Archaeological Interpretation of the Continuity of Chinese Civilization over Five Thousand Years

Chinese civilization has unique characteristics in the world civilization history. Its most prominent characteristic is the continuity of the “5,000-year” civilization. Over 5,000 years ago, different civilizations appeared in different regions of China and the civilizations mainly included their different early-stage theocracy and reign modes. Among these civilizations, the civilization that was handed on from generation to generation was the states with a reign mode that originated in the Longshan culture of Central China and its successors such as the Xia Dynasty, the Shang Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty, the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty. This can be illustrated by the 5,000-year continuous inheritance of the country, people, and territory of China, proved by the 5,000-year inheritance and development of capitals, royal tombs, ritual and ceremonial buildings and vessels, and characters as the national culture (or major tradition) and resurrected by the capital’s centralization,“OneGate Three-Passage” pattern,“centralization of the main hall of the court” and the“Left Ancestral Temple and Right Altar” pattern, and the central axis of the capital, the four doors on four sides of the capital and court, etc. as the materialized forms of the core ideas of center and moderation. These materialized forms of the unbroken civilization became more and more in the past 5,000 years, which indicates that the ideas of center and moderation became stronger and stronger and were constantly deepened. The ideological roots of the 5,000-year unbroken Chinese civilization are the ideas of center and moderation, which are the ideological basis for the state identity and the core value of the Chinese national history.     

The Question of "Why It Is in Henan" and the New Direction of Chinese Scientific and Technological Archaeology

The ritual institutionalization demonstrated in the bronze production at Erlitou and further developed during the Shang and Zhou periods that formed a distinctive feature of bronze civilizations. While exploring the path of the earliest state formation, we could consider why Erlitou was chosen from the unveiling of the Bronze Age in China. Much attention had been paid to archaeological, chronological, geographic, and climatic information in the existing studies, but the relationship between bronze metal resources and the formation of the Erlitou state needed more attention. Viewing the Erlitou culture as the earliest state form in China and thus exploring the path of formation of early states was a return to the original theme of archaeology.     

资源,神权与文明的兴衰

根据当代流行的马克思主义考古学分析观念,上层建筑和经济基础都会对复杂社会的演进或衰亡起重要的作用。本文尝试从资源和神权这两个概念来探讨早期文明兴衰的动力,并讨论良渚文化消失和中国文明演进地域差异的原因。     

Revisiting Settlement Contemporaneity and Exploring Stability and Instability: Case Studies from the Indus Civilization

ABSTRACT

“Map overestimation,” or “the contemporaneity problem,” derives from the assumption that settlements identified during surface surveys were occupied throughout individual periods. Inductive and simulation analysis have been used to ascertain the degree of contemporaneity in surface survey data sets, as variation in settlement location is critical for understanding population density and demography, which inform social, economic and political interpretations. This paper revisits the inductive approach to interrogating survey data developed by W. M. Sumner and the simulation model approach developed by R. E. Dewar to explore the survey data from two regions within South Asia’s Indus civilization. This analysis demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches. It also highlights the variability in settlement systems in different areas within the Indus civilization and shows that consideration of stability and instability within settlement systems is an important factor when considering dynamics of resilience and sustainability.     

Excavations at Balakot,Pakistan, 1973

Abstract

During the winter of 1973–74 preliminary excavations were conducted at the ancient coastal site of Balakot in Sanmiani Bay, Pakistan. Two periods are represented at the site. Period B, capping the mound, represents the Mature Indus (Harappan) period, the earliest urban period of South Asia. Balakot is one of five known coastal sites of the Indus Civilization. It is hoped that evidence will be discovered in subsequent seasons bearing on the question of the assumed sea trade contacts between the Indus and the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia in the centuries just before and after 2000 B.C.

Period A at Balakot is designated as Early Indus. The more than 6 m. of occupational debris resting on sterile soil represent the developmental stages leading directly into the earliest civilization of South Asia. The Early Indus sequence at Balakot contains ceramic elements related to many of the so-called “painted pottery cultures” of Baluchistan and the southern Indus Valley. The proposed series of extensive excavations at the site should provide a sound chronological and cultural framework within which any of these presently isolated cultural traditions can be studied.

This report describes the location and potential importance of the site. The most significant findings of the first season's work are presented.     

The Historical Tradition and Mission of Chinese Archaeology

Chinese President Xi Jinping, gave an important speech describing the great achievements and significance of Chinese archaeology, pointing out the way forward for the development of Chinese archaeology in the new era. By reviewing the century-long history of Chinese archaeology, its historical tradition and the mission of the times are distinctive. Since 1949, under the guidance of archaeological culture theory and regional systems and cultural types theory, Chinese archaeology has made a series of significant achievements and taken up the mission of the times in inheriting historical traditions and exploring major issues including the origins of Chinese civilization. The current development of Chinese archaeology should further the historical tradition of Chinese archaeology under the guidance of the spirit of Xi Jinping’s speech. From a longitudinal perspective, Chinese archaeology should strengthen the research on the origin of Chinese civilization and its characteristics, development trajectory, major landmark achievements, and the way of civilization inheritance after its formation, especially to strengthen the exploration of how the“5,000-year continuous unity” was formed after the unification of the Qin and Han dynasties. From a horizontal perspective, with the Belt and Road Initiative as the main thread, we should continue to strengthen archaeological research on cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, advocate mutual appreciation of civilizations, tell the Chinese story well, and contribute Chinese historical wisdom and experience to the world. On the whole, we should strengthen the theoretical construction and ability training of archaeology, strive to build Chinese archaeology with salient Chinese features, style, and ethos, and realize the historical mission of the new era of the Centennial“Chinese Dream.”     

Center and periphery: The expansion and metamorphosis of Han culture—A case study of stone carvings in No. 1 Mahao cave tomb,Leshan, Sichuan Province,China

The cave reliefs of Mahao in Leshan City, Sichuan Province, have been world-famous for containing an early Buddhist statue. Yet, little attention has been paid to the co-existent stone reliefs sharing the tomb cave and the cultural significance thereof. Through the Qin and Han dynasties (221 BC–220 AD), the ancient Ba and Shu civilizations in what is Sichuan today gradually merged into the Chinese civilization, of which the Han civilization is the main body, on the one hand, the Han civilization exerted a strong influence on its south-western counterparts, as is revealed by the stone reliefs in the tomb cave; on the other hand, the south-western region was apparently assimilated into the Chinese civilization while concurrently absorbing elements of even farther civilizations (e.g., those in Central and South Asia). The early image of Buddha appeared against a wide cultural background.     

Center and periphery: The expansion and metamorphosis of Han culture

The cave reliefs of Mahao in Leshan City, Sichuan Province, have been world-famous for containing an early Buddhist statue. Yet, little attention has been paid to the co-existent stone reliefs sharing the tomb cave and the cultural significance thereof. Through the Qin and Han dynasties (221 BC-220 AD), the ancient Ba and Shu civilizations in what is Sichuan today gradually merged into the Chinese civilization, of which the Han civilization is the main body, on the one hand, the Han civilization exerted a strong influence on its south-western counterparts, as is revealed by the stone reliefs in the tomb cave; on the other hand, the south-western region was apparently assimilated into the Chinese civilization while concurrently absorbing elements of even farther civilizations (e.g., those in Central and South Asia). The early image of Buddha appeared against a wide cultural background.     

The vanishing millets of the Indus civilization

The importance and influence of small millets during the Indus civilization is increasingly evident. The presence of both wild and cultivated millet seeds recovered from Harappan sites suggests that they played an important role in some regions of the civilization. Yet many of these small-grained cereals are rarely used today. This paper explores the role of small millets during the Indus civilization and attempts to explain why the use of these crops has declined so significantly over the last 5,000 years.     

Locating the “People Without History” in Histories of the Ancient Near East

Three books discussed here illustrate multidisciplinary approaches to studying ancient civilizations and a range of methodological and theoretical perspectives. They suggest that in addition to the traditional focus on elites and urban origins, we should analyze nonelites and smaller scale communities. I concur that focusing on elites gives an incomplete and inaccurate picture of life and culture in the ancient Near East. Instead, these books shed light on the “people without history” in the ancient Near East. This “social history” must be integrated into economic and political models of past cultures to fully understand ancient civilizations.     

Chinese Objects in Eurasian Empire: On the Cultural Meaning of Chinese Art in Russia in the Late 17th–Early 18th Centuries

This article examines special features of “Chinoiserie” or “Chinese fashion” (“Kitaischina”) in Russia from the late 17th to the early 18th century: The reign of Peter the First. It discusses this cultural phenomenon’s historical origins, demonstrates the role of Chinese luxury goods and art objects in the era’s Russo-Chinese cultural exchange, and illustrates how Chinese decorative arts were used in Russian palaces. While Chinoiserie in Russia was influenced by similar trends in Western Europe, it was rooted in the unique history of regular contacts between Russia and the Qing Empire. Chinese objects not only appeared as commodities in the higher levels of Russian society, they also contributed to the prestige of the Russian state. Peter the First had a political purpose behind the collection, display and imitation of Chinese art objects in Russian palaces, as these practices demonstrated the growing wealth and power of newly established Russian Empire, which enjoyed trade connections with the Qing Empire. While contemporary perceptions of China in Russia were derived mostly by the exotic images of export art, ethnographic collections of genuine Chinese utensils, which were founded during that period, also contributed to Russian views of China. This research uses a comprehensive methodology, combining studies of material objects preserved in Russian museums and written sources, including archival records.     

这是一个新的起点——吴良镛的人居环境科学与文化遗产保护

正吴良镛,男,1922年5月出生于江苏省南京市。1944年毕业于中央大学建筑系。1946年协助梁思成创建清华大学建筑系。1949年毕业于美国匡溪艺术学院,获硕士学位。1950年回国投身新中国建设。中国科学院院士、中国工程院院士。清华大学建筑学院教授,清华大学建筑与城市研究所所长,人居环境研究中心主任。我国著名的建筑学家、城乡规划学家和教育家,人居环境科学的创建者。吴良镛是新中国建筑教育的奠基人之一,六十五年来胸怀祖国,心系     

胡适关于中国近代文化转型的几个重要观念

在令大多数中国人长期困惑的中西文化的关系问题上,胡适化与看来同自己的固有文化大不相同的现代世界新文化泰然相处,并怎样以最有效的方式吸收现代的新文化,使它能同我们的固有文化相一致、相协调和继续发展.胡适指出,各民族的文化本质上是有同一性的,是可以互相借鉴的.因此,不存在所谓东方文化是精神的,西方文化是物质的这种大分别.胡适又指出,历来各民族的文化交流的常态都是自由选择,各取所需.胡适还强调指出,任何文化都有其自身的"根本保守性",也就是所谓"文化本位".这个"文化本位"实际上就是那无数无数的人民.基于这样的认识,就能够以一种开放的文化观念来处理中国文化与世界新文化的关系,化解种种困惑,较好地解决近代文化转型中遇到的各种问题.     

偃师二里头遗址第一期文化应比新砦期二里头文化为晚

本认为,河南龙山化晚期为夏代早期化,二里头化第一期为后羿、寒浞代夏以后的物质化,新砦期二里头化的发现既填补了两之间的空隙,也证实二里头化第一期非为夏代化的初始。     

The Origin and Early Development of Chinese Civilization: From an Archaeological Perspective

This paper reviews the process of exploring the origin of Chinese civilization from the centurial history of Chinese archaeology. Based on the academic research results obtained over the years, combined with major archaeological discoveries, and leveraging the author’s knowledge, it discusses the cultural and social evolution process and achievements in different regions of China during the early, middle, late Neolithic Age and the Bronze Age, as well as how different regional civilizations took shape one after another and developed from diversity to unity. It also highlights the characteristics of Chinese civilization; particularly, from a geographical perspective and by comparing the Chinese and Western civilizations, it briefly demonstrates the historical background and reasons for the continuity, openness, and inclusiveness of Chinese civilization.     

CALIFORNIA IRREDENTA

Kevin Starr's Golden Dreams is the culmination to some forty years of scholarship on the unfolding theme of a “California Dream,” that imaginal component to the growth of the self‐identity and increasing international economic power of the most populous state in the American Union. Indeed, the period 1950–1963 that the book meticulously covers forms in many ways the most imposing manifestation of that Dream. This essay reviews the central features of Starr's account, particularly the infrastructural foundations in transportation, water supply, and higher education realized by a triumvirate of California governors, both Republican and Democrat, who regarded themselves as nonpartisan members of the “Party of California”; the expansion of California's major cities: Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco; the characteristics of the Silent Generation and the culture of “cool Jazz” that dominated the period; as well as the rise of dissident elements among environmentalists, minorities, and Beats, that foretold the protest period of the 1960s. This essay then asks whether Starr has avoided the larger implications of his own narrative that California from this period on had become in most respects a putative nation‐state in its own right. From the global impact of its major media industry—Hollywood—to the continued advances of its economic clout throughout the rest of the century as at times the fifth largest economic entity in the world, California may need to be increasingly regarded as a world civilization in itself rather than as a regional civilization to which Starr's historical narrative has so far constricted it.     

茂县及岷江上游地区在古蜀文明形成中的重要作用与地位

"古蜀文明"即"三星堆文明",形成的时间大致在公元前1600年~前1500年之间。三星堆文明形成时期的代表性文明因素主要有3种:一是以三星堆城址城墙为代表的本土文明因素,二是以具有二里头文化特征的文化遗存为代表的中原文明因素,三是以具有齐家文化特征的文化遗存为代表的甘青地区文明因素。后二者是通过早在公元前3500年前后就已经形成的岷江上游地区的文化通道,由陇西南进入成都平原地区,并促使成都平原本土文化发生巨变,产生了三星堆文明,开始了古蜀文明的历程。三星堆文明的形成过程反映了岷江上游地区在古蜀文明的形成这一重大历史事件中,发挥了无可替代的桥梁作用。     

To Avenge the Burnt Statues and Temples of the Gods: The Religious Background of the Greek Wars with the “Barbarians”

Abstract

In The Clash of Civilizations (1996) Samuel Huntington placed the Persian Wars at the beginning of the long line of clashes between civilizations. To the modern reader the emphasis Huntington puts on the role played by religion in defining Athenian civilization and its conflict with the “barbarians” appears to be consistent with Herodotus’ position on these wars. However, this position overlooks the fact that the ancient polytheistic beliefs and cults implied a particular attitude to religion, unlike that of monotheistic religions. In the ancient Mediterranean world the temples and sacred places were to be universally respected and any violation of this rule was regarded as sacrilege that justified persecution of the wrongdoers, whose ethnicity was of no, or only of secondary, importance. The purpose of this article is to survey the main passages in Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon that treat the wars between the Greeks and Persians and between Greek city-states, and to demonstrate that the line dividing defenders (or avengers) of divine cults from offenders of the gods was not drawn between Greeks and barbarians, but between defenders and offenders.     

The Enduring Toltecs: History and Truth During the Aztec-to-Colonial Transition at Tula,Hidalgo

Tula, Hidalgo, was an important early Postclassic city that dominated much of central Mexico as well as adjacent regions to its north and west. For many decades, Tula was thought to be the city that early colonial documents referred to as “Tollan,” or “place of the reeds.” It is clear that the Aztec Empire, a later civilization that dominated a much larger area, revered Tollan and connected themselves to the city and its people, the Toltecs, in various ways. Recent research has questioned whether Tula was indeed the Tollan that the Aztecs revered; instead, Tollan may have been a concept that referred to all of the great civilizations that preceded the Aztecs. These two perspectives, which I frame as the “single Tollan/many Tollans” debate, have important consequences for our understanding of the early Postclassic period as well as colonial configurations of power. I argue that to understand the Aztecs’ relationships with their past, and the colonial consequences of those relationships, it is important to shift away from questions of truth. Instead, I concentrate on historical narratives and the social, material, and biological effects that they produced, including the early and late Aztec interventions at Tula. I argue that Jorge Acosta’s data provide evidence for an Early Aztec period termination ritual and a Late Aztec period New Fire ceremony that ushered in a new population boom at Tula. In turn, these connections allowed for the unprecedented rise of the Moctezuma family during the colonial period. This evidence forms part of a broader argument that the two sides of the Tula debate are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they both form part of attempts to control, claim, and revere the past in the inherently unstable fields of power that characterized the late Postclassic and early colonial periods in central Mexico.     

文明“早熟”与中国古代亲属称谓的泛化

中国古代的亲属称谓不仅标识特定的血缘与姻亲关系,同时以多种途径泛化并用于政治及社会领域。泛化的亲属称谓加强了非亲属成员或组织之间的联系,同时在非亲属成员或组织之间构建了等差有序的责权规范和行为准则。泛化的亲属称谓,旨在凭借血缘组织的力量强化政治控制和社会交往,体现了古人以“循名责实”的方式推进政治、社会关系“血缘化”的尝试和结果。在不同文明或民族中,亲属称谓泛化现象的程度和面貌不尽相同,这与血缘组织在该文明或民族在国家产生过程中扮演的角色,尤其是与血缘组织在国家时代政治生活中的地位高低相关。中国古代国家产生的独特方式所导致的文明“早熟”,决定了亲属称谓泛化现象在国家时代具有普遍性和典型性。