作为文化表征的“考古学想像”——文化研究式公众考古学案例研究

Archaeological Imagination as A Cultural Representation: Case Studies of Public Archaeology Based on Cultural Studies

何为“正确、真实的考古学”,考古行业具备基本认知。但本文着重讨论的,是一类在公众语境中介乎正确、真实与不正确、不真实之间的“考古学想像”。采用暂且悬置价值判断的批判性思维,对三组考古学想像案例文化研究式的剖析,揭示作为文化表征的它们分别置身不同观念政治语境时的符号面貌与运作方式,以期反思考古学认知的建构机理与社会文化的话语结构,并探索中国公众考古学研究的全新视角与方法,打开“考古学的想像力”。

Archaeologists have a fundamental cognition of correct and real archaeology. However, the phenomena discussed in this paper are a kind of archaeological cognition that is partially correct and real in the public context. They can help us reflect on the construction mechanism of archaeological cognition and even the discourse structure of social culture. Based on the critical thinking of suspending value judgment, this paper refers to these archaeological cognitive phenomena as archaeological imagination for conducting cultural studies on three sets of cases to reveal the relevant operation mode of representation, a term coined by Stuart Hall. It aims to explore a new approach and perspective in China’s public archaeology and attempts to unleash the archaeological imagination by reexamining archaeology itself.In Zibo Museum, for instance, there is an exhibition of the burial pits accompanying the Tomb of the Prince of Qi in the Western Han Dynasty, including the partial restoration of the archaeological excavation site in Pit No.5 that demonstrates the scene of humble archaeologists working under primitive conditions. Most Chinese archaeologists still imagine their subjectivity as “crawling in the field and groping around.” This indicates that the archaeological industry stands at the intersection of modernity and pre-modernity with Chinese characteristics in the process of modernization since the reform and opening up, blending urban China and rural China as a result of the urban-rural dual structure.In recent years, the common archaeological theme parks in China usually provide the family activity of simulation of dinosaur fossil excavation, which is nominally archaeological. Here, the basic principles of modernity, such as scientific spirit and social division of labor, are imperceptibly embedded in the children’s cognition, and the self-identity of the Chinese middle class is thereby strengthened and inherited. Nonetheless, the case study of the Camp Discovery at Shanghai Disneyland reveals that the deideologization in the archaeological theme parks is not a natural selection.Meanwhile, contemporary American artist Daniel Arsham creates the Excavation Site 212 as a highly realistic archaeological site in the year of 3019. Despite its highlight on the futuristic sense of archaeological excavations, the archaeology reflected in this work is closely associated with the potential peril. On the one hand, the artist expresses his suspicion of modernity by means of archaeology that represents modernity. On the other hand, he turns such western-style postmodernist reflection on modernity into the cultural capital that leads to class division.