China’s Buried Kingdoms

174 Pages·1993·28.128 MB·English

by  Thomas H. Flaherty (ed.)

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Inc. U.S.A. Dr. Robert L. Thorp, associate professor of Richmond, Virginia 23261-2068
art history and archaeology at Washington
Library ofCongress University in St. Louis, has studied the bronze This volume is one in a series thatexplores the
Cataloging-in-Publication Data ritual vessels, burials, and architecture ofthe worlds ofthe past, using the fmds ofarchaeologists
China's buried kingdoms/ by the editors of Shang, Qin, and Han dynasties for 20 years. and other scientists to bring ancient peoples and
Time-Life Books. Since 1991 he has chaired a committee coor- theircultures vividly to life.
—
p. cm. (Lost civilizations) dinating cooperative research between Chinese Othervolumes included in the series are:
Includes bibliographical references and index. and American archaeologists.
ISBN 0-8094-9891-X (trade) Egypt: LandofthePhar&aohs
ISBN 0-—8094-9892-8 (lib. bdg.) APzotmepcesi:i:KeTihgenVoafnBilsohoeddCitSyplendor
1. China Antiquities. — Incas: LordsofGoldandGlory
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DS715.C453 1993 TheMagnificentMaya
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All Chinese words in this volume have been
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systemoftransliteration.
LOST CIVILIZATIONS
CHINA'S
BURIED
KINGDOMS
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BrodanCo. Cat.#55 137001 PrintedinUSA
By the Editors ofTime-Life Books
TIME-LIFE BOOKS, ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINLA
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2011
in
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CONTENTS
ONE
, THE SHANG: A PEOPLE
RESCUED FROM OBLIVION
7
ESSAY: Homage to Ancestors 35
THE EASTERN ZHOU:
AN AGE OF CONTRADICTIONS
43
ESSAY: China's Desert Time Capsule 72
H
T R E E
THE QIN: ONE TIME IN
TEN THOUSAND GENERATIONS
83
ESSAY: The Buried Army 105
FOUR
THE HAN: FLESH ON THE BONES
OF HISTORY
115
ESSAY: A Woman Out ofthe Past 145
Timeline 158
Acknowledgments 160
Picture Credits 160
Bibliography 161
Index 164
i',\f
o N
THE
SHANG:
A
PEOPLE RESCUED
FROM
OBLIVION
T
1
he valley ofthe Huan River is
wide and flat, green when the spring crops ofthe farming collectives
sprout in the fertile soil, parched and dusty under the baking sun of
anorthern Chinasummer. On the river's south bankspreadsAnyang.
This modest provincial town has a railway station, but it is hardly the
place where one would expect travelers from around the world to
alight. Yethundreds ofvisitors come here eachyearwithone purpose
—
inmind toseethe remainsofone ofthegreatcivilizations ofancient
China, the more than three-millennium-old capital ofShang that lies
less than two miles northwest of town.
Almost everything about Shang was once dubious, including
the name, which, in ancient texts, applied to a venerated and well-
remembered Bronze Age dynasty, to its capital city, and later to the
civilization created under its reign. The writings indicated that the
line ofShang kings hadextended over approximately650 years, from
Exquisite example of about 1700 to around 1050 BC, and that their capital had been
early lapidary art, shifted five times in the earlydays ofthe dynasty before its nineteenth
this long-tailedjade
king settled at Yin, nearAnyang. For almost three millennia, the area
phoenix wasfound in
the 13th-centuryBC aroundAnyangwent by the name ofthe Ruins ofYin. Today, thanks
burial chamber ofa to those ruins, the area is recognized as one ofthe world's foremost
Shan£i king's consort.
It wasprobably worn archaeological sites. It is also one ofthe most dug.
as an ornament. From the late 1920s onward, for nearly half a century, the
—
5000 BC Anyang region experienced almost continuous excavation. When the
c.
NEOLITHIC AnyangArchaeologicalTeam arrivedinthe springof1976 to explore
PERIOD
further, some members might have wondered ifthere was anything
2550BCKhufu
c. of significance left to fmd. The landscape was pocked with refilled
builds GreatPyramid
atGtza trenches and pits interspersed with scattered heaps of excavated
2000BC earth. The dig's director, Zheng Zhenxiang, set her team to work on
c.
Construction of a patch ofland slighdy elevated above the surrounding fields. There
Stonehenge
agricultural workers had found a number of Shang remains during
the preceding winter. As the season progressed, excitement mount-
ed, for the archaeologists began to unearth a series ofimsuspected
1700-1050 BC structures. Among these were the foundations of12 or so houses, 80
c.
SHANG DYNASTY
storage pits, and more than a dozen tombs. These tombs were built
c. 1600BCBeginnings below ground, in the ancient Chinese fashion, with walls and floors
ofMycenaean
oframmed earth created by pounding loose soil solid.
civilization in Greece
1200BCFounda- It was the tomb logged Number Five on the site inventory
II c.
tion ofOlmec that caused the greatest stir among the excavators. As they worked
civilization in Mexico their way down to the bottom of the pit, about 24 feet below the
surface, it soon became clear that this was no ordinary burial. Larger
and more elaborate than all the other tombs of that season's dig.
c. 1050-771 BC Number Five would turn out to be not only a royalgrave but also the
WESTERN ZHOU
DYNASTY only properly excavated Shang royal tomb that had not been plun-
900BCFoundation dered by the robbers who had ravaged the area for 3,000 years.
c.
ofthe Nubian Among the tomb's multiple and marvelously varied burial
kingdom ofKush
goods were some 440 bronze artifacts, 590 jades, 560 bone objects,
numerous ivory carvings, a few pieces of pottery, and about 7,000
771-221 BC cowrie shells from the South and East China seas, which had prob-
EASTERN ZHOU ably been amassed and used as a form ofcurrency. More than twice
DYNASTY
as many bronzes came out ofthis one tomb than from all the graves
BC
753 Traditional scientifically excavated at Anyang during the preceding decades
dateforfounding
Rome mirrors, ceremonial vessels, bells, and weapons, all well crafted and
of
intricate in design. An elaborately decorated bronze cooking stand,
with soot still coating its legs, together with three steamer pots,
II 221-206 BC constituted the first such set ever found in China. Among the jades
QIN DYNASTY
were ceremonial articles and personal ornaments, including exquisite
218BCSecondPunic
Warbetween Rome figurines of people and such animated beasts as coiled dragons,
and Carthage crouching bears, and trumpeting elephants.
The archaeologists were not surprised to make a discovery of
—
206 BC-AD 220 another sort in the tomb: the remains of16 humans ^men, women,
—
HAN DYNASTY
and children and six dogs, slaughtered for the benefit ofthe tomb's
AD
c. 30 Crucifixion occupant. Human sacrifice had been common in Shang times.
ofJesus
8