Monday, September 3, 2018

THE PREHISTORY OF CHINA: ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES



Palaeolithic China: Tracing the Evolution

  • archaeology is a relatively recent enterprise in China 
  • the origins of the Chinese people is not a topic that is yet fully understood
  • advances in archaeology is part of China’s modernization.



  • the shift away from the antiquarian tradition started in the 19th century
  • this was when a scientific approach took shape
  • the antiquarian tradition emerged during the Tang period
  • it climaxed during the Song period
  • its practice recorded various artifacts and objects divorced from their archaeological contexts.

  • the initial systematic archaeological studies began early in the 20th century
  • this was when foreigners began excavations in China
  • the result was the well-documented discovery (1927) of fossilized remains
  • this consisted of more than 40 individuals - homo erectus (Peking Man)
  • this was in a cave at Zhoukoudian, some 30 miles  south-west of  Beijing



  •  during the time an international team headed by Jia Lanpo took place at Anyang
  •  Li Ji and  others also excavated at Chengziyai, in Longshan

  • the importance of Anyang is that it was the evidence that the Shang Dynasty had  existed
  • previously it was believed that the Shang was a legend.
  • other sites were excavated 
  • the Nihewan basin (Hebei) display the existence of early humans
  • early Neolithic sites such as Jiahu suggest the initiation of agriculture.
  • others, like Niuheliang (Liaoning) suggests the early practices of rituals. 

  • the  group of sites in the Nihewan basin, was occupied from about 1.7 million to 10,000 BCE, 
  • this offers evidence of the earliest presence of humans in East Asia - homo erectus
  • no human fossils were found, only artifacts
  • fossil teeth discovered at Yuanmou (Yunnan) may be that of the earliest human remains
  • they closely resemble those of homo erectus at Zhoukoudian
  • homo erctus skull found at Gongwangling (Lantian, Shaanxi)
  • stone tools at Xihoudu (Ruicheng, Shaanxi) indicate evidence of the early humans in China
  • this was during the early Pleistocene era
  • other similar sites suggest that homo erectus  was widely dispersed throughout China

  • the Middle Pleistocene evidence comes from numerous sites, including that of Peking man
  • skullcaps, crania, mandible, femur, and other bone fragments were discovered
  • they were lost while being shipped out of China to the United States during the war 
  • casts are all that remain
  • the excavation from 1921 to 1937 and since 1959 has uncovered many things:
  • a) about 100,000 stone tools, 
  • b) over 100 teeth, 14 skulls
  • c) bones representing some 51 individuals of homo erectus
  • one cave found was quite large, 500x150 feet and in one area 120 feet from floor to ceiling,
  • it was inhabited continuously for about 100,000 years
  • these hominids were hunter-gatherers who used stone tools and made fire.


  • these people were small in stature; 
  • Peking Man stood at 5ft. 2 in. while women were about 4’9” tall
  • they had the cranial capacity of 850-1300 cc compared to Java Man’s 775-900 cc 
  • early homo sapiens has one of 1350 cc
  • their diets consisted of 70% deer
  • bones of many animals were found:
  • the leopard, bear, sabre-toothed tiger, hyena, elephant, rhinoceros, camel, water buffalo
  • also boar, and horse were found
  • there were no burials or complete skeletons


Zhoukoudian:

  • one of the greatest prehistoric sites in the world
  • it’s been studied for 80 years
  • it became an important archaeological sites & paleontological sites in 1927
  • its discovery was stimulated by the identity of an “ape man: in a apothecary shop


  • the site is a  limestone cave, 31 miles southwest of Beijing
  • excavations were carried out from 1927 to 1937
  • the team was made of Canadian, Swedish, German, Austrian, American, French, and Chinese scholars


  • several places around that area has given scholars evidence of hominid - - activity & non-hominid fossils
  • these range from seven millions years ago



Homo Erectus & Its Evidence

  • the most productive site was Locality 1 which had the largest collection of homo erectus fossils ever found at one site
  • it had 6 complete skull caps & other bones 45 individuals
  • it contained over  6,000 stone artifacts, an extensive collection of animal bones and some plant remains.
  • they  were nondescript stone tools & flaked items, large amounts of quartz
  • there seams to be evidence of fire found within the layers connected with human occupation
  • the interpretation from Zhoukoudian raises controversy
  • the traditional interpretation was of a cave-dwelling big game hunter that cooked over fires
  • others have suggested that homo erectus was not so advanced
  • the animal bones & hominid remains were the result of scavenging hyenas (their remains were also there)
  • any evidence for fire was due to natural causes (lightning)

Earlier Evidence

  • there is some evidence to suggest the presence of hominids earlier than those of Zhoukoudian

  • a cave site at Longgupo (souther China contains an hominid tooth & some stone artifacts - the tooth seems to have primitive characteristics
  • this seems be linked with homo eragster or homo habilis

  • the dating is controversial - they range from 2.4 million to less than one million
  • other sites of one million years of age have been found at Nihewan basin & at Yuanmou (Yunnan).

  • the evolutionary timeline is simple:
  • a)  Yuanmou Man: c. 1.6 -1.7 million years ago.
  • b)  Lantian man: 700,000 - 650, 000 years ago.
  • c)  Peking man: 500, 000 - 400, 000 years ago.






Early homo sapiens:

  • there are some 30 or so sites that go back to 280,000 and 250, 000  years ago
  • these sites are evidence of the activities of archaic humans or pre-modern humans.

  •  three sites prove that pre-modern humans occupied China:
  •  Jinniushan,
  •  Maba,
  •  Dali

  • at Jinniushan (Yinkou, Liaoning) chipped stone tools were found
  • they’ve been dated to be at around 260,000 years old
  • an almost complete skull was found
  • the cranial capacity to be 1,260 cc
  • this was an hominid in transition between being homo erectus and archaic homo sapiens
  • a similar find at Dali (Shaanxi) suggest another transitional hominid
  • it dated between 230,000 and 180, 000 years ago
  • fragments of a cranium fossil turns up in a cave near the village of Maba
  • this dated between 140,000 - 119,000 years ago but stone tools were not unearthed.



Dali:

  • this is an open-air site in south central China (Shaanxi)
  • it has a deep deposit of silts, sand and gravel
  • at the bottom there is a hominid skull found in 1978
  • this was found by geologist Liu Shuntang.

  • the skull is complete but lacks a jaw
  • the layer where it was found has been dated several times


  • the consensus gives it 230,000 years ago or old as 300,000
  • five hundred stone artifacts were also found there
  • some have features common with that of those of Zhoukoudian

Significance

  • there has been a lot of academic debate about this finding
  • initially it was classified as homo erectus
  • many has suggested  it is closer to modern humans
  • it seems to be an intermediary form between homo erectus and homo sapiens; it seems to be dated at 70,000 years of age
  • this supports the multi-regional hypothesis

  • other sites with this kind of skull are found at many other sites
  • these are dated as between 400,000 & 120,000 years ago

  • people assume that modern Chinese population evolved from these early hominid forms
  • the recent scholarship suggests a different hypothesis that competes with the traditional one
  • genetic studies offer the position that the Chinese share a common ancestral lineage
  • this lineage comes from Africa
  • Peking Man and other forms of archaic humans are evolutionary cul-de sacs
  • they died out only to be replaced by the wave of homo sapiens that emerged in Africa
  • this was between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago and migrated to Asia
  • this is the “total replacement hypothesis”)s
  • they overtook the local Asian archaic modern humans
  • contemporary Chinese people are a recently evolved group of people from Africa.

  • the “multi-regional hypothesis” rejects the “out of Africa” hypothesis
  • it argues that homo erectus evolved independently into modern form
  • this is based on similar anatomical traits.
  • homo erectus is found at various sites

Modern Humans:

  • there are close to one hundred sites of the late Paleolithic period in China
  • this contains evidence for the presence of homo sapiens
  • the period is between 40,000 and 10,000 years
  • yet something is missing - the stretch between 100,000 and 40,000 years ago.

Stone Artifacts

  • during the Paleolithic period early humans engaged in the creation of various artifacts
  • these are tools made of stones and bones
  • those made in China are different from the types made in other large areas
  • this would be Africa and Europe during the same time period
  • so they do not seem to have evolved from the West
  • they were independently designed and manufactured
  • scrapers, choppers, points, and burins are the type of stone tools of Paleolithic China
  • these were found at Nihewan and Zhoukoudian.



The Neolithic Revolution:

  • agriculture in China began sometime around 8500 -8000 BCE
  • it  involved the cultivation of millet and rice in the Yellow and Yangzi River valleys
  • at that time there also occurred the domestication of dogs, pigs, and chickens.

  • the settling of the hunter gatherer led to the emergence of village life
  • this gradually developed into towns and then into city states
  • the Neolithic revolution brought about a population explosion
  • this supplied the growing demand for farm labour
  • small number of neolithic villages (c. 9000-8000 BCE) have been discovered
  • this is at two major valleys
  • hundreds of villages from the later period (7500-7000 BCE) have been found
  • those of the later period (c. 6000 BCE) are in the thousands.

  • neolithic China has some unique characteristics
  • its sedentary lifestyle emerged after the cultivation of cereal
  • in the Middle East (the earliest centre of agriculture) it took place before farming
  • the picture above is a Yangshao painted pottery storage jar - Banshan phase (2600 -2300 BCE)


  • in the Middle East the rise of pottery took place after the advent of agriculture
  • in China, pottery was invented simultaneously in several places by hunter-gatherers.



The Neolithic Culture

  • thousands of pieces of Neolithic art have been discovered
  • these are objects made from ceramic, stone, and bone
  • the most common art of the period consists of painted potter
  • this climaxed with the Yangshao culture (c.5000-2700 BCE) and other cultures in the north.
  • stylized incisions of plants, animals, fish & the famous taotie mask are features of this culture.


  • the rise of agriculture brought about cultural changes
  • the division of labour increased and with it came artisanship
  • this led to state owned industries
  • jade, ceramics, and textile manufacturing were the result
  • pottery was invented by the hunter-gatherers
  • it was the farmers of the Neolithic period that produced refined forms of pottery
  • this type required the use of the potter's wheel and the use of the kiln
  • society became stratified
  • it led to the emergence of the state with its political underpinnings.



Cultural Sites:

  • the transition from paleolithic to the neolithic  is one of settlement
  • this is due to the increase of food created by the emergence of agriculture
  • this was because climate change
  • this was when the Yellow and Yangzi River valleys warmed up
  • with that warmth seed collecting began in earnest.
  • the neolithic period is the transition from being nomadic cave dwellers to becoming villagers
  • along with agriculture came the domestication of farm animals - dogs, pigs, chickens
  • this grouping of larger social units in one area laid the foundation for a civilization
  • thousands of neolithic sites demonstrate that during the period of 10,000 to 2,000 BCE

  • the earliest Neolithic sites are in the following southern provinces:
  • Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Guizhou
  • these are dated between 11,000 and 10,000 BCE

  • the north is 8500 - 7000 BCE (Xinglongwa culture) and 7000 and 5000 BCE (Xinle culture)
  • in the north, central, and coastal regions the settlements are found to have emerged later
  • the most intense settlements are from the Yellow River basins
  • also along its tributaries and the southern areas where rice was highly productive
  • this was in the wet and humid climate

  • the north (Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi) was basically a millet growing dual culture
  • Cishan-Peiligang (6500-4900 BCE), is where red and brown coloured pottery was a feature.

Yangshao Culture

  • the best known culture - Yangshao - from that area later emerged (5000-3000 BCE)
  • it contained over a hundred sites covering a larger territory from Gansu to Qinghai.
  • in the south we have  the cord-marked pottery often found in limestone caves
  • this identifies a culture located in Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Guangxi.

  • the best documented Yangshao culture was named after a village in northern Henan
  • this is where in 1921 J. Gunnar Andersson had found a fragment of painted pottery.

  • its famous site is at Banpo, near Xi’an
  • it was built on a huge circular site surrounded by a deep ditch
  • it was occupied from about 4800 - 3600 BCE
  • it was a village of some 45 houses grouped in clusters suggesting kinship units
  • the huts like tombs were similar in size and shape
  • the only difference was the communal building
  • its inhabitants cultivated millet and kept pigs and dog
  • the millet was supplemented by hunting and fishing
  • hemp was used for fabrics



  • their pottery of various shapes - bowls, jugs, vases
  • it was painted red & had incisions
  • those designs were that of fish, animal, plants, and human faces, & symbols
  • these markings that may have identified clans or lineages
  • these markings were an early stage in the development of Chinese characters
  • later markings consisted of waves and spirals
  • these were characteristic of later Miaodigou culture (3900-3000 BCE)

  • deriving from the Yangshao culture there emerged three cultures:
  • a) Majiayao,
  • b) Banshan
  • c) Machang (3300 - 2050 BCE) in Gansu & Qinghai

  • deriving from the Majiayao culture there emerged two cultures:
  • the Qijias culture (2250 -1900 BCE)
  • the Huoshaogou culture (1800-1600 BCE)
  • their production of objects and jewelry that were made of copper, bronze, gold, and silver

  • the Dawenkou culture (5000 - 2500 BCE) which was scattered throughout a number of areas - - this was in Shangdong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, and Liaoning
  • it seemed to have been somewhat stratified
  • this was suggested from the objects buried with the rich strata of society
  • these objects were jade , stone, pottery, bracelets
  • the eastern cultures of Majiabang (5000 - 3500 BCE) and Hemudu (5000 - 3300 BCE) - (Jiangsu & north Zhejiang) depended much on fishing and the production of aquatic plants, especially rice
  • the pottery of Majiabang was a combination of red and brown while Hemudu was black.

  • their descendants are
  • a)  the Songze culture (4000 - 3000 BCE
  • b)  the Qinglian’gang (4800 - 3600 BCE)

  • the Hongshan culture (3600 - 2000 BCE) derived from the Xinle culture
  • its development can be traced to Liaoning and Inner Mongolia
  • the Hongshan culture is well known for its production of jade
  • it became highly developed during the period of the Liangzhu culture (3300 - 2200 BCE)
  • the Liangzhu developed along the eastern coastal areas (Zhejiang & Jiangsu)
  • jade is prominent (greatly found in tombs) in this cultural area
  • this suggests that an elite group administered a political and/or religious power.

  • the Daxi culture (5000 - 3000 BCE) developed along the Yangzi jiang valley
  • this is adjacent to Sichuan, Hubei, and Hunan
  • it was known for its production of stone objects with red, brown, and dark pottery
  • further south you had
  • a) the Dapenkeng culture (5000 - 2500 BCE
  • b) the Shixia culture (2865 - 2480 BCE) and both are producers of jade.

Longshan Culture

  • in 1928 at Chengziyai in north-west Shandong a different kind of pottery was discovered
  • it was that of the Longshan culture (3000 - 2000 BCE)


  • the pottery was not painted and was usually thinner than that of the Yangshao
  • sometimes the pottery was elevated on a circular foot or on tripod legs
  • at first scholars believed that the culture of Longshan was that of eastern China
  • they thought that the Yangshao was that of the Central Plains
  • when the Miaodigou site was excavated Yangshao was found to be below Longshan
  • it was then believed that Longshan derived from Yangshao
  • other excavations suggested it derived from Dawenkou
  • it developed separately and gradually spread itself to the Central Plains
  • this was when its painted pottery was on the decline
  • the cultures that would later dominate the Central Plains region came from Longshan
  • that development would usher in the Bronze Age


Transition & Change

  • the basic ideas of kinship, authority, religion, and art began to emerge
  • they emerged in these distinct regional cultures
  • becoming  more populated a civilizing experiment emerged and developed.
  • organization, division of labour, and self-expression made its appearance.

  • the traditional belief is that the neolithic culture had its origins in one area
  • this would be that of northern China (Peiligang culture)
  • it  would spread itself out from the core of the Yellow River valley & the Central Plains
  • it would assimilate the entire area known today as China.

  • in recent years archaeological discoveries have revealed a more complex view
  • various cultures made the successful transition from food-gathering to food production
  • that success led to the appearance of pottery and the further development of other industries
  • this would be the production of jade, ceramic, and textiles
  • this led to an emerging economy and an intensification of social engagement
  • this, in turn, led to stratification
  • politicization of communities as multicultural communities co-existed and interacted.

  • these cultures differed from one another in spite of similarities
  • both the northern cultures and the southern cultures hunted, fished, and harvested plants; both - the north and the south made use of pottery
  • they both used tools made from wood and stone
  • they both buried their dead
  • the Dawenkou and the Majiayo both buried their dead with ceremonial objects
  • the former elite were buried with a greater diversified collection of pottery
  • the latter’s elite were buried with a greater number of similar kinds of pottery
  • in the south, the Majiabang build their houses close to water
  • they built them either on high ground or on built mounds
  • the Hemudu built their houses differently along water wooden houses on piles
  • the Hemudu’s pottery was painted black with incised geometric designs
  • they also has incisions of birds, fish, or trees
  • the Majiabang’s pottery was  of a reddish-brown colour.



Agricultural Centres:

  • there are two dominant agricultural centres that emerged early on:
  • the Yellow River basin
  • the Yangzi River basin,
  • each had sub-divisions giving them a unique ecological and cultural identity.



  • the settlements of the north Yellow River basin has its roots in the Cishan and Peiligang
  • these cultures had semi-subterranean houses, including storage pits
  • this suggested they had a sedentary lifestyle
  • similar features were found in the cultures of Houli (east) and the Xinglongwa (northeast)
  • this was where millet was found at the excavation site
  • at this period the sites also showed that dogs and pigs were domesticated.

  • rice became the staple food of central and southern areas
  • for the Pengoushan culture, hunting and fishing,the domestication of plants were the activities
  • this is where houses raised on wooden posts have been discovered; t
  • the predominance of these types of dwellings are associated with the Hemudu culture.



Neolithic Technology:

  • the success of farming  went hand in hand with the production of jade, ceramics, and textiles
  • the success of farming was connected to the emergence of farming technologies
  • the rice paddy field in the middle of the Yangzi River valley shows the mastery of irrigation
  • the success of having learned how to better select seeds for cultivation was also apparent
  • before agriculture was invented pottery had emerged - the cord-markings type





  • later with the advent of agriculture the technology improved greatly with an aesthetic appeal.
  • by 9800 BCE painted ceramic bowls , vases, and, dishes, made their appearances
  • this was in the Yellow River valley thanks to the early development of kilns
  • the potter’s wheel was used both in the south and in the north by 9000 BCE.



  • the main artifact of the period was jade
  • its manufacturing tradition goes back to 10,000 BCE in northeast
  • later these forms morphed into shapes dragons, eagles, and circular designs
  • this was in Hongshan ca. 3500 BCE)
  • burial sites suggest that they were owned by the wealthy
  • large number of jade were found in tombs
  • they seemed to be symbols of the authority & status of elite groups
  • these elite groups held political, religious, and administrative powers
  • later they were to appear in the two river valleys along with disks, combs , rings, and tubes
  • they were made of tremolite, actinolite, chrysotile, and agate belonging to the wealthy.

  • another achievement of Neolithic China was the production of silk
  • this originated in north China
  • it was a Chinese monopoly until silkworms found their way out of China in the 6th century
  • evidence of this production of silk has been traced back to about 8300 BCE in Hemudu
  • remains of silk threads were discovered in both the Yellow & Yangzi River valleys
  • this was dated at about 7000 -6700 BCE.



Neolithic Villages:

  • the growth of grain was quite substantial
  • we see this  from the Jiangzhai storage pits (Wei River valley)
  • it contained 297 of them dated from 5000 - 4000 BCE
  • just a 120 of these pits are enough to hold close to three million liters of grain
  • this is enough to feed more than 10,000 people within a year
  • villages have been estimated to anywhere between 300 and 400 people
  • during later periods villages grew larger  and larger
  • tea and hemp were produced
  • the silkworm industry flourished along ceramics and the appearance of bronze..



  • these villages underwent developmental phases
  • during the 6th and 5th millennium BCE, houses were simple
  • they were designed to be round or square, surrounding a communal courtyard
  • during the late neolithic period villages surrounded themselves with pounded earth walls,
  • this included moats, especially the large ones.
  • changes within the walls also changed
  • row house type of units began to emerge under one house
  • this suggested the living quarters of a nuclear family.



The Emergence of Civilizations:

  • the Neolithic revolution was the pre-condition for the emergence of civilization
  • settlements because of farming brought about mergers of villages into towns
  • towns merged into cities.

  • civilization first began some time between 4000 & 3000 BCE
  • this was in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in an area - Mesopotamia
  • a little later in civilization emerged in the valley of the Nile River in Egypt
  • this was followed by that of the valley in India and the Yellow River basin in China.


  • civilization is characterized as having common features:
  • a) the appearance of urban centres
  • b) architecture
  • c) hierarchical societies
  • d) the invention of writing.




  • this period is often referred to as the Bronze Age
  • it took place at the same time as the emergence of the knowledge of smelting tin and copper
  • this is to create a stronger and more useful metal -bronze.

The City State

  • the political institution of Bronze Age China was the city -state
  • it was a walled city that had public building and, residences of the aristocracy
  • they supported the ruler surrounded by Neolithic tribal villages.

  • the power of the ruler came from
  • a) his access to the deities
  • b) support from the aristocratic families
  • c) kinship
  • d) control of the bronze industry.

  • the Shang state was able to mobilize thousands of people for a number of projects:
  • a) military campaigns
  • b) construction of large tombs for the royal family
  • c) clearing the land for the building of walls and roads


The Shang State

  • the Shang was a confederation of lineages
  • it had small political units within a network of shifting alliances
  • through diplomacy, culture, and religion, the Shang held on to hegemony
  • it also did this through warfare


  • their armies could be as large as 10,000 men on rare occasions
  • employing chariots was the main technique in fighting during the later period.


Zhengzhou

  • the Shang city at Zhengzhou is a large walled site
  • it is below the modern city of Zhengzhou in Henan
  • the settlement was excavated in the 1950s
  • it is thought to be an early Shang capital - possibly Bo or Ao.


  • Zhengzhou was occupied by Shang kings and its aristocracy
  • it was surrounded by larger population
  • two phases accounts for the occupation of Zhengzhou from between 1500 & 1300 BCE.
  • a) the earlier Erligang was the period of the construction of the city walls
  • b)  the later period (upper Erligang) is associated with the later use of the site.


The Walled City

  • the walls are rectangular
  • the perimeter reaches 4 miles (7 km)
  • there is a layered pounded earth sloping wall of a massive width
  • today most are underground but those that are visible reach 16 feet.
  • within the walls there are remains of temples & ritual areas
  • these were originally areas of royal and aristocratic palaces 
  • twenty pounded earth platform foundations are in an elevated section
  • there are sub-divisions of rooms and corridors



  • there is evidence of ritual structures such as human & animal sacrifices.
  • in one pit archaeologists retrieved almost 100 young men
  • skeletons of 92 sacrificial dogs were found in nearby pits
  • houses were discovered in the parts of the city.


Beyond the Walls

  • nearby there are cemeteries, houses of common people, workshops & other things
  • four burial grounds have been found
  • tombstone to be small, hence they are not of the kings

  • also found are work areas: bone & pottery workshops, kilns & bronze foundries
  • hoards of bronzes have been excavated outside the city


Anyang

  • a large area near modern Anyang is the location of Yin (Yinxu)
  • this is the last capital of the Shang
  • antique bronzes & divination bones have been excavate

  • the excavation at Anyang was due to the investigation of oracle bones in 1928
  • according to traditional records Yin was the ritual-political centre of the Shang dynasty for 12 kings, ruling for about 350 years (c. 1300-1050 BCE)

The Archaeological Site

  • the inscriptions on the oracle bones confirm the presence at Yin of the last nine of these kings
  • inscriptions also tell us of the four phases of occupation of the site.
  • the site is quite extensive - four and half miles; most outside the defensive wall that dates to an earlier period
  • perhaps they thought that the city be a uniting city ritual centre rather than a political capital with definite borders



  • there is definitely a core centre with ritual centres and cemeteries 
  • two large parts of Anyang core are 
  • the Xiaotun palatial site south of the Human River
  • the Xibeigang royal cemetery north of the river.


Xiaotun Palatial Site:

  • near modenr Xiatun an elevated area is surrounded on two sides by a moat 
  • it is defended on the remaining sides by the Huan River
  • the area contains 50  palace or temple foundations 
  • it all contains a large deposit of oracle bones, human sacrifices & workshops
  • the building is arranged into three groups - north, west, south
  • the north group may have been a residential zone
  • the remaining two are interspersed with sacrificial burials of animals, humans, chariots
  • southwest, just outside the moat there is the burial tomb of Fu Hao.
  • it is the only undisturbed aristocratic burial of Anyang

  • the archaeological exploration of the Shang began at Anyang in 1928
  • this was the last Shang capital
  • by the time of the Japanese occupation in 1937, 55,000 square yards was excavated 
  • this was in eleven places
  • the site covers 14 square miles on both sides of the Huan River
  • it included important sites such as Xiatun

  • Xiatun was known for the discoveries of
  • a) palaces
  • b) sacrificial pits
  • c ) earth-pounded platforms
  • d) oracle bones,
  • e) bronze workshops
  • f) elite burials



The Royal Cemetery at Xibeigang

  • Xibeigang was known for the discoveries of 14 large tombs,
  • four of them were graves of Shang kings.
  • this place is located across the river  from the Xiaotun palatial area
  • there are eleven large tombs in this place
  • they are arranged in two clusters - west (7 burials & unfinished pit) & east (4 burials and one pit)
  • eight tombs have access ramps on four sides (cross-shaped)
  • the burials range in length 65 and a half ft. to 260 feet
  • the shaft reaches a depth of 32 ft.
  • surrounding the large tombs there are over 1400 sacrificial victims.
  • some were formally b.uried, others brutally killed

  • these burials suggest that they belonged to the kings and queens that ruled Anyang
  • one could be King Wuding
  • one of the unfinished pits may have been for Zhouxin, the last Shang king.
  • another achievement of Neolithic China was the production of silk
  • the exact procedure has been practised in China throughout history
  • the worms eat about 100 pounds of mulberry leaves to produce about 15 pounds of cocoon
  • from the 15 pounds of cocoon  comes one pound of raw silk.

  • this household industry began in Neolithic times in North China
  • it remained a Chinese monopoly until silkworms were smuggled to the West (6th century)


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