Page 41 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

Bronze spirit tree; height
384 (151 Vs); Shang dynasty;
excavated in 1986 from Pit i
at Sanxingdui, Guanghan,
Sichuan province (left).
Jade rhyton; height 19.4
1
(j /*)', Western Han dynasty;
excavated in 1983 from the
tomb of the King of Nanyue
at Xianggang, Guangzhou,
Guangdong province
(right).

In the meantime, another culture that had existed between the sixth and fifth millennia BCE
88
(c. 5400 - 4400 BCE) was unearthed at Beixin, Tengxian, Shandong province. These relics of
millet-based cultures have been universally recognized as predecessors of the Yangshao and
Dawenkou cultures. In the south, cultural remains from 5000 to 3300 BCE, which seem to
parallel those of the Yangshao culture, were excavated at Hemudu, Yuyao, Zhejiang province. 89
This rice-based culture is extraordinary because of its bone tools and above-ground log houses
constructed with mortise-and-tenon joints.
Beginning in 1981, Su Bingqi (1909-1997) identified at least six major independent co-
evolving regional traditions throughout prehistoric China, and proposed that "archaic cities"
90
and "archaic states" had emerged during the late prehistoric period. Since then, the concept
of coexisting and interactive multicultural sequences has emerged as a prevalent theoretical
approach in contemporary archaeology. Founding chair of the Archaeology Specialization (now
Department of Archaeology) at Beijing University, Su Bingqi was also an esteemed typologist of
ancient pottery. He was capable of picking up random pot sherds and immediately identifying
each by culture, utilizing touch alone. During my last visit with him in Beijing, in October 1996,
he discussed topics ranging from the formation of the "Chinese archaeological school" to his
optimistic prospects for future Chinese archaeology. 91
During the 19805, Jilin, Nanjing, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Wuhan, Xibei, and
Zhengzhou universities added an Archaeological Specialization within their departments of
history. Jilin University established a Department of Archaeology in 1988. Zhongshan and Xia-
men Universities in southern China also established archaeological programs, although they
are contained within their departments of anthropology, as they tend to be in the United
States. Political connections are no longer prerequisites to participation in intellectual endeav-
ors. Various schools and theories of archaeology have been introduced from the West and dis-

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