The female mouse was born on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, and the male mouse was born in April.

Xie Yan was born on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. He is a rat.

Not long ago, on the occasion of the centenary of modern paleontology in China, Majiayuan Site in Gansu Province was selected as one of the "Top 100 Archaeological Discoveries in a Hundred Years".

Majiayuan site is a large-scale site containing cultural relics, pits and tombs during the Warring States period, which is not found in previous archaeological discoveries. It provides important information for studying Xirong culture and the relationship between Qin and Rong in the Warring States period, and also reveals the mystery of Xirong ethnic group.

Majiayuan is located in a hilly farmland called Majiayuan in the north of taoyuan village, Harmony Township, Sol Zhang Autonomous County, Tianshui City, Gansu Province. One day in early August, 2006, a grave robbery broke the tranquility here, and the field archaeological work of Majiayuan site lasted for 15 years. Today, the world can have a more specific understanding of Xirong culture, precisely because there are such a group of cultural relics workers who live in the wind and sleep in obscurity.

Majiayuan is backed by Majiayuan mountain beam, with Tuojialiang and Maojialiang on the left and right sides. Tombs are distributed in the gentle area halfway up the mountain, just like sitting in a plush chair.

M 16 tomb owner and corpse decoration

Discover the origin

"There are three graves in Sol Zhang. According to field investigation, horse bones, bow caps, patent leather, agate beads and other relics were found. The county also seized a number of cultural relics. We have applied for an excavation permit. You and Lao Zhou go to the scene to guide the Zhangjiachuan County Museum and clean up the tombs with them. I'm busy with what I'm doing. I'll be there soon. Hurry up and try to get it done in three months, and there are other work tasks when you come back. " One day in early August, 2006, Wang Hui, then deputy director of Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and head of Majiayuan Archaeological Project, told me and Zhou Guangji this way.

The day I received the job assignment, it was less than two months before my daughter was born. That night, I looked at her sleeping face and thought, I don't think this little guy even wrote down my appearance, did he? However, three months passed quickly, and when the excavation work is over, I will come back and feel sorry for her. However, who would have thought that the field archaeological work of Majiayuan site lasted from 2006 to 2022, lasting 15 years.

On August 8, 2006, I entered the archaeological site with teacher Zhou Guangji and Zhangjiachuan County and Museum, and started the rescue excavation and cleaning of three tombs in Majiayuan. According to the order of excavation, we numbered the three tombs as M 1, M2 and M3 respectively.

Majiayuan is located in a hilly farmland called Majiayuan in the north of taoyuan village, Harmony Township, Sol Zhang Autonomous County. Because of its remote geographical location, few people from other villages have been here before. When the villagers heard that it was sent by the "treasure digger", they were all curious and rushed to tell each other. Almost all the villagers gathered on the construction site, just like a grand event, and they surrounded the construction site outside the warning line. For me who has been engaged in field excavation for 8 years, this situation has become commonplace. For Zhou Guangji, who has the reputation of "one of the archaeological shovels in Gansu", it is even more commonplace and unpredictable. He can preach to the villagers with our county museum, maintain the order at the scene and ask the villagers to pay attention to safety.

Clean the grave

To excavate a tomb, we must first find and determine the horizon and scope of the opening of the tomb pit. In the process of searching for the M 1 hole, an unexpected discovery was made: the hole has not been found yet, but five horseheads were unearthed at a depth of about 1 meter under the modern surface. The snout of the horse's head faces east, prone, and the hoof bones of the horse are placed on both sides. The distance between them is about 7 meters from north to south and 3 meters from east to west, like two Ma Xiangdong horses marching.

The tomb entrance was found not deep under the horse's head. It turns out that these horseheads were placed on the surface of the tomb and buried around the tomb. This shows that the original surface of the tomb has not been. Experienced teacher Zhou suggested that there should be other relics in the opening face. With this speculation, we expanded the exposure area. As teacher Zhou expected, a pile of cattle and sheep skulls and their hoof bones were found 5 meters north of the northwest corner of the tomb gate, with an area of about 2 meters. I counted, there are as many as 22 people, which should be left by the tomb owner's special activities.

The villagers' curiosity is actually to see what treasure they have dug up. After the excavation lasted for a week, their curiosity seemed to be hit when they saw that we were slowly cleaning the grave filling layer by layer in the tomb and nothing new was unearthed. They jokingly said that we were "muddling along" (Longdong dialect means muddling along, lazy and inefficient), and under their preaching and persuasion, we broke up angrily, only to break up in twos and threes in the next few days. I thought to myself: has the enthusiasm of the villagers passed so quickly? ! In recent years, some people have been influenced by the internet and popular dramas. When it comes to archaeology, one of their reactions is "blowing lights", "robbing tombs" and "refining ancient cities". People often associate archaeology with mystery, exploration and treasure excavation. In fact, archaeology is a rigorous science, with mature theories and scientific, standardized and complete procedures for investigation, excavation, cultural relics protection and arrangement. Archaeology is an unpopular subject. People think archaeology is very high, but if they want to regard it as a career and a lifelong career, many people stay away from it because it makes people feel poor, hard and often lonely.

The curiosity of the villagers has been diluted by us "loafers", and our excavation work has just begun. After finding the openings of three graves, we will clean up the fillers in each tomb at the same time.

M 1 excavation site. I thought, "In the Warring States period when there was no large-scale excavation machinery, the state of building tombs for tombs was roughly the same as the way we clean tombs now." In the process of cleaning up the steps, we also found evidence that the place where the mud was pushed and shoveled on the left and right sides of each step was indeed lower than other places on the step surface, which was the trace left by people at that time when they were unearthed. "

During the excavation of M 1, the fill in the tomb was gradually cleared along the steps at the western end of the tomb. During this period, two bull's head bones and their hoof bones were unearthed, and four garlic-shaped small iron cans were unearthed around the bull's head (according to later discovery and research, it should be a horn sleeve).

Archaeology unearthed a cow's head in Tomb M 1. I am on the left, Su Yinhua, then deputy curator of Zhangjiachuan County Museum, and on the right is Ma Mingyuan, curator of Zhangjiachuan County Museum.

Discover the carriage

When the filler of Tomb M 1 was excavated to about 8 meters below the surface, I cleared up a collapsed patent leather in the south of the eastern end of the tomb, which was east-west and about 6 cm wide. At first I judged it was a painted wooden stick. Before excavating Majiayuan, I also cleaned some ancient tombs in other areas. My excavation experience tells me that the relics are either placed horizontally or at a certain angle. As long as they are cleaned down from this angle, they can be uncovered. But when I continued to clean up along this paint skin, I found that it was curved and the east and west ends kept drilling into the filler. I taught Mr. Zhou in confusion. He instructed the diggers to dig down the fill around the ruins first, and then carefully remove the fill wrapped around the ruins. The hand shovel fluttered gently in the hand, and the upper part of a wheel gradually came into view. Teacher Zhou put his hand into the soil smartly, patted the soil on his hand and said to me, "We are going to make a big discovery! This is the wheel, there should be a complete carriage below, you should clean it carefully! " -Great discovery! Carriage! I cheered with excitement and fear. We reported this discovery to the unit in time. Yang Huifu, then director of Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Wang Hui, then deputy director, made many field trips with relevant experts. During this time, my excitement continued unabated. Every time it's lunchtime, I don't want to come out of the grave. To this end, Mr. Zhou also criticized me kindly and jokingly: you should pay attention to your health like work! People are iron, rice is steel, and when you are full, do it well! I thought to myself: I'm afraid I'll be late, so why don't you delay everyone's dinner? Of course, this is a joke, but there is an unwritten rule in our archaeological site: no meals will be served until the excavation personnel are in place. The reasons are as follows: First, diggers have greater labor intensity and the hardest work, and enjoy the priority of eating; Second, archaeological teams are brothers in the same trench, so they should always keep pace, care for each other and take care of each other.

Archaeological site

M3- 1 Indoor Cleaning Site of Automobile Side Panel Decoration

With the continuous excavation, we cleared up four wagons buried in the vertical caves of M 1 and M3. Take the vehicles buried in the M3 vertical cave as an example: they form a linear queue from east to west and drive eastward. The car decorations in the east are the most complicated, and the car decorations in the back are decreasing one by one. An automobile is characterized in that, on the basis of painted patterns on the surface of a wooden car body, a square hollowed-out ornament made of copper is decorated on the outside of a carriage, and a triangular hollowed-out ornament made of copper is decorated on the surface of a wheel. The second car is a car with Er faces on both sides. I once jokingly said to tourists: This is a cool car in summer, and riders can put their arms on er's face, enjoy themselves and enjoy the great rivers and mountains of the country. The third car is only painted on the body surface, and no other metal decoration can be seen. One is the same shape as the third car, with rounded corners and high hurdles. The carriage of the fourth car is the smallest, round and without any decoration on the surface. All four cars are single-axle two-wheeled carriages.

M 14- 1 car restoration effect diagram drawn by teacher Zhao Wucheng.

The recycling effect diagram of M3 No.4 car (the third car in the vertical hole) was drawn by Teacher Zhao Wucheng.

Grave shape

Archaeological excavation must first be investigated, studied, predicted and planned, in order to be targeted. Because this excavation was a rescue cleaning, the stolen hole was made in the tomb, so no routine exploration was carried out before the excavation, so the question came: where is the owner buried? What is the structure of the ancient tomb? I have discussed this problem with teacher Zhou Guangji many times.

When the vertical hole was almost completely filled, the wooden board erected on the north wall of the vertical hole came-"Cave Tomb! There is no doubt! " I said excitedly to Miss Zhou. Since it is a cave tomb, considering the safety and convenience of excavation, it is necessary to dig down from the top of the cave and dig up all the soil at the top of the cave-this work is called "big top uncovering" in archaeology. But from which position and in which direction? It has become a problem that we need to consider.

According to Li Chengjun, director of Harmony Township, who has entered the M 1 stolen cave, the surface thieves vertically reached the bottom of the stolen cave about seven or eight meters, and then dug horizontally in two directions, one to the north, but not far away; One went west and dug a deep hole. The stolen hole was not high. People have to walk around their waists. The deeper they go, the narrower the space becomes. Considering personal safety, they didn't go in again.

One night, Mr. Zhou sat cross-legged on the bed where he lived, with paper and pen in his hand, and we discussed how to lift the lid together. According to director Li's description, Mr. Zhou wrote about the possibility of tomb structure. At that moment, I felt that we were caught in an eternal mystery: the whole vertical cave is east-west, the western end is a stepped pyramid-shaped mound, the eastern end is near the bottom, four carriages are buried in the pit, and the eastern end of the bottom of the northern wall of the tomb is covered with door panels, so the cave should be dug from here to the north. However, according to Director Li's description, there is another possibility: the direction of caves is also east-west, so the structure of tombs may be that caves and vertical caves are arranged in parallel with earth walls in the middle. Even Mr. Zhou, who has more than 30 years of archaeological experience and is well informed, has never seen a tomb with this structure. I guessed happily, but from a mechanical point of view, this structure is unreasonable and easy to collapse. Bold assumption, careful verification! On the eve of the "big roof uncovering", Mr. Zhou and I agreed on the roof uncovering scheme: first, the extension lines of the east wall and the west wall of the vertical hole, which are 3 meters parallel to the north wall of the vertical hole, will be expanded northward, and the roof will be uncovered until the roof is found, and then the scope will be narrowed.

In the process of expanding the square and uncovering the roof, a north-south dark brown grave filling belt appeared about 4 meters from the bottom of the vertical cave. I knew the ceiling would come out! In the subsequent excavation, according to the direction and scope of the exposed cavern, we reduced the expanded area in time, greatly reducing the excavation volume and manpower. /kloc-After more than 0/month, an unprecedented new tomb shape gradually became clear under our hand shovel: the opening plane of the vertical hole in the tomb was nearly trapezoidal, with nine steps with different heights and widths at the west end, and four carriages were buried at the bottom of the square pit at the east end of the vertical hole. The tomb is located at the lower eastern end of the northern wall of the vertical cave, and it is excavated northward perpendicular to the northern wall of the vertical cave to form a cave. The cave is divided into two chambers, the front chamber is rectangular, and there are nine column holes under the east and west side walls. The vertical wood columns in the column holes are used to support the shed wood similar to the tomb top beam frame. Amazingly, 1 car was buried in the lobby, and the luxurious decoration was amazing. The surface of the car body is decorated with precious materials such as gold, silver, gold, silver, iron and agate, and the decorative coverage rate is close to 100%, which makes the whole car body almost invisible. However, due to the collapse of the roof and the wanton destruction of grave robbers, the car was seriously damaged. The back room is rectangular, and the tomb owner should be buried in it. It is estimated that the tomb owner dressed up for the funeral, and the funerary objects were precious and rich, so the tomb elements were looted.

Panorama of tomb M 16. The tomb has not been excavated, its structure is similar to that of M 1, and the position and arrangement order of vehicles are basically the same as that of M 1, which can be used as a reference. We named this kind of tomb as "the tomb with stepped hills, vertical holes, pits and partial holes".

Cultural attribute

Zhangjiachuan County is located in the hinterland of China, influenced by the southeast and southwest monsoon, and belongs to temperate monsoon climate, with four distinct seasons, short summer and long winter, and abundant precipitation. The Majiayuan at the beginning of 1 1 has long been wrapped in silver and its tomb is like an ice cave. The cold index of clothes brought from home dropped sharply. While urging my family to ask my colleagues to bring thick cotton-padded clothes as soon as possible, I put all my clothes on my body and went down to the grave with a medical salt bottle full of hot water, but this warm-keeping equipment was really ineffective and it was cold in less than half an hour.

Copper Cocoon-shaped Pot Unearthed from M3 in the Cultural Factors of Qin Dynasty

The weather is cold, but the working mood is tense. Archaeological questions come and go: Who is the owner of such a special tomb shape, such a luxuriously decorated funerary vehicle and exquisite and diverse funerary objects? What kind of ethnic groups are these people and what are their cultural characteristics?

Unearthed iron spear with gold and silver.

Unearthed blue glazed pottery cup

To judge the archaeological and cultural attributes of a site, it is necessary to comprehensively analyze many conditions, and the identification of unearthed cultural relics is one of them.

In 1930s, Mr. Su excavated "shovel feet" at the Doujitai site in Baoji, which was the first study on the culture of Qin figurines. In the 1980s, Mr. Zhao Huacheng, the Department of Archaeology of the school, first divided the two kinds of cultural relics unearthed at Maojiaping site into "Western Zhou Qin cultural relics (Group A relics)" and "Group B relics with reddish brown pottery and Wei sand characteristics (Xirong cultural relics)".

Xirong culture shoveled feet with sand and brown pottery.

In the second half of 2006, he and Mr. Kevin·Z, who is teaching in the university, took students majoring in archaeology in Peking University to the Dabaozishan site in Lixian County for field excavation practice. Lixian County is nearly 5 hours' drive from Sol Zhang. One day, during the intermission due to the rain, he took the trouble to take the students and rented a car to visit Majiayuan. One of the Japanese students was very excited to see such a luxurious mausoleum, and even lay quietly on the cave floor cleaned by the tomb owner, which attracted a burst of laughter. During the investigation, Mr. Zhao Huacheng, Director Wang Hui and Mr. Kevin·Z conducted in-depth discussions. According to the cultural relics unearthed from Majiayuan Tomb, such as shovel feet of sand mixed with brown pottery, sand mixed with reddish brown pottery single ear jar, big horn sheep-shaped copper car ornaments, bronze tripod, copper cocoon-shaped pot, carriage, etc., it was identified as "Xirong cultural relics" kept by Qin people.

In the seminar on site excavation in 2006, the office conditions at that time were such a tent.

The history of Xirong in ancient literature can be traced back to the late Shang Dynasty to the Western Zhou Dynasty. The so-called Xirong is a general term for a few people around the Zhou and Qin cultural distribution areas in northwest China in the pre-Qin period, but not specifically. "Xirong culture" refers to the cultural remains left by Xirong in history. There are many castes in Xirong, and the appearance of its material and cultural remains is also diverse, which is difficult to be summarized by a certain archaeological culture. Xirong culture actually covers many archaeological cultures. The archaeological remains of Xirong culture mainly refer to Wa culture, Xindian culture and Kaga culture in Shang Dynasty and Western Zhou Dynasty, as well as Xirong culture in Eastern Zhou Dynasty found in Gansu, Ningxia and northern Shaanxi. Among them, it is related to the culture of Zhou and Qin dynasties, that is, the tile culture and Xirong and related remains of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in eastern Gansu, northern Shaanxi and southern Ningxia, which lasted from Shang Dynasty to Warring States. Because the records about Xirong in the history books are relatively simple, although the historians have conducted a lot of combing and textual research for a long time, the understanding of his family and culture is still very vague.

Silver-horned sheep car ornaments with nomadic culture style of Eurasian grassland unearthed from M3 tomb.

The golden tiger-shaped car ornaments with nomadic culture style of Eurasian grassland unearthed on the car buried in M3 tomb.

After the archaeological excavation of Majiayuan achieved initial results, the Gansu Provincial Party Committee and the provincial government attached great importance to it. In winter, then Deputy Director Tong and then Deputy Secretary of Gansu Provincial Party Committee, accompanied by Director Yang Huifu and Deputy Director Wang Hui, visited the site to inspect and guide the work.

Under the leadership of Deputy Director Wang Hui, we continue to verify the cultural attributes of this site. Asking experts for advice is a fine tradition in China archaeology. It is said that Majiayuan has made an important discovery. Xu Guangji, Xin, Jiao Nanfeng, Kui, En, ... Many domestic archaeologists came here one after another. They put forward their own opinions on the cultural attributes of the site and put forward suggestions for the next archaeological work.

Protect the interior and fender decoration of the repaired M3- 1 car.

Participate in the selection

On April 8th, 2007, the "Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China" sponsored by China Heritage Newspaper and China Archaeological Society and enjoying the reputation of Oscar in archaeology was announced in Beijing. In 2006, legal archaeological excavations, investigations and other projects in all parts of China were eligible to participate in the evaluation. Previously, 24 archaeological projects with historical, artistic and scientific values, new disciplines and new knowledge were published in China Heritage Newspaper and evaluated by experts, and were shortlisted for final evaluation. Heroes from all walks of life in China archaeology (heads of archaeological projects) gathered in the capital with their archaeological projects to show their archaeological discoveries to experts and the public. In the end, Xirong of Majiayuan Warring States stood out from many archaeological projects and was named "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China in 2006". This is the first time in my life that I have attended such a grand archaeological conference. I eagerly listened to the report of the project leader, recording the comments of archaeological experts such as Huang Jinglve, Yan Wenming and Zhang Zhongpei-what a great academic baptism! Subsequently, the field archaeological prize, which is regarded as the highest prize of archaeology in China, was announced on 9 June 165438, and the archaeological project of Majiayuan Site won the "third prize of 2006-2007 field archaeological prize". On June 65438+1October 65438+1October 8, 2022, Majiayuan Site was selected as one of the "Top 100 Archaeological Discoveries in a Hundred Years" on the occasion of the centennial of modern paleontology in China. So far, the Xirong culture reflected by Majiayuan site and its unearthed cultural relics has aroused sustained and great repercussions at home and abroad.

postscript

/kloc-today, 0/6 years later, I recall the past and think of the voice and smile of the late teacher Zhou Guangji, the difficulty of robbing the tomb and cleaning up the wagon. Guo Zhiyuan, the deputy curator, is over 50 years old. Zhao, who just joined the work, still sticks to the safety of cultural relics on the construction site all night regardless of the heat and cold. Director Ma Mingyuan works carefully and often improves meals for me and Miss Zhou in her life. Teacher Ma drives 65438+ every day.

Today, we can have a more specific understanding of Xirong culture, because there are such a group of unknown cultural relics workers, and it is their Qi Xin who unveiled the mysterious veil of Xirong ethnic group, which is only the tip of the veil, and more people with lofty ideals need to make unremitting efforts for it. The excavation of Majiayuan site is also a highlight in my life.

(The unit of this article is Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and the title was revised when it was published. )

Editor in charge: Li Mei

Proofreading: Zhang

The above is about the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, about the sharing of archaeology. After watching the mouse born in April of the lunar calendar, I hope this will help everyone!