On September 6, reporters walked into a laboratory at Harbin Normal University, where Wang Yang, director of the Ceramics Teaching and Research Section of the School of Fine Arts, was documenting the unearthed pottery fragments. Since the establishment of Heilongjiang's first Sushen ancient pottery research and development team in mid-August, such cultural relic information collection work has been continuously carried out.
In the black land of Heilongjiang, Sushen ancient pottery, which has been dormant for 17,000 years, is slowly stepping out of the showcase and into the public through the intensive cultivation of a university team, making the distant prehistoric fishing and hunting civilization of Northeast Asia tangible, perceptible, and usable.
Wang Yang (right) leads the Sushen Ancient Pottery R&D team in field investigation. Photo courtesy of Harbin Normal University
For a long time, when it comes to China's prehistoric pottery-making civilization, the world has been familiar with many cultural relics in the Yellow River Basin, but little is known about the thousands of years of pottery-making history in the Heilongjiang Basin.
Until the Xiaonanshan site was selected as one of the top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country in 2019, it not only filled an important gap in the history of early pottery making in northern China, but also confirmed that Heilongjiang was one of the core sources of the spread and integration of prehistoric pottery culture in Northeast Asia.
"Different from the solemn and regular ancient pottery in the Central Plains that is adapted to farming rituals, Sushen ancient pottery is full of fishing and hunting fireworks in the mountains and rivers." Picking up a piece of pottery, Wang Yang introduced that the flat-bottomed cylindrical pot is light and strong, with perforations at the mouth to facilitate strapping and migration. The simple texture of pressed vegetation records the survival wisdom of the ancestors who lived by water, fished for a living, and migrated.
In order to awaken this thousand-year context that belongs exclusively to the black earth, on August 11 this year, relying on the cooperation mechanism between Harbin Normal University and Shuangyashan City, Heilongjiang’s first university R&D team focusing on the revitalization of prehistoric ancient pottery was officially established. Wang Yang and his team traced the complete context of Sushen ancient pottery from the intersection of archeology, materials science, and design.
Signing ceremony for cooperation between Harbin Normal University and Shuangyashan City Campus. Photo courtesy of Harbin Normal University
"Many people think that prehistoric ancient pottery is rough and simple, and very far away from contemporary life, but in my eyes, every fragment of pottery is the most authentic slice of life of our ancestors." Wang Yang said frankly that for a long time, Heilongjiang's prehistoric ancient pottery has been limited to archaeological reports and museum display cabinets, with extremely low public awareness. The precious ten thousand-year fishing and hunting culture has always been "kept in the dark."
Behind the revitalization of ancient pottery is countless careful consideration and patient restoration. Most of the unearthed pottery fragments were broken and incomplete, with intermittent and blurred patterns. One of them had only one third of the spiral pattern fragment remaining. The team repeatedly compared the artifacts unearthed at home and abroad at the same time, and iterated five versions of the digital plan before accurately restoring the complete pattern order.
"Every pattern restoration and every data comparison is like having a distant conversation with the Sushen ancestors 17,000 years ago, and slowly understanding their aesthetic logic and lifestyle." Team member Zheng Hanyu said.
In order to protect the original appearance of the cultural relics to the maximum extent, the team adopted a non-contact collection method throughout the entire process, without moving or touching the original cultural relics, and accurately built four major digital databases of patterns, shapes, craftsmanship, and materials, transforming scattered, broken, and dormant archaeological remains into public cultural digital assets that can be retrieved, researched, studied, and creatively transformed.
Echoing the past and the present and using local materials are the team’s most special activation ideas. Ten thousand years ago, the ancestors of Sushen took sand and mixed it with soil to make pottery on the spot to prevent the objects from cracking during firing. Today, based on the characteristics of Shuangyashan Coal City, the team recycles the coal gangue solid waste that has accumulated for many years and innovatively develops new ecological pottery-making materials.
The R&D team of Sushen Ancient Pottery reproduced the seal of the border army commander in Tieli Town. Photo courtesy of Harbin Normal University
To make ancient pottery truly "alive", it must be brought into daily life and integrated into life. The team deeply integrated the fishing and hunting aesthetics of the Hezhe people with Sushen ancient pottery patterns, and successfully developed cultural and creative products such as ancient pottery wine vessels and Hezhe whole-fish feast tableware. It insisted on putting practicality first and combining beauty with use, and got rid of the common problem of cultural and creative products that "look good but are not easy to use". The concurrently planned ancient pottery research base will also allow young people to knead pottery, emboss ancient patterns, and experience the thousands-year-old black soil context through hands-on practice.
"The best protection is never to lock cultural relics in a warehouse, but to allow culture to take root in the present and be passed down from generation to generation." Guo Li, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Harbin Normal University and chairman of the labor union, said that he hopes that the team will continue to polish the cultural IP of the "Ussuri Pottery Veins", empower ancient pottery with scientific innovation, and allow the thousands-year-old fishing and hunting pottery making civilization hidden in the black soil to transcend time and space, reach the public, connect Northeast Asia, and continue to shine in the new era. (over)
