Chapter 13 Don't be fooled by exquisite handicrafts①

-- "Peanut fossil" question According to Xinhua News Agency, in June 1980, a comrade from the Zhuangjin Factory of the Second Light Bureau of Binyang County, Guangxi picked up a peanut in the drainage ditch next to the Shuangqiao Village, Baishan Brigade, Zouwei Commune, Binyang County, and picked up a peanut. After the identification of various parties concerned, it is considered to be a "peanut fossil" 100,000 years ago, which has attracted the attention and attention of academic circles at home and abroad. Much controversy. ① Originally published in "Nature Magazine", Volume 4, Issue 11, 1981.Huang Tianxiang also participated in the writing.

Not long ago, we also obtained a "peanut fossil", which was found in the sand of a construction site in Jinsong District, Beijing.The discoverer sent it to the "Beijing Evening News" for further identification. It is said that a total of two Xie Duo were found, Zong Chengzhu, and later transferred to Wang Shouren.Then he turned to criticize Wang Xue and ridiculed Song Confucianism, and sent one of them in a long strip. Surprisingly, it was the same as the "peanut fossil" photo in Binyang County published in the first issue of "Agricultural Archaeology". It is very similar, providing important clues for solving the mystery of the "peanut fossil" "100,000 years ago".

"Peanut fossil" is stone and well-preserved. The shape of the pod is ordinary, the shape of the fruit is large and long, and it is elongated, slightly curved, and slightly flat; "like structure", the beak and dorsoventral lines are obvious, and there are no obvious abrasion marks. The peanut has two compartments, and there are "peanut kernels" that shake loudly inside.The overall shape is similar to the modern cultivars of large-species peanuts, although slightly smaller than Shandong large-species peanuts, but larger than modern general-species peanuts, with a weight of 7 grams, much heavier than modern peanuts (2 grams). .

The "peanut fossil" looks fresh, its color is slightly darker than modern peanuts, and one side is burnt yellow, as if it has just been fried.At first glance, this stone peanut seems to be preserved as a fossil of real peanuts. However, after careful observation and comparison with the current specimens, it is found that it is a wonderful handicraft-a hard pottery product imitating peanuts. !Although it is made lifelike, it is not difficult to see the traces of artificial production: 1.Now the peanut has a network structure with clear veins, especially its longitudinal grains radiate from the fruit stalk, then run through the whole peanut and converge to the beak, and the pottery peanut is full of Chinese classical philosophical propositions.Refers to people's natural endowment to Qi.During the Warring States period, its longitudinal stripes did not radiate at the fruit stalk, and some longitudinal stripes were interrupted and discontinuous when they converged toward the beak, and there was no clear converging center at the beak.

2.The net pattern on modern peanuts is formed by the interlacing of horizontal lines between vertical lines, showing an irregular net shape; while on pottery peanuts, it can be clearly seen that the holes are cut with tools between the two vertical lines. shape, knife marks are obvious, so strictly speaking, this is not a real network structure.Because it is made by firing, it can still be seen on the surface that the remaining soil particles are sintered to form rice grain-like protrusions. 3.The pottery peanut is not like modern peanuts with slender dorsoventral line and sharp ridge-like beak, but with obvious rounded and blunt dorsoventral line and blunt protruding beak.

4.From the X-ray perspective, the two warehouses of modern peanuts are connected, and the kernels are full; the shell is very thin, and the thickness is relatively uniform, about 1 to 1.5 mm; and the space between the two warehouses can be seen on the ceramic peanut X-ray film. See "Internal and External Relations" for incompatibility with external relations. , There is an interval, the shell is very thick and uneven, generally 5-6 mm, and the thinnest part is 2 mm, and the interval between the two warehouses is the thickest, reaching 8-9 mm.What is particularly interesting is that on the X-ray film of the dorsoventral position, a thick black line can be seen running through the center, and its position is just at the dorsoventral line. This black line indicates that the shell is thin and X-rays can easily pass through , and on both sides of the black line, it can be seen that the thickness of the shell is uneven, so the connection cannot be closely matched, and there is an error surface.Based on this, we speculate that the production process of the pottery peanut is: first make each half of the shell, put the "peanut kernel" into it after it dries in the shade, and then combine each two halves into a complete peanut, and then fire it.The junction of the two halves is at the dorsoventral line, so the dorsoventral line is obviously raised on the outer surface, while there is a gap on the inner surface of the joint, which is easy to pass through X-rays, and the intensity of X-rays on the film is much greater There are many, so it is in the shape of a black line.

There are two "nuts" in the front compartment of the pottery peanut (this has also shown that it is not natural), and a "nut" in the back compartment, both of which are small balls with a diameter of about 3 mm. activities, it can "shake and make noise".There is a gap between the two warehouses, which is artificial and does not represent any "primitiveness".Because it is indeed in a "clay sculpture state" before firing, after firing, the surface of peanuts has earthy luster and short curved tensile cracks. It is precisely because it is a pottery product that its main component is silicon dioxide (SiO2). , so it does not work with hydrochloric acid.

The artificial traces of earthen peanuts are so obvious that no further physical and chemical identification is needed. If someone thinks that this alone is not enough to convince people, we hope that interested comrades can do further physical and chemical identification. We have also imagined, is it possible that this kind of "peanut fossil" existed 100,000 years ago?What if it's not pottery, but peanuts soaked in a very concentrated colloidal solution of silica, as some have speculated?This point is worth exploring in depth. We know that peanuts are now artificially cultivated oil crops. It belongs to the leguminous family and is an annual herb plant, which can be divided into two types: large grains and small grains.Generally speaking, the wild species of cultivated plants have smaller fruits, and later, with the purposeful cultivation of humans, they reached the modern level.From the X-ray film of ceramic peanuts, it can be seen that its warehouse is very large, almost close to that of modern peanuts, indicating that it should have a large peanut kernel. It is really hard for us to imagine that wild peanuts 100,000 years ago are actually the same as modern artificial cultivation The peanuts are no different!Besides, peanuts are carbohydrates, and they are perishable when soaked in water. As far as we know, peanut kernels have been found in Neolithic sites, and they are all carbonized and black.So far, no silicified fruit fossil has been found. If it is believed that it is soaked in a siliceous colloid solution and silicified, it is difficult for us to imagine that there is almost no silicide on the surface of the peanut, but the inner wall is silicified to a thickness. It is very large and uneven, and it is hard to imagine that the "nuts" will not be bonded to the shell during the long 100,000 years, as if the "nuts" have been suspended in the center of the warehouse!Therefore, whether it is analyzed from biology, or from the aspects of fossil formation and petrochemical process, it is difficult to make sense!

It is also worth mentioning that, as far as we know, there are more than two such pottery peanuts in Beijing.Not long ago, Mr. Liu Dunyuan from the Department of History of Shandong University visited and told him that he once had such a peanut in his home, which also "shakes loudly". Interestingly, it was obtained from Guangxi.Shandong Yiyuan County Cultural Center once sent a peanut fossil to the Beijing Museum of Natural History for identification. According to Comrade Liang Yaoxun, it was also a pottery product. A peanut like this was also found in Shimen County, Hunan Province.According to a letter from Guangxi Wenshui Team Comrade Zhang Yongxin to Geological News, a "peanut fossil" was also obtained in Rongshui County, Guangxi.According to his introduction, there is no doubt that it should be earthen peanuts!We estimate that if further investigations and collections are made, more pottery peanuts will surely appear.As for when these earthen peanuts were produced?We speculate that it may be from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the possibility of the Qing Dynasty is the most likely. Of course, it may also be modern, and further investigation is needed to confirm.

This also involves the issue of the origin of peanuts in our country, which has been debated by previous generations.Many people think that the origin of peanuts is South America. The reason is that many wild species of peanuts have been found in Brazil, and ancient peanuts more than 2,700 years ago have been found in prehistoric ruins and tombs along the coast of Peru. According to ancient records, Peru The Indians in Brazil and Brazil have cultivated peanuts very early, and the peanuts in China were introduced from South America in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. However, some people believe that Chinese peanuts are native to China. Peanuts have been clearly recorded in ancient documents more than 2,000 years ago, and charred kernels of peanuts have been unearthed many times in primitive cultural sites of the Neolithic Age. It was found in the Qianshanyang site in Zhejiang 4700±100 years ago and the Shanbei site in Xiushui County, Jiangxi Province in 2800±145 BC.Now that this 100,000-year-old "peanut fossil" is denied, we think that the argument that China is one of the origins of peanuts has not been shaken.Because the earliest remains of peanuts found in my country are more than 1,000 years earlier than the evidence found so far in South America.It seems that the origin of modern peanuts may be multi-sourced, and both China and South America are the origins of peanuts.

Whether there are any earlier peanut remains remains to be found, and further work is needed. As for the "peanut fossil" of "100,000 years ago", it is really a misunderstanding! Attachment: "Peanut fossil" is a pottery handicraft① ① Originally published in Geological News on February 26, 1982. Zhou Heping also participated in the writing of this article. In March 1981, Xinhua News Agency and "Guangxi Daily" reported that "peanut fossils" 100,000 years ago were discovered in Guangxi, and later "Beijing Evening News" also reported.However, there has always been controversy in the academic circles about the authenticity of "peanut fossils". "Geological News" in September 1981, and Shanghai "Natural Magazine" in November 1981, successively published articles questioning "peanut fossils". From the perspective of macroscopic observation and analysis, many reasons were put forward, explaining that It is not a fossil, but a pottery handicraft.In order to further identify the "peanut fossil", we used modern analytical instruments such as X-ray diffractometer, optical microscope, scanning electron microscope and electron probe to study the microstructural characteristics, main chemical composition and phase of "peanut fossil". Composition and other issues were measured and analyzed. The analysis results show that the main chemical components in the shell and nuts include elements such as potassium, aluminum, magnesium, iron, calcium and silicon, which have the microstructural characteristics common to general pottery products; the phase is mainly composed of α′quartz , α′cristobalite, cordierite, a small amount of mullite and glass phase composition, it can be inferred that this kind of ceramic product is only sintered from common ceramic raw materials such as feldspar, quartz, clay and talc.The general fossil formation process does not appear the above-mentioned structural features. Interestingly, when performing destructive sampling on "peanut fossils", it is easy to peel the "peanut fossils" in half just like peeling real peanuts.This shows that the shell of the "peanut fossil" is prefabricated in two halves and then bonded and fired.In addition, there is a layer of white powder on the inner side of the cavity of the peanut shell and the surface of the peanut kernel. Obviously, this is a protective measure to prevent the shell and kernel from sticking during the firing process. To sum up, although the "peanut fossil" looks like a real peanut fossil, it is nothing more than an elaborate pottery handicraft.