Chapter 244 One Step at a Time
A misty haze enveloped the stream, where waist-high wild grasses grew lush and green.
Several cars drove into the village committee, and seven or eight people, both men and women, got out.
Upon seeing Ren Xinbo, Tian Jie went to greet him.
"Tian Suo, this is Director Shi from the Provincial Cultural Relics Management Division, and this is Director Zhang from the Cultural Heritage Center... The expert team from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage is expected to arrive this afternoon, so we've come ahead to make arrangements!"
"Hello, hello..."
After the introductions, Ren Xinbo looked around and exclaimed, "Where's Teacher Lin?!"
Tian Jie turned around and pointed behind him: "There!"
Following the direction Tian Jie pointed: not far away, about a hundred meters from the village committee, stood a church. On the terrace beside it, a figure could be vaguely seen standing.
"So early?" Ren Xinbo remarked. "Is Teacher Lin surveying the terrain?"
Tian Jie paused for a moment: "More or less!"
Actually, I was a bit depressed, so I went off to think about things randomly.
Not only Lin Sicheng, but also Tian Jie, Gao Zhangyi, and even Wang Qizhi, Zhao Xiuneng, and Shang Yan were somewhat frustrated:
From the very beginning, when he asked Zhuangzi Jingzhuang to collect cultural relics, Lin Sicheng's goal was Song or Jin dynasty kilns.
After nearly a month, the kiln site was finally found, namely the old kiln site in Xiahua Township. However, there was one drawback: it was a Qing Dynasty site, several hundred years removed from the Song and Jin Dynasties.
It's okay, let's keep looking.
After searching for another half month, there were still basically no clues. Fortunately, we were lucky enough to meet Chief Engineer Shui, who confirmed the location of the second kiln site: Beiwuqin.
After that came negotiations, cooperation, and the establishment of a branch center. About a month later, the site was found, but it wasn't from the Song or Jin dynasties; it was from the earlier Tang dynasty.
But that's okay. Compared to the Song and Jin dynasties, the Tang dynasty was at least closer to the Song and Jin dynasties.
At this point, Lin Sicheng was more confident and his goal was clearer: there were Tang kilns and Qing kilns, and the techniques were consistent, so it was impossible that there were no relics from the Song, Jin, Yuan, and Ming periods.
He could even narrow the scope: if the Laoyaotou site is the late anchor point of the Hejin Kiln, then the Beiwuqin site is the early anchor point, or even the origin, of the Hejin Kiln.
In addition, there are four porcelain clay mines (Ganjian, Beiwuqin, Guzhen, and Yincun) and three rivers (Zhemayu, Guayu, and Shenyu). Whether it is a Song-Jin kiln or a Yuan-Ming kiln, it will definitely not be located outside this ten-kilometer radius.
With such a small scope and such a clear target, it shouldn't be difficult to find.
But to no avail. No one expected that instead of finding porcelain kilns from the Song and Jin dynasties, they would first find several Neolithic pottery kiln sites.
When was the Neolithic period?
Even if we take the latest Longshan culture (Yellow River basin) as an example, it is at least 2,000 BC, about 4,000 years ago.
It's no exaggeration to say that Tan Wu laughed so hard his back teeth were showing.
Why? Because this is the second relatively complete Neolithic cultural site discovered in Shanxi to date.
If you zoom out a bit more on the map, Yuncheng is number one.
Shui Jisheng, Vice Mayor Jiang, and Deputy Director Zheng of the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau all called Lin Sicheng one by one, and leaders from Hejin City even rushed to the scene.
First, to verify; second, to offer congratulations.
Lin Sicheng forced a smile, but his mood was a complete mess.
In Zhao Xiuneng's words: "Junior Brother Lin, have you ever thought about changing jobs? No matter how many sites you find in Shanxi, their usefulness is limited."
Moreover, the discovery of the Beiwuqin Tang kiln coke site is already of a very high level; any further discovery of a Neolithic site would only be icing on the cake.
If that's all there is to it, it doesn't really matter. Just like Bei Wuqin's Tang Dynasty kiln, he can at most just lend his name to it. The local cultural relics department should organize things, make plans, and excavate what needs to be done.
But as luck would have it, Lin Sicheng's first attempt with the spade resulted in a ceramic silkworm pupa.
It looks like this:
What's the use of it?
I'll just mention three points: revising the spatiotemporal framework of the origin of silk, reconstructing the development of Chinese agricultural and sericultural civilization, and even exploring the origin and path of Chinese civilization.
Is the research topic large enough? Is it high enough in level?
The leader in charge of culture in Hejin was beaming with joy, and immediately reported the matter to the city and province. The next day, the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau booked plane tickets, preparing to take the silkworm pupae to Beijing, both to report and to have them tested.
As expected, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage will definitely conduct on-site inspections, send personnel to provide guidance, and establish an excavation team.
For Lin Sicheng, it was indeed just icing on the cake, but even if he didn't care, it was still a national-level project.
Therefore, Wang Qizhi, the school, and even the Xijing Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics were all hesitant: After all, the site was discovered by Lin Sicheng, so should they take the opportunity to get him in for a little patronage?
Putting everything else aside, Wang Qizhi is confident that once Lin Sicheng joins the team, he will be responsible for at least one subgroup: either on-site excavation or experimental analysis.
The problem is that once he joins the team, the research period will be at least a year, and possibly two or three years. Moreover, it's a national-level project team, so they can't just let Lin Sicheng wander around carefree, disappearing for ten days or half a month at a time.
Forget about finding any porcelain kilns; he even has to remotely direct the restoration center at Xida University.
If we don't go in, it's like missing out on a golden opportunity.
Lin Sicheng remained calm, saying that since they hadn't graduated yet, there was no need to get involved in this.
His concern was that with such a high-level project, the local authorities would definitely concentrate their efforts to cooperate with the higher-level departments' excavation plan, which would certainly affect the subsequent exploration and excavation of the Hejin Ancient Kiln.
To put it another way: if he were to look for another porcelain kiln, he would have to work alone. It wouldn't be possible to do what it was before, with the provincial cultural relics bureau taking it very seriously and the city and county levels providing unconditional cooperation.
But Wang Qizhi advised him not to make any definitive statements yet, and that he should first go to Beijing to sound out the situation. So he accompanied Deputy Director Zheng to Beijing.
It's been half a month already...
In a flash, Ren Xinbo led those people out of the village committee.
As they approached the plateau, the walkie-talkie crackled to life, and Lin Sicheng snapped out of his reverie and went to meet it.
As they drew closer, the expressions of the accompanying men grew increasingly strange.
It can be said that Lin Sicheng's name is now widely known in Shanxi's cultural relics and archaeology circles.
First, the Laoyaotou site was found, filling the historical gap that "Shanxi lacks complete and systematic ceramic craft relics." Then, the Beiwuqin site was found, pushing the history of porcelain making in Shanxi from the Jin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty.
The Jiaotan site, in particular, caused a sensation in Shanxi's historical circles.
Then, less than a month later, he discovered another Neolithic site that could rank among the top three in the province.
Each of these locations could be considered a major discovery that rewrote history, let alone three of them.
If you calculate the time frame, it's only about three months from beginning to end.
Saying he's worth the entire cultural relics system of a province might be an exaggeration. But it's no exaggeration to say that he found enough work in three months for the entire province's archaeological department to do in ten years.
Therefore, they were extremely curious about Lin Sicheng.
Seeing is believing. Even though they were mentally prepared, the group was still taken aback when they saw the real person: So young?
He barely had any facial hair, clearly a student.
After a moment's thought, the two walked together, with Ren Xinbo acting as the middle person to introduce them.
Despite their youth, they showed no lack of respect. Whether it was a department head or a director, they shook hands with both hands and addressed each other as "teacher".
After a long exchange of pleasantries, a group of people went up to the platform.
The closest place to them was the pottery kiln that Lin Sicheng had first discovered.
The circular ring is the kiln chamber, the hole is the firebox, and the two forked holes in the middle are the ring-shaped fire channels.
It's not deep, roughly one meter below the surface. The area is also small, less than four square meters.
Director Zhang brought his camera with him and stood around the fence, snapping away.
Director Shi sighed, "Professor Lin, there are no traces left on the ground. How did you discover it back then?"
Lin Sicheng tilted his head back and recalled: How did you find out?
You can't exactly say it's his fault for being idle, can you?
At that time, Tian Jie led people to look for the ancient riverbed of Gujian River (Zhema Valley), while Lin Sicheng, unable to stay still, took a probe and wandered around.
As he poked and poked, a piece of lime about the length of a finger came out with each poke.
Lin Sicheng thought he had struck gold and found the kiln site, so he immediately ordered his team to scrape the surface (scrape off the soil layer by layer to find the relic layer and the cultural layer).
It took more than ten people half a day to scrape out a pottery kiln chamber with an area of about one square meter and a height of only ten centimeters from the ground, about one meter above the surface.
That is, that ring-shaped circle.
The next day, they spent another half day blowing away debris and unearthed a hearth and fire channel.
However, the area was too small, only about three square meters in total, so there were practically no cultural relics; they only unearthed a few fragments of black pottery. Lin Sicheng didn't pay much attention to it and had Danwu report it to the Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau.
When the city officials heard that it was only a little over three square meters and had no cultural relics, they didn't take it seriously and just let them handle it as they saw fit.
Tan Wu suggested burying it, but Lin Sicheng thought that it was still a Neolithic site, and a pottery kiln at that. If a porcelain kiln from the Song or Jin dynasty was discovered nearby, it could corroborate the discovery and trace the site's origin back to prehistoric times.
He joked at the time: "If we can find the first one, we might find the second. And who knows, like Bei Wuqin, we might make another major discovery."
Just kidding. Tian Jie continued to lead his people to look for the ancient riverbed. He took a shovel and poked around randomly in the vicinity. As a result, on the third day, about 30 meters east of the pottery kiln, he poked out a pottery silkworm cocoon.
How often do you see this thing?
This is the first one discovered in the country to date.
Lin Sicheng had never seen it before, but he at least knew what it was used for: sacrificial rites.
This indicates that silkworm rearing and silk weaving began in this area during the Neolithic period, and that a primitive religious belief and worship system developed there.
Further speculation suggests that the Jinan region already possessed sophisticated sericulture and silk weaving techniques at least four thousand years ago. If we trace it back further, we might even be able to trace the agricultural and sericultural civilization of the Jinan region back five thousand years.
If this isn't a major discovery, then what would be?
Well, it turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy!
Lin Sicheng sensed something was wrong and transferred Gao Zhangyi's team to expand the survey area.
In just two days, they not only found three more pottery kiln sites, but also two house sites.
The site is pitifully small: including the pottery kilns and house sites, it totals just over two thousand square meters, barely a little over three acres.
There are not many remains. There are four small pottery kilns, the largest being eight square meters and the smallest a little over two square meters. There are only five house sites, which, in modern terms, would be five families, five courtyards. None of them are very large, the largest being over seventy square meters and the smallest less than fifty square meters.
Therefore, the excavation was carried out extremely quickly. Two teams of thirty people, along with more than thirty villagers, excavated the surface cultural layer of the entire site in just two weeks.
However, two of them are extremely well preserved: half-ground walls, walls, doorways, hearths, postholes, living areas... they have everything: doors, windows, pillars, roofs, stoves, pits, and even bedrooms and kitchens.
Including the ash pit outside, it's like having both a storage room and a toilet.
Does Shanxi have any Neolithic sites that are this complete and well-preserved?
have.
The Yicheng Zaoyuan site, excavated in 1990, is named after the so-called "Zaoyuan Culture of the Neolithic Period".
Therefore, this is the second one in Shanxi Province, but no pottery kilns or silkworm pupae were found at the Zaoyuan site.
Now that's all settled, who cares about finding any Song Dynasty kilns anymore?
After a moment's thought, Lin Sicheng sighed, "Luck!"
Director Shi paused for a moment, while Ren Xinbo smiled silently.
How could it be luck?
If Lin Sicheng had said this three months ago when he first arrived, people would definitely have believed him.
But on his first attempt, he plunged his scoop into the ash pit at the old kiln site. The second time, he simply walked around the mountain and precisely mapped out the exact layout of the Beiwuqin Tang kiln.
Who would dare say he relied on luck?
Taking Lin Sicheng's modesty as an excuse, Director Shi squinted at him again and said, "Professor Lin, this should be a superimposed type of relic, so why not continue digging?"
Lin Sicheng gave an ambiguous answer: "The level is too high, and our technical capabilities are limited, so it's best not to cause any damage!"
Actually, he was afraid to dig any further: in the two weeks that Wang Qizhi was gone, he had unearthed a lot more things.
Six stone-carved silkworm pupae, five stone-carved small balls, one turquoise pendant, and one flint pendant.
In addition, there were painted pottery jars, sand-tempered jars, patterned jars, and a considerable number of painted pottery and black pottery fragments.
The pottery that followed is one thing, but the key is the first three types: in terms of craftsmanship and exquisiteness, let alone the Neolithic period of 5,000 years ago, people would believe it was from the Qin and Han dynasties of 2,000 years ago.
Lin Sicheng was afraid that if they kept digging, he would have to join the entire production team...
They were just taking a look around; their main task was to receive the expert group. After making a couple of rounds, they were preparing to return to the village committee when Ren Xinbo's phone rang.
He glanced at it and quickly answered the call: "Director... Ah, the expert team has arrived. Shall we go to Guduo Village first? Yes, okay, I'll get ready right away..."
He hung up the phone and walked downstairs while saying, "Director Shi, Director Zhang, the bureau chief said that the expert team has arrived in the city and they are coming to Guduo Village first!"
The two were taken aback for a moment: "Aren't we going to Bei Wuqin first?"
"I don't know, but I guess it's closer to here."
It is indeed closer: follow National Highway 209 straight to Guduo Village. Then take the rural road and go northeast for another six kilometers to reach Beiwuqin.
The site was discovered by Lin Sicheng, and he and Tian Jie conducted the excavation. When the expert team arrives, the two of them will definitely have to accompany them to receive them.
The two followed behind and returned to the village committee.
It was arranged in advance; although the partitions were simple, it had everything you needed. There was a reception room, a meeting room, a lounge... and in case there wasn't enough space, two classrooms were borrowed from the nearby village primary school.
About an hour later, the convoy arrived at the gate.
There were quite a few people, including representatives from the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, YC City, and Hejin City, about thirty or forty men and women.
The man in the lead, who was in his early forties, introduced himself as surnamed Wu and the deputy director of the Archaeology Department of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.
Wang Qizhi was also mixed in. When he saw Lin Sicheng, he waved to him, and Lin Sicheng deliberately stayed at the very back.
Once inside the meeting room, the teacher and student sat in a corner.
Looking around, Wang Qizhi lowered his voice: "Previously, Director Wu was in charge of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage's key scientific research bases, and I was in charge of the research group for the protection of unearthed metal artifacts... Director Wu was transferred to the Archaeology Department, and I was transferred to Baoji..."
Lin Sicheng glanced at the stage: "Old boss?"
"Yes, we have a very good relationship, and he has always taken good care of me!"
Lin Sicheng didn't speak, but pursed his lips: "Our teacher's wife's surname is Shan, how can we not take care of her?"
Wang Qizhi glared at Lin Sicheng, clearly seeing what he was thinking.
"Before coming here, Director Wu and I had a special discussion. He said something like this: 'You can't keep a golden phoenix in a chicken coop.' If you have real skills, why not showcase them on a bigger stage? I think that makes a lot of sense..."
No... Teacher, it's only been a few days, and you've already been turned?
Lin Sixiang seemed stunned, her eyes wide open.
Thinking he was stunned, Wang Qizhi explained in a low voice, "Director Wu knew about you last year, when I asked him for information about our plan to study iron artifacts..."
After that, he would call me every now and then to ask about the progress of those two projects in our lab. I didn't dare tell him that we were deliberately slowing down the schedule. Even so, he said our research was much faster than the research base's..."
You're basically copying the answer directly, how can you not be fast?
Lin Sicheng asked suspiciously, "Director Wu didn't object?"
"He's currently in charge of the Archaeology Department, not the research base, so why should he object?"
Wang Qizhi didn't take it seriously: "This time, I mentioned to him that you helped find three kilns in Shanxi in three months, including this one from the Neolithic period, and then he asked me if I was interested in joining the crew!"
After a slight pause, Wang Qizhi pointed to himself, then to Lin Sicheng: "The old leader means that I'll go in with you!"
Lin Sicheng shook his head without hesitation: "Teacher, let's not go in!"
He repeated the reason eighty times, but Wang Qizhi still wouldn't give up: "At most one year!"
"Teacher, what about the center?"
"Director Wu said that I can take leave at any time and withdraw at any time!"
How is that possible?
This is the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, not Lin Sicheng's own private kitchen door, which he can come and go as he pleases.
Besides, it's not like he's never been in one before. To be honest, it's really hard to get by in a ministry, even if you're incredibly capable.
Lin Sicheng understood Wang Qizhi's thinking: what could be accomplished in Xi'an could also be accomplished in Beijing.
For example, the restoration center, the application for World Heritage status, and even more so, the egg white jade.
As my old boss once said: Gold shines wherever it is.
In the capital, his connections were no wider or stronger than in Xijing.
Since there's an opportunity, let's go for it in one go.
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