The Rise and Decline of China's Major
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Mysterious Carvings and Evidence of Human Sacrifice Uncovered in Ancient City
Mysterious carvings and evidence of human sacrifice uncovered in ancient city Discoveries at the sprawling site have archaeologists rethinking the roots of Chinese civilization. By Brook Larmer PUBLISHED August 6, 2020 The stones didn’t give up their secrets easily. For decades, villagers in the dust-blown hills of China’s Loess Plateau believed that the crumbling rock walls near their homes were part of the Great Wall. It made sense. Remnants of the ancient barrier zigzag through this arid region inside the northern loop of the Yellow River, marking the frontier of Chinese rule stretching back more than 2,000 years. But one detail was curiously out of place: Locals, and then looters, began finding in the rubble pieces of jade, some fashioned into discs and blades and scepters. Jade is not indigenous to this northernmost part of Shaanxi Province— the nearest source is almost a thousand miles away—and it was not a known feature of the Great Wall. Why was it Join archaeologists as they search for clues to the mysterious fate of “China’s Pompeii” in a new three-part series. Ancient China from Above premiers in the U.S. Tuesday August 11 at 10/9c on National Geographic. For all other countries check local listings. When a team of Chinese archaeologists came to investigate the conundrum several years ago, they began to unearth something wondrous and puzzling. The stones were not part of the Great Wall but the ruins of a magnificent fortress city. The ongoing dig has revealed more than six miles of protective walls surrounding a 230-foot-high pyramid and an inner sanctum with painted murals, jade artifacts—and gruesome evidence of human sacrifice. -
Ceramic's Influence on Chinese Bronze Development
Ceramic’s Influence on Chinese Bronze Development Behzad Bavarian and Lisa Reiner Dept. of MSEM College of Engineering and Computer Science September 2007 Photos on cover page Jue from late Shang period decorated with Painted clay gang with bird, fish and axe whorl and thunder patterns and taotie design from the Neolithic Yangshao creatures, H: 20.3 cm [34]. culture, H: 47 cm [14]. Flat-based jue from early Shang culture Pou vessel from late Shang period decorated decorated with taotie beasts. This vessel with taotie creatures and thunder patterns, H: is characteristic of the Erligang period, 24.5 cm [34]. H: 14 cm [34]. ii Table of Contents Abstract Approximate timeline 1 Introduction 2 Map of Chinese Provinces 3 Neolithic culture 4 Bronze Development 10 Clay Mold Production at Houma Foundry 15 Coins 16 Mining and Smelting at Tonglushan 18 China’s First Emperor 19 Conclusion 21 References 22 iii The transition from the Neolithic pottery making to the emergence of metalworking around 2000 BC held significant importance for the Chinese metal workers. Chinese techniques sharply contrasted with the Middle Eastern and European bronze development that relied on annealing, cold working and hammering. The bronze alloys were difficult to shape by hammering due to the alloy combination of the natural ores found in China. Furthermore, China had an abundance of clay and loess materials and the Chinese had spent the Neolithic period working with and mastering clay, to the point that it has been said that bronze casting was made possible only because the bronze makers had access to superior ceramic technology. -
Adaptation and Invention During the Spread of Agriculture to Southwest China
Adaptation and Invention during the Spread of Agriculture to Southwest China The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation D'Alpoim Guedes, Jade. 2013. Adaptation and Invention during the Spread of Agriculture to Southwest China. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:11002762 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Adaptation and Invention during the Spread of Agriculture to Southwest China A dissertation presented by Jade D’Alpoim Guedes to The Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of Anthropology Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts March 2013 © 2013 – Jade D‘Alpoim Guedes All rights reserved Professor Rowan Flad (Advisor) Jade D’Alpoim Guedes Adaptation and Invention during the Spread of Agriculture to Southwest China Abstract The spread of an agricultural lifestyle played a crucial role in the development of social complexity and in defining trajectories of human history. This dissertation presents the results of research into how agricultural strategies were modified during the spread of agriculture into Southwest China. By incorporating advances from the fields of plant biology and ecological niche modeling into archaeological research, this dissertation addresses how humans adapted their agricultural strategies or invented appropriate technologies to deal with the challenges presented by the myriad of ecological niches in southwest China. -
Settlement Patterns, Chiefdom Variability, and the Development of Early States in North China
JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 15, 237±288 (1996) ARTICLE NO. 0010 Settlement Patterns, Chiefdom Variability, and the Development of Early States in North China LI LIU School of Archaeology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia Received June 12, 1995; revision received May 17, 1996; accepted May 26, 1996 In the third millennium B.C., the Longshan culture in the Central Plains of northern China was the crucial matrix in which the ®rst states evolved from the basis of earlier Neolithic societies. By adopting the theoretical concept of the chiefdom and by employing the methods of settlement archaeology, especially regional settlement hierarchy and rank-size analysis, this paper introduces a new approach to research on the Longshan culture and to inquiring about the development of the early states in China. Three models of regional settlement pattern correlating to different types of chiefdom systems are identi®ed. These are: (1) the centripetal regional system in circumscribed regions representing the most complex chiefdom organizations, (2) the centrifugal regional system in semi-circumscribed regions indicating less integrated chiefdom organization, and (3) the decentral- ized regional system in noncircumscribed regions implying competing and the least complex chief- dom organizations. Both external and internal factors, including geographical condition, climatic ¯uctuation, Yellow River's changing course, population movement, and intergroup con¯ict, played important roles in the development of complex societies in the Longshan culture. As in many cultures in other parts of the world, the early states in China emerged from a system of competing chiefdoms, which was characterized by intensive intergroup con¯ict and frequent shifting of political centers. -
Early “Neolithics” of China: Variation and Evolutionary Implications
Boise State University ScholarWorks Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations Department of Anthropology Summer 2017 Early “Neolithics” of China: Variation and Evolutionary Implications Shengqian Chen Renmin University of China Pei-Lin Yu Boise State University This document was originally published by University of Chicago Press in Journal of Anthropological Research. Copyright restrictions may apply. doi: 10.1086/692104 Early “Neolithics” of China: Variation and Evolutionary Implications SHENGQIAN CHEN, School of History, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872 PEI-LIN YU, Department of Anthropology, Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725, USA. Email: [email protected] The growth and significance of scientific research into the origins of agriculture in China calls for fresh examination at scales large enough to facilitate explanation of cultural evolutionary processes. The Paleolithic to Neolithic transition (PNT) is not yet well-understood because most archaeo- logical research on early agriculture cites data from the more conspicuous and common early Neo- lithic sites. In this, the first of two papers, we synthesize a broad range of early Neolithic archae- ological data, including diagnostic artifacts, settlement patterns, site structure, and biological remains, to consider agriculture as a system-level adaptive phenomenon. Although farming by this period was already well-established in much of North China and the middle Yangtze River basin, echoes of the foraging past can be found in the persistence of hunting-related artifacts in North China’s Loess Plateau and aquatic-based intensification and vegeculture in South China. Our analysis of the growing body of Chinese data and projections using Binford’s hunting and gathering database indicate that agriculture was differentially developed, adopted, or resisted by foragers according to measurable, predictable initial conditions of habitat that influenced diet breadth. -
Jade Huang and Chinese Culture Identity: Focus on the Myth of “Huang of Xiahoushi”
Journal of Literature and Art Studies, June 2016, Vol. 6, No. 6, 603-618 doi: 10.17265/2159-5836/2016.06.003 D DAVID PUBLISHING Jade Huang and Chinese Culture Identity: Focus on the Myth of “Huang of Xiahoushi” TANG Qi-cui, WU Yu-wei Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China This paper focus on the myth of “Huang of Xiahoushi” (夏后氏之璜), focusing on the distribution of Jade Huang (玉璜) since the early neolithic and its process of pluralistic integration. The paper explores the story of ethnic group, cultural identification and the significance of Jade Huang in the discourse construction of etiquette civilization behind the mythic narrative based on multi-evidence method and the local meaning of literature in ancient Chinese context. Keywords: Jade Huang, Huang of Xiahoushi, unified diversity, Chinese identity, etiquette civilization, multi-evidence method Introduction Modern archeological relics including potteries, jades and bronzes bring back the lost history; the process of how Chinese unified diversity took shape in general and the great tradition of jade culture in eight thousand in particular. The handed-down documents echo each other at a distance provide solid evidences for the origin of civilization of rite and music and the core values based on jade belief. Jade Huang is an important one of it. It is illuminated by numerous records about Jade Huang in ancient literature, as well as a large number of archaeology findings past 7,000 years. The paper seeks to focus on the following questions: what is the function of Jade Huang in historic and prehistoric period? Moreover, what is the function of “Huang of Xiahoushi”, which belonged to emperor and symbolized special power in historic documents and myths and legends in ancient china? Jade Huang: Etiquette and Literature Jade Huang (Yu Huang, Semi-circular/annular Jade Pendant) is a type of jade artifact which is seemed to be remotely related to etiquette and literature. -
Of the Chinese Bronze
READ ONLY/NO DOWNLOAD Ar chaeolo gy of the Archaeology of the Chinese Bronze Age is a synthesis of recent Chinese archaeological work on the second millennium BCE—the period Ch associated with China’s first dynasties and East Asia’s first “states.” With a inese focus on early China’s great metropolitan centers in the Central Plains Archaeology and their hinterlands, this work attempts to contextualize them within Br their wider zones of interaction from the Yangtze to the edge of the onze of the Chinese Bronze Age Mongolian steppe, and from the Yellow Sea to the Tibetan plateau and the Gansu corridor. Analyzing the complexity of early Chinese culture Ag From Erlitou to Anyang history, and the variety and development of its urban formations, e Roderick Campbell explores East Asia’s divergent developmental paths and re-examines its deep past to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of China’s Early Bronze Age. Campbell On the front cover: Zun in the shape of a water buffalo, Huadong Tomb 54 ( image courtesy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Institute for Archaeology). MONOGRAPH 79 COTSEN INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY PRESS Roderick B. Campbell READ ONLY/NO DOWNLOAD Archaeology of the Chinese Bronze Age From Erlitou to Anyang Roderick B. Campbell READ ONLY/NO DOWNLOAD Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press Monographs Contributions in Field Research and Current Issues in Archaeological Method and Theory Monograph 78 Monograph 77 Monograph 76 Visions of Tiwanaku Advances in Titicaca Basin The Dead Tell Tales Alexei Vranich and Charles Archaeology–2 María Cecilia Lozada and Stanish (eds.) Alexei Vranich and Abigail R. -
Tableaux Chronologiques Introduction
TABLEAUX CHRONOLOGIQUES INTRODUCTION TABLEAUX CHRONOLOGIQUES 年代表 INTRODUCTION Le premier tableau donne une vue d’ensemble de la chronologie de l’histoire de Chine depuis les temps les plus anciens. Le second présente, dynastie par dynastie, les noms des souverains, leurs dates et leurs 年號 nianhao. La chronologie chinoise présente des particularités qu’il importe de signaler. CHRONOLOGIE LONGUE ET CHRONOLOGIE COURTE Il existe, depuis les temps anciens, deux chronologies pour l’histoire de la haute antiquité chinoise. L’une est dite « chronologie longue » car elle attribue aux événements des dates plus anciennes. La seconde est dite « chronologie courte ». Ainsi, pour l’empereur 堯 Yao, la première donne la date de 2357 et la seconde 2145. 1 TABLEAUX CHRONOLOGIQUES INTRODUCTION La première est celle que suit le 通鑑綱目 Tong Jian Gang Mu, Abrégé du miroir universel, composé par 朱喜 Zhu Xi. La seconde est basée sur le 竹書紀年 Zhu Shu Ji Nian, Annales sur bambou. Toutes ces dates sont très hypothétiques et les personnages mentionnés sont d’autant plus proches de la légende que l’on s’éloigne dans le temps. Mais il existe une tradition que l’on ne peut ignorer. La date de la victoire des Zhou sur les Shang a donné lieu à de nombreuses controverses. La chronologie dite longue, basée sur le 三統曆 San Tong Li, donne la date de 1122 A.C. La chronologie dite courte, basée sur le 竹書紀年 Zhu Shu Ji Nian, donne celle de 1050. Diverses autres dates ont été proposées. La grande majorité des historiens, se basant en partie sur des recherches astronomiques, adopte 1050 A.C. -
Origin and Dispersal of Early Domestic Pigs in Northern China
www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Origin and dispersal of early domestic pigs in northern China Hai Xiang1,2, Jianqiang Gao3, Dawei Cai4, Yunbing Luo5, Baoquan Yu6, Langqing Liu1, Ranran Liu7, Hui Zhou4, Xiaoyong Chen8, Weitao Dun8, Xi Wang9, Michael Hofreiter10 & Xingbo Zhao1 Received: 16 February 2017 It is widely accepted that modern pigs were domesticated independently at least twice, and Chinese Accepted: 7 June 2017 native pigs are deemed as direct descendants of the first domesticated pigs in the corresponding Published: xx xx xxxx domestication centers. By analyzing mitochondrial DNA sequences of an extensive sample set spanning 10,000 years, we find that the earliest pigs from the middle Yellow River region already carried the maternal lineages that are dominant in both younger archaeological populations and modern Chinese pigs. Our data set also supports early Neolithic pig utilization and a long-term in situ origin for northeastern Chinese pigs during 8,000–3,500 BP, suggesting a possibly independent domestication in northeast China. Additionally, we observe a genetic replacement in ancient northeast Chinese pigs since 3,500 BP. The results not only provide increasing evidence for pig origin in the middle Yellow River region but also depict an outline for the process of early pig domestication in northeast China. It is widely accepted that pigs were domesticated independently in Near East and East Asia beginning ~10,000 years ago after Sus sp. emerged in Southeast Asia during the climatic fluctuations of the early Pliocene 5.3–3.5 My ago1–3. So far, at least six phylogeographically distinct wild boar lineages have been found to have contributed to the present domestic pig populations4. -
UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Craft Specialization And
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Craft Specialization and Animal Products at the Longshan Period Sites of Taosi and Zhoujiazhuang, Shanxi Province, China A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology by Katherine Richards Brunson 2015 ©Copyright by Katherine Richards Brunson 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Craft Specialization and Animal Products at the Longshan Period Sites of Taosi and Zhoujiazhuang, Shanxi Province, China by Katherine Richards Brunson Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Paul Jeffrey Brantingham, Chair The late third millennium BCE was a period of technological and cultural change in China’s Yellow River valley. Domestic cattle and sheep were introduced into China from West Asia during this period, marking a shift in the zooarchaeological record and the arrival of new methods of animal exploitation. Using zooarchaeological evidence for the exploitation of secondary products and bone working at the Late Neolithic Longshan period sites of Taosi and Zhoujiazhuang in Shanxi Province, I examine the relationship between animal products, craft specialization, and increasing social complexity. My research suggests that non-subsistence uses of cattle and sheep were important factors that contributed to the adoption of herding in the Central Plains region, and that the nature of cattle and sheep exploitation varied between sites depending on local environmental and cultural conditions. Additionally, I use ancient DNA analysis to identify bovine oracle bones from Taosi and Zhoujiazhuang. Both domestic cattle and wild aurochs scapulas were used in divination rituals, raising the possibility that people ii experimented with managing native East Asian wild aurochs alongside domestic cattle. -
Changing Patterns of Pottery Production During The
CHANGING PATTERNS OF POTTERY PRODUCTION DURING THE LONGSHAN PERIOD OF NORTHERN CHINA, CA'. 2500-2000 B.C. by Anne P. Underbill B.A., Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 1977 M.A., University of British Columbia, 1983 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Anthropology and Sociology) We accept this dissertation as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA July 1990 (c) Anne P. Underhill In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of fW^^'kyj ^ ^^".^ The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date TW^£ l"7| (ITO DE-6 (2/88) ABSTRACT This study investigates how systems of pottery production change in relation to increasing cultural complexity. A revised version of the important model outlined by Rice (1981) is presented and tested with ceramic data from the Longshan Period of northern China-. At the end of the period, at least one state evolved in the Huanghe (Yellow River) valley region. The model describes social factors that may cause ceramic change in chiefdoms. It describes three alternative strategies of producers: diversification, simplification, and conservatism. -
Two Modes of the Development of Chinese Ancient Civilization: On
Two Modes of the Development of Chinese Ancient Civilization: on Observing of the Funeral Jades Unearthed from Large Graves of Hongshan Culture, Liangzhu Culture, and Yangshao Culture Two Modes of the Development of Chinese Ancient Civilization: on Observing of the Funeral Jades Unearthed from Large Graves of Hongshan Culture, Liangzhu Culture, and Yangshao Culture Li Boqian* Key words: Ancient Civilization–China Hongshan Culture Liangzhu Culture Yangshao Culture Burials Jades In the late Neolithic Age, ca. 5500–4500 BP, the as- of Archaeology in Liaoning 1986) and Guo Dashun’s pects of archaeological cultures in Chinese continent account in his article (1997), dozens of burials in cists underwent great changes. Various traces show that so- have been revealed in stone barrows at the Localities II, cial structure in those times was also in an intensive trans- III and V. Every barrow contains at least one major burial formation from the old to the new, and the process of in a large-sized elaborate pit and with rich grave goods, civilization entered a critical period. But the types, con- generally comprising exclusively jades, even pottery tents and major fields of change were diverse among seldom seen, which is clearly different from the tombs regions and cultures, which may have reflected still at other Hongshan Culture settlements. For example, in deeper issues involving different modes of the civiliza- Barrow-1 of Locality II at Niuheliang, a sleeve-shaped tion process. In this paper I will put forward my ideas jade was revealed beneath the tomb occupant’s skull of based on a comparison of the funeral jades from large- Burial M4, two pig-dragon-shaped jade ornaments side sized tombs of the Hongshan, Liangzhu and Yangshao by side on the chest; a hooked-cloud-shaped jade on the Cultures.