Course Description

This course explores the roots and development of Chinese civilization from the Paleolithic era (ca. 2.5 million years ago) to the Han Dynasty (ca. 220 AD), focusing on major archaeological discoveries and their significance. Through a multidisciplinary approach, it integrates history, anthropology, sociology, and natural sciences to examine the evolution of complex societies, early state formation, and cultural practices in ancient China. Key themes include the origins of agriculture, urbanization, material culture, ritual, writing, and the development of social complexity. The course encourages critical thinking by addressing debates and unresolved questions in Chinese archaeology and history, while also engaging students through tutorials, hands-on activities, and museum visits. Additionally, it connects early Chinese civilization to global contexts, fostering an understanding of cultural diversity and comparative analysis with other early civilizations.  By exploring the material foundations of ancient China, the course also provides insights into the resilience and continuity of Chinese civilization, offering a deeper appreciation of its influence on contemporary China.

Course Learning Outcomes

On completing the course, students will be able to:

1. Learn to analyze artifacts and sites to understand the society in early China and evaluate varied interpretations.
2. Compare the development of ancient Chinese civilization with other ones to identify unique and shared features.
3. Understand how archaeology collaborates with other disciplines for a comprehensive view of history beyond texts.
4. Evaluate how archaeological findings can support or challenge existing historical narratives of early China.

Offer Semester and Day of Teaching

Second semester (Wed)

Major textbook: 

• Shelach-Lavi, G. (2015). The Archaeology of Early China: From Prehistory to the Han Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Readings by Week: 

Week 1: Introduction: Chinese Archaeology and Chinese Geography, Environment, and Chronology 

• Liu, L., & Chen, X. (2012). The Archaeology of China: From the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Chap. 1 “Chinese Archaeology: Past, Present, and Future” (pp. 1-21)]
• Shelach-Lavi, G. (2015). The Archaeology of Early China: From Prehistory to the Han Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [pp. 1-18 “The Geographic and Environmental Background”]

Week 2: Early Human Origins in China: Where Did People Come From? 

• Qiu, J. (2016). THE FORGOTTEN CONTINENT: Fossil finds in China are challenging ideas about the evolution of modern humans and our closest relatives. Nature, 535, 218-220.
• Shelach-Lavi, G. (2015). The Archaeology of Early China: From Prehistory to the Han Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [pp. 19-44 “Before Cultivation: Human Origins and the Incipient Development of Human Culture in China”] 

Week 3: Eve of Civilization: Sedentary Village and Domestication of Plant and Animal 

• Shelach-Lavi, G. (2015). The Archaeology of Early China: From Prehistory to the Han Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [pp. 103-126 “The Shift to Agriculture and Sedentism in Central and South China”; pp. 68-102 “The Development of Agriculture and Sedentary Life in North China”]

Week 4: Emergence of Social Complexity: Material Culture in the Middle Neolithic 

• Keightley, D. N. (1987). Archaeology and Mentality: The Making of China. Representations, 18, 91-117.
• Shelach-Lavi, G. (2015). The Archaeology of Early China: From Prehistory to the Han Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [pp. 127-159 “The Emergence and Development of Sociopolitical Complexity”]

Week 5: Urbanism, Warfare, and State: Social Upheaval in the Late Neolithic 

• Sun, Z., Shao, J., Liu, L., Cui, J., Bonomo, M. F., Guo, Q., Wu, X., & Wang, J. (2017). The first Neolithic urban center on China’s north Loess Plateau: The rise and fall of Shimao. Archaeological Research in Asia.
• Underhill, A. P. (2017). Urbanization and new social contexts for consumption of food and drink in northern China. Archaeological Research in Asia. 

Week 6: Rise of the First Dynasty: Erlitou and the Xia 

• Jaang, Li. (2023). Erlitou: the making of a secondary state and a new sociopolitical order in early Bronze Age China. Journal of Archaeological Research.
• Liu, L., & Xu, H. (2007). Rethinking Erlitou: legend, history and Chinese archaeology. Antiquity. 

Week 7: Oracle Bone and Bronze: the Shang Dynasty in Myth and History 

• Bagley, R. W. (1990). Shang ritual bronzes: casting technique and vessel design. Archives of Asian Art.
• Flad, R. K. (2008). Divination and power: a multiregional view of the development of oracle bone divination in early China. Current Anthropology.
• Shelach-Lavi, G. (2015). The Archaeology of Early China: From Prehistory to the Han Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [pp. 194-226 “The Shang Dynasty: The Emergence of the State in China”]

Week 8: Order Establishment and Collapse: Ritual Practices in the Zhou Dynasty 

• Cao, B., & Chen, B. (2019). Ritual changes and social transition in the Western Zhou period (ca 1050-771 BCE). Archaeological Research in Asia.
• Shelach-Lavi, G. (2015). The Archaeology of Early China: From Prehistory to the Han Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [pp. 264-305 “The Societies and Cultures of the Zhou Period: Processes of Globalization and the Genesis of Local Identities”]
• von Falkenhausen, L. (2018). The economic role of cities in Eastern Zhou China. Archaeological Research in Asia. 

Week 9: From State to Empire: Unification and Standardization in the Qin Dynasty 

• Shelach-Lavi, G. (2015). The Archaeology of Early China: From Prehistory to the Han Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [pp. 306-328, “The Son of Heaven and the Creation of a Bureaucratic Empire”]
• Liang, Y. (2018). On the origin and formation of the early Qin Culture. Chinese Archaeology. 

Week 10: Consolidation and Expansion: Achievements in the Han Dynasty 

• Li, X., Lu, M., Cui, Y., Liu, R., & Ma, M. (2020). The integration of farmers and nomads: Archaeological evidence for the human subsistence strategy in Northwestern China during the han dynasty. Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition).
• Liu, Q. (2007). Archaeological Discovery and Research into the Layout of the Palaces and Ancestral Shrines of Han Dynasty Chang’an – A Comparative Essay on the Capital Cities of Ancient Chinese Kingdoms and Empires. Early China.
• Sheng, P., Storozum, M., Tian, X., & Wu, Y. (2020). Foodways on the Han dynastys western frontier: Archeobotanical and isotopic investigations at Shichengzi, Xinjiang, China. The Holocene. 

Week 11: Ancient China and the World

• Beginning To Now. (2023). The Entire History of Mankind. From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha1NneZGm7A 

Week 12: Concluding Reflections and Contemporary Relevance 

• Storozum, M. J., & Li, Y. (2020). Chinese archaeology goes abroad. Archaeologies.
• Wei, Q., & Zhao, L. (2017). Places in interaction: The national archaeological Park project as an integrated approach to public archaeology in China. Public Archaeology.