Chinese History /Han Dynasty/Archaeology

This study analyzes the area outside the city walls of the Western Han and Tang imperial capitals of Chang'an. Although there has been considerable historical and archaeological research on the urbanized area within the walls of these two cities, the surrounding areas have not previously been systematically investigated. Through the use of detailed survey maps at a scale of 1:10,000 from the early twentieth century, coordinated with archaeologically documented remains and reconstructed plans of the cities themselves, a Geographical Information System (GIS) has been developed. This GIS graphically indicates the remains of a grid of roadways outside the city walls,

The Shanhai jing (Classic of Mountains and Seas) is a description of the sacred geography of early China. This study argues that the later Daoist sacred geography of sacred mountains and grotto-heavens is a continuation and elaboration of the one envisioned in the Shanhai jing. After analyzing the structure, contents, compilation history, and dates of this complex text, I argue that the Shanhai jing originally was intended as a guidebook for administrating resources and territorial relations at the Qin and early Han courts, and followed a specific cosmological model similar to that found in early Daoist texts. The cosmological model of the Shanhai jing stands in opposition to that promoted in the Yugong (Tribute of Yu), a text on geography in the Confucian classics. The study further argues that Daoist sacred geography after the Han continues the cosmological ideals of the Shanhai jing but without the original administrative purposes. Yet it continues its important task of maintaining territorial relations indirectly-through rituals at sacred sites.

Authors/Editors: Roderick Whitfield and Wang Tao. Commissioning editor and general editor: Sajid Rizvi. ISBN-13 9781872843209, ISBN-10 1872843204. Published by Saffron Books, London. Students of Chinese art and archaeology in the West face two major hurdles: the lack of a general overview of current developments in Chinese archaeology, and the daunting amount of material published only in Chinese. This book will provide a useful means of overcoming both problems. Contributions by leading scholars in the field from China, Japan, Europe and the United States have been carefully chosen, edited and arranged into a coherent body. The essays cover the principal themes of current archaeological debate and practice in China, such as the question of the origins of Chinese civilisation, new trends in theory, and the history and methodology of studying Chinese archaeology and art in the West. Many of the important archaeological discoveries of the last decade, including all fifty of the sites officially designated to be of national importance, are introduced and discussed in this book. Please follow links for table of contents and other information. Additional materials will also be uploaded here, please revisit or Follow.

Through exploring the multiple sources of academic ideas and academic practices of Mr. Xu Xusheng (Siu Ping Ch' ang) and their significances on the history of archaeological thoughts of China, this paper tries to seek the intersection of Chinese Archaeology and history of modem thoughts, especially focuses on the thought threads of the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming Dynasties and the French Philosophy and Sociology in Mr. Xu Xusheng' s conceptual framework. In the theoretical response to the Doubting Antiquity School, the historiographical and philosophical explorations to the legendary times, the Sino-Swedish Expedition in northwestern China, and the archaeology on the Zhou and Qin Civilizations, Mr. Xu Xusheng has great contributions as a pathfinder. The National Academy of Peiping Tradition represented by Mr. Xu Xusheng has unique contributions to the development on the thoughts on Chinese Archaeology both in China and abroad. Mr. Xu Xusheng' s influences in the research fields such as the multiregional and interactive paradigm of the origination of Chinese Civilization, the relationship between religious communication and the origination of the royal sovereigns of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties and the temporal-spatial frameworks of civilizations, are greatly meaningful for the understandings to the cultural diversity in early China and the formation of social memories.

This is a pre-press sample article brochure for the readers to get a glance of the journal.  Interest in Chinese antiquities is growing globally. A key resource on the fascinating history of Chinese archaeological artifacts and art is now available in English.

Chinese Cultural Relics is the official English translation of the prestigious award-winning Chinese archaeology journal Wenwu (Cultural Relics). Published since the 1950s, Wenwu is well known in China and abroad for its quality articles and in-depth reporting of Chinese archaeological surveys and fieldwork. Until the publication of Chinese Cultural Relics, the information presented in this key resource has only been accessible to those who can read Chinese.

Each issue of Chinese Cultural Relics contains content from three recent issues of Wenwu; the premier issue of Chinese Cultural Relics includes articles from issues No. 10, No. 11 and No. 12, 2013. In addition to high-quality translation, each article includes the same high-quality, detailed photographs and beautiful hand-drawn illustrations as in the Chinese publication.

Subjects covered in Chinese Cultural Relics include:

new archaeological findings
research and exploration
bamboo slips and documents
bronze wares
inscriptions and epitaphs
ancient towns and villages
archaeological preservation
the archaeology of science and technology
museum exhibitions...and more

As interest in China's history continues to grow, your students and research community will no doubt appreciate having this rich information on Chinese archaeology and cultural relics available to them in English.

For more information regarding the journal or to subscribe the journal, please visit:

http://eastviewpress.com/Journals/CulturalRelics.aspx

A monograph on a late 2nd century C.E. tomb located in Shandong Province, PRC. The author examines and interprets the extensive relief carvings of this stone-slab tomb within the context of the local socio-political environment and religious movements in Langya Province at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The pictorial narrative of the relief carvings is also examined in conjunction with the structure and orientation
of the tomb; taken together the layout of the imagery and the architectural structure of  the tomb are argued to have cosmographical significance, placing the deceased in an auspicious position.

What reasons can be determined for the presence of Han dynasty míngqì (明器) in South African museums? What can these objects reveal about histories of collecting and curatorial policy in these institutions? What can the objects tell us about different kinds of value attached to collectible items? In order to explore these questions, it is necessary to consider collecting policies, accessibility, research and exhibition history, and other changes that have occurred over time in these institutions, revealing a grander social and institutional narrative. In this proposal I outline my approach to answering these questions necessary to write a dissertation. I will examine written policy, and in the absence of formal policy I will examine curatorial process made visible to understand changes in museum policy over time. A close reading of six Han dynasty míngqì will allow me to investigate museum practice and the history of these artefacts will reveal purpose and intention, or a lack thereof. This proposal regards literature relevant to answering my questions and it explores what I have already discovered about the míngqì in South African museums and collecting policy.

Working bibliography, as of November 2016, updated.
On the stone reliefs and murals of the Dahuting Eastern Han Tombs (M1-M2).
DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.20112.61445

The Dahuting stone reliefs and murals were featured by Laura Carlson (2017) in the podcast "Maple Roosters and Tofu Tumults: A Han Dynasty Banquet"
January 30, 2017
This week, The Feast is bringing you a very special Canadian episode dedicated to Chinese New Year! We're exploring an opulent Han Dynasty banquet from the second century CE as the basis for our own Chinese New Year celebrations in Toronto. Join us as we search for the origins of tofu, find out the proper way to make a baijiu cocktail, & recite some foodie poetry from ancient China. All this & more rooster puns than you can shake a tail feather at on this week's episode of The Feast.
Written & Produced by Laura Carlson
Technical Direction by Mike Portt
*
http://www.thefeastpodcast.org/episodes/2017/1/30/d1m5fxc3lr8l5yatj9tmydrzmht0dj
*
http://www.thefeastpodcast.org/episode-17-maple-roosters-tofu-tumults-a-han-dynasty-banquet

One of the medical manuscripts recovered from Tomb No. 3 at Mawangdui records the following sentence: “When a person is born there are two things that need not to be learned: the first is to breathe and the second is to eat.” To the minds of cynical readers this is as trivial as it gets. Of course the reflexes to breathe and eat are inherent in human beings. The opposite implication is equally obvious. Once the human brain ceases to function, oxygen and nourishment are no longer required. Why, then, did people insist on burying food and drink with the dead in the late pre-imperial and early imperial China?

To the minds of most modern commentators this seemed like a rather trite question that warranted little reflection. Food and drink as grave goods were either intended to sustain the spirit of the deceased in the hereafter or simply a sacrifice / offering to the spirit at the time of the burial. Yet, a closer look at the archaeological evidence suggests otherwise. By tracking the exact location of food and drink containers in tombs and comprehensively analyzing inscriptions on such vessels and finds of actual food, this article demonstrates that reality was more complicated than a simple either/or dichotomy. Some tombs indicate that the idea of continued sustenance coincided with one-time sacrifices. Moreover, I will introduce evidence of a third kind of offering that, so far, has gone unnoticed by scholarship. Such data confirms that sacrifices to spirits other than the one of the deceased sometimes were also part of funerary rituals. In short, by paying attention to food and drink as burial goods I will put forth a more nuanced understanding of early Chinese burial practices and associated notions of the afterlife.

""The common understanding of early Chinese diplomacy largely is informed by the term 'tributary system:' during the Han period, foreign entities mainly engaged with the Chinese empire in order to secure economic profit. This view is based on the assumption that the rendition of tribute (gòng 貢) usually was reciprocated with 'counter-gifts' by the court. Accordingly, to the eyes of all foreigners, delivering tribute was only a 'cloak for trade' devoid of any notion of submission. On the other hand, the Chinese court is believed to have silently tolerated this kind of 'economic exchange' because receiving tribute was equalled with at least nominal acceptance of Chinese suzerainty and as a manifestation of its claim to universal power.
The situation as it is depicted in the transmitted sources, however, is far more complex. By retracing different methods of diplomatic interaction to Chunqiu and Zhanguo times, I shall demonstrate that Han diplomacy was far from having been an ideological exercise. I am also going to show that the Han court continued to use established strategies of diplomatic interaction by adapting them to the necessities of the time.""

Khao Sam Kaeo
An Early Port-City between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea

Bérénice Bellina (edited by)

Two thousand years ago, the Wu Emperor of China sent south a
naval expedition to seek opportunities to increase trade. The
leaders encountered a Southeast Asian kingdom, with an established
government, laws, cities and fl ourishing trade with India and Rome.
The expedition report survives in the Chinese dynastic archives, and
poses a fascinating challenge to archaeologists: what was the nature
of this maritime Silk Road, when did it begin, what manner of people
ran it, and how did it affect their lives?
Answers to these key questions are now emerging from fi ve years
of excavations and a decade of intense analyses that centre on the Kra
Isthmus, the narrow neck of land that provides the easiest passage
between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. Here, the trade
route is dominated by the urban centre of Khao Sam Kaeo, a sprawling
settlement atop four hills, next to the Tha Tapao River.
For the fi rst time in Southeast Asia, a multidisciplinary project
involving geoarchaeology, botany and metallurgy, combined
with geographical information systems, has been deployed
to unravel the timing of the emergence of the maritime
Silk Road and its social impact. We have found that its
origins are far earlier than suspected, stretching back
into the 4th century BC. Over the centuries, Khao Sam
Kaeo became a cosmopolitan hub that drew merchants
and artisans from India and other Asian horizons. Gold
and silver, carnelian and glass jewellery came from
new workshops. In the fi elds beyond the city walls,
new crops of Indian origin were grown alongside the
traditional rice fi elds. Chinese ceramics, Vietnamese
bronzes, even Roman tradewares made their way to
the markets of Southeast Asia.
The vital importance of Khao Sam Kaeo in
documenting and illuminating the early maritime
trade is seen in the later rise of states like Pasai,
Banten, Melaka and Ayutthaya. Here again, on a magnifi
ed scale, there were highly specialised manufacturing
industries controlled by powerful kings. Revealing the
deep seated cultural changes that took place at Khao
Sam Kaeo thus illuminates for the fi rst time a critical
stage in the history of Southeast Asia.
Prof. Charles Higham
University of Otago


Contents


Acknowledgements
Introduction
Bérénice Bellina with the collaboration of Praon Silapanth

PART I
The Geography of the Upper Peninsula and the Palaeo Environment of Khao Sam Kaeo Geoarchaeology Landscape Formation and Transformation
S. Jane Allen


Archaeobotany Evidence of Exchange Networks and Agricultural Practices
Cristina Castillo

Resin Identification by GC-MS
Pauline Burger, Armelle Charrié-Duhaut, Jacques Connan & Pierre Albrecht


PART II

The Settlement of Khao Sam Kaeo Morphology and Dimensions
Bérénice Bellina & Vincent Bernard

Settlement’s Organisation: Locating Different Activities
Bérénice Bellina & Vincent Bernard

Chronological Sequence of the Occupation

Bérénice Bellina-Pryce

Spatial Analysis of an Early Port-City
Julie Malakie & Andrew Bevan

PART III

Study of Socio-Technical Systems Local and Regional Pottery Traditions
Phaedra Bouvet

Indian Fine Wares
Phaedra Bouvet

Lustrous Black and Red Wares
Phaedra Bouvet

Rotative Kinetic Energy-Produced Pottery
Phaedra Bouvet

The South China Sea-Related Ceramics
Aude Favereau, Bérénice Bellina, Guillaume Épinal & Phaedra Bouvet

The Han Ceramics
Sophie Peronnet & Sachipan Srikanlaya

Maritime Silk Roads Stone Ornament Industries
Bérénice Bellina

Nephrite and Mica Industries: A Link towards the Austronesian World
Hsiao-chun Hung & Yoshiyuki Iizuka

Stone Adzes Corpus
Tessa Boer-Mah

The Metallurgical Industries
Thomas Oliver Pryce, Mercedes Murillo-Barroso, Lynn Biggs, Marcos Martinón-Torres & Bérénice Bellina

Glass from an Early Southeast Asian Producing and Trading Centre
Laure Dussubieux & Bérénice Bellina

Stone Seals and Intaglios from Khao Sam Kaeo
Brigitte Borell with contributions by Harry Falk

Discussion
Khao Sam Kaeo: A Cosmopolitan Port-City or City-State in the South China Sea?
The Beginning of the Urban Narratives in South and Southeast Asia
Bérénice Bellina

Was Khao Sam Kaeo a Cosmopolitan City and an Incipient City-State?
Bérénice Bellina

Conclusion
Bérénice Bellina

https://hjas.org/

A recent article argued that “texts can be used as tools for enacting identities in social settings” (Reading Research Quarterly 44.4 (2009): 416). Considering the multitude of manuscripts yielded by fourth through first-centuries BCE burials, such a statement seems pertinent for early Chinese society as well. What does it say about the self-concept of an individual when his ability to write and / or read assumed a prominent role in funerary rites?
This paper analyzes evidence of literacy that may be found in Chinese textual sources (received and archaeological) and tombs by applying identity concepts developed in anthropology and the social sciences to Chinese funerary data. It not only argues that the actual ability to write is palpable through certain kinds of texts that were associated with writing paraphernalia, but that literacy in particular was a crucial aspect of the self-representation of a particular group of people, namely the shǐ 史 (“scribes”).

The excavated lacquered objects and the tomb structure of Mawangdui tomb 1 reflect a wealth of information on the social concerns of Han dynasty and individual memory and beliefs of Lady Dai. In attempt to investigate how material culture found form in Han society, Lady Dai’s constitution of memory work is examined through the contexts of practice, agency and materiality. In the above light, I shall also evaluate the possible shift in meaning of memory work through time.

The chinese chronicles of the period between 206 BC and 907 C, comprise the Story of the Embassies of foreign countries, such as (for instance) the Roman and Bizantine Empires and their descriptions, in which the real information is mixed with the fantasy. The purpose of this work is to study the way this topic is managed in these Chronicles.

This study investigates a rare type of Han dynasty tomb that is distinguished by a structural component known as ticou, or “gathered heads.” The ticou can be described as a stout, frame-like barrier composed of stacks of thousands of high-grade timbers (often cypress) hewn to the same size (about a meter long) and facing in the same direction (inwards, towards the coffins at the center of the tomb). After analyzing the surviving corpus of textual and archaeological sources on ticou tombs, I argue that the ticou functioned to communicate the wealth and status of the deceased. This study situates ticou tombs within broader discussions on the materiality of wood versus stone in tomb construction and the shift from chambered coffin tombs to subterranean palace tombs within Chinese architectural history.

Relations between the Roman and the early Chinese Empires have been considerably popular fields of research, however, principally from a trade-oriented point of view. Contextualising Roman-related glass finds unearthed in the People's Republic of China provides a more complex nexus. Transparent glass vessels carry multiple testimonia of cultural impacts and interactions , leading towards a stereotyped and utopian perception of the Imperium Romanum. This paper focuses on the complexity of such inter-imperial connections through contextualising the most significant Roman-interpreted glass finds in China. Furthermore, by a detailed and critical examination of Roman-related transparent glass vessels , it also aims to highlight problems of earlier identifications and interpretations. In addition, a precise recollection of the existing data not only allows to catalogue these various glass objects, but also helps to insert these glass artefacts into the Roman glass typology system.
The extended version of paper presented at The 25th Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference. University of Leicester, Friday 27 to Sunday 29 March 2015.

内容摘要：
本文推翻了由专研中国古代边疆的人类学家、汉学家和考古学家构建的“汉族”身份。“汉”作为总称，将汉朝统治、疆域管辖和族群三个概念混为了一谈，很容易掩盖复杂历史机制的运行。西南边境历史上发生的人群迁移过程、文化接触和适应过程都会被仔细研究，因为这些过程产生了不适用
于“汉/ 非汉”二分法的其他身份。从长期的空间动态来看，西南地区的高地
族群是巴斯“关系身份”概念的理想例证。本文主要认为，将族名用于物质文
化、丧葬表达或地理区域等分类存在不合理性。

关键词：
汉；身份；边疆；西南地区；文化适应

Abstract:
This paper replaces the concept of “Han” in the wider discussion about the construction of identity by anthropologists, sinologists and archaeologists specialized in the study of ancient Chinese frontiers. The use of “Han” as an umbrella term, conflating notions of dynastic rule, territorial administration and ethnicity, easily hides complex historical mechanisms at work. Processes of migration, culture contact and adaptation at work on the Southwest frontier are scrutinized as they generate identities which do not fit the“ Han/Non-Han” dichotomy. In long term spatial dynamics, the highlands of Southwest China appear as the ideal illustration of Barth’s concept of relational identity. A lesson is to be learned from such context, when hastily applying ethnonyms to categories of material culture, funerary expressions or geographical regions.

Keywords:
Han; Identity; Frontiers; Southwest China; Cultural Acculturation

While the Qin Dynasty made great advances in unifying and centralizing the Chinese government; these advances allowed for the Chinese people to thrive. The unification of China affected many parts of politics, culture, and social life during the Qin and Han dynasties. Culture, trade, and religion went through vast changes during the time, but eventually all were able to grow to unprecedented levels.

This paper is intended as a gateway to two 2,000 year old Analects manuscripts. The first two sections discuss the tombs, discoveries, and analyses of the manuscripts. They describe characteristic features of the bamboo strips and the texts inked thereon, and they mention notable differences between these and other Analects versions. In these sections, I also critically evaluate present-day Analects studies, offering alternative hypotheses when theirs leave room for debate. The third and final section of the paper discusses what I consider the most fascinating (and most complex) issue regarding the manuscripts: their provenance. In that section, I examine when, where, and why the Analects was copied onto the bamboo strips. The ultimate goal of this paper is to present a nuanced understanding of the two bamboo manuscripts that conveys the fascinating insights they offer yet also explores the limitations of what these manuscripts can actually tell us.

The Society for East Asian Archaeology (SEAA) is pleased to announce that the Seventh SEAA Worldwide Conference will be held in Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts, USA, on June 8- 12, 2016.  The conference offers an opportunity for researchers to present the results of their work on any of a broad range of topics relating to East Asian Archaeology.

In 1973, Chinese archaeologists excavated a tomb of considerable dimensions near Dingzhou. This tomb, which dates to the Former Han dynasty, yielded a rich array of funerary furnishings, including jadeware, goldware, bronzeware, lacquerware and a large cache of inscribed bamboo strips, with significant potential for study. Sadly, though, the tomb and its contents were struck by several disastrous events (robbery, fire, earthquake). These disasters severely affected the quantity and quality of the find and may have tempered scholarly enthusiasm for Dingzhou, which remains little-known to date. This paper, the first English-language specialized study of the topic, provides an overall account of the Dingzhou discovery; it draws attention to fundamental issues regarding the tomb (e.g. its date) and the manuscripts (e.g. their transcription); and it explores the significance of the tomb and its contents, and their potential importance for the study of early imperial Chinese history, philosophy, literature and culture.

Pavel Leus. Chinese bronze mirrors from the Ala-Tey and Terezin cemeteries in Tuva / П.М.Леус. Китайские бронзовые зеркала из могильников Ала-Тей и Терезин в Туве //  «Древние культуры Центральной Азии и Санкт-Петербург», Тезисы.
Вторая Всероссийская конференция посвящённая 90-летию со дня рождения
Александра Даниловича Грача
Санкт-Петербург, 10–14 декабря 2018 года

This paper features the largest and oldest extant nephrite jade vase with a narrative picture, carved in an extraordinary bas relief style, of a royal nine hopeful sons of an emperor. It bestows honor by its size and the quality of jade and workmanship. It speaks to an emperor also in the symbols associated with him: the number nine and its homonym the Chinese word for everlasting (久 Jiu); the large mountain pine, a metaphor for survival, longevity, and the moral character of the virtuous man. In Wu Boli's famous painting, Dragon Pine, (Met Museum: Ming, 1368-1644), 'the tree with its twisting trunks, lichen-studded bark, and exposed roots, reminds of the coiled body, powerful talons, and bristling scales of a dragon and the embodiment of natural forces that spread over and protect the princelings below.