Technology empowers the decoding of Xiyin culture. More than 200 pieces (groups) of cultural relics look back on the century-old history of Chinese archeology.

China News Service, Taiyuan, November 10 (Reporters Yang Jing and Hu Jian) ​​In 1926, Chinese archaeologists Li Ji and Yuan Fuli dug the first shovel of modern field archeology independently conducted by Chinese people in Xiyin Village, Xia County, Shanxi Province. 100 years later, "Rereading Xiyin - Special Exhibition on the 100th Anniversary of the Localization and Scientificization of Chinese Archeology" was launched at Shanxi Museum on the 10th, looking back at the century-old course of modern Chinese archeology with more than 200 exhibits (groups).

The cultural relics on display in this exhibition involve more than ten cultural and museum institutions in China, and about 80% of the exhibits are on public display for the first time. A stone knife from the Nanjing Museum was excavated in Yangshao Village, Henan Province in 1921 by Swedish scholar Andersen. At that time, Ante named "Yangshao Culture" and proposed "Taking Yangshao Culture to the West". One of the direct motivations for Li Ji and Yuan Fuli's excavation of Xiyin in 1926 was to respond to this statement.

An Jing, the project leader of this exhibition, said that precious documents such as Li Ji's manuscripts donated to the Zhongxiang Municipal Museum by Li Ji's son Li Guangmo are also featured in this exhibition.

In the third excavation results of the Xiyin site on display in this exhibition, the archaeological team introduced drones to carry out high-altitude aerial photography modeling to obtain the macro pattern, used a three-dimensional scanner to reconstruct the site model, and used high-precision magnetic measurements to determine the distribution of underground remains. Combining RTK real-time positioning and total station measurement point collection, the digitalization of excavation layout control and spatial distribution analysis is realized.

"The excavation of the Xiyin ruins reflects the 100-year development process of Chinese archeology. How we started from a staggering start and finally moved towards a mature paradigm and established our own discourse system." An Jing said that Xiyin culture established China's first era of cultural convergence and laid the spatial boundaries and foundation for pre-Qin China.