Zhao Haitao (second from right) is photographing the excavation site. Photo by Ma Fangqing
Character biography
Zhao Haitao: A native of Tanghe County, Henan Province, associate researcher at the Institute of Archeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and captain of the Erlitou Task Force. He began to officially participate in the excavation and research of the Erlitou site in 2002, and became the Erlitou Task Force in 2019 The fourth captain. He has presided over or participated in many important discoveries at the Erlitou site. He was twice selected into the top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country. He presided over many national-level projects such as key projects of the National Social Science Fund and was published in academic journals such as “Archaeology”. More than 30 academic papers or presentations
Luoyang, Henan, Erlitou, Yanshi. 65 years ago, this was still an unknown ordinary village. As a corner of Chinese civilization was revealed Open, this place carries people’s desire to trace the origins and pursue the ancient “Xia Capital”
At 5 o’clock in the morning, inside the archaeological mission station located at the corner of Erlitou Village , Zhao Haitao has woken up. Recently, the captain of the Erlitou Task Force of the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences often “checks in” and posts a photo outside the window in his circle of friends. “This method is also a reminder and encouragement for work. ”.
Zhao Haitao took over the shovel and scraper from the previous generation of predecessors, and has been adhering to field archeology for more than 20 years, silently studying the early Chinese civilization at his feet.
Nearly 300 days of the year are spent in Erlitou
Going eastward from the suburbs of Luoyang, passing through acres of wheat fields, between the Yi and Luo rivers, The reporter visited the Erlitou site. The Luoyang Basin where the site is located has historically concentrated many large cities such as Erlitou and Yanshi Shangcheng, and has become a key research area for the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasty projects and the Chinese civilization exploration project.
However, it is not easy to find the Erlitou Archaeological Mission Station. The 300Jamaicans Sugardaddy Erlitou ruins of 300,000 square meters, It was surrounded by villagers in Erlitou, GetangJamaica Sugar Daddytou, Siqiaolou, and Beixu villages in Zhai Town, Yanshi District. After following the directions carefully, the reporter found the archaeological mission station where Zhao Haitao was located in a corner of Erlitou Village.
Zhao Haitao took reporters into this “one door and three lanes” style antique courtyard. There are piles of things in the courtyard. There are baskets of broken pottery pieces, and inside the bamboo baskets are registration cards indicating the time, location, and person recording them. “These are newly washed pottery pieces that will be put together and repaired after drying, and finally stored in the warehouse. “Zhao Haitao said that he has been doing this kind of work for more than 20 years.
In 1995, Zhao Haitao was admitted to Shandong University to study archeology. In the general archeology class, Zhao Haitao met the famous ancient historian Xu Xusheng. “In 1959, Mr. Xu The teacher visited the “Xia Ruins” in western Henan and discovered Erlitou. Since then, a corner of the 3,800-year-old Chinese civilization has been revealed. “Zhao Haitao said, “Mr. Xu was already in his 70s and still went deep into the countryside. This spirit shocked me a lot. ”
Under the influence of Xu Xusheng, Zhao Haitao also yearned for Erlitou. In 1997, on his way out for training, he passed by and visited the Erlitou ruins, and had his first encounter with it. IntersectionJamaicans Escort
In 1999, Zhao Haitao applied for a graduate degree at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and studied under the famous archaeologists Wang Wei and Du Jinpeng. During his graduate studies, he came to Erlidou again in order to collect field data for his master’s thesis. When he graduated in 2002, Zhao Haitao packed his luggage and left Erlitou Village from Beijing after receiving an invitation from the staff of the Erlitou Task Force.
“Including me, the task force only had Two researchers, the rest are trainees and workers. “Zhao Haitao introduced that after joining the work team, he quickly threw himself into busy archaeological excavations. By 2004, Zhao Haitao was able to take charge of most of the internal tasks in the archaeological field work at the Erlitou site. In 2019 , on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the archaeological excavation of the Erlitou site, Zhao Haitao became the fourth captain of the Erlitou task team
After lunch and work, Zhao Haitao basically used the work station and the excavation site as his main activity areas. He spent nearly 300 days in Erli in a year and became old friends with many nearby villagers. On January 5, the Yanshi District government awarded Zhao Haitao the title of “Honorary Citizen”, and Erlitou became his second hometown.
Continue to work hard and gain a number of new archaeological discoveries
With the continuous efforts of generations of predecessors, the late Chinese civilization buried deep in the loess is gradually becoming clear. In December 2023, the Chinese Civilization Discovery Project announced the latest results. Project research believes that starting from 3800 years ago, Chinese civilization entered the dynastic period. The most important symbol of entering the dynasty was newly discovered in the central area of the Erlitou site.
Zhao Haitao explained that multiple main roads and walls on both sides of the roads were newly discovered in the central area of the Erlitou site, dividing the capital of Erlitou into multiple grid areas, showing the society at that time The clear organizational structure and orderly hierarchy indicate that there was a mature and developed governance system and model at that time, which is the most important sign of entering a dynasty.
“I thought there were only 9 here After reasoning and verification of the grid’s ‘tic-tac-toe’ shape, it was found that the ‘tic-tac-toe’-shaped path was extended to a larger scale, and there could be at least 15 squares in the site. “Zhao Haitao introduced that “Erlitou Urban Multi-grid Structure” was selected as one of the top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country in 2022.
The new invention is based on previous research. That year As soon as he entered the Erlitou task force, Zhao Haitao, under the leadership of his successor captain, searched for roads and city walls. “Unlike the Shimao ruins which were made of stone buildings, the palaces, walls, and roads in Erlitou were all made of earth. “Zhao Haitao said, “I started from ‘knowing the soil’, leading the scouts and carrying the Luoyang shovel to explore everywhere. “Finally, in the center of the palace area, archaeologists discovered an intertwined “tic-tac-toe”-shaped main road network, and then found four palace walls on the inside of the “tic-tac-toe”-shaped avenue.
Zhao Haitao said that there is a central axis layout in the palace city Although the scale is small, its shape was inherited by many later dynasties. With the unearthed of a series of archaeological remains such as the palace city, roads, and workshop areas, the palace area of the Erlitou site was selected as one of the top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country in 2004. Among them, a turquoise dragon-shaped vessel has made Zhao Haitao’s appearance so far
In the spring of 2002, the task team unearthed a turquoise funerary object in the palace area and used the boxing method to extract it. It was transported back to Beijing in the summer of that year. Zhao Haitao, who had just joined the task force, missed the later excavations, but during the subsequent cleaning and data collection process, he was impressed by the beautiful workmanship of this cultural relic.
In 2004, this turquoise relic was carefully excavated indoors. It was a “Bilong” floating stone about 70 centimeters long and embedded with more than 2,000 pieces of turquoise. Now in front of people, “some of these green pine Jamaica Sugar stone inlays are specially made into diamond shapes, making the details of the dragon scales more rich and abstract. The image is more lively. “Zhao Haitao said, “Even if we use modern tools to copy it, there are still some difficulties, which shows the high level of design and production technology at that time. ”
Get settled and lay a solid foundation. Write the thesis on the earth
Right now, the weather is getting warmer, and archaeological tasks have also moved from indoors in winter to the countryside. But as the captain, Zhao Haitao has to do more than just run. scene.
“Participated in the preparation of the Erlitou Xiadu Ruins Museum, coordinated with the villagers to pay compensation for the farmland occupied by archaeological excavations, etc., and have done these things. “Zhao Haitao said, “However, the most basic task is still toIn the countryside, this is supported by archaeological research. ”
“After Mr. Xu Xusheng devoted himself to studying the literature, he set out from Beijing and visited Dengfeng, Yuzhou, Gongyi and other places before discovering Erlidou in Yanshi. “Zhao Haitao said, “No new invention comes by chance. ”
After 65 years of field excavation, Erlitou has discovered China’s earliest urban trunk road network, multi-grid layout, simple palace city, the earliest central axis structure palace complex, and the earliest The official handicraft workshop area, the earliest group of bronze ritual instruments… ultimately, it formed the earliest wide-area kingship and opened the civilization of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties.
In Zhao Haitao’s view, the achievement of a series of results is the result of generations of predecessors. The results of field work and joint collaboration continue to expand the breadth and depth of Erlitou research.
In recent years, Zhao Haitao has taken time off to eat and participate in some online communications to answer questions from archaeological researchers and Various questions raised by history enthusiasts: “Archaeologists pay attention to facts and can only speak for each piece of information. There are still some gaps in future excavation and research. ” Zhao Haitao gave an example. No outer city wall has been discovered at the Erlitou site so far. Some scholars insist on the view that “there is no city without a city” and believe that a country without city walls does not exist; some scholars believe that Erlitou is “mostly without a city.” At the beginning of “city”, the early urban centers were undefended. In addition, what are the differences and connections between each grid? Is there a large-scale water supply and drainage system?… Many mysteries need to be further studied.
“The current excavation area of 3 million square meters of ruins is about 60,000 square meters. In the second half of the 3800 years of awakening, if all the excavations are completed, according to this progress, you must have enough patience. “Zhao Haitao reminds young archaeologists to be calm, lay a solid foundation, dig out the rural scene clearly, and write thesis on the earth.
“Twenty years for a person Not short, but in front of Erlitou, like my predecessors, I am still very young. ” Zhao Haitao said.
■ Reporter’s Notes
An archaeological relay to trace the origin of civilization
Excavation of the Erlitou site took sixty-five years and four task team captains. After generations of archaeological evidence, the late Chinese Civilization is gradually becoming visible
In the interview, Zhao Haitao repeatedly talked about “succession”, “relay from generation to generation” and “unity and cooperation”; his colleagues, left behind by their predecessors Archaeological notes, reasoning has found a new main path; the invention of multi-grid layout in recent years is also an expansion of later archaeological results… For more than 60 years, the results of later excavations and research have laid a solid foundation for today’s archaeological work. The foundation allows young archaeologists to stand on the solid shoulders of their ancestors.
In Erlitou At the archaeological work station, there are also new forces gathering at a faster pace: some of them are college graduates who have just joined the team, and some are still interns. During lunch time, everyone sat around, eating with enamel bowls, and enjoying themselves. . These young people will develop into new forces in the field of archaeology in the future and work tirelessly to enrich the cultural genes of the Chinese nation. (Reporter Zhang Wenhao of this newspaper)