Why is archaeology so hot?

It's true that archaeology is popular and easily misunderstood, isn't it -_-|

~ The following contents are transferred from Zhihu's column for reference only ~

After I went to college, I felt very guilty whenever people asked me about my major, because after I applied for archaeology, 9% of the answers were yes, so tell me about grave robbery. At the beginning, I will solemnly tell them that archaeology is a subject that studies human history by studying the remains of ancient humans, which is essentially different from grave robbery. We are just subjects. However, after countless times of "official grave robbers" and "grave robbers sent by the government", I have learned to nod my head and laugh it off to avoid the boat of friendship turning over. But sometimes, I feel angry and sad when I see some friends who only know archaeology through tomb-robbing novels or news reports make unwarranted stigma accusations against archaeological work. Therefore, I want to tell you, as an archaeological student, what the real archaeological work I have seen in the past four years is like.

first, the exploration of archaeological sites. A while ago, I took my friends to visit the popular "Exhibition of Archaeological Achievements of Houguo in the Sea" in the Capital Museum. Many friends questioned why you always wait until the tombs are stolen before rushing to excavate them, which is far less rapid than the "Feng Shui Master" and "Touching the Gold Captain". ?

The truth is that archaeologists are not incapable of exploring and excavating sites. With the help of information technology, bioengineering and other related disciplines, modern science and technology archaeology has solved many problems that traditional archaeology cannot solve. The course of archaeology is not as boring as you think. During the undergraduate course, we systematically studied cartography, manipulated drones, built three-dimensional models of cultural relics, etc., all of which are highly practical and operational. The real reason is that the current archaeology adheres to the principle of rescue excavation, such as the huge rescue excavation of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River caused by hydropower projects.

(The picture comes from Wei Zhang's "The Origin and Creation of Underwater Archaeology in China")

Secondly, when many friends visit the site museum where archaeological excavations are kept with me, they always sigh, that is, robbing a tomb is just a hole, and you are leveling the tomb! However, the leveled tombs you see are actually "exploration methods" that have undergone strict design and planning. They can save all the information left by this land and the stories that have happened in every stratigraphic era. At the same time, archaeologists have shoveled them bit by bit under the scorching sun, and even some tombs need to be completed at the risk of collapse, which is incomparable with the explosives of grave robbers.

(Photo taken by Xing Zhenyu, reporter of Qilu Evening News)

Besides, a line in a TV series adapted from a novel that had to be released a while in advance raised a question to archaeologists, that is, did the cultural relics really go to the country? "Archaeology does not hide the ancient", which is the principle that every generation of archaeologists abide by and the concept they uphold. What's more, most people are fascinated by the "Jianbao program" too deeply. The actual archaeological sites are mostly pottery pieces left by daily utensils, and the high-priced cultural relics circulating in the cultural relics market are mostly handed down from generation to generation, and few and far between. In the eyes of archaeologists, there are only types and styles of objects, and there is no price tag.

finally, what I want to say most is the significance of archaeology. During the four years of college, every holiday, when my friends went to various companies for internships, I finished my projects in the field. My classmates and I took a few hours by car to explore the only remaining "second burial" burial custom in the countryside of Gaoping, Shanxi; 1 kilometers on foot in the hottest weather in Beijing to investigate the remains of Jindu; I sent a questionnaire for a month in a crowded or sparsely populated museum, and I also got countless supercilious looks.

My friends who are studying economics told me that your labor can neither bring you remuneration nor create GDP. The worst thing is that you are studying issues that no one cares about. Why do you want to do it? I often think that there may not be many people in this world who really care about the age or use of an object, the original food or clothes of people in a region, but even for a person who may want to know the real past in the future, we should strictly and objectively record the information provided by all the remains.

(The picture shows "Chen Zhuang Site" cleaning the ancient tomb on the spot, photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fan Changguo)

Archaeology is not a noble, holy and blameless profession, it has its shortcomings and regrets, but every upright practitioner hopes that the public can maintain basic respect for his professional field. When people naturally receive the ubiquitous historical information and knowledge, and enjoy the exquisite cultural relics in museums, I believe that every archaeologist on the construction site is satisfied and gratified, even though they may only meet their families a few times a year, even if they are paid a salary that is not proportional to their physical and mental efforts, even if some technical archaeologists need to overdraw their young bodies.

This is an archaeological student's muttering, hoping to make the people who saw it approach the real archaeology, and also express my respect and gratitude to all the low-key archaeologists.

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