Nanyang Xixia, a mountain basin that has been silent for hundreds of millions of years and has not attracted the attention of the world, finally in the early summer of 1993, due to the crazy excavation of dinosaur egg fossils caused by the dinosaur egg fossil fever, like thunder at home and abroad, overnight became the focus of the news media around the world.
Located in the southwest of Henan Province, in the center of Funiu Mountain, a branch of the Qinling Mountains, Xixia is an area rich in fossils of ancient organisms. It is bordered by Neixiang Township to the east, Huaichuan to the south, Luanchuan and other counties to the north, and Shangnan County of Shaanxi to the west. The peaks in the Territory of Xixia are undulating, continuous, quiet and far-reaching. The river below the mountain is long and horizontal, and the waves are shining brightly, and flow in the form of feathers through the lofty mountains. The sunshine is abundant, the climate is mild, and the rainfall is moderate, which is very suitable for the growth of various animals and plants in the subtropical, temperate and humid zone.
At present, Chinese archaeologists, after scientific investigation and excavation, have discovered that the distribution area of dinosaur egg fossils sleeping underground here reaches 800 square kilometers, including the three counties of Neixiang, Huaichuan and Xixia, and the number of buried pieces is hundreds of thousands, or even more. This major discovery is rare in the world, and will find a scientific basis for uncovering the mystery of dinosaur life and reproduction.
On June 8, 1993, Henan Television news broadcast for the first time the news of the discovery of dinosaur egg fossils in the Xixia Basin, and the next morning, CCTV broadcast it in the morning news. In the days since, in the following days, there have been more than 50 foreign television stations and news organizations that have negotiated with CCTV to exchange film tapes. Due to the intermediary role of the news media, Xinhua News Agency, China Radio International, China News Service, Nanjing Jinling Voice Radio Station, People's Daily, China Youth Daily, Wen Wei Po, Guangming Daily, Henan Daily, Zhengzhou Evening News... Reporters were sent to Xixia one after another, and an unprecedented news war was set off in the former obscure remote small county, and this mysterious and ancient land throbbed wildly...
Discover the beginning and the end
"Moving along the earth at 30° north latitude, this is not only the location of the highest peak of the earth's mountain range, but also the deepest hiding place of the seabed, and several of the world's famous rivers, the Nile in Egypt, the Euphrates River in Iraq, the Yangtze River in China, and the Mississippi River in the United States all flow into the vast ocean at this latitude.
"This line of latitude is home to countless mysteries around the world: the ancient Egyptian pyramid complex, which happens to be built at the gravity center of the Earth's continent, the Dead Sea, the Babylonian 'Hanging Gardens', the sinking of the Atlantic Continent, the seas of Bermuda, the ruins of the Mayan civilization...
"Why has this line become a mysterious area of strange things, hidden disasters, and frequent disasters? Are they accidental coincidences, or are they deliberately arranged by the Creator, or are they dominated by some mysterious force that is temporarily unknown to man? There are many super-civilizational remains on this line that disappeared overnight. (Quoted from "Mysterious 30°N")
Henan Xixia is near this mysterious latitude line, so there are also many magical mysteries that plague humans, especially the discovery of dinosaur bones and dinosaur egg fossil groups, which proves this point even more.
As early as 1929, China's older generation of paleontologists Li Jie and Zhu Sen had visited the Nanyang Huaichuan Basin for geological investigation, and they had an understanding of dinosaur egg fossils in Henan at that time. Since then, scholars have also continued to investigate and study, and gratifying results have been achieved.
In 1974, Zhou Shiquan, the fourth team of the Geological Survey of the Department of Geology and Mineral Resources of Henan Province stationed in the Nanyang area, led 21 geological staff to conduct geological surveys in the mountainous areas of Huaichuan and Neixiang when he presided over the Cenozoic Red Layer Project in southern Henan and southwestern Henan. Once, when they were surveying the hillside west of Majia Village in Taohe Township, Huaichuan County, the technician An Hanxu found a special "stone egg" and called out to Zhou Shiquan for him to identify. They dug around with a geological shovel and dug out 3 fossil eggs that were connected into one. At that time, Zhou Shiquan could not fully understand these egg fossils, so he sent them to the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing for expert identification. After the identification of famous experts such as Yang Zhongjian, Zhou Mingzhen and Zhao Zikui, these strange "stone egg eggs" were identified as dinosaur egg fossils. In the months since, the research team has found a number of dinosaur egg fossil sites and dinosaur skeleton fossil sites in the Mesozoic strata of Xixia, Neixiang, Huaichuan, Luanchuan and other places. Dinosaur egg fossils in the Nanyang Basin were studied by Zhou Shiquan et al. and divided into 10 genera and 19 species.
After Zhou Shiquan initially grasped the burial of dinosaur egg fossils in the Xixia Basin, he invited Professor Zhao Zikui to Henan to investigate, and during the investigation, they collected a nest of 16 dinosaur egg fossils in the northeast of Houzhuang, Xiaguan Town, Neixiang County. In particular, they found three-toed footprints left by dinosaurs on dinosaur egg fossils, and also found two fossils of dinosaurs' tail vertebrae nearby. After Zhao Zikui's research and research, it is believed that after the dinosaur laid the egg, he accidentally stepped on the egg nest and just stepped on the three adjacent eggs, and the footprints were left on these remnant eggs. To this end, he wrote the article "The Discovery and Significance of New Dinosaur Egg Types and Dinosaur Footprint Fossils in Neixiang, Henan", which was published in the 4th issue of the journal "Vertebrates and Ancient Humans" in 1979. In the following years, Professor Zhao Zikui came to Henan many times to investigate, and in 1981 he accompanied German scholars to visit Wanxi.
In 1976, the Nanyang Regional Bureau of Culture paid special attention to the investigation of the excavation area of paleontological fossils in the census of cultural relics, and sent Mr. Zhang Weihua to investigate. Zhang Weihua worked tirelessly and traveled all over the mountains and mountains of the Nanyang Basin. His findings were included in the Nanyang Regional Cultural Relics Chronicle. The article records that along the Ding River and Danshui river in Xixia County, Chimei and Xiaguan in Neixiang County, and Taohe and Xianghua in Huaichuan County have developed mesozoic red strata, which are rich in large reptile dinosaurs and dinosaur egg fossils. Dinosaur skeleton fossils are rare and incomplete, and the most buried are dinosaur egg fossils, which are not only nested, but also arranged in rows. According to the investigation, there were more than 10 species of dinosaurs living on the banks of the river at that time.
Although cultural relics workers have worked hard for decades and done a lot of research work, they have little influence on the academic community and society at that time and have not attracted enough attention. At that time, China was in a turbulent era, from 1974 to 1976, a series of major events in China that shocked the world, so that people's spirits were under a huge pressure and unable to extricate themselves, who could still take care of the dinosaur eggs in the Xixia Basin. What is the social value of dinosaur eggs, and what is the economic value? It seems to be far from the social background at that time, when the high-level decision-makers of China's political situation had no time to pay attention to the development of science and culture, and they were more concerned about the direction of society.
This indicates that dinosaur egg fossils will not be seen again until twenty years later.
The emergence of dinosaur egg fossils in Xixia is not a recent thing. According to local farmers, their parents' parents used these "black stone eggs" as balls when they were young. Tian Rongqing, an 80-year-old man in Sanlimiao Village, Danshui Town, said that when he was a child herding sheep on the mountain, he often played with these "stone eggs", but he didn't know what they were, and when he had played enough, he abandoned them on the side of the road or kicked them down the hillside.
In August 1992, a farmer in Zhaoying Village, Yangcheng Township, Xixia County, Henan Province, was building a road when he inadvertently found a nest of black-gray oval "stone eggs" in a brownish-red soft stone layer under a white stone layer several inches thick, with more than 20 pieces. He did not know what these "stone eggs" were, but out of curiosity, he picked up a "stone egg" that resembled a turtle shell, the texture was crunchy, and when he broke it, he dropped it under his nose and smelled it, and there was a quiet fragrance, close to the fragrance of sulfur. He picked up a few of them and took them home to play with the children.
Unexpectedly, these suspicious "stone eggs" aroused the interest of Ma Mou, a worker of a geological team in Nanyang who lived in his village. He had a premonition that this was the fossil dinosaur egg he was looking for, so he quietly found the place where the farmer pried out the "stone egg" and brought the remaining few back to the geological team. After identification, it was confirmed that these nests of "stone egg eggs" were dinosaur egg fossils. After confirming his speculation, Ma mou returned to Zhao Ying Village, and he said to the farmers in the village: There is a medicinal material called "stone gall" produced here, which can cure eye diseases and stop bleeding. Hearing that the "stone gall" could be sold for money, the peasants were ecstatic and desperately went up the mountain to dig, and even the crops that were about to ripen in the field could not be taken care of, and the crops were destroyed in an instant.
Almost at the same time, the villagers of the Shangtian Group in Sanlimiao Village, Danshui Town, Xixia County, when digging ditches on the hillside to plant dragon whisker grass, constantly dug out a nest of round and black stones, and children competed to use them as "soccer balls" to kick and kick around under their feet to decide the victory or defeat, and some people transported them to the field and built an earthen wall to solidify the water and soil. One day in the early spring of 1993, a geological team member quietly came to the village and mysteriously told everyone that there was a medicinal material produced here, called "stone gall", and you dug it up and bought it for me, and how much you wanted. So the peasants woke up like a dream, took up their heads, sledgehammers, and steel shovels, and rushed up the hillside to ask for treasure from the barren land where their ancestors lived.
In the early 1990s, major social changes took place, the economy and culture developed rapidly, and people's minds were gradually liberated from imprisonment and isolation. The geological team in this period was faced with the impact of the tide of institutional reform and was in a dilemma. The wages of more than 700 employees of the fourth team of Henan Geological Survey suddenly lost their guarantee, and the past "iron rice bowl" was completely broken. Faced with a difficult situation, the team encouraged employees to seek self-employment and engage in self-employment.
What to do? When the situation was in a dilemma, some geological and natural museums in Beijing, Hunan, and Sichuan just needed to expand the collection of specimens, and found a geological team, hoping to exchange some dinosaur egg fossil specimens, in fact, the so-called exchange is related to money. Just as the road was dead, some cadres and workers of the geological team, and even some leaders, took action one after another. As a result, the first person to discover the dinosaur egg, intentionally or unintentionally, became the first to trample and destroy the real culprit.
In an instant, the ravines in the fields were crisscrossed, the hammers were heard, the cannons rumbled, and the smoke of gunfire filled the air, like the frontier positions in the fierce battle. And those warriors who have never lost a battle are sending their booty, dinosaur egg fossils, to the geological team station, or to the hands of those who have come to buy it, in exchange for a pitiful pile of bloody banknotes. The trade between ignorance and ugliness, the exchange of ignorance and meanness. But in the face of this deformed way of exchange, how can we bear to rebuke them and demand them, they are living too poor and miserable. From their sluggish gaze, what can be detected is their desire and desire for money.
At first, the geological team directed the farmers to dig at the scene, but the supply was far short, so they let the farmers dig themselves. The price also rose from 5 cents to 5 yuan, and then rose again and again, still unable to meet the demand. In this way, the ignorant peasants became more excited, and with great enthusiasm, they threw themselves into it, and completely purged the fossils of dinosaur eggs that had been buried in the ground for hundreds of millions of years. What is intriguing is that the collection, which was originally just for the purpose of enriching the collection, once it was started, it was impossible to harvest it, and eventually led to an unprecedented and open excavation and smuggling activity, even with the West Gorge as the axis, which soon spread to all parts of the world. Shouldn't this blatant excavation campaign, which lasted for nearly a year, not attract the attention of the relevant departments?
At the end of March 1993, a reporter named Jiang Wei from the Armed Forces Department of Xixia County went to Zhao Ying in Yangcheng Township to cover the village, which is the poverty alleviation point of the Armed Forces Department. After entering the village, Jiang Wei felt quiet everywhere, and the atmosphere was different from the past, and he had a great curiosity. Later, Jiang Wei met the director of the Women's Federation in the village, and without waiting for him to inquire about the reason, the director of the Women's Federation came forward and said: "All the people in the village have gone up the mountain to dig up 'stone galls', and they are about to dig crazy." Jiang Wei asked incomprehensibly, "What is 'stone gall'?" "It was the first time he had heard of this thing. The director of the Women's Federation suddenly had a mysterious expression on his face, and deliberately lowered his voice and said: "Some people in the geological team say that it is a dinosaur egg, and one can sell for several dollars!" ”
With his unique sensitivity to news, Jiang Wei wrote an article titled "Dinosaur Egg Fossils Found in Xixia County" after his return, which was published in the China Geology and Mineral Resources News on May 5. This is the first public report in the news media about the fossilized dinosaur eggs in Xixia. In the article, Jiang Wei widely publicized this theft and affirmed that this initiative is an unprecedented creation. The article said that the Xixia people found a way to get rich, and they could dig 200 dinosaur eggs a day a day, and the dinosaur egg fossil market transaction has been formed.
Faced with such a situation, the local government only reminded people to look long and "don't step on the dragon's whisker grass on the mountain." Dragon's whisker grass is a cash crop that can weave straw mats, coats, straw shoes, etc., and has long been the main source of wealth for the people of Xixia. However, in recent years, the coat and grass shoes have no longer been widely used, so the use of dragon's whisker grass has gradually decreased, and people with good harvests can earn one or two thousand yuan a year by dragon's whisker grass, which is just a cup of water. Due to people's lack of understanding of dinosaur egg fossils, and the relevant parties have not conducted serious and comprehensive research on this, the initial reports on dinosaur egg fossils in the news media in Xixia are wrong in the direction of public opinion, which invisibly plays a role in promoting the excavation. At that time, a saying circulating was: "Digging 'stone bile' can get rich, and you can be a million yuan household." It is true that many families have made their fortunes by digging "stone galls" in a short period of time, so the two weights of money and ignorance are added to the same end of the scale at the same time, and the balance in people's hearts is unbalanced.
At this time, when the price of each egg fossil in the Western auction market was as high as $10,000, the highest price here did not exceed 80 yuan. Despite this, many families generated tens of thousands of yuan in less than a month. The acquisition personnel of the geological team originally went from village to door and bought door to door, and later because of sufficient supply, they only waited for the delivery to the door. At that time, the four teams of the Nanyang Geological Survey were in the market, and the vendors who set up stalls to sell dinosaur eggs were one after another, just as Jiang Weiwen said, "the dinosaur egg fossil trading market has been formed."