What does archaeological work bring to people? The experts say so!

"Shang poor bi fell into the Yellow Spring, and used his hands and feet to find something." The museum's vast collection, which is in front of the public, is indispensable to the efforts of archaeologists.

On February 9, Gao Dalun, a well-known archaeologist and executive director of the Chinese Archaeological Society, held a lecture on "Why Archaeology?" at the Caotang Cafe of Du Fu Caotang Museum in Chengdu. "For the title, it will bring a vivid archaeological science sharing meeting to the citizens."

From the birth and development of the archaeological industry to the growth, to the methods, meanings and values of archaeology, more than two hours of sharing allowed the audience to understand a lot of new knowledge.

"From the beginning of the excavations in 1921 by Anderson, Yuan Fuli and others at the Neolithic ruins in Yangshao Village, Shichi County, Henan Province, the archaeology industry is regarded as the starting point for the birth of China." Since then, in the 1950s, the archaeological industry has begun to grow, Gao Dalun said. Peking University has held a large-scale archaeology training course, and archaeology teams have been set up in the province one after another, which has basically established a framework for archaeological management and excavation research.

Gao Dalun said that after a hundred years of development, through the minds and hands of archaeologists, hundreds of thousands of ancient sites have been found across the country. The rich historical, artistic and scientific information unearthed from these sites has played an irreplaceable role in the display of museums of the corresponding categories.

He introduced that as far as the exhibition of historical and cultural museums is concerned, the permanent exhibition "Ancient China" exhibited by the National Museum accounts for more than 90% of the excavated cultural relics, and provincial museums such as Henan, Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Hebei, Sichuan, Yunnan, almost all provincial museums have ancient history and culture exhibitions, and the cultural relics unearthed by archaeological excavations account for the absolute majority.

"Archaeology has also found a large number of cultural tourism resources for the country, changing the tourism route and pattern." Gao Dalun said that for example, because of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, Sanxingdui, Mawangdui, and the Tomb of the King of Nanyue, it has helped Xi'an, Chengdu, Changsha, Guangzhou, etc. to become popular tourist destinations to a certain extent. In addition, the contributions of archaeologists are also indispensable to the application for world heritage sites such as Yin Ruins, the Silk Road Tianshan Corridor, goguryeo ruins, and Liangzhu sites.

In Gao Gaolun's view, archaeological work has brought both material and spiritual achievements to society. Archaeologists have included 2 million years ago to modern times in the scope of their work, archaeological work to confirm, supplement, correct history, fill in many gaps, advance the history of faith, advance civilization, is an important support for improving cultural self-confidence.

Cover news reporter Dai Zhuxin