On the high mound, the soldiers in cowhide armor saw from a distance, in the depths of the desert, a wisp of lonely smoke rose straight up; in the half-hidden underground barracks, the veteran soldiers who had been on the edge for many years said that "the mother does not need to be sad", and the message was transmitted for thousands of miles, and it was difficult to tell the deep feelings...
Overlooking the ruins of the Kiyak Kuduk Beacon (drone photo taken on June 15, 2021). Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Hu Xingjun)
Among the top ten new archaeological discoveries in China in 2021, which has just been revealed, the site of The Flint in Xinjiang's Keyak Kuduk is prominently listed. With the excavation of a large number of precious cultural relics, this Tang Dynasty beacon hidden in the desert no man's land on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert has whisked away the sand and dust and recreated the style of the Silk Road, and one after another mighty and brave Tang Dynasty soldiers have come to us and told us about the "fresh" feelings of home and country that have been "alive" for thousands of years...
cruel! "Yellow sand wearing golden armor"
The ruins of Keyak Kuduk Beacon (hereinafter referred to as Shadui Beacon) are located in the desert uninhabited area of Yuli County, Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, more than 200 kilometers southeast, which is the famous Loulan Ancient City. From 2019 to 2021, the Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted archaeological excavations here, which is the first active archaeological excavation of the Tang Dynasty Beacon in China.
Overlooking the excavation site of the Kiyak Kuduk Beacon (drone photo taken on December 11, 2021). Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Hu Xingjun)
The ruins of Shaduifeng are located on a large red willow sand pile on the north bank of the Peacock River. In the past three years, archaeologists have excavated a total area of 2,300 square meters, cleaned up 12 sites such as housing sites, wooden fences, ponds, etc., and unearthed more than 1,400 cultural relics such as documents.
The surprising excavated cultural relics not only revealed the basic pattern of the Tang Dynasty Beacon, restored many details of the clothing, food, housing and transportation of the Shubian soldiers at that time, but also clarified the name of the Kyake Kuduk Beacon in the Tang Dynasty - Sand Pile Beacon.
The main body of the Ruins of Kākkuduk Beacon (taken on November 28, 2019). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhou Ye
The sand pile is built on the east side of the top of the sand pile, and is made of three or four layers of adobe with a layer of reed grass and a poplar wood in the middle. In the loess on its west side, three houses were excavated and built using the "land reduction method", which contained relics such as kang, stoves, and pillar holes, which experts initially concluded that were barracks at that time.
On the south side of the sand pile, there are ruins such as earthen mounds, steppings, wooden fences, and ponds. "The middle of the pond is deep, the edge is shallow and regular, this kind of pond, later known as waterlogged dam water, is widely used in the northwest region." Hu Xingjun, leader of the Shaduifeng Archaeological Project and a research librarian at the Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, believes that the discovery of the pond has solved the mystery of the drinking water source for soldiers and livestock in the Tang Dynasty.
Ponds excavated at the site of the Kākkuduk Beacon (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Hu Xingjun)
On a leeward slope next to the site, archaeologists found a pile of objects that had been covered by sand for more than a thousand years, which buried a large number of paper, wood, textiles and other relics, and experts exclaimed that they had found "a small archive".
A large number of crop specimens such as wheat, millet, millet, jujube, peach and apricot kernels have also been unearthed. "It can be found that these are the main types of food for the Shubian soldiers, but when a large number of fish bones, fishing nets and well-preserved wooden animal clips were discovered, we speculated that there may have been a shortage of food at that time, which needed to be replenished by fishing and hunting animals." Hu Xingjun said.
Members of the Archaeological Task Force carry out sand dredging and sifting at the site of the Kākkuduk Beacon (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Hu Xingjun)
At the same time, archaeologists have found the bones of large animals that can be used as mounts, such as horses, cattle, donkeys, and camels. Interestingly, the dog's bones were also found, indicating that the alert and loyal dog was a good companion of the Tang Dynasty Shubian soldiers.
Fragments of armor excavated from the site of the Kākkuduk Beacon (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)
The pieces of cowhide armor made of red and brownish yellow leather rope and hemp rope are still thick and tough over thousands of years, and also allow future generations to glimpse the style of the Tang Dynasty Shubian soldiers "wearing golden armor in a hundred battles in yellow sand".
buff! What kind of historical facts are "buried" under the sand pile
"Meeting" Sha Duifeng and "talking" to Tang Dynasty soldiers not only allows people to understand the food, clothing, shelter, three meals and four seasons of the Tang Dynasty Shubian soldiers, but also reproduces in detail the scenes of their work and life, but also unveils many little-known historical facts, confirming the tang Dynasty's effective jurisdiction over the western region.
Hu Xingjun (first from left), a research librarian at the Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and the team members sorted out the excavated documents (file photos). Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Liu Yusheng)
Based on evidence such as the carbon-fourteen assay, experts have deduced that the use of sand piles was about 100 years between 692 and 790 AD. Excavated documents also show that the ruins of Sandui Beacon were under the jurisdiction of Yanqi Town, one of the four towns in Anxi in the Tang Dynasty, and was also a place of governance by youyi, which belonged to a grass-roots military management agency on the "Loulan Road", a military defense line in the eastern border of Yanqi Town.
Hu Xingjun said that Fenghepu was the most basic military structure of the Tang Dynasty, and the Youyi Institute was the superior management agency of Fenghepu. The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty who guarded the Beacon were called "Beacons", and their leader was "Beacon Commander", whose main work was to release beacons and patrol the guards.
Historical materials and archaeological discoveries show that Feng Flint is one of the border defense and early warning systems established by the mainland since the Zhou Dynasty, which was inherited and improved by the Tang Dynasty, mainly for the rapid transmission of border military information. Shaduifeng is located on the northern (middle) road of the Silk Road, and its location is very important.
Mujian excavated from the ruins of the Kākkuduk Beacon (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)
The documents and wooden janes picked up from the sand also appeared in many rare historical books. The names of military facilities and institutions such as Yulin Town, Tonghai Town, Maze Town, Cover Ear Guard, Yanqi Guard Capture, Mapu Feng, Hengling Beacon, pig spring valley shop, and other military facilities, as well as the names of defense routes such as Loulan Road, Maze Thief Road, and Yanqi Road, have "refreshed" the cognition of the present generation and filled in the gaps in the historical documents on the records of the four towns of Anxi in the Tang Dynasty.
More importantly, the vast majority of the documents unearthed at the Sandui beacon site are written in Chinese, and some are written in Yanqi, and some documents also mention "Yu Khotanese soldiers". Hu Xingjun said that these discoveries confirm that Chinese characters have been the official lingua franca of the local government for more than 1,000 years, and the ancestors of the Western Regions and soldiers from the Central Plains guarded the frontier and jointly guarded the tranquility of their homeland.
At the end of a day's excavations, archaeologists standing on mounds "rubbing nets" (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Hu Xingjun)
Song Xinchao, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said that most of the excavated documents belonged to the Tang Dynasty's Kaiyuan to Tianbao years, "the complete Site of Beacon Flint was exposed, and a large number of Tang Dynasty documents and historical relics were unearthed, indicating that the influence of the Tang Dynasty at that time had extended beyond the Onion Ridge, and the Tang Dynasty's operation of the Western Regions may have reached its peak." ”
Rong Xinjiang, a professor in the Department of History at Peking University, believes that Sanduifeng strongly proves the Tang Dynasty's firm control over the western region and the continuous maintenance of the road administration of the Silk Road.
feeling! After a thousand years of "freshness"
The sand pile is silent, and the beacons reflect the mountains and rivers. Among the many cultural relics unearthed from the sand pile, one by one, the handwritten xunxun was the bravery of the shubian general Wanli to go to the rong plane; the letters and ink marks were the concern of the officers and men of the border cypriots "family letters to ten thousand gold".
Shazhou, Hezhou, Yongzhou, Qizhou, Fengzhou... These place names, which appear repeatedly in the excavated letters, are about the present-day Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Anhui, Henan, Hebei and other places, indicating that many of the Tang Dynasty Shubian soldiers came from the Central Plains and other regions. Since the establishment of the two major protectorates of Anxi and Beiting, they have gone forward and succeeded, with the ambition and pride of being loyal and courageous to serve the country and make meritorious achievements, far away from their homeland, guarding the frontier and guarding the frontier, ensuring the tranquility of the ancient western region and the smooth flow of the Silk Road.
According to expert analysis, in the past, the transportation was inconvenient, and it took several months for the soldiers to rush from their hometowns to the western regions on foot, horseback riding, etc. In the desert where eating and drinking are extremely difficult, they have been guarding for many years. Unearthed documents record that some of the Shubian soldiers with outstanding military achievements not only received awards and commendations from the Central Dynasty, but also enjoyed special preferential treatment policies after demobilization and return to the fields, but some of them also had difficulty returning to their hometowns for the rest of their lives.
"Disturbing the side of the sorrow can not be listened to, high autumn moon shines on the Great Wall." For the soldiers who fight for the country, their fathers, wives and children must be forever concerned. Among all the cultural relics unearthed in Shaduifeng, the most touching thing is a family letter full of affection.
Fragments of family letters excavated from the site of The Kākkuduk Beacon (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)
"Shaochun is still cold", "Extremely hot in midsummer", "Autumn is getting colder", "Winter is over"... It is hard to believe that such elegant and gentle words actually came from the pen of Yong Wuzi a thousand years ago. "Many of the unearthed family letters will begin with seasonal festivals, full of the subtle beauty of Chinese culture, and the ardent thoughts of their families are expressed in the weather conditions." Hu Xingjun said.
"The lady does not need to be worried, clean up the wheat and sheep, and do not let the degenerate..." This fragment of the family letter made the archaeologists involved in the interpretation deeply moved, thinking back to the time when they did not know which soldier who was away from home, so as to encourage his wife at home to maintain a good livelihood. In just a few lines, it was as if this iron-boned and tender man was standing in front of us. Hu Xingjun said.
Fragments of Han Pengfu excavated from the site of The Kyak Kuduk Beacon (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)
In addition to the hardships, the Tang Dynasty soldiers were also quite popular to read "novels". In Hu Xingjun's view, the biggest highlight of the archaeological achievements of the Sandui Beacon Site is that 883 pieces of paper documents and wooden janes have been excavated, which is the largest batch of Tang Dynasty Chinese documents excavated at the Domestic Beacon Site in recent years. Among them, manuscript fragments such as "Han Pengfu" and "YouXian Grotto" are literary works that were popular in the Tang Dynasty, and at the same time, there are also manuscripts of traditional Texts of the Central Plains such as "Filial Piety" and "Thousand Character Text". Hu Xingjun, who has received the most precious treasure, said: "Piecing together these fragments of documents and interpreting them bit by bit, it is as if you have traveled through time and space and talked to the Shubian soldiers more than 1200 years ago." "The long history of Chinese civilization can also be seen from this.
Wang Wei, member of the Faculty of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and director of the Department of History, believes that the beacon sites in Xinjiang are an important part of the resources of the Great Wall of China and an important representative of the national memory. The archaeological achievements of the Shaduifeng site are important physical teaching materials to explain the diversity and integration of the Chinese nation, enhance the historical credibility, activate the historical scene, and play a very important role in carrying forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture and condensing the sense of the Chinese national community.
This year, the Great Wall National Cultural Park (Xinjiang section) project was officially launched, as one of the key projects, the restoration and protection project of the Tang Dynasty Beacon Site of Keyak Kuduk will also start. Hu Xingjun was full of enthusiasm, "looking forward to this thousand-year-old Tang Dynasty beacon site to become a living teaching material for telling history and conducting patriotic education." ”
Text reporters: Ding Jiangang, Zhou Ye, Pan Ying
Participating reporters: Yang Hao, Shao Yibo
Poster Design: Yin Zhelun
New Media Editor: Feng Xiaoqing
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