizations in any region of the world are not isolated, and they have exchanges with the outside world.
This kind of communication, contact, and exchange has shaped the civilization of the world, including the Chinese civilization.
Therefore, to study Chinese civilization, we need to pay attention to the archaeological materials of the regions that are related to us. Only in this way can we better understand our own culture.
Second, for any kind of civilization, it is necessary to pass comparisons in order to have a deep understanding of its characteristics.
For example, the Chinese civilization was born more than 5,000 years before the advent of writing and metalware, the development model of pluralism, and the 5,000-year uninterrupted civilization are all important features of Chinese civilization.
Our understanding and determination of these important characteristics can only be obtained through comparison.
Third, Chinese archaeology also needs academic exchanges with other countries, and international cooperation between different countries is needed.
Archaeological discoveries and archaeological materials are regional, and archaeological research is also regional.
But as far as the science of archaeology is concerned, it can break through the regionality, and archaeological research ultimately points to the common history and common future of all mankind.
Data map: Fragment of the golden mask, unearthed at the Sanxingdui site.
Photo courtesy of Jinsha Site
China News Agency reporter: We noticed that you started to study Sanxingdui many years ago. Can you talk about the significance of Sanxingdui research for your career?
Shi Jinsong:
The main field of my research is the culture and society of the Bronze Age in the Yangtze River Basin.
The Sichuan Basin or the Chengdu Plain is an important area, among which Sanxingdui is a particularly important site, so a lot of energy has been invested in this area.
The research in this field also has a relatively important influence on my academic research, which is mainly reflected in three aspects.
First, it gave me a long-term thinking about how to use archaeological methods and archaeological materials to construct a coherent regional history.
Second, it gave me a new perspective, which is to look at the civilizations of different regions, using the perspective of regions and regions, which also made me rethink concepts or perspectives such as "Central Plains" and "peripheral".
Third, because no words were found in Sanxingdui, the research in this area also prompted me to think about the relationship between archaeological materials and documentary materials, objects and words.
I think the physical material is more primitive.
(Finish)