Gold masks, bronze figures, jade, gold leaf, ivory... Six newly discovered cultural "sacrifice pits" at the Guanghan Sanxingdui site in Sichuan Province have been frequently unearthed with heavyweight cultural relics.
With the help of the power of science and technology, some information that is difficult to identify with the naked eye is extracted, and it is precisely because of the application of high technology in the archaeology of the Sanxingdui site, experts have found the remnants of silk decay in the artifact pit, and silk protein has been found many times in the test of the sample soil, which proves that the Sanxingdui Kingdom more than 3,000 years ago has begun to use silk.
↑Exhibits in the Sanxingdui Museum Exhibition Hall - Bronze Mask Infographic
Scientific archaeology extracted silk proteins
Duan Yong, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai University and senior expert of culture and museum, introduced that the archaeological excavation and protection research made full use of modern scientific and technological means to achieve the close integration of archaeological excavation, scientific and technological archaeology and cultural relics protection. The excavation site was covered with a large-span steel structure greenhouse, which contained several transparent glass "archaeological chambers" to cover the six newly discovered "sacrificial pits". These "archaeological chambers" are equipped with a variety of advanced equipment, which can not only control the temperature and humidity of the excavation site, but also reduce the microorganisms and bacteria that the staff brings into the modern era.
He believes that in the archaeological excavation in 1986, although the relevant experts had this awareness, but the conditions were not mature at that time, so no evidence of silk fabrics was found, and this time, the archaeological excavators paid attention from the beginning, "from the beginning of the filling, everyone paid great attention to this problem, and finally there was a major discovery." ”
On an artifact excavated from Pit 4, experts found traces of silk fabrics and extracted silk proteins, "which proves that Sanxingdui did have silk at that time." Scientific and technological progress and conceptual progress have brought us a major harvest. ”
Sichuan has a relationship with silk fabrics
"Historically, Sichuan actually has a certain relationship with silk." Duan Yong believes that the most typical of the new discoveries of scientific and technological archaeology is silk fabrics.
According to the data, China is the inventor of silk. According to historical documents, the Sichuan region has a close connection with silk, and it is said that the first person to invent silk fabrics was the wife of the Yellow Emperor, the ancestor of China, Yanzu, and Luozu was a Shu person, who was the inventor of silkworm reeling.
According to records, some silk and other things used in ancient India also came from Shudi, including two major discoveries in the market of the Bactrian Kingdom (present-day Afghanistan) during Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions. One is to discover the Shu cloth of Shu County, and the other is to find qiong bamboo sticks. Some people have analyzed that Shu cloth may be something like silk. Duan Yong introduced that a loom was unearthed in the tomb of Laoguanshan Han unearthed in the Chengdu area, and after the loom was restored, the Shu brocade was copied, which proved the origin of the Sichuan region and silk. "Sanxingdui's bronze erection has patterns on them, so gorgeous costumes, some people think that these patterns must be related to silk textiles."
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Expect to find that words may be solved by technology
"When I found silk, I looked forward to finding words. In the next step, Sanxingdui is likely to rely on this concept and technological progress to solve this problem. Duan Yong introduced that the earliest Chinese writing is the oracle bone from the Yin Ruins in the late Shang Dynasty, and there is the Jin script, which is left on the very hard material of the oracle bone and bronze.
"But we can be sure that the words of the people at that time could never have been left here." He introduced that at that time, the writing was either left on silk, or on wood, or on bamboo, or on clay, and there would be some writing. The inscriptions engraved on the oracle bones and the gold script cast on the bronzes have been preserved because of the hard material, while other materials are relatively fragile and have not been preserved. So through technology, with the help of modern scientific and technological instruments, there may also be major discoveries.
Red Star News reporter Wang Mingping
Edited by Yu Manga
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