The Shaanxi Archaeological Museum is the first special museum of archaeology in China, which was put into trial operation for the public in April 2022. Visual China
"There are history museums in Shaanxi, why are you still repeating the construction?" Since the opening of the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum in 2022, what Gao Dalun is most worried about hearing is this sentence from the audience. But fortunately, in the audience guest book he flipped through, he couldn't find anything like that at present.
Archaeological museums are a completely different class of trade museums from historical museums. Whether an archaeological museum is necessary or not, a matter that might have been a debated profession more than a decade ago, is now a fait accompli.
Since 2020, archaeological museums across the country have flourished, and there have been archaeological museums in Shaanxi, Hubei, Henan, Zhejiang and other places, "As far as I know, there are several archaeological museums under construction or in preparation." Gao Dalun said.
Gao Dalun is currently the dean of the School of Archaeology and Museums at Shanxi University and a visiting professor at the Social Science Center of Southern University of Science and Technology. Previously, he served as the president of the Sichuan Institute of Archaeology for many years, and coordinated and led the archaeological work of the Sanxingdui site, in his own words, "The experience is rather peculiar, not only as a university professor, but also as a museum director, the director of the archaeological research institute, and the leader of the Cultural Relics Bureau." "Now that I have jumped out of museums and archaeological research institutes, I think it will be more objective to look at archaeological museums from the perspective of a third party." Gao Dalun said.
Gao Dalun. Visual China
For many years, there has been a debate in the museum community about whether to start an archaeological museum. In the absence of an archaeological museum, archaeological artifacts are transferred to traditional historical museums, and many museums worry that archaeological museums will "get a piece of the pie" in terms of artifacts. But Gao Dalun feels that this is not a problem at all, in his opinion, the exhibition direction of historical museums and archaeological museums is completely different, the former will consider the exquisiteness of the instrument, while the latter is more focused on archaeology, maybe the audience sees only pieces of fragments, "What we want to see is the change of the artifact, the early, middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, to grasp some of its typical characteristics to exhibit, it doesn't matter how good or bad the artifact is." Gao Dalun said.
In the 1990s, many Chinese archaeologists, including Gao Dalun, would go to Japan, and most of them had visited the Kashihara Institute of Archaeology in Nara, "whose status in Japan is equivalent to that of the Shaanxi Archaeological Institute in our country." "Kashihara Archaeology has its own Kashihara Archaeological Museum," and the people we went there were very envious. This incident touched me deeply, and I think this is one of the reasons why we archaeologists come back and want to build an archaeological museum. Gao Dalun recalled to the Southern Weekend reporter the "original intention" at that time. Most of the new archaeological museums built in recent years are also sponsored by archaeological research institutes in various places, and in a sense, the wishes of many archaeologists have been fulfilled.
Gao Dalun said that he was the first person to eat crabs. In 2013, when he was the director of the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, he made a virtual archaeological experience hall in the institute, which is not large, 200 square meters, but "very popular", with a virtual experience of the cave temple and a small cultural relics hospital, "This is one of the prototypes of the archaeological museum." Gao Dalun said.
In 2016, in the newly built building of the Sanxingdui Archaeological Workstation of the Sichuan Institute of Archaeology, the team of the Sichuan Institute of Archaeology made a small exhibition on the archaeological history of Sanxingdui, named "The Cradle of Origin", "an exhibition about the cradle of archaeology in the southwest," Gao Dalun said. ”
Over the years, Gao Dalun has been to archaeological museums in many countries, most of which are small and simple, and do not carry so many things outside of their profession. He also called on all localities to adapt measures to local conditions in the construction of China's archaeological museums, not to blindly pursue grandeur, and to conform to the actual archaeological situation in various localities.
"Now that the archaeological museum has been built, whether it is built well or not, social judgment and industry evaluation is a very important indicator." What makes Gao Dalun happy is that many archaeological museums are not only crowded on holidays, but also have been recognized by experts in the museum industry.
On May 17, 2024, at the Luoyang Archaeological Museum in Henan Province, a tourist in ancient costumes looks at cultural relics. Visual China
"It is possible to exhibit broken objects"
Southern Weekly: What do you think is the reason for the rise of archaeological museums in recent years?
Gao Dalun: The archaeological museum is actually a kind of industry museum, and it is very normal for each industry to have its own museum. In a country like China, where archaeology has been booming for decades, it is incomprehensible that there is no archaeological museum that reflects the achievements of archaeology, archaeology, and research. Internationally, there are archaeological museums in Japan, Russia, Egypt, Italy, and France, and their other industry museums are also very developed.
It's just that in the decades after the founding of the People's Republic of China, due to the division of some of our industries, many people in the archaeological industry did not think that they could make a museum. In the 1950s, we often regarded archaeology as a department of museums, and many local cultural management committees or museums set up an archaeological team or archaeology department. Later, in the sixties and seventies, the archaeological business in many places regressed, and the personnel were disbanded. Archaeology from the 1950s to the 1970s was mainly to cooperate with the capital construction, rescue things, organize them, and select some things that the museum thinks are more suitable for display.
After the reform and opening up, the cultural relics and archaeological institutes in various places became independent from the museums. After decades of development, archaeology has made great progress, various excavation materials are also abundant, and a group of experts have also grown. At this time, our museum industry is also developing rapidly, just to the museum to see a few archaeological excavated things, can no longer satisfy the public's curiosity about archaeology, nor can we express the great achievements of our archaeological cause in the past few decades, nor can we better display the scientific methods, theories, technical means and its discipline system of archaeology, so the birth of the archaeological museum is very natural. In recent years, archaeological museums have been hosted by archaeological research institutes in various places.
Southern Weekly: Are the vast majority of cultural relics and archaeological institutes in the country established after the reform and opening up?
Gao Dalun: Yes, most of them. However, in 1963, Shaanxi established an independent archaeological research institute, which was merged into the Shaanxi Museum in 1970 and restored in 1978. Historically, due to economic constraints, many things were basically placed in the storeroom of the institute, and there was a "specimen exhibition room" in better conditions, the so-called specimens are the typology of these artifacts in our archaeological research, which period, which culture, what artifacts are composed of, and what are the characteristics of these artifacts, which is very monotonous. It is mainly for professional archaeologists, students, teachers, peers, etc. to study and observe, and is basically not open to the public. To be honest, it's also quite monotonous. At that time, our research methods were artifact typology and archaeological stratigraphy. In the last decade or two, we have found that this is no longer enough, our means are diversifying, public archaeology education is being promoted, society is interested in us, and we feel that there are many things that need to be shown and reflected.
Southern Weekly: There may be some debate in the museum community about the establishment of an archaeological museum, but what is the focus of these debates?
Gao Dalun: This controversy is historically formed. In the past, the archaeological team belonged to the museum, and when the things were dug up, they were naturally handed over to the museum. Later, the archaeological institute was separated, and it was difficult to hand it over.
Historical museums may now worry that they have archaeological museums, and they will not be able to get some unearthed cultural relics, but there is no need to worry about this. And in recent years, our archaeological department has been handing over some things to historical museums. As far as I know, many of the things on display in archaeological museums are often things that historical museums don't pay much attention to, or don't look at. Because we have different angles of exhibition, for example, we want to look at the changes of artifacts, the early, middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, we want to grasp some of its typical characteristics to exhibit, and we don't care how good or bad the artifacts are.
On the murals of thousands of years ago exhibited in the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum, there are Tang Dynasty dancers in the "heart". Visual China
Southern Weekly: What should be paid attention to in terms of the positioning distinction between the archaeological museum and the original comprehensive provincial museum in terms of exhibition?
Gao Dalun: Originally, archaeological institutions were subordinate to the work of museums in comprehensive museums. The provincial museums of our country should comprehensively collect and display the cultural relics of the province's history, culture, economy and society, not only in ancient times, but also in modern times, and even in folk customs, and its task is not only to reflect the achievements of archaeology. Archaeological excavations are fragments of history, and in a comprehensive museum, what it needs is representative exhibits, and it selects some fine bronzes, porcelain, which is understandable.
But as an independent archaeological museum, what we want to exhibit can tell you what scientific archaeology is, how archaeology works, and what archaeology can discover, so we are not alone in exhibiting a certain artifact, it may be a group of artifacts, a pile of fragments, how they were arranged in the tomb, how the ancients used it, why the tomb is oriented north-south, what is related to it, and what important historical clues we have found through archaeology. Also, how do we experts work, what traditional, modern, and emerging methods are used to archaeological sites, archaeological excavations, and so on.
The archaeological museum and the comprehensive historical museum are in the same city is a complementary relationship, the latter focuses on the explanation of major historical issues, the artifacts are very exquisite, and the condition is good, the former may just want to exhibit broken artifacts, why? I'm going to show people what its fracture looks like. It's a different angle. Also, why are so many museums crowded today? I wrote an article in 2023 called "Museum Congestion, How to Deal with It?" For example, the Archaeological Museum in Xi'an, in fact, it diverted a group of tourists from the Shaanxi History Museum and the Terracotta Warriors to a certain extent. If the exhibition is misplaced, it can attract different groups of people.
The Tang Dynasty tomb beast exhibited at the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum has become an Internet celebrity cultural relic, and the writer Ma Boyong jokingly called it a "figurine of parents tutoring children's homework" unearthed in the Tang Dynasty. Visual China
"It's okay to open the door once a week"
Southern Weekly: In recent years, archaeological site museums have also flourished, and it seems difficult for the public to distinguish between archaeological site museums and archaeological museums.
Gao Dalun: Archaeological site museums such as the Liangzhu Museum and the Erlitou Summer Capital Ruins Museum, relying on the archaeological excavation of the site, mainly reflect the things of the site, or the archaeological workstation that presides over the excavation of the site. The archaeological museum may not only talk about a certain site, the Shanxi Institute of Archaeology will build an archaeological museum, and the archaeological work of Shanxi Province will be talked about, which is different from building a Taosi site museum.
To avoid homogenization, for example, in Taiyuan, there are Shanxi Provincial Archaeological Museum and Taiyuan Archaeological Museum, and there are two archaeological museums in the same city, which is rare in the country. Their organizers are Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology and Taiyuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the latter to Taiyuan City discovery, excavation results as a main line to arrange the exhibition, the former exhibition name is called "archaeological temperature", archaeology, is the cause of people, archaeology is not a cold thing, its several exhibitions are very small, specialized.
In addition, we should not always stare at the ancient and ancient times, civilization is a complete chain, and we must pay attention to it in the early and late periods. In the past, archaeology paid special attention to the early days, because we found a piece of historical blank through exploration, and in recent decades our archaeological work has become more and more late, for example, the Sichuan Institute of Archaeology in 2004 rated a "national top ten archaeological discoveries", Sichuan Mianzhu "Tianyi Laohao" winery site, the age of the site is from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China. Although the age is so recent, if there is no documentation, archaeology should also play its due role.
Some people talk to me about Sanxingdui, Liangzhu, Erlitou, 4,000 years, 5,000 years like a number of treasures, but I asked him, what is the name of your grandfather's father, do you know? What did Grandpa's father do when he was alive? What has it done to your family? It's not clear. This is to be vigilant, the memory is from near to far, and history should not be broken.
Southern Weekly: What are the standards for an archaeological institute to build such an archaeological museum? For example, the archaeological museums in Shaanxi and Hubei, which were established in 2022, are there clear standards or what specific opportunities are there?
Gao Dalun: As far as I know, there is no clear standard. So far, it has been mainly the initiative of archaeologists. The first is the development of its own archaeological undertakings; The second is that their public archaeology may have done well over the years; The third possibility is that their competent authorities or the local party and government attach great importance to it, and I know that the local governments in Shaanxi and Sichuan attach great importance to it.
In fact, running an archaeological museum is an additional burden for archaeologists. There are financial burdens, personnel and management burdens, and operational burdens. After the construction is completed, the exhibition will require funds and operating costs. As far as I know, many libraries have not yet solved the staffing problem, and whether they should charge and how to collect it? If it doesn't charge for it, where does it come from? To whom? None of this is fully clarified.
It is not necessary for every province to do it, and do not regard it as a standard configuration that must be in the administration, and each place should adapt measures to local conditions. For example, in some provinces with relatively weak archaeological resources, is it necessary to build an archaeological museum at this stage?
Southern Weekly: You have been to archaeological museums in many countries, what are their experiences worth noting?
Gao Dalun: I don't think archaeological museums should be built very large and luxurious, in this regard, I think we should learn from foreign archaeological museums, they are relatively small, thousands of square meters, Spain, Egypt, Greece have many archaeological museums, all built very small, still popular. In addition, many of them are built in some old and old houses, I have no objection to the house being repaired better, but I do not exclude the use of old workstations, warehouses, factories to build, according to the collection, according to your economic strength, according to what you want to express.
The exhibition of archaeology is not the pursuit of the interior decoration to be very dazzling, what bricks must be laid on the ground, how to play the lighting, there may be the use of natural light, and then things are stacked up, the inside is like a big studio, some are original labels placed on it. My previous workstation was only 300 square meters, and I also made a display. If you don't have funds, you can open the door once a week, or you can open the door at 135, make an appointment to visit, don't force it, because our archaeological institute is a scientific research unit, and the museum should be adapted to local conditions.
Southern Weekly: There are still very few cultural relics on display in the archaeological museum, and most of them are still in the warehouse?
Gao Dalun: Collections and exhibits are two different things, and in some places there are museums, which are tall, magnificent, modern, and very dazzling, as if this reflects great achievements. But this can be a bit of a reversal, as museums have collections and then exhibits. There are three major tasks of museums, one is to collect and preserve, the second is to research, and the third is to exhibit, some things may never be exhibited, but you have to preserve history. For example, if you have collected a lot of collections about environmental change in the past few decades, no one was interested in it at that time, but today's audience may be interested, and we can get something out of it if we want to do exhibitions; For example, if any archaeological museum could produce an exhibition of women archaeologists today, it would be very popular today. A powerful museum, if there is any hot spot in society, may soon be able to organize exhibits in this area. But these collections may have begun to be consciously collected a long time ago, and it does not need to tell the society that this is its profession, and it can only do this with a professional vision.
Southern Weekly reporter Wang Huazhen
Editor-in-charge: Liu Youxiang