A movie theater was demolished, but the "big secret" of the Shang Dynasty city was revealed

1. Origin

That year, I heard that the Dongfanghong Cinema near Erqi Square was going to be demolished, and I couldn't help but feel a little regretful. Although I am not a native of Zhengzhou, I can't help but bump into it when I travel between the streets and alleys of Zhengzhou. The shabby appearance is somewhat inconsistent with the temperament of the rapidly developing city. However, it has a special meaning for the people of Zhengzhou. Here is their beautiful youth and the joy of their youth. They have looked up at the stars here and looked at the world here. This quaint cinema is the storage point of the memory of the city of Zhengzhou. In fact, in addition to the cinema, those ancient buildings have been witnesses of history. Therefore, I always have some respect and love for them. As a joke goes, "Smart girls must marry archaeologists, because the older they are, the more they like it." Having said that, we want to preserve ancient things and keep the roots of the city. But the arms of archaeologists can't hold all the likes after all. The process of mankind is moving towards the future, and the wheels of the city are moving forward after all. We must also keep moving forward and let the city live in the present.

That day, the autumn wind blew suddenly. Holding a red paper, a group of us came to the former site of the East is Red Cinema. The mechanized operation gave humans very limited time and space for choice and thinking. What came into our eyes was a sunken open space after demolition. Compared with the towering blue fences around it, the sunken surface made the demolition area seem empty and vast. The trees and shrubs under the fences were lush and green, and the wild growth of the five chapters showed the vitality of life.

Facing this vast construction site and lush life, our group did not feel relaxed, just like the two sides of life, always mixed with joy and sorrow. For the development of the city, this land has been replanned. During the archaeological exploration, a large number of Shang Dynasty relics and ancient tombs were discovered. The most important thing is that a large area of ​​rammed earth remains were found in the proposed construction area! Such exploration results can be said to be a mixture of joy and sorrow. The construction site is located near the outer wall of Zhengzhou Shangcheng. According to the existing cultural relics protection plan, the west wall of Zhengzhou Shangcheng just passes through this construction land. This area belongs to the second-class construction monitoring zone of Zhengzhou Shangcheng. It is natural to find a city wall within the cultural protection scope, and there is no need to make a fuss. What is puzzling is that this rammed earth wall is not evenly distributed, and is only distributed locally, not in strips. Such a wall is suspicious. Faced with this complex situation, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage comprehensively considered and ordered the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau to conduct a fixed-point trial excavation of the rammed earth found in this area to determine the scope, distribution and nature of the rammed earth wall. It was because of this that when our group first arrived at the construction site, we felt the pressure on our shoulders. This was the initial appearance of this excavation.

That day, I wrote in the general diary of archaeological excavation, "September 25, 2017. The Erqi Square archaeological site project started, numbered 2017ZEL", and a journey of discovery in search of the Shang Dynasty city wall began.

The excavation team is discussing the age of the ruins

The Mystery of the Second City Wall

This construction site involves a national cultural heritage site. The national bureau, provincial and municipal cultural relics and our unit all attach great importance to this trial excavation. After careful research and comprehensive consideration, the leaders of the institute asked Comrade Jiang Nan, a big shot in the Shang and Zhou group of the unit, to be the team leader, and I was the executive team leader. The configuration of technicians was also carefully considered. Wang Guangcai, who has rich field archaeological experience, and Deng Yan, a young rookie, were selected as technicians. Such a team can be said to have an age structure of old, middle-aged and young, and the technical strength is also excellent. Before the National Day, our trial excavation team entered the Erqi Square archaeological site. According to the distribution range of rammed earth seen in the exploration, we laid two east-west trenches, one in the south and one in the north, with a specification of 3x35 meters, trying to use these two trenches to solve the problems of the distribution range, structure, nature and age of rammed earth. In order to eliminate external interference, when choosing the north side trench, we tried to arrange it in the northern concrete pile distribution area as much as possible. At that time, I thought that the strata and accumulation in this area would have few other interference factors except the disturbance of cement piles. Fortunately, the north side exploration trench was successfully laid out in the narrow space surrounded by concrete piles. Just after the line was laid and within a few days of digging, Wang Guangcai was the only technician left. The young Xiao Deng asked for leave and went home. It is always a pity for young comrades and newlyweds to say goodbye.

Because it was a trial excavation, the construction progress was relatively slow. After uncovering the covering soil, the appearance of the two trenches immediately appeared. The southern trench, numbered TG1, showed consistency inside and outside. The soil quality of the opening layer was basically the same as the lower clearing soil layer, both of which were yellow silty raw soil. Such a stratum accumulation immediately made the entire excavation team feel hopeless. Just when everyone was very depressed, a large area of ​​gray soil appeared on the west side of the northern trench, numbered TG2, and was distributed in layers. The appearance of these gray soils made us somewhat relieved and brought hope, so the focus of work shifted to the north. As the work progressed, the accumulation of cultural layers in the northern trench became increasingly obvious. However, the stratum accumulation seemed to be distributed in layers, but it was somewhat different from the accumulation of rammed earth. Generally speaking, the soil quality and color of rammed earth are consistent from top to bottom, and they are distributed in layers. The soil is hard and dense, and there are many rammed holes where the layers meet. When we cleaned up the suspected rammed earth accumulation on the west side of TG2, the cultural accumulation was very strange, similar to rammed earth, but not exactly the same. First of all, the accumulation seemed to be layered, but the color difference was very large. The color difference between the upper and lower connecting layers was obvious, one layer was gray and the other was brown. The accumulation method was also different. The strata were obviously layered at the junction of the strata. The soil was hard and dense, but there were no traces of tamping, such as ramming holes. In addition, a strange phenomenon attracted our attention—a large number of Shang Dynasty pottery fragments were found in the strata. It is a normal accumulation phenomenon to find various Shang Dynasty pottery fragments in the Shang Dynasty city wall accumulation, which is not worth making a fuss about. However, the excessive number of pottery fragments in the cultural accumulation and their large shapes are a bit incredible. After all, under the strong pressure of the tamping tool, only a few people can survive without being crushed to pieces. Therefore, the dense excavation of large Shang Dynasty pottery fragments of different materials in the strata, coupled with the absence of ramming holes, immediately made us doubt the accumulation of the suspected rammed earth area seen in the piece exploration.

Gray soil area suspected to be rammed earth

The work was constantly moving forward amid doubts. Fortunately, two tombs were found on the east side of the two trenches. The two tombs on the south side had completely exposed tomb passages. After expansion, the overall scope of the tombs was basically determined. They were two parallel Han Dynasty tombs, facing south and north. These two tombs were found in the trench that Master Wang Guangcai was responsible for. According to convention, he was directly responsible for the excavation and cleaning of these two tombs. The two tombs in the trench on the north side only showed the location of the tomb chambers. In order to find the distribution range of the entire tomb, we went through a lot of trouble in the concrete. After several days of struggle, we finally figured out the distribution range and shape of the tombs. What surprised us was that the two tombs on the north side had parallel tomb chambers, but in the location of the tomb passage, the tomb passage of the tomb on the west side turned eastward and connected with the tomb passage on the east side. The person in charge, Deng Yan, came to ask me why this kind of tomb passage was like this? Seeing her puzzled expression, I asked her, "Have you ever heard of the line 'I wish to be a pair of wings in the sky, and a pair of branches on the ground'?" She nodded. Then, I told her that this might be a burial method for couples that was popular in the Han Dynasty. The issue of men and women is an enduring hot topic in human society, and the burial of men and women is also an eternal topic in ancient tombs. It has been popular from prehistoric times to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but the burial and expression methods are different. After listening, Deng Yan nodded thoughtfully, but she still sighed, "Alas, why bother with this? It's so tiring. When we are alive, we may not be happy together, and we have to be together after death. It's really tiring." Seeing that she looked worried, I quickly said, "Life is a long process, and in fact, there is more happiness."

As the work progressed, the gray soil accumulation in the trench on the north side has been mostly revealed. This relic that has been cleared further confirmed our initial judgment that this cultural accumulation is likely not rammed earth. If it is not rammed earth, what could it be? That day, I stood on one side of the trench, looking at the neat east and west walls. The pit was piled up in layers and pottery fragments were unearthed, but it was not the foundation trench of the city wall. What could it be? Suddenly, a flash of inspiration came to me: "trench"! The two words jumped into my mind, and I slapped my thigh hard. Thinking of this, I quickly jumped into the trench and scraped the edge of the accumulation with a shovel, further confirming several key positions of this relic. This discovery of the relic attribute was also recognized by the team leader Jiang Nan. Based on the discovery that the rammed earth wall (foundation trench) became a trench, we added some new work tasks while adhering to the original excavation plan, and carried out hanging sections on the four walls in the excavation area. If this relic is really a city wall trench, then the city wall must be nearby and will appear on the four walls after the construction site is cleared. Therefore, Comrade Wu Jintao was transferred over to undertake this important task. Through large-scale scraping of the four wall sections, we did not find any valuable clues. What we can be sure of is that the remains in the exploration trench are gray ditches, and the suspected rammed earth walls should be the cultural deposits in the gray ditches; the four tombs in the exploration trench are relics from the Xinmang period.

As the work progressed, the days were approaching midwinter. Our work was swinging back and forth between affirmation and negation, and our lives were jumping back and forth between hope and disappointment. Finally, one morning in early winter, we welcomed the inspection of the expert group, which was a key step for the State Administration of Cultural Heritage to control the quality of the construction site. The experts who came that day were all well-known scholars in China. These experts have been deeply engaged in Henan and Shang and Zhou archaeology for many years and have made many achievements. The expert group inspected the excavated relics on site and compared the unearthed artifacts. After listening to our work report. The expert group highly affirmed our excavation work, agreed with the conclusions of our excavation team, and believed that further work could be carried out in the area to determine the attributes and ages of other relics in the site area. Combined with the suggestions of the expert group, just as we were actively reporting to the National Bureau, a heavy snow came. In this heavy snow, we suspended field work and moved to indoor sorting. Of the pottery fragments dug out during the winter, most of the pottery fragments unearthed from Huigou were incomplete, except for a large number of objects that were glued together from the tombs. This result was just like our journey to the city wall, which ended in failure.

Relics from different eras in the same place

3. Comprehensive exploration started

In the fall of 2018, we had almost forgotten about the excavation of Erqi Square, but the official document from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage finally arrived, approving our application for a full excavation and repeatedly reminding us to pay attention to important relics and report the excavation progress at all times.

It is another late autumn season, and our team has returned to the bustling area of ​​Erqi Square. Compared with the bustling streets and crowded people outside the wall, the excavation site is indeed much quieter. In addition, after a year of suspension, the grass and trees in some areas are still growing wildly. When the team entered the site this time, there were seven of us in total, me, Deng Yan, Huang Chen, Wang Xiaoxiao, Huang Jingling, Cheng Fang and Liu Xinyi. The latter four were students who came from Shandong for internship. In view of their need to pass the field archaeology level, the unit sent them to Erqi Square, a construction site with many relics, to meet their internship requirements. So, I assigned Deng Yan to be responsible for the daily work and study of these girls. Because I always think that Deng Yan is a good child. This farmer's child from Xifu, Guanzhong, is kind, simple, simple and hardworking. She has the simple emotions and integrity of the Guanzhong region. She adheres to this noble sentiment and implements her own rhythm in work. Her ancient way of doing things sometimes seems inhumane and not suitable for today's world. In that case, being too harsh on yourself will make you live a very tiring life. Perhaps, it is the way she works that often reminds me of myself in the past, the prodigal son who once had no support. Let her be the guide for the students. I want these children to suddenly remember that their big sister did not lead them to the evil path in some days. Even so, on a winter morning, I received a call from Huang Jingling. The person on the other end of the phone was crying with tears in her eyes. She was speechless and choked. After she calmed down, I figured out that she did something risky and was stopped and criticized by Deng Yan in time. Because this woman is naturally shy and afraid, she collapsed instantly when facing such things.

This kind of construction site, because the early building layer is relatively thick, the cultural layer has been destroyed in the early stage, and there are many damages when cleaning the building layer in the later stage, the cultural layer here is basically gone, and it is not difficult to excavate. Although the stratum is not well accumulated, we still strictly abide by the requirements of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, arrange the construction site according to the exploration method, and excavate scientifically. On the construction site, the main problem we must face is the large number of relics and the deep burial. Through preliminary excavation, we found that the depth of some Shang Dynasty ash pits can reach 6-7 meters. Such a depth puts us under great pressure in safety. If we want to keep the original state of the ash pit, the Shang Dynasty square ash pit will become smaller and smaller as it goes down, which will bring great inconvenience to the excavation. If people are placed in a vertical shaft 7 meters below to work, if a collapse occurs, the consequences will be unimaginable. Faced with this situation, we adopt the method of excavating and expanding the square at the same time. In the process of continuous cleaning, we gradually expand the square. By expanding the square, we can gradually clean up the accumulation in the ruins under safe protection. At the same time, the Han Dynasty tombs in this area are also very deep, mostly around 4 meters, and some are around 6-7 meters. In view of our method of digging ash pits, we also adopted this method for the tombs. Although it is a bit troublesome to clean up, the safety factor is very high.

Compared with other archaeological infrastructure projects, our project not only has higher technical requirements, but is also a key project of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. At the same time, it also has high standards in theory. There are four interns waiting to be fed on the construction site. Their personalities are very different. Wang Xiaoxiao is bold and courageous, Huang Jingling is cautious and careful, Cheng Fang is introverted and taciturn, and Liu Xinyi is quiet and silent. Although the four have their own personalities, they are interns after all. Compared with other mature technicians, these students who come to intern have high requirements for our work. After all, as an intern teacher, we should not only tell them how to do it, but also tell them why. When everything must have a "why", I suddenly felt an unprecedented pressure. In addition to the students' desire for knowledge, they are fresh and curious about everything on the construction site, and they often ask questions. We can still deal with some questions, but for some strange questions, we often don't know how to respond. When they saw human bones from the Han Dynasty, they would ask, "Why do these people look like this?", "Why are their bones so thick?", "Why are his (her) legs so thin?" These nonsensical questions hit my blind spots, and I dared not speak any more, fearing that I would say the wrong thing and give them incorrect answers, lest I mislead the students. Such entanglement often made me, a man with beards and eyebrows, become a bit like a woman with bound feet, afraid to take a step forward. In order to solve the problems of these female students, we had to set up temporary theoretical training classes during field work, and by teaching archaeological theoretical knowledge and field skills, we could standardize the source and direction of the questions. In this way, we finally pulled these wild horses back to where they should be.

As time passed, we entered the midwinter season during the archaeological work in 2018. When heavy snow covered the entire construction site, all the fields were covered with snow. Only the ruins that had been cleared were like eyes, looking at the sky, sizing up this familiar yet strange world.

A wall separates us from each other, but it makes a huge difference

Four starts 2019

The 2019 Spring Festival has just passed, and the winter jasmine has just bloomed. We are busy again at the construction site next to the Erqi Pagoda. This year is the year when the construction site is planned to be completed, so our construction site ushered in a group of additional technical personnel, Chen Yang, Zhao Fule, Gao Hong, Jing Yaru and others. Previously, these four people dug Ming Dynasty tombs in Nangang Liu, Zhengzhou (see my humble work "Excavation of Ming Dynasty Tombs in Nangang Liu, Zhengzhou" "Popular Archaeology" 2022 Issue 10). Their arrival greatly enhanced the technical strength of the entire construction site, but also brought us a new problem-there was no room to sit around the table. After adding a few tables, we sat down at the table. At that time, the entire construction site was neat and orderly, lively and comfortable.

At noon in early spring, the sun shines through the top of the Erqi Pagoda and falls in front of our studio. We close the gate of the construction site, which instantly isolates the noise outside and gives us a quiet place in the bustling city. A row of long tables are set up, filled with a variety of dishes, colorful, cold dishes and hot dishes, meat and vegetables. Everyone sits around the table, and between the glasses, there is an illusion that the rivers and lakes and the temple are only one step away. After all, outside the construction site wall is the prosperous Erqi business district. Looking across the wall, the century-old Dehua is only a few steps away. The bustling and noisy outside and the quiet and contented inside the wall form a clear contrast. The high-rise buildings and bridges outside the wall, the neon lights are the masterpieces of modern technology, and what can be seen inside the wall are the ash pits and wells, and the tombs and cellars are the cultural remnants of the ancients. The world outside the wall is ours, and it used to be theirs. In the cycle of history, they have come all the way from ancient times, born here, buried here, and they are the past of this hot land. When history flows to us, we are the present of this hot land, but one day, we will become history like them. Therefore, the gate of the construction site is no longer an ordinary gate, it is like a time and space conversion station. Inside the gate, we talk with the ancients, and outside the gate, we share prosperity with the modern times. And this feature is most obvious in everyone's dress. The female comrades in our team often wear two sets of equipment when they go to work and get off work. Since most of them are young and beautiful girls, after entering the door, they immediately put on blue work clothes and start working. After get off work, everyone puts on fashionable coats, showing the grace of modern people, and the original blue ocean suddenly appears with colorful flowers. Especially Comrade Jing Yaru, who is tall, has a sense of progress and retreat when doing work, and is also very fashionable when dressing up, becoming a beautiful landscape on the construction site.

After the vigorous mass production began, we discovered too many secrets hidden under this hot land, such as the cellars of the Shang Dynasty, the wells of the Warring States Period, the tombs of the Han Dynasty, etc. The various unearthed objects in these relics are also unique, such as the pottery jia of the Shang Dynasty, the pottery jars of the Warring States Period, the bronze mirrors of the Han Dynasty, the tri-color pottery of the Tang Dynasty, and the porcelain bowls of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Among them, the remains and unearthed objects of the Shang Dynasty and the Han Dynasty are the most abundant. The relics of the Shang Dynasty are mostly square cellars. The shape of this kind of cellar is very regular, and the mouth is mostly rectangular or square. The vertical pit type, the depth is mostly about 4-6 meters. The accumulation in the pit is very rich, and there are many complete pottery found at the bottom of the pit. Therefore, we use the expansion method to clean it up, and we have also harvested a lot of complete objects. Such as pottery tripods, pottery jia, pottery beans, pottery basins, pottery gui, pottery pots, pottery cauldrons, pottery steamers and divination bones. Although the unearthed objects are so complicated, they are still somewhat dwarfed by those of the Han tombs.

Han Dynasty tombs are very densely distributed on this land, and most of them are from the Western Han Dynasty. They are all cave tombs, divided into two types, hollow brick chamber tombs and small brick chamber tombs, with the former being slightly better. These Han tombs have brought a lot of pressure to our excavation work. Because most of the Han tombs discovered here are well preserved and rarely stolen. One of them was encountered by Comrade Huang Chen, who is known as the "first in professionalism" in our team. It is a huge tomb of the late Western Han Dynasty, which is partially broken. However, no one expected that only scattered five-zhu coins were found at the bottom of the tomb. Xiao Huang, who spent a lot of effort to clean up this tomb, suddenly sighed to the sky and couldn't help himself. Compared with Xiao Huang's luck, Deng Yan's luck is much better than his. After all, she dug out a Tang Dynasty tomb and was criticized. The Tang Dynasty tomb was destroyed during the early cleaning. The remnants can be seen on the wall of the foundation pit in the excavation area. Because it was hanging on the wall, Deng Yan saw the relic and cleaned it up. After a busy period, a bunch of cultural relics were excavated, including bronze mirrors, bracelets, decorations, etc. When I saw these artifacts, I immediately criticized Deng Yan, stopped the work immediately, and held a short business meeting. Because the decorations were all scattered after being cleaned up and could not be formed. Faced with this situation, I told everyone: Archaeology is not treasure hunting, but scientific research. Whether a tomb has burial objects is a reflection of the real life of the ancients. Even if it is stolen, it is also a presentation of the history of the tomb. Therefore, there should be no subjective gains and losses, but objective records and serious treatment. At the same time, field archaeology is not simply cleaning artifacts, nor is it a treasure hunt like picking potatoes. The most important and core of field archaeology is the original scene. When an artifact is roughly stripped of its original scene, the value of the artifact will be discounted. Therefore, for complex artifacts, it is best to keep them in their original state, rather than cleaning them easily. It is best to extract them all and put them in the laboratory for operation. After this meeting, I feel that everyone has improved in the extraction of artifacts and it is more scientific. Later, I heard that Xiao Huang had completely extracted a Tang Dynasty headdress at another construction site and put it in the laboratory for archaeological research. This may be the power of knowledge.

Huang Chen cleaning the tomb

These Han tombs have not been robbed, and the unearthed objects are very rich. However, compared with the shape of the tombs, we prefer the latter. There are a large number of these Han Dynasty brick chamber tombs, and there are many patterns on the hollow bricks. Although most of them are single patterns, you can occasionally see divine birds and beasts, pavilions and chariots. These varied patterns embellish the lonely tombs, enriching the lives of the ancients and broadening our horizons. Apart from these entertainments, the joint burial tombs really refresh our cognition. Joint burial in different holes is a common popular way in this cemetery. The two tombs are connected by aisles or tomb passages. They seem to be practicing their former love vows in an almost stubborn way.

The burial of men and women in different tombs is easy to understand, but the burial of men and women in the same tomb is difficult to explain. "Did they die on the same day? If not, isn't it too cruel? Will love disappear?" This question came from the fashionable girl, who has always been in my team as the "first to ask more questions". She asks questions when she doesn't know, so she is more diligent than others. Hehehe... After a burst of laughter at the construction site, I felt that I seemed to have to say something, otherwise this laughter would become a prop to cover up the embarrassment? I immediately asked: "Have you read the master's thesis "Study on Prehistoric Male and Female Burial Tombs in the Yellow River Basin" written by a man named Liu Wenke?" The girl pursed her lips and shook her head, but laughed even happier. I said, "Then listen to Mr. Liu's sermon."

Actually, there were cases of couples dying at the same time in ancient times, but it was only an occasional phenomenon. In the Han Dynasty, people were still very open-minded. As the saying goes, "In the middle of spring, people can run away without restraint." The moon was on the branches, and people made appointments at dusk, both men and women. What an open life that was. We dare not think about it now, let alone do it. People at that time were not as restrained as those after the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Especially during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, women were restricted by etiquette, not to mention wearing hot pants, and even talking to men was not allowed. Therefore, there were more people who died for chastity.

Therefore, to judge this problem, we must first look at the scene of field excavation, and we must infer the dynamic process from the static phenomenon. Once a joint burial tomb is found in the tombs of the Han Dynasty or other times, even if it is a couple's burial, we must always be vigilant. After all, field archaeological work is the only way to determine their burial process. The archaeological site is the basis of all research. If the field work is sloppy, it will cause errors in the results of indoor research. Just like this tomb of a couple buried in the same tomb, what kind of burial method is it? We must observe from the burial details and static clues, and not just look at the current situation. The current situation is static, and the burial process is dynamic. If we only look at the problem from a static perspective, then archaeology will be very simple. If archaeology wants to "see people through things", it must see this dynamic process. You see, this tomb, the tomb chamber is slightly wider than the general tomb chamber. Secondly, the building materials on his left and right sides are also inconsistent. One side is small bricks and the other side is hollow bricks. The burial objects are also placed in two piles. At the same time, the human bones in the tomb chamber also show differences. The most important phenomenon is that there is a pottery jar placed outside the tomb door. What do these phenomena indicate? The only thing is that there must be an internal cause for something strange. What we see is this phenomenon, and all the evidence shows that this static result is not the original state, that is, this static phenomenon is caused by multiple dynamic processes. For example, there are differences in the building materials of the tomb, and there are pottery jars on the tomb door. In addition, the differences in human bones all highlight that this tomb has been disturbed twice, that is, there is a relationship between men and women in the process of joint burial. Among them, one person died first and was immediately buried in this tomb. After his spouse died, he was also buried here, forming a joint burial. This process is dynamic. For example, all the materials in the early stage are one kind, and the burial materials used in the later stage are one kind. When the tomb is expanded, the first deceased will be disturbed, and the bones will be disturbed, so there will be abnormalities in the tomb. When the tomb is expanded, a piece of pottery of the first deceased was dug out during the expansion, and when the second person was buried, it was mixed with the other person, so the scene you see appeared.

"So, who came first and who came later?" Xiao Jing asked again while looking at the joint tomb.

“The person who left first must have been the one who was hurt the most, because he was buried earlier and was often disturbed and broken by the later ones. Therefore, in this kind of co-burial relationship, the one who was broken and the one whose remains were partially disturbed are generally the first ones.” After I finished speaking, I smiled and said to her, in fact, you can take a look at my paper. Although the writing of the whole paper is not very good, the writing on the dynamic relationship of co-burial is still quite brilliant.

Tombs of men and women buried together in a relationship between early and late

Five Archaeological Battles

I have always felt that the arrival of Guo Xiangkun, Ren Lijuan and Qin Dening should be the symbol of the Erqi Battle. After all, they were transferred from other project teams to increase our manpower, and Qin Dening and Guo Xiangkun were originally independent teams. Their arrival not only increased the exploration strength of our project team, but also greatly expanded our recipe structure. Although Chef Guo Xiangkun was born in Yanshi, Henan, he once settled in Xinjiang. He was self-taught and cooked good Western dishes, especially Xinjiang Dapanji. During festivals or rainy seasons, he personally took the spoon and cooked delicacies, especially the freshness of the meat, the strong pepper, and the long potatoes, just like him, rough and soft. After dinner, he always took a small stool and sat in a pile of pottery fragments, quietly splicing and trying various methods. He always spliced ​​the seemingly unformable broken pottery into a nearly perfect object. He restored the most Shang Dynasty pottery in his hands, and he deserves the title of a master. For a long time, I wondered how such a hot-tempered person could have such a delicate mentality. What kind of person was he? Of course, under his responsibility, the key area on the west side of the construction site, which was originally suspected to be the location of the trench, was fully uncovered. The so-called trench gradually narrowed to the south and became an irregular ash pit. Perhaps this is the charm of archaeology. You never know what the next layer will be? Maybe it is a big pit dug for you.

As the construction site was fully opened, people were digging ditches, digging pits, and digging graves. It was a lively scene. However, due to the requirements of air control, the excavated area must be covered with dust nets. The construction site is located in the city center, so we had to follow the arrangement and make archaeological contributions to the blue sky. Everything has its pros and cons. The sky is blue, but the ground is unstable. Our excavation is from east to west, and the door is in the east. Therefore, when we excavate, we have to pass through a long and mysterious excavated area. This area has large pits inside small pits, and pits are connected. Every time we pass by, we must be very careful. This is just right. Life is not only about the Erqi Tower in front of us, but also about the big pits under our feet. Now, we have to cover it with dust nets, and the risk factor has obviously increased. Every time we pass by, it is like passing through a minefield. Although falling into a pit does not happen often, even if you fall into it, you will most likely be caught by the net, just like the second brother hanging on the tree. Unless the size is too large, the dust will settle (butt).

However, the pit still happened. It was noon, Gao Hong fell into the pit when he was crossing the "pit area". In a flash, a tall black shadow suddenly jumped out of the cultural relics protection area and ran straight to Gao Hong. He took two steps at a time and came to Gao Hong in an instant. He grabbed Gao Hong who fell into the pit and pulled him out of the pit. He patted the soil and asked about his well-being. At this time, we found that the black shadow was our cultural relics protection specialist Wu Jintao. After being frightened, facing this sudden series of changes, the thin Gao Hong blushed and pushed Xiao Wu away. We, standing far away, were also confused by these series of actions. But, suddenly, we all smiled at each other and understood everything. No wonder there were so many strange things happening in the past two days. Now we have the answers, right? So, at noon, we added several more dishes to turn these two young "underground party members" into "regular troops" on the ground. From this we can see that falling into a pit is not necessarily a bad thing. Some are "pits made by heaven", such as the big ash pit dug by Teacher Guo and the small ash pit that Gao Hong fell into. So don't be afraid of pits, maybe it's a good thing? No wonder people often say that suffering a loss is a blessing.

In view of Gao Hong's pitfall, that afternoon, Deng Yan led the workers to use our benchmarks and warning tapes to mark a safe passage in the excavation area, and reinforced and marked the dangerous area. In this way, a smooth path was taken out of this dangerous area. This practice was discovered by Dean Du Xin who was inspecting the construction site in the afternoon. He praised it and promoted it throughout the hospital. Afterwards, Dean Du told me that when he inspected the construction site, he found that Deng Yan had changed a lot. She was more generous and confident than before, and not as silent as before. In fact, what time gives people is not only aging, but also growth. I have recalled more than once that in the late autumn of 2015, Deng Yan's appearance when she first came to my project team was quiet and speechless, silently following behind Liang Yanan, who was in charge of the construction site, and timidly looking at the world. In the past few years, she has cooperated with me and done everything on the construction site carefully and responsibly. This girl who was bold and persevering in love ended her eight-year love affair with her boyfriend and finally got married. Although marriage is different from the love we are passionate about, I firmly believe that a person who has love in her heart and is serious and responsible will live a good life. I still hope that she will not be too harsh on herself. In fact, sometimes, excessive perfection is also a kind of harm.

No matter how beautiful a chapter is, it will eventually come to an end, and so does an archaeological battle. In the excavation area, we have cleared cultural relics from multiple periods since the Shang Dynasty, and unearthed countless artifacts. The suspected rammed earth layer originally located on the west side of the construction site has changed from the original city wall to a suspected trench, and then from a trench to an ash pit during the three years of excavation. Such a comedy is nothing for a static relic, because it has been buried here for three thousand years. It has never said what it is. The people who say what it is are the constantly changing us. Although, every time, we feel that our judgment is correct, but when the dust settles, we find that all this is not what we thought, but we know that with every change, we are one step closer to the truth.

After the answer was revealed, the provincial and municipal cultural relics bureaus arranged experts to inspect the construction site. That day, when I showed the PPT I had prepared to the experts who came to inspect, I felt mixed emotions. After all, a matter was finally over.

6. Pandemic

After the site acceptance, we have been keeping the original appearance of the site, waiting for the inspection of the national bureau. During this period, we closed the door, and the years passed slowly. We slowly repaired and glued the excavated pottery pieces, and many of them could be repaired into complete jars. Of course, the price was also heavy. It was a small matter to have hands covered with 502 glue. Sometimes, we were even burned by the glue. One morning, when we were repairing pottery, we were not careful, and the glue that absorbed heat in the sun dripped onto Xiaojing's hand. In an instant, the white back of the hand turned crimson, and a big bubble rose a few seconds later. In this situation, everyone hurriedly went to find some ice cubes to apply. After a while, the big bubble was restrained. Then, everyone smiled and said, "This is a broken palm." After a failure, we learn a lesson. After that, when we repair pottery again, we pay special attention, for fear that it will continue to be broken.

Although time passes slowly during the waiting days, it is a good time to check and fill in the gaps in the construction site information. When some minor work needs to be supplemented, Deng Yan works together with the uncle who is watching the construction site. Suddenly one day, I saw Xiao Deng's husband Xiao Li helping with the work. After asking carefully, I learned that the uncle who was watching the site had twisted his waist while working. Deng Yan felt that this was her responsibility, so she asked her husband to take leave and come here to help. I thought to myself, why bother? But then I thought, kind people are like this.

2019 finally passed, and our construction site was once again completely covered in snow. At that time, we didn't know that this winter hibernation would last an extremely long time.

In 2020, the country was hit by an epidemic, and I was ordered to go to the Erqi construction site. At that time, the once bustling Erqi Square was deserted. The few people who came were either emergency medical technicians or volunteers in red vests. At that time, the Erqi construction site was immersed in a solemn atmosphere from inside to outside. There was no sound outside the wall, and no sound inside the wall. I moved a table and sat on one side of the construction site, rewriting our manuscript at my desk. A few days later, the epidemic eased, and Deng Yan and I marked the unearthed objects of Erqi and transported them all back to the unit.

At noon that day, I found Zhang Shuai in the printing room, hoping that she could speed up the issuance of the excavation report of the Erqi construction site. She got to work without saying a word. The next morning, when she handed the excavation report to me, her face was full of fatigue.

Finally, the Erqi construction site, which took more than two years to complete, was finally completed.

This article was originally published in the 11th issue of "Meiwen" in 2024, with slight additions.