Posted on 08/20/2009 6:16:19 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
In the 6th century B.C.E., Confucius referred to the ancient Xia dynasty as China's first, based on documents that were old in his day. For generations of Chinese scholars, the Xia was China's initial great flowering of civilization, inaugurating a history that unfolded in methodical fashion from city-state to empire (see main text). But there was no physical evidence for the dynasty's existence, so in 1959 an archaeological team set out to find its seat. Along a marshy section of the Luo River in the central plains of the Yellow River Valley, they uncovered a 300-hectare site dating to roughly the correct period -- and promptly hailed it as the long-lost first capital. But did the Xia, said to have flourished from 2100 B.C.E. to 1600 B.C.E., really exist? New, unpublished dates and excavation data from this modest site challenge its status as the capital of the Xia.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencemag.org ...
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/325/5943/930
Science 21 August 2009:
Vol. 325. no. 5943, pp. 930-935
DOI: 10.1126/science.325_930
Archaeology in China:
Beyond the Yellow River: How China Became China
Andrew Lawler
Archaeologists have long thought that Chinese civilization was born along the central plains of the Yellow River. But dramatic discoveries across China in the past 2 decades are challenging long-held views. From Manchuria in the north, to the Chengdu plain to the west, and to the coastal cities of the south, excavations are revealing a host of complex and distinct ancient cultures, each with its own artifacts and traditions. Striking carved faces found in Liangzhu are one example; other cultures developed enormous bronze statues, large stone ceremonial complexes, and a golden, whirling sun motif. Yellow River sites like Erlitou, believed since its discovery in 1959 to have been the long-lost first capital of China (see sidebar), remain key to understanding the first true urban centers in China. But other, far-flung cultures also contain the seeds of Chinese traditions.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-08/21/content_8596840.htm
More light shed on China’s ancient past
By Lin Shujuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-21 07:17
...Some are now even questioning the existence of a legendary Chinese dynasty, the Xia (about 2100 BC-1600 BC), according to a collection of news reports in today’s issue of the journal Science... Though boasting 5,000 years of civilization, the widely acknowledged beginning of the civilization with historical records could be dated to the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC-1100 BC), thanks to the discovery of oracle bones. With the inscriptions on the oracle bones, the earliest characters in China, archaeologists outlined what the society was like in the Shang Dynasty. But there are still 1,000 years unaccounted for in China’s 5,000-year civilization, making it essential for the archaeologists to find out what the pre-Shang society was like... Recent archaeological discoveries show that there were many advanced cultures in the valleys of several major rivers in China about 4,000 to 5,000 years ago.
I detest this new sensibility that although we track our years from the time of Christ, we can't actually acknowledge Christ as the reason.
More and more complex ~ but finding different cultures in different parts of ancient China really isn’t a surprise.
link only due to rules:
http://blogs.usatoday.com/sciencefair/2009/08/chinas-founding-legend-may-not-be-true.html
|
|
|||
Gods |
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
||
|
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
BCE: Before Common Era
Great, now I’ve got to try to sleep thinking of H.P. Lovecraft...
Thanks.
Sorry, couldn’t read anything after you misspelled “B.C.”
I don't have a problem with it, and the Jews, Buddhists and Hindus don't either, nor do the Moslems.
No one is going to criticize you for spelling it out however you wish. They know what you mean anyway.
Some researchers are convinced that the Sumerian system is not just the first full writing system (as we understand writing) but it is also the basis of all the other systems, even those in the Americas.
I've found it fairly easy to read Shang Dynasty material through reference to my handy-dandy guide to American Indian sign language. It's a little harder to work backwards into Sumerian cunuiform though since the hieroglyphic forms became very stylized at an early period, but it's not hard at all to check out what they're really saying in the old Nam based "kitchen characters" you find along the left column of your typical Chinese menu ("fungus", though, continues to be a mystery food, even in Chinese).
Oh sure, get all intellectual on my ass. ;’)
Along the shores the cloud waves break...
At least it's not John Lubbock.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
