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Guangming Daily reporter Li Yun correspondent Ning Qi
When it comes to archaeology, do you think of a group of men, with a sun on their heads and straw hats, crouching in square pits, carefully chopping the soil with a small shovel? Dirty on sunny days, mud on rainy days, wind and sun, such a harsh working environment is obviously less "friendly" to women. However, with the development of archaeology, more and more women have joined this team, and more and more women have emerged in the archaeological community, truly holding up half of the archaeological sky.
On the occasion of this year's "March 8th" festival, this magazine interviewed representatives of three generations of female archaeologists: An Jiayao, a leader of the older generation of female archaeologists and engaged in archaeological excavations in The Sui and Tang Dynasties, Zhou Bisu, an outstanding female among mesozoic archaeologists and director of the Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology who has a deep relationship with the Toast site, and He Wei, an associate researcher of the Tibet Archaeological Research Institute who led five female team members to excavate the Sandalungo cemetery on the Tibetan plateau.
Due to the needs of the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, our interviews can only be conducted online. But across the mobile phone screen, we can still clearly feel that the three female archaeologists, in different eras, facing different difficulties, have the same tenacity, leaving their own color on the archaeological cause of the mainland. A glimpse of the whole leopard, the women in the archaeological community with their own achievements can not be ignored to really write down - who said that women are inferior to men!
1. An Jiayao: Proud that archaeology can benefit people's livelihood
As a leading expert in Han and Tang archaeology, An Jiayao's original dream was not archaeology.
When the high school was divided into arts and sciences, An Jiayao chose science and engineering. After graduating from high school in the summer of 1966 and canceling the college entrance examination, she went to the Heilongjiang Construction Corps to become an agricultural worker, and after marriage, she was transferred to teach at a third-line factory in Longxi, Gansu Province. "At the grassroots level, I met a lot of talented and ambitious people, and I gradually relaxed my mind and did a good job in my current work. However, I always think that not having a college education is a regret in life. When the college entrance examination was resumed in 1977, An Jiayao applied. Principal Zhang of the children's school said: "What university you are studying for, we have always used you as a college student." If you want to go to graduate school, we agree. A word opened a window.
"But it has been more than ten years since I left high school, and it is more difficult to pick up mathematics, physics and chemistry again. My father, An Zhimin, was an archaeologist who had some knowledge of archaeology. After hard work, in 1979, I was admitted to the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as a graduate student in the Department of Archaeology, and my supervisor was Professor Su Bai of the Archaeology Department of the Department of History of Peking University, and I embarked on the road of archaeology ever since. ”
Recent photo of An Jiayao The picture is provided by the interviewee
In 1982, after graduating from graduate school, An Jiayao worked at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The research basis of archaeology is fieldwork excavation work, and she was assigned to the Xi'an Tangcheng excavation team in the Han and Tang Research Laboratory. "From october 1982 to the excavation of the Eastern Dynasty Hall of the Daming Palace of Tang Chang'an until my retirement in 2013, I have been in the Tangcheng team, with the main academic goal of excavating and studying Tang Chang'an City." An Jiayao said.
She believes that archaeology is an unpopular discipline, and archaeologists who stick to the field are people who are indifferent to fame and fortune and take archaeology as their lifelong career. "Most of the predecessors of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences are such people, such as Mr. Ma Dezhi, the veteran captain of the Tangcheng team, who takes archaeology as his life and has become a model for future generations." In this atmosphere, An Jiayao fell more and more in love with archaeology.
At the beginning of reform and opening up, the biggest problem of archaeological work was people's misunderstanding of archaeology and disregard for cultural heritage. During the excavations at Daming Palace, local farmers often complained: "These monuments have harmed us, and we can't build factories and build high-rise buildings." An Jiayao recalled at that time, quite touched: "Yes, the farmers in the Daming Palace ruins saw that the farmers in other places were getting rich, and the Daming Palace ruins were the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units announced by the State Council, and large-scale construction on the sites was not allowed." Farmers were resentful, and it was difficult to carry out archaeological work on the site. ”
In the 1980s and 1990s, the contradiction between urban construction and the protection of cultural sites was prominent. In 1985, in conjunction with the construction of the Xi'an Baimiao substation, the archaeological team excavated part of the ruins of Tang Ximing Temple. Ximing Temple is one of the four major Buddhist temples in Tang Chang'an City, and Xuanzang mainly translated and taught the scriptures at Ximing Temple after he returned to Chang'an. Stone tea mills and more than 200 bronze Buddha statues inscribed with the inscription "Ximing Temple Stone Tea Mill" have been excavated from the site, confirming that this is the site of Ximing Temple. Despite this, it did not change the fate of the transformation of this place into a white temple substation. "We don't have the strength to protect such an important cultural heritage, and seeing the disappearance of heritage is an eternal pain for our archaeologists." After many years, her regret can still be clearly felt.
Is the contradiction between construction and protection really irreconcilable? An Jiayao has been thinking. It is also based on this that when it comes to her achievements, An Jiayao first thinks not of her personal academic achievements, but of the help brought by the archaeological excavations she participated in to the later site protection work, local economic development, and improvement of residents' lives.
From 1995 to 1996, the archaeological excavations of the HanyuanDian site of the Tang Daming Palace clarified the layout of the Hanyuandian and provided a scientific basis for the protection of the Hanyuandian site. After that, the excavations of Tailiu Pond and Danfeng Gate prompted the Xi'an Municipal Government to make up its mind to build the Daming Palace National Heritage Park and move 100,000 residents out of the site. This not only protects the site, but also completely improves the living conditions of the indigenous people. The original dirty and chaotic "three disregards" area has now become the green lung of the city, injecting new energy into the local economic development. After the environment of the heritage park became beautiful, it also led to the surrounding housing prices. Nowadays, it is not only a leisure place for Xi'an citizens and a classroom for teenagers to learn history, but also a tourist business card for Xi'an and a punch card for foreign tourists.
In 1996, An Jiayao excavated the site at the Hanyuan Temple
In October 2010, Daming Palace National Heritage Park opened, and in June 2014, it became a heritage site in the World Cultural Heritage "Silk Road: Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor". When World Heritage experts visited the site in 2013, they saw that the archaeological work was orderly, and the residents who moved out were satisfied with the resettlement, and they gave a high evaluation to the protection and utilization of the Daming Palace site. "I was very proud to accompany the expedition at that time, because our archaeological work not only solves academic problems, but also helps cultural heritage to be integrated into the construction of the city and into the lives of residents, and as an archaeologist, I am sincerely happy." Speaking of this, you can feel her joy across the screen.
As an older generation of female archaeologists, An Jiayao said that the current working conditions are much better than before, but the society's requirements for women's family roles seem to be higher, and female archaeologists still face many difficulties, and more wisdom and dedication are needed to balance work and life. At the same time, she also sent a message to the late generations: Now archaeology has come out of the cold door, the state attaches importance to it, and the public is paying more and more attention. In this excellent situation, we young archaeologists must not forget our original intentions, maintain a sense of normalcy, "seeking truth and seeking truth, restoring history, and inheriting Chinese civilization is the mission of our archaeologists." An Jiayao said.
2. Zhou Bisu: It is fate, but also a dream
"I always say that I have a relationship with the Yang toast of Bozhou, especially in a certain year after many years of accumulation, and suddenly return to this industry, and it is precisely this theme, is it a fate in the dark?" Speaking of his archaeological career, Zhou Bisu has been closely focusing on the archaeological work of the Yang Toast Site in Bozhou.
Growing up in the arms of the remains of the Yang toast in Bozhou, Guizhou, he grew up in the rendering of the Yang family legend, engaged in the excavation and research of the toast site after engaging in archaeology, and led the sea dragon hoard and other sites to win many awards... From hearing about it to going deep into the archaeology of Toast, Zhou Bisu, director of the Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, shared with reporters her fate with the Yang's Toast Site in Bozhou.
"My home is only 10 kilometers away from Hailong Hoard, and Gaoping Town, where I study at Gaoping Middle School in Zunyi County, has always been the center of activities of the Yang clan in Bozhou on the north side of its Sizhi." The prominent and peaceful war of the Yang toast family in Bozhou has become well-known in Zunyi, including the ruins of the Famous Sea Dragon Hoard, which later became a world cultural heritage, and the last toast, Yang Yinglong. The accumulation of bits and pieces of the history of Yang's toast in Bozhou from childhood has closely bonded Zhou Bisu and The Toast of Bozhou, so that when he later worked at the Yang Yue Tomb Museum and began to systematically understand this history, "it feels like the past that happened under the eyes, very kind."
After graduating from Sichuan University in 1991 with a major in archaeology, Zhou Bisu returned to his hometown and worked at the Yang Cang Tomb Museum in Zunyi City (then called the Museum of Cultural Relics), continuing his love affair with the Yang Toast of Bozhou. She launched a round of comprehensive investigation of the remains of Yang's toast, collecting almost all the excavated cultural relics and measuring the remains of Yang's toast that had been found.
Zhou Bisu cleaning up Yang Jiong's epitaph Image courtesy of the interviewee
In April 2012, 20 years later, Zhou Bisu entered the Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and continued the frontier with archaeology. This also brought a certain pressure and encouragement, away from professional archaeology work for more than 20 years, for professional knowledge needs to be re-picked up. She seized every opportunity to make up for it and gave full play to the Guizhou spirit of "catching up with the latecomers" to catch up.
Speaking of his most accomplished thing, Zhou Bisu believes that he has always maintained a passion for the past ten years, and has taken the road of "promoting Guizhou archaeology" with everyone out of the road and blossoming. Speaking of which, she is passionate. She and archaeology are really "two-way rush", and it is her love that prompts her to go all out in archaeological work, and together with the team, she has won a grand slam in the major archaeological awards of the Yang Toast Relic of Bozhou.
In addition to the Toast Site, the archaeological work of the prehistoric cave site has also been fruitful, and the Niupo Cave and Zhaoguo Cave Sites in Gui'an New District have won the national "Six" and "Top Ten" Archaeological New Discovery Awards. "Passion is creativity!" The whole house was like chicken blood.
Archaeological work, confronted with the remnants of silence, work either in the wilderness or in the study, seems to be very lonely and lonely. But Zhou Bisu enjoyed these things. She said that when you sink into the subject of the study, you can appreciate the fun of "the golden house in the book, the beauty in the book", and the joy of unveiling one puzzle after another. "In 1999, I participated in the provincial archaeological institute's trial excavation of the ruins of the new royal palace of the Sea Dragon Hoard, and the autumn was high and refreshing, the air on the Sea Dragon Hoard was particularly fresh, the red seeds of the mountains reflected the blue sky, and the breeze gently blew the reeds; Chaotianguan ushered in the rising sun in the east, and Wan'an Pass sent away the sunset; the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the bright moon, and the fairy-like day." She fell into sweet memories, "Enjoying nature is really a great benefit for field archaeologists." ”
Growing up listening to the story of Yang's Toast and Hailong Hoard, he accumulated twenty years of Bozhou Toast History and Cultural Relics in the Museum, and finally returned to the road of Toast Archaeology and introduced the Chinese Toast Ruins to the world. Zhou Bisu said: "This is a leap from quantitative change to qualitative change. I, because of the archaeological work and support of the team of Bozhou Yang's Toast, have been sublimated. And some of the wishes and ideas of many years ago have been implemented and better answered, so the dream has come true. ”
3. He Wei: "My daughter is my greatest achievement"
In March 2021, the Sandalungo Cemetery in Zada County, Tibet was selected as one of the "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China" in 2020, and a small fire was set in the circle. The excavation was done by a "women's archaeological team", and the leader of the team, He Wei, was a "post-85". In her, the reporter saw the tenacity of being an archaeologist and the tenderness of being a mother. In the course of talking to her, she often said that "there is nothing that cannot be handled, just a matter of method". In dealing with the problems of work and family, He Wei always faces them positively and never avoids difficulties.
He Wei sorting out archaeological data The pictures were provided by the interviewee
In 2010, after graduating with a master's degree from Northwest University, He Wei came to the Institute of Cultural Relics Protection of the Tibet Autonomous Region. For nearly 3 years, she did not have the opportunity to participate in front-line archaeological work, which made her depressed. Looking back on that year, He Wei said that although there were many confusions at that time, it was the experience of the past three years that seemed to have nothing to do with archaeology that paved the way for her to become an archaeological leader later. For example, to make an acceptance, it requires 100% accuracy, not more than a dime and not less than a dime, and the caution when doing finances has many similarities with the meticulousness and steadfastness of later archaeological work. Poverty alleviation in the small border village allowed her to understand the needs of the grass-roots people and learn how to interact with them; at the subsequent archaeological site, when dealing with local villagers, she was able to understand their psychology from the perspective of the villagers, "for example, they require every family in the village to have someone to work at the archaeological site, because this is an income-generating opportunity that they may seize." If it weren't for that previous poverty alleviation experience, I wouldn't have understood."
In 2013, after his work in the village, He Wei returned to his long-cherished archaeological post.
The field archaeology in Tibet has a short period of time, but it is extremely intense. The environmental conditions of high cold and high altitude determine that archaeologists cannot engage in field work continuously for a long time. Moreover, compared with other regions, the cost of doing archaeology in Tibet is very high, and ending it a day early can save a lot of money, which also requires everyone to increase the daily labor intensity. For example, to do archaeological surveys, go out during the day to investigate, at least 10 hours; come back to sort out the data, even if it is just to classify, fill in the record time, record the person, record the content of these very simple work, it takes one or two hours, so that you have to work at least 12 hours a day. If the journey is long, it will take another hour to get back and forth. Such a work intensity, in such a cold and oxygen-deficient place, continuous work for a month, basically reached the limit of the human body. But in Sandalungo, He Wei led the girls of the "Women's Archaeological Team" to stay for more than three consecutive months, which is a record-breaking thing.
Engaged in field archaeology work, long-term stationing in the field, in the care of the family is not enough, which is also a common problem encountered by archaeologists. Long-term absence from his daughter has accompanied He Wei with a lot of guilt for his daughter on the road to academic achievements.
My daughter is seven years old, and every time her mother leaves home to work, she will be sad. When he was more than two years old, He Wei coaxed his daughter to ask her: "You say, can your mother not work?" The daughter said, "Yes! Mom, you can not work, I do not drink milk powder, I do not want toys. The childish words set off huge waves in He Wei's heart.
When he was four years old, when He Wei left home, his daughter took a photo and put it in their respective mobile phones, and the mother and daughter would look at the photos whenever they missed each other; when they were five years old, before leaving, their daughter gave He Wei a shell and said: "If you want me, you can listen to the shell, there is my voice in the shell." Last year, my daughter drew two love hearts, sandwiched behind her and her mother's phone case. These small souvenirs that carry the feelings of remembrance have been kept by both mother and daughter.
"I don't know what will happen to her when I leave again this year." When He Wei said this, he mixed expectations and unwilling entanglements. Referring to his daughter's debt and his daughter's understanding, He Wei once choked up, "She is really beyond my imagination, very mature and sensible, and has helped me a lot in this matter, otherwise I really can't work with peace of mind." ”
Talking about his most proud achievements, He Wei said that the achievements in his work must be the archaeology of the Sandalungo cemetery. But in fact, without my daughter's understanding, I can't have career achievements, so "my daughter is my greatest achievement."
Guangming Daily (2022-03-20 12th edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily