About the author: Li Mingbin, Distinguished Professor of Shanghai University and Director of Shanghai University Museum
Distant view of the sanxingdui ruins sacrifice area (Photo: Li Mingbin)
(i)
The excavation of sanxingdui sacrifice area in the spring of 2021 began on the tenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, February 21 of the solar calendar, at this time, the golden canola flowers ushered in the most prosperous flowering period, under the cover of flowers, the participants of Peking University, Sichuan University and Shangda University arrived at the scene in a systematic manner. With the arrival of spring, an archaeological work in the Sanxingdui sacrifice area focusing on the cleaning of excavated cultural relics and emergency protection has also ushered in a group of fresh forces.
This excavation season was quickly pushed to the high point with a high-end consultation meeting of cultural protection experts. In early March after the Lantern Festival, with the successful prevention and control of the new crown epidemic that may trigger the large-scale movement of people during the Spring Festival, travel outings have gradually normalized.
In view of the situation that more and more ivory was cleared out of the scene of the sacrifice area, Mr. Wu Shunqing, a research librarian of the Jingzhou Cultural Protection Center , an important participant in the protection of cultural relics sites (the chief expert of the excavation of the cultural protection in the sacrifice area) and Mr. Ma Jiayu, a senior expert in the field of cultural relics protection in Sichuan (the chief consultant of the excavation of the cultural protection in the sacrifice area), focused on the key issues such as the excavation method and cultural relic extraction of the third and fourth pits, and discussed with the person in charge of the excavation cabin in the consultation room.
Archaeological excavation greenhouse (Photo: Li Mingbin)
In the face of the remote large-screen display of 8K high-definition picture quality that can be magnified several times and aimed at the cultural relics in the pit, it can basically be "clear-sighted", which fully demonstrates the powerful role played by modern scientific and technological means in the judgment of archaeological sites. At the same time, it effectively avoids the gathering of people in the cabin, which may cause interference and impact on the cabin environment. The consultation made it clear that after the horizontal excavation of the 10 cm layer of the no. 3 pit, the excavation method was adjusted, and the surrounding fill was directly cleaned up with the shape of the artifact, fully revealing the contours and details of the artifacts. Pit 4 continues to check the details and draw line maps of the ivory layer.
According to the arrangement, in late March, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage will hold an important progress work meeting on the major project of "Archaeology china" in Sichuan, and it is reported that this is the first time that the conference has been held outside Beijing, which shows the degree of attention and significance. The participating units gathered the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the School of Archaeology and Literature of Peking University, the College of Literature of Shanghai University, the College of Archaeology and Archaeology of Sichuan University, the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the Sichuan Museum, the China Silk Museum, the Jingzhou Cultural Protection Center, the Sanxingdui Museum, the Jinsha Ruins Museum and the Party Committee and Government of Deyang City, Guanghan City, and the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. It is conceivable that during the meeting, the judgments or answers from various leaders on the scene will be extremely challenging and inspiring. The meeting was approaching, and a pre-war tranquility enveloped the emotions of all participants.
In a subsequent press release, important issues of public concern were disclosed in detail.
Carefully check K4 ivory information (Photo: Li Mingbin)
(ii)
At this time, the no. 3 pit with the largest number of outcrops and the richest categories has significantly accelerated the clean-up progress of the most detailed. At one point, there were more than 20 people in various types of workers in the cabin, and inside and outside the pit, the one-piece protective clothing was busy. At the same time, due to the continuous appearance and gradual connection of utensils, the pit can stand in fewer and fewer places, the area is getting smaller and smaller, some small areas are often have to kneel on a small piece of foam mat, clean, find edges, maximize the contours and details of the utensils, while a bag of soil is loaded outward, delivering soil, very physically draining, therefore, have to use "wheel tactics", by two or three people take turns to clean up an artifact, but also must ensure the standardization and safety of the cleaning work, really can be described as "snail shell to do the dojo" " Dancing ballet" in the utensil pit.
Almost in this charming early spring, the news of the successful addition of an undergraduate major in archaeology came to Shanghai University, and the teachers and students of the archaeology and cultural discipline of Shanghai University rejoiced. This is a very good thing.
Most likely a new instrument (Photo: Li Mingbin)
A tense and orderly busy, about 1.7 meters below the mouth of the third pit, there was a "grand situation" that resembled the artifacts of the second pit of that year: bronze and ivory, dense and superimposed, and seemed to be distributed in groups. From north to south, the northernmost end has a round mouth bronze figure, a silk and a square mouth figure, which can be identified at least 5 pieces; the southeast is an ivory half pressed with a bronze head; further south, the middle of the pit is about 6 square meters of small space, more than 20 ivory and bronze masks (face down, the lateral spacing of the ears is more than 1 meter wide), the trunk of the sacred tree with flower buds, and most likely the new type of hand (claw type, rolled up) altarpiece are interlaced and pressed, and the tension of the ivory arc and the "ivory staggering" are stacked, effectively expanding and extending the "picture" The effect, the whole scene is very visual impact; the most surprising thing is that in the southwest of the pit, a "newly assembled" bronze statue is displayed horizontally, the artifact is broken, and there is a bull horn, a tiger head ring, a dragon body, and a capuchin combination animal shape on the shoulder, with the head facing the bottom of the artifact. The rare plate bottom is about 3 cm apart on the east side, a pair of left hands (outside) press the right hand (inside), the east side of the salute-like "arch", the fingers are slender and narrow, the nails are very realistic, under the bright green bronze oxidation color, it is particularly eye-catching. The overall shape is very different from the bronze Da Li ren hand excavated in 1986, or it is another form of sanxing pile hand worship. Are the "arches" and "newly assembled" bronze statues one? Confirmations or errors to be cleaned up in the next step.
The above paragraph text is more like the writing of the archaeological visit diary, but it is not so, and it seems that it is impossible to record the discoveries and cognition at that time relatively accurately. Right is a notation.
With more and more ivory excavations, densely staggered and stacked in the middle and south of the third pit, and at the same time, there is a layer relationship between superimposed and superimposed bronzes of "horizontal seven vertical eight", how to better protect the cleaned out utensils of different materials is really pleasing and worrying.
In order to avoid the tusks unearthed from pits 3 and 4 from cracking or even pulverizing due to rapid water loss, the ivory was covered with large plastic wrap and warm towels.
By the eve of the live broadcast in March, all the soil filled on the first layer of pit 3 had been cleaned up, and the utensils were counted: 127 ivory, 109 bronzes, and 8 jade. A sci-fi, high-precision scan unfolds.
As of early March, incomplete statistics, the first excavation of pit No. 4 totaled more than 400 excavated cultural relics, not including a large number of ivory and ivory ware, truly "live up to expectations".
After filling the pit with soil or all bagging and numbering, the "Lalala" minivan is rented and transported to the archaeological finishing base.
<b>[If you have a news thread, please report to us, once adopted, there is a fee reward.] Newspaper WeChat attention: ihxdsb, newspaper QQ: 3386405712].</b>