Renderings of The Archaeological and Cultural Relics Protection Base of Zhejiang Province. Provided by Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Hangzhou, February 16 (Tong Xiaoyu) "Our goal is to build it into a national key regional archaeological specimen warehouse, the systematic preservation, restoration, collation and research of excavated cultural relics specimens, so that cultural relics have a 'home'." On February 16, when talking about the upcoming construction of the Zhejiang Provincial Archaeological and Cultural Relics Protection Base Project, Xiang Ming, director of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said.
On the same day, the groundbreaking ceremony of major cultural and tourism projects in Zhejiang Province was held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, and the Zhejiang Archaeological and Cultural Relics Protection Base Project was put into construction. It is reported that the base is adjacent to the Liangzhu Ancient City Archaeological Site Park, which integrates the functions of archaeological heritage protection, cultural relics sorting and restoration, and archaeological science and technology research.
Zhejiang is one of the ten major cultural relics provinces in China, and nearly half of the Shangshan ruins, the source of 10,000-year-old rice cultivation, the Liangzhu ruins of the 5,000-year-old Civilization History of China, and the early sites known to China 9,000 years ago, are in Zhejiang.
In October 2021, the General Office of the State Council issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Protection of Cultural Relics and Scientific and Technological Innovation", proposing to improve the ability of archaeological work and the level of scientific and technological archaeology, and build archaeological specimen warehouses in key national areas.
Based on this, the construction of the Zhejiang Archaeological and Cultural Relics Protection Base Project was launched.
"In fact, we have been planning this project since 2016." Shi Xiao, deputy director of the office of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and director of the base project office, mentioned that for a long time, a large number of cultural relics specimens unearthed in various parts of Zhejiang have lacked sufficient conditions for preservation and sorting.
"You can see the cultural relics excavated from various periods and places in the museum, and they have detailed identification and description. However, behind each excavated cultural relic specimen is a huge amount of information collation and research work. Direction Ming said.
He introduced that there were also temporary warehouses in Zhejiang before, but after years of archaeological excavations, the temporary warehouses can no longer carry the increasing number of excavated cultural relics specimens. "Many specimens are scattered all over Zhejiang, and neither the storage nor the research is in place."
Groundbreaking ceremony site. Courtesy of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism
In 2021, Zhejiang launched the archaeological "Daystar" plan, proposing to strive for a world-class archaeological institution.
In Xiang Ming's view, the construction of the zhejiang archaeology and cultural relics protection base project is a powerful measure to strive for world-class archaeological institutions in hardware construction. The original intention of the project was to "build a home" for the excavated cultural relics specimens so that they could be properly kept.
It is reported that after the completion of the project, it will be equipped with modern facilities and equipment such as archaeological specimen storage, protection and restoration, analysis and testing, micro-environment control, data storage, etc., and will collect, research and display cultural relics excavated from Archaeology in Zhejiang Province, and become a comprehensive archaeological and cultural relics protection base integrating archaeological heritage protection, cultural relics sorting and restoration, and archaeological science and technology research.
Yang Jianwu, a member of the party group of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and director of the Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, said that this will solve the bottleneck that has long hindered the development of Zhejiang's archaeology. The construction of archaeological specimen warehouses in national key areas will also provide academic support for major projects and research topics such as "Exploring the Source of Chinese Civilization", "Archaeological China" and "Zhejiang Archaeology 'Rising Star' Plan".
In addition to the construction of archaeological specimen warehouses, Yang Jianwu said that Zhejiang also strives to build the base into the southern base of the ancient Chinese material culture gene bank, radiating the Yangtze River Delta and even the southern region, and creating a platform for archaeological research and cultural exchanges in the southern region.
Digital intelligence is a distinctive identity of Zhejiang. Shi Xiao said that in the future, a digital display area for Zhejiang archaeology and Chinese civilization archaeology will be built at the base, and the creative transformation of Zhejiang archaeological achievements will be realized by digital means to make cultural relics "alive". At the same time, relying on the special facilities and study and exchange places for edutainment, we will create high-quality research projects.
In order to do a good job in the scientific and technological archaeology research work of the base, Xiang Ming said that at present, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology is planning the first batch of expansion and recruitment, some of which are scientific and technological archaeology professionals.
It is reported that the construction period of the base project is 24 months. "We want to build the base into a cultural highland in Zhejiang and even In China, especially in archaeology." Directions are clear. (End)