Page 39 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). For example, the Ming dynasty city walls of Beijing were
demolished between the 19505 and the early 19705, despite the outcry of scholars, in order to
widen roads and build new construction. Protests by Liang Sicheng (Chinese, 1901-1972), a
leading authority on ancient architecture and elder brother of Liang Siyong, were ignored. 72
Still, beginning in the 19508, the Chinese government subsidized archaeological publica-
tions, including monographs and three major periodicals: Wercwu (Cultural Relics), Kaogu (Archae-
ology), and Kaogu xuebao (Ada Archaeologica Sinica). The first is produced by the Wenwu Press
(Cultural Relics Press) with the State Bureau's sponsorship, while the latter two are published
by the Institute of Archaeology. These journals ensure the promulgation of research and data of
archaeological discoveries and works of art, and are the most prominent and scholarly national
journals on the subject today. Archaeologists refer to them as the "Three Great Magazines." In
1966, however, publication was suspended. In 1972 publication resumed, with Zhou Enlai's per-
mission, and at Guo Moruo s request. 73
While the metropolitan centers of the ancient Chinese dynasties remained the preemi-

nent planned archaeological projects (field stations of the Institute of Archaeology were estab-
lished in the region of the Yellow River capitals — in particular, in the precincts of Anyang,
Luoyang, and Xi'an), archaeological activities occurred in nearly all of China's provinces. 74
With the resumption of palaeolithic archaelogy in 1949 at the Zhoukoudian site, new hominid
fossils and cultural remains from all periods continued to be discovered throughout China, at
Yuanmou, Yunnan; Liujiang, Guangxi; Lantian, Shaanxi; Dingcun, Shanxi; and even in Tibet. 75
Neolithic archaeologists refined prehistoric chronology in the Yellow River valley, while also
obtaining fresh knowledge of the Yangzi River basin by unearthing cultural remains at Daxi
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(4400-3300 BCE), Qujialing (3000-2600 BCE), and Songze (3900-3300 BCE). The 10,000-
square-meter excavation of the moated Yangshao culture village at Banpo, Xi'an, and the 5400-
square-meter excavation of the Dawenkou culture (4300 - 2500 BCE) cemetery at Dawenkou,
Tai'an, Shandong, expanded knowledge of social and material life and the patterns of settle-
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ments in northern China. Across the Taiwan Straits, several prehistoric vestiges were exca-
vated, and were found to share, with cultures in other southeast provinces of Fujian,
Guangdong, and Jiangxi a tradition of coarse cord-marked pottery. 78
Besides the discovery of the Early Shang culture at Erligang in Zhengzhou, a Bronze Age

culture that antedated the Erligang was found at Erlitou, Yanshi, Henan province, in 1959/ 9
This find supplied a missing link between the Shang dynasty and prehistoric China. Many
scholars now believe that the Erlitou culture was the relic of the first historiographical Chinese
dynasty, Xia (c. 2000-1500 century BCE). An idiosyncratic Bronze Age culture (c. the fifth BCE
to first century CE), strikingly different from the Yellow River cultures, was uncovered in the
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Dianchi Lake area, Yunnan province, in southwestern China. Its sculptural bronzes revealed
the daily and ritual life, economy, custom, and other social aspects of the Dian people. Ancient
capitals from the Eastern Zhou to the Yuan dynasties, at Luoyang, Xi'an, and Beijing, were sur-

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