Exterior view of Shaanxi Archaeological Museum. Photo by reporter Wang Xi
From the beginning of learning to use tools, the dawn of civilization shines on human beings, like the constant of the moon and the rising of the sun. Chinese living on the ancient land has never been left behind in the process of marching, so that this big country standing in the east of the world has formed the only complete civilization vein that has not been interrupted among the four major ancient civilizations in the world. This precious cultural heritage makes every Chinese feel confident and proud.
For five thousand years, Chinese civilization has continued.
Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang played the most brilliant and beautiful movement of ancient Chinese civilization.
Generation after generation of archaeologists, with a strong sense of home and country, have revealed the empirical evidence of the continuous evolution of Chinese civilization for 5,000 years... Reporter Guo Qing
A "school" for looking at history from an archaeological perspective
Shaanxi Archaeological Museum, a large-scale archaeological thematic museum covering an area of more than 16 hectares. The overall pattern of "one hall, one floor and five centers" covers museums, scientific research buildings, information centers, scientific and technological archaeology centers, public archaeology centers, visitor centers and logistics power centers, combining scientific research and display, integrating archaeological research, cultural relics protection, education and display, and cultural industries.
Let the public clearly understand where a cultural relic was originally buried, what methods archaeologists used to discover the cultural relic, and the material and shape of the cultural relics are products of which period in history... This is what makes the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum special.
"The first exhibition hall of the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum exhibits the original state and soil structure of the buried cultural relics, as well as the process of excavation and excavation of cultural relics." Zhong Jianrong, vice president of the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute, said, "The exhibition here is to place the oldest cultural relics at the bottom according to the archaeological method, along the historical context. The higher the cultural relics, the closer the burial time is to us, which is in line with the chronological order of cultural relics burial. ”
The Shaanxi Archaeological Museum collects more than 100,000 cultural relics excavated from various periods throughout the province, from pottery, jade and bronze to iron, lacquered wood, gold and silver. The cultural relics exhibition method adopted by the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum is to display the cultural relics in groups according to the type of cultural relics, from prehistory to the Ming and Qing dynasties. Representative cultural relics from various periods are gathered together, and changes in size, shape, and pattern are presented one by one in front of the visitors' eyes. By carefully tasting, visitors can learn to identify the historical age of cultural relics from the subtle changes in the shape and material of the artifacts, and feel the pace of the change of the times.
Restoring the excavation site, revealing the evolution and changes, showing the protection and restoration, and systematically embodying history, a new museum different from any museum appeared in Shaanxi, which attracted the attention of the industry and the society.
"This museum is a good 'school' where visitors can learn about artifacts from an archaeological point of view. If the 'trainees' who 'graduated' from here walk into other historical museums, they can identify the era and name of the artifacts there at a glance. The reporter who visited the museum could not help but sigh.
When archaeologists reveal one piece after another of historical physical evidence and present it to the public through modern communication methods, archaeology enters the public eye.
For most people, if they want to enhance their understanding of Chinese history through a cultural relic or a major historical event, it is inevitable that the lack of systematicness and integrity will lead to knowledge gaps. "The Shaanxi Archaeological Museum is to let the public understand the fragmentation of history and become systematic and complete through cultural relics." Zhong Jianrong said that the complete display of the evolution of historical civilization is not only the cultural need of the public, but also the original intention of building this museum. The Shaanxi Archaeological Museum adopts the exhibition method of displaying cultural relics from the excavation environment to the ontology changes, which makes it easy for visitors to understand the history of the land in chronological order.
Shaanxi Archaeological Museum Cultural Protection Science and Technology Exhibition Hall. Photo by reporter Wang Xi
A "history book" that condenses Chinese civilization
Shaanxi, an ancient land, under layers of loess soil treasures the evolution of Chinese civilization. From the Lantian Shangchen ruins 2 million years ago to the Nanzheng Scabies Cave site more than 10,000 years ago, Shaanxi has bred the primary embryos of human beings from barbarism to civilization. Xi'an Banpo, The Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum, Zhou Yuan Ruins, Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum, Han and Tang Dynasty Ruins, Ming and Qing Dynasty Ancient Buildings... The remains of Shaanxi's history are like a history book that condenses Chinese civilization, turning pages and pages to those who want to understand it and get close to it.
This ancient land buries the most wonderful memories of Chinese civilization, and every major archaeological discovery here has attracted the attention of the world. At the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum, the archaeological history of these major discoveries and excavated cultural relics are displayed.
In Shaanxi, there are many museums, Shaanxi History Museum, Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum, Xi'an Forest of Steles Museum and a number of old museums have long been famous at home and abroad, they either in the form of thematic topics, or in a comprehensive way, witness history, tell stories. Why is this museum named Shaanxi Archaeological Museum? Zhong Jianrong gave the answer: "Displaying the latest archaeological achievements, using historical records and excavated cultural relics to confirm each other, using cultural relics excavation site restoration and scientific and technological protection and restoration display, and presenting the whole process of cultural relics from formation to burial in the ground, from excavation to becoming exhibits, is the reason for naming this museum with 'archaeology'." ”
Since the launch of the national top ten new archaeological discoveries selection activity in 1990, Shaanxi has selected a total of 28 archaeological projects. These major archaeological achievements that have entered the annals of history are displayed in the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum. Recently, the latest archaeological achievements that have attracted widespread attention, some pottery figurines, gold tools and other cultural relics excavated from the Tomb of Emperor Wen of Han, have also been moved into the display cabinets of the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum.
Cultural relics conservation experts unveiled silk products excavated from the underground palace of Famen Temple. Photo by reporter Wang Xi
A "big lesson" to explain the protection and restoration of cultural relics
In 2014, the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, the School of Archaeology and Archaeology of Peking University, and the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences formed a joint archaeological team to drill and select sites for excavation in The original Hejia Village in Baoji Zhou, and found a carriage and horse pit from the Western Zhou Dynasty, with a very exquisite bronze chakra carriage buried inside. This artifact is one of many cultural relics excavated at the Zhouyuan site and is currently in the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum.
This artifact is the only well-preserved bronze chakra carriage on the mainland. Wang Zhankui, a researcher at the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute who presided over the excavation work at that time, introduced that this carriage was the most luxurious car found in the Western Zhou Dynasty so far. Compared with the funerary carriages of the Western Zhou Dynasty found in the past, this carriage is not only large in shape, but also richly decorated with intricate decoration, with a large number of bronze components inlaid with turquoise, thin-walled bronze animal face decorations, and jade and painted components. Due to its age, when discovered, this bronze chariot almost merged with the surrounding loess. In the six years since, nearly 100 archaeologists have participated in excavations, and dozens of experts have participated in conservation work many times. When the bronze tooth carriage revealed its true appearance in the indoor archaeological laboratory, the experts copied it one-to-one according to the original process and structure according to the laboratory extract and accurate data.
In Shaanxi, a large number of cultural relics have been buried in the ground for a long time, and many of them have been damaged when they are excavated. The restoration of excavated cultural relics is also an important task of Shaanxi archaeologists. In 1987, the Tang Dynasty Underground Palace of Famen Temple was discovered, and more than 700 pieces of brocade, luo, yarn, silk, qi and other silk products were unearthed at the same time as the Buddha Finger Relic. However, due to the water flowing into the underground palace, most of the silk products were decayed and charred when they were unearthed, and some even became powder when they were touched. The silk products unearthed from the underground palace of Famen Temple are the silk relics with the largest variety, the most exquisite craftsmanship and the oldest silk relics found in the world so far. At the Silk Conservation Laboratory of the Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute, the expert team has unveiled the silk products excavated from the underground palace of Famen Temple, and successfully unveiled a number of pieces of silk.
The Shaanxi Archaeological Museum is not only a place for archaeological and cultural relics to be displayed, but also a classroom for cultural relics protection and historical research.
The Western Zhou Bronze Tooth Carriage exhibited at the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum. Photo by reporter Wang Xi
A "story" that tells generations of archaeologists
"In this life, in addition to studying, I have only done one thing, that is, archaeology, from 1934 to the present, a full 60 years, and finally saw the emergence of a chinese archaeological school with its own disciplinary theory and characteristics." Walking into the exhibition hall of the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum, a passage from the life of Modern Chinese archaeologist Su Bingqi is impressive.
The birth and growth of modern Chinese archaeology is closely linked to interrogating the source of Chinese civilization. Since 1934, the Shaanxi Archaeological Society has carried out archaeological excavations at the Baoji Doujitai site, which has become "one of the most important excavation projects in the initial development period of Chinese archaeology", marking the beginning of Shaanxi archaeology.
Su Bingqi collated the tomb materials of the Eastern District of Douji Taigou and published the appendix Research on Tile Mane in the Tomb of the Eastern District of Fighting Taigou, which summarized the law of the development and evolution of artifacts from the excavated pottery bristles, marking the formal application of typological methods of modern archaeology in China. Su Bingqi has been called the "founder of archaeological typology" in China. Su Bingqi explored the origin of Chinese civilization with a pure heart, and his wisdom still influences the development of Chinese archaeology to this day.
At the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum, visitors can learn about generations of archeological representatives like Su Bingqi who regard cultural relics work as a lifelong cause.
Since the establishment of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology in September 1958, several generations of archaeologists have always adhered to the purpose of "exploration, protection, inheritance and promotion", passed on the torch, traveled all over the weishui river, sweated on the Loess Plateau, and walked through the Qinba Mountains. In the past 20 years, Shaanxi archaeology has developed from "rescue archaeology" to "cooperative archaeology" to today's "preventive archaeology", and more than 40 excavation projects have won the honors of the top ten new archaeological discoveries in China, the field archaeology award, the new discoveries of Chinese archaeology, and the world's major field archaeological discoveries.
The Shaanxi Archaeological Museum marks the birth of a new image of Shaanxi archaeology that is more open and socially influential.