bad seeds - Chapter 2
As a prelude, the overview of the archaeological excavation was quickly presented, followed by a Q&A session. The reporters, who had endured more than four hours of sitting still, immediately surged to the front like a rioting crowd, and I rushed to the professor's side at the first opportunity.
This typical archaeologist—dressed in blue work clothes and hemp gloves, with dark skin, a face etched with wrinkles, and disheveled, dust-covered hair, his skin emanating an earthy smell from years of excavation, making him smell like a farmer—had probably never experienced such a chaotic scene in his nearly 30 years of quiet archaeological career. Although security personnel were trying their best to maintain order, he was still somewhat flustered. However, the composure of an aging scholar came into play at this moment, and he quickly recovered from his initial panic, extending his hands to signal everyone to be quiet:
"Please be quiet and don't get agitated. I will answer everyone's questions one by one."
"How was this site discovered?"
"Who first discovered this site, and who first discovered the ironware?"
"What is the significance of discovering iron artifacts in such a ruin? Will it rewrite human history?"
"Are there any similar precedents in the world of archaeology? Could this just be a side branch in the history of human evolution?"
Does this mean that China's Qaidam Basin is the cradle of human civilization?
...
The barrage of questions gave the professor no chance to catch his breath. Some even asked outrageous questions like, "Please describe the sexual and moral conditions of humans at that time." In the meantime, the professor introduced the living conditions of Neolithic humans—humans at that time had just begun to live in groups and build extremely simple houses. As for metallurgy, as I mentioned earlier, that was thousands of years later. However, what was truly incredible was that, apart from using iron tools, this tribe's lifestyle was no different from other Stone Age tribes. Only a small amount of flint was found at the excavation site, and the kiln used for metallurgy was nowhere to be found—these iron tools seemed to have appeared out of thin air.
"They mostly used stone tools and obtained fire through primitive methods such as flint and fire drills, which is very different from the technology of making iron tools. Currently, we have not made much progress in this area of research," the professor said.
Do you think it's possible for large chunks of iron to be formed naturally in this geological environment?
“We also consulted geological experts, who believed it was impossible; even the most concentrated iron ore could not achieve such purity.”
"Do you think this is a supernatural phenomenon? Is it the work of extraterrestrial civilizations?"—The question has finally been steered to this topic that everyone is interested in.
“I don’t think so. There is no evidence to suggest the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations. We should explore the reasons behind all of this with a scientific attitude, rather than simply attributing inexplicable phenomena to ‘extraterrestrial civilizations’—that would be an irresponsible attitude.”
"So what do you think about the 'alien base' on Baigong Mountain, which isn't far from here? Is there any connection between the ruins and the 'alien base'?"
"I'm sorry, I've never heard of the 'alien base' you're talking about."
...
Three and a half hours passed quickly in the enthusiastic atmosphere. New reporters kept arriving, and the site was packed with people. No one seemed inclined to go for a meal. Professor Wu, however, was in high spirits. He simply ate a few bites of bread and drank some water before leading the reporters on a tour of their excavation site—he was probably used to this kind of life by now.
"Pits No. 1 and No. 2 are nothing special; similar discoveries can be found at almost every Neolithic site. The key lies in Pit Nos. 3 and No. 4."
"Pit number 1." The professor said as he carefully walked around the excavation pit at the site. Reporters lined up behind him in long queues of two or three people each.
Beside pit number three, I saw a pile of dark, unremarkable things. They looked like a pile of dirty garbage, nothing special. Professor Wu gestured for everyone to touch them. I crouched down, touched them, rubbed the black particles on my hands, and smelled them. Sure enough, it smelled like rust.
Since I was at the front of the line, it was very convenient for me to take photos and ask questions.
"These are the iron tools they used back then? What use could they have been?"
"Based on their shape, we initially judged that they were probably similar to plows and shovels."
I kept pressing the shutter button on these rusty, tangled black iron blocks, recording these ugly yet sensational things one by one in my digital camera, asking myself as I took the pictures:
Is that all?
“These were all excavated from this site. There are some others in several other pits. After multiple dating tests, they,” he paused, emphasizing his words, “are products of the same era as this ancient village site.”
"Incredible! Iron tools appeared in the Stone Age! It's unbelievable!" I exclaimed sincerely.
“However, the truth is unforgiving.” He seemed to have anticipated my reaction, and I suspect he had a similar reaction when faced with this outcome—if this wasn’t a hoax.
"If these iron artifacts are unrelated to extraterrestrial civilizations, then in your opinion, what is the most likely possibility?" a reporter next to me asked.
"So far, I can't make any guesses; there's too little evidence. If the climate and environment were suitable at the time, it would be acceptable for an agricultural tribe to have existed here. However, what remains unexplained," Professor Wu replied, "is that for the past month, we've been searching the ruins for a metal-smelting kiln, but we haven't found it, not even a trace. It's as if they never built such a kiln. How humans at that time achieved temperatures high enough to smelt iron is still a mystery." He repeatedly emphasized the existence of the kiln, as if it were the key to the problem.
As we walked through Pit 5, Professor Wu showed us some other unusual things.
“Actually, besides ironware, there are some other strange things, such as the patterns on the pottery…” He squatted down and picked out three pieces from the many pottery shards he had dug up, “which are very different from other civilizations of the same period.”
I immediately took out my digital camera and photographed the pottery shards—I only glanced at the patterns on them—to a layman like myself, those seemingly human figures and some geometric lines that I couldn't identify were nothing special except for the rather simple drawing style—yet anything associated with this mysterious site seemed to become magical.
For someone as curious as me, things started to get interesting, and it seemed to be going in the direction I expected.
However, to everyone's surprise, that was not the case.
It wasn't until nearly 3 p.m., after we had searched almost every inch of the site except for the areas under excavation and restricted access, and when even my digital camera needed a spare battery and memory card, that everyone gradually dispersed to their tents to fill their stomachs. Those reporters who had taken late flights or had enjoyed a hearty meal in Delingha arrived late, seemingly having had a rough journey and regretting missing the morning's interviews. They rushed to Professor Wu's office to catch up.
As the sun set, large patches of black shadow quickly spread across the white sand, and the ancient pits were soon covered by shadow as well. Most of the reporters had already taken a car back to Delingha, and my interview was also nearing its end.
Just as I stepped forward to say goodbye to Professor Wu, a young man suddenly came running towards us, panting and shouting:
"Teacher Wu, you'd better take a look at this!"
"What? Is it a kiln?" Professor Wu asked anxiously.
"No, no, it's something more important than that!"
—I must say, coincidence often plays a crucial role in the course of events—if that young man had arrived a moment later, if I hadn't forcibly stopped myself from saying goodbye, if Professor Wu hadn't allowed me to go with him—this coincidence prevented the crazy events that Ye Tong and I experienced a few days later from ending inconclusively due to some unsolvable mystery, allowing me to now sit in this unchanging office and describe to you a horrifying event—of course, we both paid a considerable price for it.
A few minutes later.
Professor Wu led the entire archaeological team and the remaining dozen or so reporters to stand in the center of this underground structure that had only been excavated halfway. Behind us, two high-powered incandescent lights were set up, and some archaeologists were still busy working on the other half that had not yet been excavated.
The excavated portion of this underground stone room is as large as two basketball courts. It is incredible that such a large-scale structure could be built in the ancient Stone Age, when humans were just beginning to live in groups.
"Where is this? Is this the clan chief's residence?" I asked, looking around at the surrounding rock walls.
"In my experience, this should be a place where the ancients worshipped the gods," Professor Wu said.