遗址的魅力

强雯

前段時间，三星堆遗址重大考古发现震惊世界，也让考古再成热门话题。其实巴蜀大地上的古代遗址何其多，除了三星堆遗址，还有泸州宋墓遗址、金沙遗址等，早已被列为国家重点文保单位。

遗址背后，一方一土一窟一佛，无不在与古老文明的各种关联中衍射出非凡的意义。故此，近年来，一些考古爱好者、作家，以更为私人的立场、角度走进这些古代密码场，以自己的方式理解、写作、推广认知。尤其是将考古、遗址、博物馆、文物结合起来，以作家视野来串联、地理情结来铺陈，则具备了旅游、探秘、大众考古、钩沉方志的综合魅力。

广西师范大学出版社今年1月出版的《寻蜀记》即是如此。

《寻蜀记》中，古遗址的时间跨度从先秦到明清，涉及的遗址、墓葬品是巴蜀一带十分有代表性的，比如宝墩遗址、泸州宋墓、巴蜀汉阙、皇宫寺院等。好些遗址都已被媒体反复报道过，但作者仍旧能从中提炼出深度、新意，这和他能实地走访，并以记者的身份接触到当地文管所工作人员，介入第一现场不无关系。

比如在合江墓葬群，作者介入了现场，也有了采访的痕迹，看到了当地农民搬运石棺。但是作者因为石棺极其贵重而将其喻为“金棺”，又没有为金棺一词打引号，从考古角度讲，这种比喻既不严谨，也无必要。但这是媒体惯用的方式，大众媒体喜欢，有眼球效应，这篇稿子就曾发表在《中国国家地理》上。把这些期刊上发表的文章结集成书，是好事，但成书依然对合江金棺不加引号，是为有造噱头的不谨。

2020年底，我参观了合江县汉代画像石棺博物馆，石棺规模宏大，精品石棺用透明玻璃柜相隔，有《山海经》图画般的《神灵异兽图》，显示升天流程的《拜谒图》……单单是看这些石棺画像也能品味几天，而作家尤其需要对物的凝视，这种凝视是安静的、不能被共享的，由此阐发幽思，更能进入一个空灵的思想境地。

从这一点上讲，看了《寻蜀记》，既佩服作者去过的地方之多之全、有一网打尽之态，但也正因此有些遗憾。或许是太疲于奔波，作者在思考层面是不够的。

以四川泸县的龙桥为例，泸县境内有明清龙桥141座，我曾购买过一本《四川重庆古建筑地图》，按图索骥到实地探访才发现，要真正跑完，是不现实的。书中提到的与龙有关的梁桥如龙脑桥、苦桥子桥、万寿桥、永济桥、顺对大桥都特别分散，分属不同的乡镇，相隔二三十公里的山路，几乎要跑40分钟到一个小时。

如果只是蜻蜓点水，跑遍大部分龙脑桥，不仅消耗精力，而且并非每座桥都是“宏大的、唯美的”，它们普普通通地散落在田野中，历经辛苦找到后，越发觉得难掩失望。就算选取重点的几个龙桥，也颇费精力，往往也只能是打卡式到访。最好的方式是每次只去一个桥，和当地人聊聊天，沉浸式地体会，让时间来充盈思古之幽。一天之内赶完桥群或许可以，但真的没有什么时间来酝酿感情。

所以，对于作者来说，求全既是他作为记者的优势，也是劣势。作者萧易早年在成都一家报社工作，因工作需要写一些考古或博物馆的稿子，后来渐成一家。我也曾在媒体工作，十分清楚跑口记者的工作流程，有的时候，记者对一个遗址并无激情或愉悦，但因工作使然，需要赶工，而且稿子往往要写得很美，让人看了马上就要赶过去。这固然有煽情的成分，但也是媒体向大众进行传播的责任。

相对与媒体人的全知全能，我一直觉得作家的使命，是需要在寻访中带入更多的个人情感和智识，哪怕是偏见，也是一种力量。

辛苦万千跑到一个遗址，现实的感受往往是失落，其真实的破旧、衰败、不起眼，远远大于设想中的惊喜、华美。即便有，也不多，但不少写作者笔下生花，会抹去寻访过程中真实的酸涩、无趣。从事过这种写作套路之后，有时难免会自我纾解，再苦再累的探秘、寻访，最后写出来都是美的，可见写作与发表都是驱动力。这种写作，我称之为耽美的地理写作，无异于糖水片。

我认为好的地理探寻的写作，是将辛酸、跋涉与严谨的考察结合起来，不夸大其中的美好，也不回避过程的琐碎无聊，这是田野考察本来的样子。比如日本作家伊东忠太的《中国纪行》，英国作家E.H.威尔逊在一百年前写的川西之旅《中国乃世界花园之母》。

当然，作为一本普及大众的考古图书，从大众可读性上，《寻蜀记》还是可圈可点的，因为它在讲故事，而且讲得也很好看，夹着不少知识点。对于公众来说，这就是阅读的动力。而且，它基本上提及了四川境内所有重要的遗址、文物群，也可以当作一本地理旅游书来看。抛开大众景点，至少书中还提供了人文旅游的路线，比如德阳的三星堆遗址博物馆、合江汉代画像石棺博物馆、渠县的汉阙群、雅安博物馆、金沙遗址博物馆、平武报恩寺等。

揣着这本书，进入一个省市漫游，你会涌起对作者的敬佩。也许你的漫游体验和书中完全不同，但这不重要，它的导航功能已经完成。

当然，我们又认识了一个生机勃勃的地理作家，这个1983年出生的萧易，已经出过七八本与当地文史、地理有关的作品，他用年轻人的脚和手，拓展了大众考古行业的写作路数。

The major archaeological discovery at the Sanxingdui Ruins several days ago shocked the world and made archaeology a top trending topic again. In fact， the Sanxingdui Ruins is only a drop in the ocean of the ancient sites in Sichuan. In addition to that， there are also the Luzhou Song Dynasty Tomb Site and Jinsha Site， which have long been listed as national key cultural protection units.

Every land， cave and statue of Buddha at the sites has huge implications in connecting with the ancient civilization. That’s why some archaeological enthusiasts and writers have approached these ancient fields from a more private standpoint to write and promote cognition in their own way. In particular， a combination of archaeology， ruins， museums and cultural relics made by writers， plus geographical knowledge， has gained the comprehensive charm of tourism， exploration， mass archaeology and local chronicles.

This is especially true concerning the book Discovering Sichuan published by Guangxi Normal University Press in January this year.

In the book， the ancient sites span from pre-Qin to Ming and Qing Dynasties， and the sites and tombs involved are very representative in Sichuan， such as Baodun Site， Luzhou Song Tomb， Han-Dynasty Watchtower in Ba-shu area， Imperial Palace Temple， etc. Despite that many sites have been repeatedly reported by the media， the author can draw fresh ideas from them， which has been largely fueled by his field visits， interactions with the staff of the local cultural authorities as a reporter， and intervention in the frontline.

For example， the author has visited the site of Hejiang Tombs in person， seeing and interviewing local farmers carrying sarcophagus. Because of the preciousness of the sarcophagus， the author likens it to a "golden coffin" but did not quote the word "golden coffin". From an archaeological point of view， this metaphor is neither rigorous nor necessary. However， this is the usual form of the media as it is eye-catching. This manuscript was published in the Chinese National Geography. It is a good thing to collect the articles published in these journals into a book， but the failure to add the quotation mark in the book is a gimmick， which is not rigorous.

By the end of 2020， I visited the Han Dynasty Portrait Sarcophagus Museum in Hejiang County. The sarcophagus is large in scale， separated by transparent glass cabinets， painted with "gods and animals" like that in the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the process of going up to heaven described in the painting work A Formal Visit ... One can appreciate these sarcophagus portraits for a few days. And writers， by observing them in a quiet and exclusive manner， can gain more inspiration and thus entering an ethereal ideological realm.

From this point of view， after reading Discovering Sichuan， while admiring the number of places the author has been， I also feel a wave of regret. Perhaps due to the tight schedules， the author lacks depth in thoughts.

Take the Bridge of Dragons in Lu County， Sichuan as an example. There are 141 such bridges in Ming and Qing Dynasties in Lu County， according to the book Ancient Buildings in Chongqing and Sichuan I once bought. It’s just unrealistic to visit each and every of them. The dragon-related beam bridges mentioned in the book， such as Longnao Bridge， Kuqiaozi Bridge， Wanshou Bridge， Yongji Bridge and Shundui Bridge， are scattered and belong to different villages and towns， located 20 to 30 kilometers apart from each other， about 40 minutes to 1 hour of walk.

Visiting every bridge is not only time-consuming but may be disappointing， as not every bridge is "grand and beautiful"， but they are are scattered in the fields. Even visiting a few of them may be exhausting， only to end up giving each a hurried and cursory glance. The best way is to visit only one bridge at one time， chatting with the localities and immersing yourself there. Rushing about all bridges in a single day seems possible yet makes no sense.

Therefore， for the author， seeking full coverage is both his advantage and disadvantage as a reporter. Xiao Yi， the author of the book， who worked for a newspaper in Chengdu in his early years， was required to write for some archaeological research institutes and museums due to work reasons and had gradually formed his own style of writing later. Once engaged in media for a while， I know very well the workflow of reporters. Sometimes， reporters have no passion for or interest in any site， but have no other choice but to paint a wonderful tapestry of words to conjure it up so as to attract visitors for it. Sensational though， they are just fulfilling their duties as media people to spread information to the public.

Compared with the omniscient nature of media people， I have always felt that writers should regard it as their mission to bring more personal feelings and intelligence into any journey， and even prejudice can give people power.

Traveling all the way to a site is often proved to be disappointing， ending up seeing shabby， decaying， and inconspicuous sites， rather than gorgeous ones. Even if gorgeous sites are found， the back-busting， boring process for discovery may be left out by many writers to show off their talents in writing. Once this writing formula is adopted， any writer is apt to beautifying the tortuous exploration process. As a result， everything ends up beautiful. It can be seen that both writing and publishing are driving forces for writers. This kind of writing style， which I call the literature for boy’s love in the geographical world， is nothing more than a go-to bad movie.

A good geographical exploration writer is he who combines bittern and trekking process with the rigorous investigation， without exaggerating the beauty or avoiding the triviality and boredom. This is the way field investigation is. To name some works of this type， Japanese writer Tadashi Ito’s A journey to China and British writer E.H. Wilson’s China， Mother of Gardens （about the journey in Western Sichuan）， written 100 years ago.

Of course， as a guidebook for archaeology for the public， Discovering Sichuan is remarkable in terms of its readability， thanks to its fascinating story-telling techniques， plus some basic knowledge. For the public， this is what drives them to read. Moreover， it basically mentions all the important sites and cultural relics in Sichuan， and thus can be used as a tourism book. Apart from popular scenic spots， the book also provides routes for cultural tourism， such as the Sanxingdui Museum in Deyang， Han Dynasty Portrait Sarcophagus Museum in Hejiang， Han-Dynasty Watchtower in Qu County， Ya’an Museum， Jinsha Site Museum， Bao’en Temple in Pingwu， etc.

Visiting any city carrying this book， you will feel admiration for the author. Maybe your experience is completely different from that in the book， but it doesn’t matter， as its navigation function has been realized.

Of course， through this book， we get to know a vibrant geography writer named Xiao Yi. Born in 1983， he has published seven or eight works related to local literature， history and geography. He is bringing new blood into the writing techniques of popular archaeology.