Early China to 600 BCE Major Archeological Discoveries – Viewing Guide

Vocabulary of Note

• Loess – a yellowish, silt-like sediment from volcanic deposits that accumulates through wind-blown dust; forms rich soil
• Eurasia – the entire continent that stretches from the Atlantic shores of “Europe” to the Pacific shores of “Asia” and the Indian Ocean to the south
• Eurasian Steppe – a vast area of grassland and shrub from the north (Mongolia) and west of China across Russia and Central Asian countries
• Millet – a grass that provides grains for bread type products and cereal (not a wheat, because millet is “gluten free”)
• Paleolithic period/era – old or early phase of the “stone age,” when simple stone tools were crafted; food obtained through hunting and gathering
• Neolithic period/era – new “stone age” where more advanced stone tools are crafted and settled farming begins for food production
• Bronze age – when metal objects are crafted
• Millennium – a 1000 year period

Outline of Presentation – with [Timecode]                                  

The presentation covers 5 named periods. Of these, the first two relate – Paleolithic and Neolithic—relate to similar periods that occurred at different times around the globe. The last 3 are periods specific to developments in China.

1. Paleolithic Period (“old stone age”) before 7000 BCE in China [03:00]

• Archaeological site: Zhoukoudian (Joe-ko-di-en) (near present-day Beijing)
• “Peking Man”: remains of a stone-tool producing, cave-dwelling Homo erectus population that inhabited this part of the world approximately 700,000 to 400,000 years ago

2. Neolithic (“new stone age”) (7000–2000 BCE in China) transition from hunter-gatherer to sedentary farming communities [03:50]

• Yangshao Culture (5000–3000 BCE) [07:38]
  • Archaeological site: Banpo village (present-day Xi’an) [08:05]
  • Archaeological site: Jiangzhai (present-day Xi’an) [08:27]
  • Archaeological site: Yangshao burials [08:50]
• Liangzhu Culture (3300–2100 BCE) [09:25]
  • Archaeological site: Sidun site, tomb number 3 [10:05]
• Longshan Culture (3000–1900 BCE) [11:09]
  • Archaeological site: Taosi (2300–1900 BCE) [11:50]
  • Archaeological site: Shimao (2300–1800 BCE) [12:52]

“Three Dynasties” of the Bronze Age (new technology) [14:50]

• Xia (She-ah) ca 2100–1600 BCE
• Shang (long a) ca 1600–1050 BCE
• Zhou (Joe) 1046–256 BCE

3. Xia (She-ah) Dynasty (2100–1600 BCE)

• A largely a mythical construct known to us only from much later historical accounts
  • Archaeological site: Erlitou (1900–1550 BCE) [15:50]

4. Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 BCE) [17:00]

• Archaeological site: Zhengzhou
  • Archaeological site: Yanshi
  • Archaeological site: Yinxu (present day Anyang) [17:56]
• Discovery of oracle bone inscriptions, the earliest known writing system in China
  • Archaeological site: Lady Hao’s Tomb (c 1200 BCE) [20:38]
• Other centers of civilization across China contemporaneous with the Shang existed as well, that were different from those around the Yellow River Valley — demonstrates the regional diversity that existed in early China
  • Archaeological site: Sanxingdui (1700–1150 BCE) [21:49]

5. Zhou (Joe) Dynasty

• Western Zhou (Joe) (1045–771 BCE) — Wei River Valley [22:52]
  • Confucius, who lived later around 500 BCE, viewed this period as the golden age of civilization
  • Zhou kings famously legitimized their rule by claiming to have received the Mandate of Heaven
  • Beginnings of bureaucratic administration
  • Bronze technology also reached new heights; bronze inscriptions are our main source for the Western Zhou
  • Archaeological site: Zhuangbai (Ju-ang buy) bronze hoard [25:00]
• Eastern Zhou (Joe) (770 — c 475 BCE) — Chengzhou, new capital [26:17]
  • By around 600 BCE, the Zhou king had taken a backseat, and a handful of major regional domains waged constant wars against one another to claim hegemony over a fractured realm
  • Warring States period (c 475–221 BCE)
    • State of Qin (Chin) was one of the warring state, and it eventually conquered the other states and unified China, becoming the first empire in Chinese history
  • It was in the fractured political conditions between the sixth and third centuries BCE that key philosophical and religious traditions including Confucianism, Legalism, and Daoism arose (Hundred Schools of Thought)
  • New technological advances including iron also grew increasingly widespread, and although bronze still remained a prized material, its prevalence slowly decreased, marking the close of the Bronze Age in China and the beginning of a new chapter in Chinese history

Conclusion

• Here ends the story of “Early China” and the development of the first states in ancient China
• A new, more centralized form of state would develop, including sophisticated instruments of governance including taxation, conscription, bureaucracy, and territorial administration [26:56]