Communication | From the Yellow River to the Nile River, archaeological cooperation builds a bridge for cultural exchange and mutual learning between China and Egypt
2024-05-30
Luxor, an ancient city in southern Egypt, is a historic city that can be called the essence of ancient Egyptian civilization, and is known as the "frontier" of global archaeology. In the most famous Karnak temple area in Luxor, archaeologists from China and Egypt have collaborated for nearly 6 years to excavate and gradually restore the dusty ruins of the Montu temple, which has been shrouded in dust for over 3000 years. In the depths of ancient Egyptian civilization, archaeological cooperation has built a bridge of friendship for exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and Egyptian civilizations. In November 2018, the joint archaeological project of the Montu Temple in Luxor, China and Egypt began, marking the first time a Chinese archaeological team has visited Egypt for archaeological excavation since the founding of the People's Republic of China. The project has achieved fruitful phased results so far. Jia Xiaobing, the executive leader of the Sino Egyptian joint archaeological project and director of the World Archaeology Research Office of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Xinhua News Agency reporters that the Mengtu Temple is divided into two excavation areas. The first excavation area is located in the southwest part of the entire Mengtu Temple area, with six Osiris temples distributed side by side from west to east. Except for the first and second temples with more accurate ages and names, other temple related information needs to be discovered by archaeology. The second excavation area is located at the junction of the Muntu Temple and the Maat Temple, mainly solving the problem of architectural sequence. Jia Xiaobing said that the excavation in the previous seasons has completely excavated the third temple of Osiris in Zone 1, clearly presenting its layout structure and correcting the errors recorded by French archaeologists in the 19th century. In the second district, the archaeological team discovered the imprint of Amenhotep III on the mud brick floor of the attached building of the Montu Temple, providing new materials for the overall understanding of the age and regional evolution of the Montu Temple. This is a breakthrough in the history of archaeological work in the northern region of Karnak. In mid March this year, the Sino Egyptian joint archaeological team resumed archaeological excavation work in the Mengtu Temple area after the epidemic. After two months of excavation, the archaeological team has fully reconstructed the overall outline of the fourth temple on the west side of the third temple for the first time, making a new breakthrough in archaeological excavation work. According to the results report released by the Sino Egyptian Joint Archaeological Team, the fourth temple is approximately a 10 meter by 10 meter square sandstone building with a clear structure, and some of the floor stones still have residual inscriptions. The information to be extracted and interpreted may help to date and name this temple. Although the reliefs and artifacts related to the Osiris faith in the temple have long been destroyed, a stone altar was unearthed in the western part of the Fourth Temple, which, although broken, can recognize the enthronement name of Pharaoh Nectanebu I of the 30th Dynasty. This provides a chronological scale for explaining the construction sequence of the building, and the joint archaeological team further aims to draw a complete floor plan of the area. In recent years, with the increasingly close cultural exchange between China and Egypt, the two countries have cooperated in the field of archaeology to promote exchange and mutual learning through joint archaeology. In October 2018, according to the relevant agreement signed by both parties, the China Egypt Joint Archaeological Team was officially established. The Mengtu Temple was first built around 1391-1355 BC. According to Jia Xiaobing, there are three main reasons for choosing to conduct joint archaeology in the Mengtu Temple area: first, Luxor, formerly known as Thebes, was the capital of the most powerful Middle and New Kingdom period in ancient Egypt, gathering many cultural elements from the most glorious period of ancient Egyptian civilization. The second reason is that the Montu Temple is a part of the Karnak Temple complex, and the Karnak Temple in Thebes was a core area of religious belief during the New Kingdom period, which can be said to have "selected a core area in the core area.". The third reason is because the god of Mengtu, who is also the guardian god of Thebes, originated here. Chinese archaeologist Gao Wei, who is mainly responsible for the interpretation and research of inscriptions, told reporters, "Both China and Egypt belong to ancient civilizations. Although the two countries are separated by mountains and seas, there are many contents that can be learned from each other in studying the origin, formation, and development of civilizations." Chinese archaeologist Wang Peng's research field involves the Eurasian grasslands and is currently the leader of the Husta Site in Xinjiang. The Husta Site is a massive Bronze Age stone settlement, dating back to the New Kingdom period of ancient Egypt. Wang Peng said that after arriving in Egypt, he found that the archery depicted in ancient Egyptian murals, including the content depicted in hieroglyphs, was very similar to the archery recorded in Chinese oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions, and the relics and documents were also similar. However, direct communication between the two ends was not possible at that time, and this phenomenon occurred earlier in ancient Egypt than in China. Based on this, he preliminarily inferred that the early relationship between China and Egypt may have been formed through the intermediary role of the Eurasian grassland, which not only inspired domestic research on cultural exchanges between the East and the West or the Central Plains, but also showed that the two sides can be directly compared. "Not only does it broaden the research of Egyptology through joint archaeology, but it also solves problems that we couldn't solve domestically before through these research achievements in Egypt, truly achieving mutual learning." He excitedly told the reporter. Adding bricks and tiles to the friendship between China and Egypt, Jia Xiaobing introduced that in this joint archaeological project between China and Egypt, the Chinese archaeological team brought advanced technology and equipment, and made a systematic and scientific top-level design for the excavation of the temple, including how to carry out excavation, recording, display, research, etc. However, there are differences in archaeological concepts and work modes between the two countries, and there have been differences in many aspects among the archaeologists of both sides. Ahmed Tashir, an archaeological team member from the Egyptian side of the project, admitted that he initially had doubts about the Chinese team members, but after continuous communication and adaptation, he found that "they are very good people and work very professionally." Now, Tashir and other Egyptian team members are full of appreciation and trust in their Chinese counterparts. In their spare time, they also became good friends. "The Chinese cuisine that Jia Leader cooked for us was great!" Tashir savored for a long time. From the Yellow River to the Nile, archaeologists work together to shed the mysterious veil of cultural treasures, allowing ancient civilizations to engage in dialogue across time and space, and also adding bricks and tiles to the friendship between China and Egypt. Archaeology is the best way to understand the traditional cultural core of a nation or region. Civilization exchange and mutual learning can enhance mutual understanding among people from different regions, thereby deepening emotions Jia Xiaobing sincerely said, "In the process of cooperation and communication, I also hope that my Egyptian colleagues can further understand China." (Xinhua News Agency)
Edit：Yi Jing Responsible editor：Li Nian
Source：XinhuaNet
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