Why are fingerprints that travel through time and space moving? (Essays by Jin Tai)
2024-01-31
At the Qin Shi Huang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum in Xi'an, Shaanxi, there are always visitors holding binoculars and carefully studying from afar. Someone said, "I want to see the fingerprints left by ancient people on the Terracotta Warriors and Horses.". On the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, there are indeed fingerprints of the creators. Archaeologists have discovered three fingerprints on the painted surface of the abdomen of the No. 28 supine terracotta figure in the Qin Mausoleum's Hundred Drama Terracotta Pit. Not only the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, but also clear fingerprints were found on a pottery jar fragment dating back about 5000 years in a Yangshao Culture site in Mianchi, Henan. Not only fingerprints, but also palm prints used by bricklayers to "sign and draw" on many Han and Tang bricks. Zhao Zhen, the photographer who took "ID photos" of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, once described his shock when he saw a fingerprint on the lips of a Terracotta Warriors and Horses statue: "When he saw this scene, time had already disappeared." How could a fingerprint that traveled through time and space move people's hearts? When craftsmen make it, they may not have thought too much, and time has been inadvertently fixed by clay, leaving a thousand year old and indelible dense pattern that echoes softly in the depths of time. Moments and eternity overlap in a small fingerprint. Such tiny fragility, yet capable of spanning thousands of years, showcases the power of human creativity in its delicate details. When we meet it after the passage of time, it seems that we can still feel the softness and toughness of clay, feel the strength and touch of fingers, and feel the joy and hardship of people's lives and work in that era. Using fingerprints as a mediator, we connect with more people and time. The resonance triggered by small fingerprints also has a broad historical background. Throughout the history of human civilization, the only one that has been "timeless and new" is the Chinese civilization. The reason why we have feelings of concern is precisely because we are drinking together from this cultural water flow, standing together on this cultural land, nourished by the common sweet spring, and also flowing into the deep and deep undercurrent of the same long river. From this perspective, fingerprints have never disappeared, and the ancestors who left fingerprints have never left. What keeps Chinese civilization alive is not only language and writing, regulations and artifacts, literature and art, but also countless ordinary people who were born and raised here, worked here, and cried there. They are people who are cultured and also people who create culture. The protection, inheritance, and development of generations in daily life constitute the deepest and widest foundation of Chinese civilization. The grains and animal bones in ancient cultural sites, the letters and account books written by border soldiers on bamboo slips, the names of craftsmen on bricks and stones, and the pots, dishes, and pots of sailors in sunken ships... These most ordinary and everyday things reflect the daily habits of countless people over the long years, forming a brilliant civilization like the stars. Craftsmen have no intention of leaving fingerprints, but later generations see the continuous pulse of civilization and the continuous inheritance of the nation. In archaeology, there is a type of "micro trace analysis": using a microscope to carefully observe the traces left by objects when they are manufactured or used. For example, in ancient stone tools, if the trace is mostly vertical, it is used for cutting and chiseling; If the horizontal pattern is predominant, it is used for cutting. It can be said that as artifacts, the code for cultural relics goes far beyond their appearance. From this perspective, the current trend of museums and cultural relics is hot. While "internet celebrity" exhibitions and "celebrity" cultural relics are important, perhaps more importantly, it is to carefully experience the depths of time
Edit：Luo yu Responsible editor：Wang er dong
Source：people.cn
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