This year marks the 110th anniversary of the establishment of the National Museum of China, and the National Museum of Archaeology has also gone through more than a hundred years of spring and autumn. The “Jihou Liuguang – National Museum Archaeological Achievements Exhibition”, which gathers more than 240 representative archaeological artifacts such as carbonized rice, bronze cauldrons, porcelain exported from sunken ships, and the largest camel skeleton in history, will officially open to the public on the 2nd. Showcasing the continuous exploration and progress of National Museum Archaeology over the past century, as well as the fruitful achievements achieved, this exhibition presents the efforts and achievements of National Museum Archaeology in searching for the material relics of China’s splendid history and culture from different dimensions of land, sea, and air, and explores the development of Chinese civilization.
The content involves about 70 archaeological excavation and investigation projects hosted or participated in by the National Museum for more than 100 years, from the archaeological sites of the Paleolithic to the underwater shipwreck excavation of the Qing Dynasty. From different periods and angles, it presents to the audience the long history of Chinese civilization and the history of cultural exchanges and mutual learning between the East and the West with archaeological language, methods, achievements and materials.
In terms of cultural relics and exhibits, it can be said that there are numerous high-quality products and categories. Carbonized rice unearthed from the Hanjing Site in Sihong County, Jiangsu Province, dating back 8500-8000 years ago; A bronze cauldron unearthed from the Yuanqu Shopping Mall in Shanxi Province, studying the etiquette system of the early Shang Dynasty; The Qin Ziyi, unearthed from the Dabaozishan Site in Lixian, Gansu Province, reflects the early ritual and music system of the Qin Dynasty; The Zichege, unearthed from the Maojiaping Site in Gangu County, Gansu Province, is one of the only archaeological artifacts of Qin Mu Gong, one of the Five Heavenly Masters of the Spring and Autumn Period; An example of a combination of Eastern and Western cultures unearthed from the Majiayuan Site in Zhangjiachuan County, Gansu Province – a blue glazed cup; Song Dynasty blue and white porcelain gourd shaped holding pot unearthed from Julu Song City; Export porcelain from sunken ships such as “Nanhai No.1”, “Huaguang Reef No.1”, and “Wanjiao No.1”; The skeleton of the largest camel seen so far in Earth’s history – the giant camel of Jinyuandong, and so on.
The exhibition is divided into four parts in chronological order: initial creation, arduous work, keeping up with the times, and a new chapter in the era.
In 1921, Swedish Andersen led the excavation of the Yangshao Site in Mianchi County, Henan Province, which is considered the beginning of Chinese archaeology. In the same year, the predecessor of the National Museum of China, the National Museum of History, appointed Qiu Shanyuan and others to excavate the ancient city of the Song Dynasty in Julu County, Hebei Province (now Julu County, Hebei Province), pioneering the trend of historical archaeology in China. In the following years, ancient tomb excavations were carried out in Xinyang, Henan and Zhijiang, Hubei, and cultural relics investigations were conducted in Beijing, Hebei, Jin, Inner Mongolia, Henan, Shandong, Xinjiang, and other places.
In 1956, the Chinese History Museum established the Archaeological Department, which was later dismantled several times and stabilized in 1979. It gradually developed and expanded, and explored archaeological theories, methods, and practices using the Mianchi Ban Village site as a “test field”, with a profound impact; Establishing underwater and remote sensing.Together with the Aviation Photography Archaeology Research Center, we have taken the lead in implementing the Three Gorges Cultural Relics Protection Plan, and National Museum Archaeology has begun to take a leading position in multiple fields. Turning to areas such as southern Shanxi, Guanlong, Jiangsu and Anhui, and achieving multiple significant achievements; Underwater archaeological work has developed rapidly, covering multiple coastal areas in China. It actively expands its overseas underwater archaeological business, including the Lamu Islands in Kenya, and undertakes the task of cultivating domestic underwater archaeological professionals. The Remote Sensing and Aerial Photography Center has also carried out work in regions such as Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, and Xinjiang, playing an important role in exploring ancient sites and strengthening cultural relic protection. At the same time, it has laid a solid foundation for the development of scientific and technological archaeology at the National Museum of Archaeology in China in the future.
Since 2012, the National Museum of China has been closely following the pulse of the times, embarking on pattern reshaping, process reengineering, and organizational restructuring. In 2018, the Archaeological Institute was established, consisting of four archaeological research institutes: Ethnic and Border Regions, Field, Science and Technology, and Environment, as well as a Public Archaeological Office. The function and role of the archaeological institute in museums have been strengthened, gradually forming a new pattern of archaeological work. (End)