Longshan County, Hunan Province's Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, located at the junction of the three provinces of Xiang'e-Chongqing, is famous for the ancient city of Liye and the discovery of Liye Qinjian. The ancient city of Liye and Qinjian are the products of "infrastructure archaeology" - rescue archaeological excavations carried out to cooperate with the construction of the Bowl Mipo Hydropower Station.
At about 9 o'clock on June 3, 2002, when washing the fillers excavated from the ancient wells with a small aperture sieve on the Youshui River, archaeologists found a piece of wood with strange ink marks, which was later interpreted as "Cloth Four Seeking...", and the first Riye Jane was released.
Yuan Jiarong, then director of the Hunan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, immediately decided to suspend the excavation work, build a shed, and readjust the excavation work of the ancient city site of Liye and the No. 1 well. By 27 June, the excavation of Well 1 was completed.
Rije jane dehydrated before and after decolorization. Photo courtesy of Zhang Zhongwei
The excavation process was particularly arduous, with archaeologists Zhang Chunlong and Long Jingsha, who presided over the excavation, writing: "The work underground is quite arduous, dark and damp, the air is dirty, and mosquitoes and flies are rampant. Probably due to lack of oxygen, the lighter does not fire. The incandescent lamps that rely on lighting often explode under abnormal air pressure. Later, a small blower was added, and the ventilation environment under the well was slightly improved. ”
Zhang Chunlong also wrote: "The construction period is tense, heavy rain is frequent, the unitary water rises and falls, and the river surface exceeds the operating surface of the well from time to time, and it is always facing the danger of collapse." "I'm afraid that the damage to the cultural relics has not been explored, and the further down it goes, the more dangerous it is." Although we take measures as much as possible to ensure safety and erect braces, we can't help but feel afraid in the narrow underground. ”
Even after more than ten years, Long Jingsha still remembers the cleaning method of "taking the hand as a shovel", "cutting nearly dozens of cubic meters of silt by hand, it can be said that it has created a miracle of the excavation of ancient wells in China."
Nearly 30 members of the excavation of The Rie No. 1 well, many of whom are local villagers, in addition to the cultural relics workers, have passed away. As an important part of the archaeological team, the silent efforts of the simple villagers are almost invisible to outsiders.
The significance of more than 37,000 pieces of Jian Mu data (including wordless fragments) is self-evident in the study of Qin history, which is suffering from insufficient historical materials. From the occupation of the Qin people to the rapid disintegration of unification, Qianling is a witness to this history, and Liyejian is the recorder of history. The "Qin Political Law" thus appeared clearly.
The funerary jane excavated from the southern tombs has been soaked in groundwater for about 2,000 years. The main garbage unearthed in the well cellar is as waste, or burned or destroyed, and buried in the wet and dirty ground for a long time, and most of them have been decayed when excavated. With a little cleaning, the ink will be clearly presented, and after a brief contact with air and sunlight, they will soon turn black and the ink will gradually become blurred.
Conservation is imminent. The team of Jingzhou Cultural Relics Protection Center, represented by Fang Beisong, is not only an important force in the protection of lacquered wood and textiles unearthed in China, but also an important force in the dehydration and decolorization protection of Jian Mu cultural relics. On the basis of the dehydration method invented and used by Chen Zhongxing, Wu Shunqing and other wenbao people of the older generation, Fang Beisong repeatedly experimented and finally made important progress in the dehydration and decolorization of Jian Mu.
The so-called dehydration is to replace the fibers of bamboo jane in a water-saturated state with chemical substances and the water inside the cells, and use chemicals to stabilize and support bamboo jane. The so-called decolorization is to restore and present the original color of the bamboo jane, so that the handwriting is clear and legible. This is one of the important methods of domestic jane protection at present. However, Riye Jane is mostly wooden Jane, and the decolorization method of Bamboo Jane is not fully applicable, and can only continue to explore in experiments. Today, after dehydration and decolorization protection, Liye jane has almost reproduced the original appearance of more than 2,000 years ago, which is the result of the hard work of cultural protection workers.
Carved tooth Jane excavated from the eighth layer of The Rie 1 well. Photo courtesy of Zhang Zhongwei
Before dehydration and decolorization protection of Jian Mu, the staff will collect infrared and color images, which is the basis for text interpretation. The first draft of LiYejian's interpretation was completed by Zhang Chunlong, and Wu Rongzeng, an expert in pre-Qin history, and Li Jiahao, a paleographer, guided the collation work. It was a hard job, and starting with "Liye QinJian (III)", Zhang Chunlong organized a review meeting to try to come up with an interpretation with as few errors as possible. In this process, Zhang Chunlong observed that there was a correspondence between the carved teeth of Liye Jane and the numbers seen in the Jianwen, and recorded the phenomenon of carved teeth after the relevant Jian Mu interpretation, which attracted Chinese and foreign scholars to conduct a comprehensive investigation and study of The Carved Tooth Jane of Liye. His research results are undoubtedly one of the most important achievements in the field of Qin and Han history research in recent years.
The excavators, protectors and organizers of Liye Qinjian have been quietly paying with a simple and down-to-earth attitude. Now, on the occasion of the nearly 20th anniversary of the excavation of the ancient city of Riye and the excavation of Qinjian, the Anthology of Research Papers of Liye Qinjian has been published, which is an affirmation of the hard work of all participants. Zhang Zhongwei
Source: People's Daily