Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, near the recent discovery of a number of ancient tombs, including “Xi’an Xianyang Airport expansion found more than 3,500 ancient tombs”, “Line 8 has found 1,356 ancient tombs” and other news on the Internet hot list. However, while there are archaeological discoveries, some scholars frankly say that there are too few qualified personnel engaged in archaeological excavations nationwide, but too many archaeological sites to “dig over”, suggesting that the authorities introduce private professional companies to carry out archaeological excavation work under strict supervision.
A senior scholar who has been engaged in archaeological work for more than 30 years pointed out that Xi’an used to be the ancient capital of 13 dynasties, with a large population living there, and from ancient times to the present, the candidate cemeteries are not too far from the villages and towns. Nearly 10,000 ancient tombs have been excavated in that area of the airport,” and many of them are high-grade tombs, including imperial tombs.
According to the data, Shaanxi launched 179 archaeological projects last year, completing a total of 609 square kilometers of archaeological investigation, archaeological exploration of 11.8 million square meters, excavating 3,956 ancient tombs and 105,800 square meters of ancient sites. However, according to official information last year, the total number of “archaeological leaders” issued by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, including those who have retired, is less than 2,000. Some netizens have quipped that “the archaeological team is busier than the construction team” and that “archaeology is the main focus of subway construction in Xi’an, and subway construction is the secondary focus”.
The scholar pointed out that the shortage of archaeologists is a national problem, and the largest number of archaeologists is in Henan Province, where the Luoyang Institute of Archaeology alone has more than 180 archaeologists, but there are only four qualified archaeological units in Shaanxi Province, namely the Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute, the Xi’an Archaeological Research Institute, the Xianyang Archaeological Research Institute and the Baoji Archaeological Research Institute, of which the Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute has only more than 110. The Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute has only 110 people. He believes that both laws and policies are lagging behind. With a serious shortage of archaeological forces, the authorities should adjust laws and policies, increase the establishment, or introduce private companies to participate in excavations, in order to cope with the current situation.
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