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.”
The discoveries of the Sanxingdui culture, including the magnificent ancient city, the splendid bronze ware clusters, the original characters, the great art, the grand ritual center, and other material civilizational elements, contain the essential and structural characteristics of the institutional civilization and spiritual civilization of the ancient Shu civilization and reflect the theocratic regime of the Sanxingdui civilization. As a symbol to command the ethnic groups from southwestern China, the ivory sacrificial ritual in the Sanxingdui culture played a significant role. The discoveries of silk residues and silk proteins at Sanxingdui provide important evidence for the historical records of the Shushan Clan and Cancong Clan, as well as the splendid clothing of the Large Standing Bronze Figure at Sanxingdui, and even the relationship between the Sanxingdui culture and the Southern Silk Road.
Harappa and Erlitou are representative sites of the Indus and early Chinese civilizations respectively. With different geographical environments, the two regions took different paths to civilization. The Indus civilization established early“city-states” based on regional groups. Under the influence of the loose power structure of the“city-states,” the Harappan culture formed an open economic system that was market-oriented. Foreign trade was prosperous and played an important role in its economy. The early Chinese civilization established a wide-area kingship state. Under the influence of the pyramidal power structure, the economic system of the Erlitou culture was dominated by the state and served the ruling class. Foreign trade accounted for a low proportion of its economy. Differences between the two sites are the epitome of those between the development patterns of the two early civilizations and have important research value.
Unearthed bone hairpins from Yinxu, large in number and varying in type, are both utilitarian and symbolic in function. They were mainly buried with a small number of nobles, most of whom were female. This might demonstrate that the common burial custom at Yinxu was leaving hair untied after death. Buried bone hairpins are indicators of social status. A large number of bone hairpins unearthed from dwelling contexts suggests the Shang people’s preference for them, a continuous tradition since the Xiaqiyuan culture, indicating distinguishable hierarchy. Bone hairpins from Yinxu were necessary for daily life but also prestige goods, indicating differentiation in status, wealth, and hierarchy. Bone hairpins of the Yinxu style were used until the Western Zhou period. However, the rituality and symbolism behind the material gradually disappeared, which can be viewed as a material manifestation of reforms in power and ritual during the Shang and Zhou periods.
This paper conducts a thorough investigation into the graves dating from the early Western Zhou to the middle Spring and Autumn period where fish-shaped coffin ornaments were unearthed, summarizes the characteristics of these fish-shaped coffin ornaments in terms of shapes and regions, and discusses the relationship between the distribution of the string coffin ornaments in the graves and the age of the graves and the status of the grave owners. The development of the string coffin ornaments including the fish-shaped ones is divided into three major stages in this paper, namely the period from the early period of the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the early period of the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the period from the late period of the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle Spring and Autumn period, and the period after the middle Spring and Autumn.
The use of ding-tripod in Chu tombs was well established in the Warring States period and in most cases, it was strictly implemented. However, exceptions do exist. For example, in tomb of Marquis Yi of the Zeng state, archaeologists found two qiao-ding, which consists of two ding- tripods, one with a fitted lid and the other with a hooped lid. In the tomb No. 1 at Jiuliandun, a ding-tripod with a hooped lid was intentionally used and served as xu-ding. This paper attempts to understand burial rituals of the Chu state during the Warring State period by examining the tomb inventories (catalogues of funerary goods in the tombs) unearthed from the tomb No. 2 at Baoshan. It proposes that the use of ding-tripod in tombs was often adjusted according to the burial rituals.
Whetstone-as-funerary-object was a common practice seen in tombs at the Jinsha site. Commonly found in the tombs at the Jinsha site, whetstones could have been a signifier of professional soldiers or violence groups in the ancient Shu culture, thus a product of the stratified ancient Shu society. Whetstones have been largely discovered in boat-coffin burials. The practice took form no later than the early Western Zhou dynasty, went on the decline in the late Spring and Autumn period, and came to an end in the Warring States period. The burial custom in question reflects the rise and fall of Jinsha as the central settlement area, and is a likely result of the two major transitions the ancient Shu society underwent over the period from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn period. The ancient Shu society experienced regime changes and went under the reign of reshuffling rulers in the late Spring and Autumn period; as a result, the emerging ruling elite abandoned the old whetstone-as-funerary-object practice, and embraced the new world.