Cliffs, cliffs, caves, and cliffs are stacked; The caves are connected and scattered; The remaining Buddha statues are smiling and kind; The mural shrine is full of Buddhas...... There are 22 relatively concentrated communities in the Malan River Valley Cliff Dwelling Group in Xunyi County, and the remaining grottoes, stone chambers, and caves are more than 1,000 holes. Are these ancient cliff dwellings inhabited? Is it a garrison? What else can it be used for? For 3,000 years, the pen of "God" has been enigmatious, and the existence of the mystery is reverie.
In the north-central part of Shaanxi Province, from Baoji, Xianyang, Tongchuan, Yan'an to Yulin, a "S" type Danxia landform landscape belt with a length of about 750 kilometers and a width of about 10 kilometers to 70 kilometers from east to west is developed. The cliff dwelling culture is of typical significance to the study of humanistic living culture in Shaanxi Province and even the mainland.
On the morning of October 16, Huashang Daily Gale News, together with the Shaanxi Provincial Geological Survey, the Propaganda Department of the Xunyi County Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the Xunyi County Culture and Tourism Bureau, carried out a live broadcast to explore the secrets and enter the ancient, mysterious and shocking cliff caves.
For thousands of years: rivers, cliffs, and ancient dwellings watch each other
The mountain city of Xunyi is more than 100 kilometers away from the ancient city of Xi'an, and is the main traffic route of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningbo. It is very beautiful and quiet, the sky is particularly blue, after the red leaves have been hit by the first autumn frost, the yellow is red, the red is golden, the sun shines golden, the mist rises in the mountains and forests, surrounds the mountains and forests, and the whole town has its own fairy atmosphere.
In the early years, Xunyi was named Sanshui County because of the Sanshui River, and under the carving of the river, the riverbed became an important fulcrum of human life. Drive more than ten miles north from the county seat, you can see the dense small holes on the cliffs, these are the mysterious ancient cliffs.
Tens of meters of cliffs, densely packed with caves. There are hundreds of caves with three floors, and the caves are connected and the caves are connected
Wang Qinwei, a senior engineer of the accompanying Provincial Geological Survey Institute, said that under the movement of the earth's crust, rivers and cliffs were formed first, and then human beings dug holes to live. For thousands of years, rivers, cliffs, and ancient dwellings have watched over each other.
Nature's creation: 8 million years ago, the Xunyi cliff dwelling landform was formed
Wang Qinwei introduced that the Xunyi cliff dwelling group refers to a series of cliff dwellings and grottoes distributed on the sandstone cliffs on both sides of the Sanshui River in the northeast of Xunyi County, Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province.
Located in the southern margin of the Ordos Basin, the Xunyi Yaju Group is developed into purple-red giant thick feldspar sandstone of the Early Cretaceous Luohe Formation, with soft rock texture and easy to excavate. During the Himalayan period (Himalayan movement), the Ordos Basin experienced two periods of strong uplift events, which occurred in 27 million ~ 20 million years and 8 million years respectively, and the combined influence of these two tectonic uplift and river erosion and weathering formed the current red cliff (Danxia landform).
There are "corridors" inside the caves that connect the various caves
Xunyi ancient cliff dwelling group is distributed along both banks of Sanshui River, stretches about 30 kilometers from north to south, is about 20 kilometers wide from east to west, most of the cliff dwelling groups are built by the mountain, they are scattered, the forms are different, there are both large-scale cliff dwelling groups, there are exquisite and unique grotto groups, the number of caves is numerous, the grottoes, stone chambers, caves are more than 1000 holes, the history of excavation is long, the distribution is concentrated, and the scale is larger.
In addition, in the north-central part of Shaanxi Province, from Baoji Chencang Jiulong Mountain through Xianyang Binzhou, Xunyi, Tongchuan Zhaojin, Yan'an Ganquan, Zhidan, Ansai, to Yulin Jingbian, Shenmu, Fugu area, develop a length of about 750 kilometers, east and west width of about 10 kilometers to 70 kilometers, "S" type Danxia landform landscape belt, during which there are cliff dwellings and grottoes.
Zhou Cave Drilling: More than 3,000 years ago, the ancestors excavated the earliest ancient cliff dwellings
According to the records of Sanshui County, these cliff dwellings "began to be the cave dwelling place of the ancestors of the Zhou people", and the earliest excavation time has been more than 3,000 years ago.
In order to avoid the wind and rain, the ancients gradually expanded from the bottom to the high level on the basis of the natural weathered cliff cave, and after thousands of years of excavation and construction, they formed a cliff village with defense functions and various living facilities, which has been used by local residents, and there are still people living in the cliff dwelling until the 70s of the 20th century.
Wang Qinwei introduced that the academic research on it began in modern times. In 2012, the Third National Cultural Relics Survey Series of Shaanxi Province - Xianyang Volume Xunyi Cultural Relics recorded the Xunyi cliff dwelling group; In 2017, when the Shaanxi Provincial Geological Survey Institute carried out the "Shaanxi Provincial Geological Relics Survey" and "Northern Shaanxi Danxia Geomorphological Survey" projects, the ancient cliff dwellings distributed in the purple-red feldspar sandstone strata of the giant thick layer of the Cretaceous Luohe Formation (K1l) in Xunyi County, Xianyang City, were included in the Danxia landform geological relics in accordance with the "Geological Relics Survey Specifications" and registered.
Actual exploration of the cliff dwelling group: Wukong Cave has "Wukong", and the mysterious ancient Buddha face is covered
The scale of the Xunyi cliff dwelling group is relatively large, there are Zhaojia Cave, Guanjia Cave, Sangcun Cave, Liushi Village, Black Cow Nest, Wukong Cave and so on, most of these cliff dwellings are distributed on the north bank of the river valley, and there are three or four places on the south bank. On the cliff of the appearance, there are large and small caves, and the openings are of different sizes, sometimes dense, sometimes loose, sometimes rowed, sometimes superimposed up and down.
He Yiping, the former director of the Xunyi County Museum, said: "What we see now is actually the result of thousands of years of weathering. If the entrance to the cave is small, the inside may be surprisingly large; If the entrance to the cave is large, the cave may have been destroyed. That's where the mystery of these caves lies."
On October 16, a reporter from Huashang Daily Gale News came to Wukong Cave Cliff Residence. The cave here has a large opening and gorgeous murals, which can be regarded as the "Internet celebrity" check-in place of the entire cliff dwelling group. In order to facilitate the visitation of tourists, the Xunyi County Culture and Tourism Bureau built a parking lot, installed climbing ladders, and strengthened safety facilities.
The cliff dwelling is divided into two layers, carved into a cliff about 1 kilometer long and about 100 meters high. For security reasons, only the lower floor is open to the public. Dozens of grottoes and stone chambers are carved according to the mountain. In order to facilitate the distinction of visiting, the cliff dwelling group can be divided into "living area" and "cultural area", the two areas are bounded by stone Buddha statues, go inside for the living area, and the opposite direction is the cultural area.
The stone Buddha of Wukong Cave is located in the center, which is a big secret of the cliff dwelling group, and is preliminarily identified as the Tang Dynasty. The Buddha statue is several meters high, standing on the entire rock wall, the Buddha statue seems to stand, but there are folds of clothes, like sitting upright; It seems to be sitting, but it is straight and towering, as if standing; For a moment, it is difficult to distinguish between sitting and standing. The Buddha statue seems to be smiling but faceless, like good but invisible, with only two drooping feet and big ears. Through a close look at the drone, it was known that the face of the Buddha statue was covered by a thick layer of clay sculpture. When to occlude? Who did it? Why? So far, no one knows.
The tall Buddha statue seems to be standing and sitting, but its mysterious face is hidden
The reporter asked many local residents and professional archaeologists, but none of them knew the true face of the Buddha statue. Could it be that there is a "Wukong" in the Wukong Cave, and the face of the Buddha statue is the face of Wukong? Archaeologists are expected to unravel this mystery.
Layout in the cave: hidden stone chambers, caves and caves, remnants of Buddha statues, Buddhist shrines, and murals
Entering the "living area", the first hole cave, the door is about two meters high and 1.5 meters wide, but after entering the cave, it is a rectangular grotto with a length of 15 meters, a width of 9 meters, and a height of nearly 10 meters. There are murals on three sides of the hole, and the color on both sides is seriously off, and only the mural looks like a mural. Straight front, two murals are brightly colored. Director He Yiping said that when he entered the cave 30 years ago, the murals were in this color.
The cave is spacious and bright, and the dwelling has beds, stoves, and windows
Continue to move along the mountain, arranged or square or oval, the large one has more than 20 square meters, and the small one is only five or six square meters of stone caves. The inside and outside of the stone room were burned black by the smoke and fire, and there were still remnants of clay kang, stove, grinding plate, etc.; There are several stone chambers outside the adobe houses, all of which have collapsed.
The cave is built on the mountain, and the bay is relatively large. Outside the entrance of the cave is a cliff of tens of meters
Re-entering, located in the middle of the cave group, there is an open cave, nearly 20 meters long, nearly ten meters wide, about 3 meters high, in the middle of which there is a stone table about 3 meters long and 2 meters wide. On three sides of the cave, there are two layers of stone chairs chiseled, and the hole seems to be a "meeting" room and a "war room". What's even more amazing is that there are caves on each side of the cave, which resembles a small "VIP" meeting room in a modern auditorium. On the cliff wall, there are nearly 100 holes that seem to be placed in Buddhist shrines, tablets or other items.
The dozens of mysterious "Buddha shrines" in the cave have always been a mystery whether they are dedicated or used for other purposes
Yu Tian, a staff member of the local Bureau of Culture and Tourism, introduced that in fact, the cave has three passages: there is a plank road on the outer cliff wall; There is an intracliff passage on the middle floor, like the current corridor; There are shafts in the room, and people may go straight up and down, like the elevator now. At present, the outer cliff plank road has decayed, and there are some wooden planks and wooden stakes remaining, only to see rows of stone nests and wooden stakes densely distributed around the exit of the stone chamber.
There are shafts in the cave, which are vertically connected, which is convenient for saving time and moving up and down
It is conceivable that when the ancients carved this cave on the cliff, they had to go through strict and meticulous survey and design in advance, otherwise it would be difficult to achieve such a fine and scientific layout.
The external rocks of the "cultural area" are heavier than those of the "living area", and there are remnants of Buddha statues, Buddhist shrines and murals in many grottoes, which should be carved and painted from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Tang and Song dynasties. The remaining murals in a grotto, the mottled colors are mainly red and green, which seems to have the charm of the murals of the Tang Dynasty. Judging from the inscriptions and inscriptions in the grottoes, it was excavated in the five dynasties and rebuilt in the eighth year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty.
What is the use of the grotto: until the 70s of the last century, it has been continuously used
When did the ancients dig these cliff dwellings, and how did such a huge amount of work be completed? He Yiping told reporters that in the first century B.C., Liu, the fourth grandson of Houji, the ancestor of the Zhou people, founded a country here and created a "ancient land" farming civilization. According to the records of Sanshui County, these cliff dwellings are the cave dwellings of the ancestors of the Zhou people. According to this calculation, the earliest excavation time of these cliff dwellings has been more than 3,000 years ago.
Why did the ancients build dwellings on cliffs? He Yiping's research speculates that on the basis of natural weathered cliff caves, the ancients gradually expanded from small to large, from the bottom to the high, and after thousands of years of excavation and construction, they formed cliff villages with both defensive functions and various living facilities.
The cliff cave is carved into the cliff, and it is relatively close to the highway, which has become an Internet celebrity check-in place. For the convenience of viewing, the local tourism department also specially equipped parking or resting places
For use, the first thing is to hide from war and banditry. In order to prevent looting, the local residents dug dwellings on the rock wall and hid their belongings and food. These cliff dwellings are difficult to defend and difficult to attack, and have a strong defensive function. In the cave cliff settlements, there are still wooden pulleys on the cliff walls for lifting things and quick escape, and some of the caves still store defensive stones.
Judging from the traces of smoke and fire in various cliff dwellings, as well as the remains of clay kangs, stoves, and water storage cellars in grottoes and stone rooms, it is clear that people lived in these places for a long time. During the war, troops were stationed in many cliff dwellings.
Regarding the age of the use of these cliff dwellings, some relics and historical materials can be verified: there is a sentence "the Song and Jin people avoided the army here"; "Sanshui County Chronicles" records that in the early years of the Republic of China, after returning to her hometown in the late Qing Dynasty, Xiaomei of Hanlin lived in seclusion here; The surrounding villagers said that their ancestors lived in Yaju in the 70s of the 20th century, and later moved down after building a house on the flat land at the bottom of the mountain.
Great cultural value: the cliff dwelling group has various types and a certain scarcity
During the visit, the experts believed that the Xunyi cliff dwelling group has various types, large scale, and concentrated distribution, and there are certain historical and cultural relics preserved in the caves, which have a certain scarcity, and are of great value to the study of humanistic living culture in Shaanxi and even the mainland.
Research on residential culture: The Xunyi Cliff Settlement Group can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty, through the Qin and Han dynasties, the Tang and Song dynasties, the Ming and Qing dynasties, and until the sixties and seventies of the 20th century, there are still people living there, with a history spanning thousands of years. This provides a wealth of material materials for the study of the habitation culture of ancient humans. From the architectural structure, layout, and internal facilities of the cliff dwelling, we can understand the living style, living habits and social structure of people in different historical periods.
Cultural exchange research: Xunyi is located at the junction of Shaanxi and Gansu, which is an important channel for ancient cultural exchanges. The architectural style, carving art, and murals of the Xunyi Cliff Settlement Group may have been influenced by the culture of the surrounding area, and also had a certain influence on the culture of the surrounding area. Through the study of the cliff dwelling group, we can understand the exchange, integration and transmission between different cultures, which provides important evidence for the study of the exchange and spread of ancient cultures.
In terms of geological research: the "Shaanxi Provincial Geological Relics Survey" and "Northern Shaanxi Danxia Geomorphological Survey" projects carried out by the Shaanxi Provincial Geological Survey Institute in 2017 carried out a detailed tourism geological survey of the ancient cliff dwellings in Xunyi in accordance with the "Geological Relics Survey Specification" with Danxia landform as the survey category, which not only comprehensively investigated the geological characteristics of the Xunyi cliff settlements, but also summarized their distribution laws and evaluated their scientific and aesthetic value. In addition, the discussion and research on Danxia landform and cliff dwelling culture were also carried out.
Huashang Daily Gale News Reporter Wei Guangjing/Wen Qiangjun/Picture Editor Dong Lin
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