The Chronicle of Chinese Archaeology was conceived by Mr. Wang Shimin in 1984 at the behest of Mr. Xia Nai and Mr. Su Baier, and took 40 years to write. Completed on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Chinese archaeology, this book systematically sorts out the excavations and discoveries, events and people, research and achievements of Chinese archaeology in the form of a chronicle, and fills the gap in the study of the history of Chinese archaeology.
The introduction to the book provides an overview of the stages in the development of Chinese archaeology. Among them, the initial development stage (1929-1948) was 20 years of social turmoil and wars in Chinese history, and these 20 years created the first generation of archaeologists in China, and made many achievements such as excavating Zhoukoudian, Yinxu, and Doujitai, laying the foundation for the development of emerging Chinese archaeology.
Chronicles of Chinese Archaeology, edited by Wang Shimin
During the period from 1929 to 1948, the work of Chinese archaeology developed rapidly in the first ten years, and many important scientific data were obtained through a series of investigations and excavations, which also created the first generation of archaeologists with a good level of field work in China, laying a preliminary foundation for the development of Chinese archaeology. In the following decade, due to the relationship between the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, archaeological work could not continue to make significant progress. In terms of academic system, Paleolithic archaeology was mainly carried out at the Zhoukoudian site in Beijing, and Neolithic archaeology was mainly carried out in the Yellow River Basin and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and there were few typical sites that had been excavated. In terms of archaeology in the historical period, there have been many excavations of the Yin Ruins in the late Shang Dynasty, in addition to excavating individual tombs in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, and a short period of ground investigation has been carried out on the ruins of several capitals. To put it simply, the archaeological work in this period has serious epochal gaps and geographical gaps, and has not formed a complete system.
1. The excavation of Zhoukoudian carried out by the Cenozoic Research Laboratory
The achievements of archaeological work before the Anti-Japanese War were first of all the excavation of the Zhoukoudian site by the Cenozoic Research Laboratory and the Paleolithic research. The excavation of Zhoukoudian began in 1927 and was carried out by the China Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S.-sponsored Peking Union Medical College. After the establishment of the Cenozoic Research Laboratory, of which Ding Wenjiang was the honorary host, the first fossilized skull of Peking Man was discovered in 1929 under the auspices of Pei Wenzhong. Subsequently, a large number of stone artifacts and traces of human fire were discovered, which confirmed the cultural remains of Peking Man. In 1933, Pei Wenzhong and Jia Lanpo excavated the cave people and their culture. But the study of human fossils in Zhoukoudian was carried out with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation in cooperation with the Department of Anatomy at Peking Union Medical College, where American scholars were in charge of the collection, and the whereabouts of these specimens were unknown during World War II.
2. Excavations of Yinxu and other items carried out by the Institute of History and Philology
During this period, the archaeological group of the Institute of History and Linguistics (hereinafter referred to as the "Archaeological Group of the Institute of History and Philology") presided over by Li Ji carried out the most archaeological work, and carried out fifteen excavations in Yinxu alone from 1928 to 1937, with a cumulative excavation area of more than 46,000 square meters. When the excavation of the Xiaotun site began, there was a lack of a clear work plan and the ability to distinguish complex remains, and the main goal was to find the oracle bone inscriptions. In 1930, Liang Siyong, who majored in archaeology abroad, returned from his studies and entered the Institute of History and Language, and soon participated in the excavation of the Chengziya site in Licheng County, Shandong Province (discovered by Wu Jinding in 1928) in order to explore the source of Yinxu culture, and identified another Neolithic remains other than Yangshao culture, which was named "Longshan culture". Later, the excavation of the Hougang site in Anyang was carried out, which solved the relative age problem of Yangshao culture, Longshan culture and Yin Dynasty culture from the stratigraphy, which greatly promoted the research of Chinese archaeology.
The excavation of Yinxu ruins, through the summary of practical experience, has also been significantly improved in the excavation methods, and Chinese archaeology has since embarked on a scientific track and achieved great gains. In the area of Xiaotun Village, the archaeological team of the Institute of History and Languages has successively uncovered the foundation sites of more than 50 rammed earth buildings, and obtained more than 22,000 oracle bones with characters and other precious cultural relics. In addition, in the northwest of Houjiazhuang, the tomb of King Yin of Shang, ten extraordinarily large tombs of the Yin Dynasty and thousands of "human and animal" sacrificial pits were excavated, thus accumulating extremely valuable scientific data for the study of Chinese archaeology and ancient Chinese history. In addition to Li Ji, Dong Zuobin, Guo Baojun and Liang Siyong, the main participants who participated in the excavation of Yinxu over the years mainly include Wang Xiang, Wu Jinding, Shi Zhangru, Liu Yi, Li Jingdan, Qi Yanpei, Hu Houxuan, Gao Quxun, Yin Huanzhang, and Xia Nai, who conducted field archaeology practice before studying abroad. At the same time, the archaeological group of the Institute of History and Philology cooperated with Shandong and Henan provinces to establish the Shandong Historic Sites Research Association and the Henan Historic Sites Research Association respectively, with Liang Siyong, Qi Yanpei, Liu Yi and others excavating the Longshan cultural sites in Rizhao and others, and Guo Baojun and others excavating the Western Zhou Weiguo Cemetery in Xin Village, Jun County, Shanbiao Town in Ji County and the Warring States Period Tombs in Liulige in Hui County. Investigations have also been carried out in a number of places.
In 1931, Fu Sinian visited the archaeological progress in Xiaotun, Anyang. From left: Dong Zuobin, Li Ji, Fu Sinian, Liang Siyong
3. Archaeological work of the Peking Research Institute and other units
Although the archaeological work carried out by the archaeological group of the Historical Research Society of the Peking Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as "Beiping Research Institute") is not much, it is also quite important. In addition to cooperating with the Archaeological Society of Peking University and other units in 1930 to investigate the Yanxiadu site under the auspices of Ma Heng, they mainly excavated the site of Baoji Fighting Terrace in Shaanxi from 1934 to 1937. The Beiping Research Institute originally lacked field archaeologists, and was engaged in scientific archaeological excavations a little later, so it was helped by Dong Zuobin, the archaeological group of the Institute of History and Languages. In March 1934, before Xu Bingchang (Xu Sheng) began to excavate the fighting platform, he personally went to Xiaotun Village in Anyang to visit the ninth excavation of Yinxu presided over by Dong Zuobin, and hired two skilled technicians from Xiaotun in Anyang under the recommendation of Dong Zuobin. In 1934, 1935 and 1937, Beiyan successively carried out three excavations in the Daijiagou area of Doujitai, the first and second excavations of the east and west areas of the ditch, and the third excavation of the abandoned fort area (unfinished), and found Yangshao cultural sites, tombs of the Zhou-Qin period and the Han Dynasty. The main personnel who began to participate in the excavation of Doujitai, except for Bai Wanyu, a technician who followed Anderson to collect archaeological specimens in the early years, and He Shiji, who graduated from the Tsinghua Institute of Chinese Studies, has always been in the work, but he is not familiar with archaeological excavation; Luo Maode, who studied ancient Greek literature in the United States, was exposed to field archaeology during his study in Greece (later specializing in Greek literature, famous for the word "Niansheng"), and left due to a landslide accident during the second excavation of Doujitai; Sun Wenqing and Su Bingqi participated in the second and third excavations, among which Sun Wenqing went to Anyang in the spring of 1936 to study the thirteenth excavation of Yinxu. Later, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Su Bingqi sorted out and periodized the data of 82 Zhou, Qin and Han Dynasty tombs in the eastern area of Goudong, and wrote the book "Tombs in the Eastern District of Doujitaigou" (published in 1948, and the scattered leaves printed in his "Illustrated Description" were bound and published as late as 1954); In particular, the typological study of the development and change of the tile beard actually raises the question of clues to explore the origin of Zhou culture. In 1935, Beiyan also made a more detailed survey of the grottoes of the Xiangtang Temple in the north and south near Handan, Hebei Province, but in addition to the "Catalogue of Stone Carvings in the Xiangtang Temple and its Vicinity" (1936) compiled and printed by He Shiji and others, it was not possible to officially publish the collected stone carvings and rubbings.
In addition, Shi Xin of the West Lake Museum conducted a Neolithic site survey in some places in Zhejiang from 1933 to 1936, and discovered and excavated the Liangzhu site. Lin Huixiang and other scholars have conducted archaeological investigations in the southeast coast, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and American scholars from West China University have conducted archaeological investigations in the vicinity of Guanghan and Xikangdaofu in Sichuan. There are also scholars who investigate the tombs of the Six Dynasties and ancient kiln sites.
4. Activities of the Sino-Swiss Scientific Expedition to Northwest China
At the end of the previous historical period, the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin came to China again, and he continued to investigate Xinjiang. After the hard struggle of academics led by Shen Jianshi, Ma Heng and Liu Bannong of Peking University, in April 1927, it was agreed that in the name of the Chinese Association of Academic Societies, together with Sven Heding, he would form a Sino-Swiss scientific expedition to Northwest China, with Xu Bingchang, provost of Peking University, as the head of the Chinese delegation, and Sven Heding, the head of the foreign delegation, providing funds for the activities. The cooperation measures stipulate that all work shall be handled either "under the auspices of the head of the Chinese delegation" or "by the head of the foreign delegation in consultation with the head of the Chinese delegation"; In particular, archaeological specimens "shall be handed over to the head of the Chinese delegation or the Chinese delegation entrusted by him to be transported to the Association for safekeeping". In May 1927, the delegation departed from Beijing and traveled to Xinjiang via Inner Mongolia for a multidisciplinary scientific expedition, which lasted until 1933.
Chinese and foreign leaders of the Northwest Scientific Expedition Group, from left: Yuan Fuli, Sven Heding, Xu Bingchang
"Xu Xusheng's Anthology" (including "Journey to the West Diary" written by Xu Bingchang when he was the head of the Northwest Scientific Expedition)
At that time, Huang Wenbi participated in the investigation activities on behalf of the Archaeological Society of Peking University, and the field archaeological work he did was mainly to investigate and excavate the ancient city of Gaochang, the ancient city of Jiaohe and the Gaochang cemetery of the Koji clan near Turpan after arriving in Xinjiang in January 1928, the castles, temples, ditches and tunshu ruins of the Han and Tang dynasties around the Tarim Basin, and the prehistoric ruins and the Fengsui ruins of the Han Dynasty near Luobu Naoer. Yuan Fuli surveyed and measured the ruins of the Tang Beiting Imperial Palace in Jimusar.
The biggest gain was that when the delegation passed through the Ejina River basin in western Gansu in the autumn of 1927, the Swedish scholar Bergman, F. and others investigated and excavated the widely distributed Han Dynasty Fengsui ruins, and obtained more than 10,000 Han Dynasty slips. Bergmann also discovered a number of Neolithic remains in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, mainly characterized by fine stone tools.
5. Investigation and excavation by Japanese scholars in Northeast China and North China
The archaeological activities initiated and organized by Kosaku Hamada and Shuto Harada of the East Asian Archaeological Society of Japan were not suspended due to the withdrawal of the Archaeological Society of Peking University, and they continued to carry out independent investigations and excavations. Before the "918" incident, the association mainly carried out activities in the Luda area, and excavated the ruins of Shepherd City and the Han tombs of Nanshanli and Yingchengzi. After the "918" incident, the activities of the association expanded to other places in Northeast China, and excavated the ruins of Chifeng Hongshanhou, the ruins of Longquanfu in Beijing on the Bohai Sea, and the ruins of Liaoshangjing, Liaozhongjing, Jinshangjing, and Yuanshangdu. At the same time, in the name of the puppet Manchurian organization, the excavation of the Guxiangtun site, Tonggou Goguryeo mural tomb, the investigation of the Liao Dynasty ancestral tomb, Qingling and the ruins of the trough kiln, the participants include Torii Ryuzo, Komai Kazuai, Miyake Toshisei, Fujita Ryosaku, Egami Hiroo, Kuroda Genji, Kobayashi Yukio, etc. After the fall of North China, Harada Shuren and others excavated the ruins of Zhao Wangcheng in Handan and Lingguang Hall in Qufu in the name of the association or the East Asian Cultural Association. Then there are Nagahiro Toshio, Mizuno Kiyoichi, etc., who investigated the Xiangtangshan Grottoes in Handan and the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang in 1936; From 1937 to 1944, he went to Datong, Shanxi Province eight times to conduct detailed investigations and measurements of the Yungang Grottoes, and made some excavations nearby.
In addition, there are Russian scholars such as Baunosov, who lives in Harbin, who are engaged in archaeological activities in the Heilongjiang region.
6. The situation during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the academic institutions that relocated to the mainland also made important gains in the form of mutual cooperation in field archaeological work under very difficult conditions. For example, the archaeological group of the Institute of History and Philology and the Preparatory Office of the Central Museum cooperated (Wu Jinding, Zeng Zhaoxian and others participated) to excavate several sites in the prehistoric era and the Nanzhao period near Dali in Yunnan Province from 1939 to 1940. The two units also cooperated with the China Construction Institute (Wu Jinding, Gao Quxun, Xia Nai, Zeng Zhaolian, etc. participated) to excavate the Han Dynasty cliff tomb in Pengshan, Sichuan; In cooperation with the Sichuan Provincial Museum (Wu Jinding, Wang Zhenduo, Feng Hanji, etc., to excavate the tomb of the former Shu Emperor Wang Jian near Chengdu. It also cooperated with the Institute of Liberal Arts of Peking University to conduct archaeological surveys in the Hexi Corridor and other places twice. Among them, Xia Nai's 1944 excavation of the Qijia culture tomb in Yangwawan, Ningding County, Gansu Province, for the first time found stratigraphic evidence that the Qijia culture was later than the Yangshao culture, which more effectively refuted Anderson's erroneous thesis on the periodization of ancient culture in Gansu in 1925, which is a research achievement of great significance. Before Liu Yi went to northern Shaanxi to participate in revolutionary activities (later assumed the pseudonym "Yin Da"), he wrote an article entitled "Analysis of Longshan Culture and Yangshao Culture" (Chinese Archaeological Journal, Volume 2, 1947) based on the analysis of the shape of the artifacts in 1937, and questioned Andersen in person.
Group photo of the archaeological team of Pengshan Cliff Tomb in 1941. The first from the right in the front row is Xia Nai, the first from the right in the back row is Chen Mingda, and the second from the right is Li Ji
During the War of Liberation, field archaeological work came to a standstill. In the liberated areas of Northeast China and North China, the democratic government attaches great importance to the protection of cultural relics, and has cleaned up and excavated the sarcophagi of Xituan Mountain in Jilin and the Han tombs near Handan, and has also collected cultural relics unearthed from the Feng's tombs in Jingxian County. In the Kuomintang-ruled area, Pei Wenzhong was the only one who went to Gansu and Qinghai from 1947 to 1948 to investigate the ruins of the prehistoric era.
It is worth mentioning that the older generation of archaeologists began to use the typological method to organize and study archaeological data in the thirties. From Liang Siyong's research on prehistoric pottery in Xiyin Village and Hougang, Guo Moruo's exploration of Yi Ming's imagery in his book "Two Weeks of Jin Wenci Daji", to Li Ji's research on Yinxu pottery and bronze ware, and Su Bingqi's research on Fighting Terrace tiles. There are also Yin Zhou bronze studies of Rong Geng and Chen Mengjia, and Tao Ding and Tao Ding research in Pei Wenzhong. With the passage of time, the experience of typological research has been gradually obtained, and it has been deepened, improved and matured.
Archaeological works published during this period include Li Ji's The Prehistoric Remains of Xiyin Village (1927), Pei Wenzhong's The History of China's Native Humans (co-authored, 1933) and Zhoukoudian Cave Layer Excavation (1934), Liang Siyong et al.'s Chengziya (1934), Shi Xingen's Liangzhu (1938), Su Bingqi's Tombs in the Eastern District of Doujitaigou (1948) and Illustrated Narratives (1954), and Huang Wenbi's Archaeological Records of Luo Bu Naoer (1948) and other books, as well as "Anyang Excavation Report" and "Chinese Journal of Archaeology". During his stay in Yan'an, Yin Da tried to analyze archaeological data from a Marxist point of view, and wrote "Primitive Society in China" (1943). During this period, some scholars studied the inscription materials such as oracle bones, golden inscriptions, slips, and epitaphs, and made new achievements. Among them, Dong Zuobin's "Oracle Bone Dating Research Example" (1933) has greatly promoted the study of oracle bones. The oracle bone inscriptions unearthed from the excavation of Yinxu were compiled as "Xiaotun· Yinxu Script A (1948) and B (1948-1953). During his stay in Japan, Guo Moruo wrote books such as The Compilation of Divination Scripts (1933), Yin Qicui Compilation (1937), Catalogue of the Great Series of Fortnightly Golden Texts (1934), and Examination of Interpretations (1935), which made epoch-making contributions to the study of oracle bone inscriptions and golden inscriptions. Rong Geng's General Examination of Shang and Zhou Yi Artifacts (1941), and Chen Mengjia's Collected Chinese Bronzes in the United States and A Survey of Chinese Bronzes (1947) in English are unprecedented monographs on Shang and Zhou bronzes.
"Shang and Zhou Yi Instrument General Examination"
A Review of Chinese Bronze
All in all, Chinese archaeology, as an emerging discipline, has taken more than 20 years from its birth to its initial development, and has formed a certain scale. At that time, the field archaeological work was mainly concentrated in Zhoukoudian, Yinxu and Doujitai, as well as several prehistoric sites in the Yellow River Basin and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Because of this, although the monographs on ancient Chinese history and textbooks of Chinese history in the thirties and forties began to cite the results of archaeological research, their expressions were inevitably flawed due to the historical limitations of the initial period of Chinese archaeology. During this period, very few archaeological monographs and journals were published. The most accumulated Zhoukoudian, Yinxu and other sites, the excavation data has not been released in detail. Even so, the first generation of high-level archaeologists in China was created, and the new independent discipline of Chinese archaeology was established.
It is also worth mentioning here that the rich information obtained by the continuous excavation of Anyang Yin Ruins in the thirties has been published in detail after the Institute moved to Taipei in early 1949 and has been carefully sorted out and studied by several archaeologists of the older generation for a long time. Among them, Li Ji wrote the first volume of Xiaotun Yinxu Artifacts and Pottery (1956), and cooperated with Wan Jiabao to conduct research on bronzes unearthed in Yinxu, and published five major volumes of "Special Issue on the Study of Ancient Artifacts" (including the study of bronze goose-shaped vessels, Jue-shaped ware, Zhu-shaped ware, tripod-shaped ware, and 53 bronze vessels unearthed in Yinxu, 1964-1972). Shi Zhangru has been persisting in the study of the complicated excavation data of the Xiaotun site for decades, and has successively published the B series (Yinxu building remains), C series (tombs in the North Group, Middle Group, B and C areas), and D series (oracle bone pit layer) of "The Discovery and Excavation of Xiaotun Ruins", a total of eight major books (1959-1992). The excavation data of the Gang Yin Dynasty mausoleum area in the northwest of Houjiazhuang were compiled and supplemented by Gao Quxun on the basis of Liang Siyong's posthumous manuscripts, and the second to ninth volumes of Houjiazhuang (1962-1996) were published successively, including 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, 1217, 1500, 1550, 1129, 1400, and 1443 tombs. Then there is the tenth book (2001) written by Shi Zhangru, which is "One of the Descriptions of Small Tombs". Shi Zhangru is also the author of Mogao Grottoes (1996), the result of his 1942 trip to the Dunhuang Grottoes. In addition, Zhang Bingquan edited "Xiaotun Yinxu Script C Edition" (1957-1972), Lao Yu edited "Juyan Hanjian · Department of Plates (1957), etc.
(The above is excerpted from "Chronicles of Chinese Archaeology: Introduction")
Sort out the 100-year history and achievements of Chinese archaeology
Feel the Chinese style and style of the history of human civilization
Chronicle of Chinese Archaeology
Edited by Wang Shimin
Simplified horizontal type
32 carat hardcover
978-7-101-16284-4
$118.00
Introduction
China is an ancient civilization with a long history, and scholars have long cherished and studied ancient relics and relics. During the Northern Song Dynasty, a special discipline was formed, the study of gold and stone. The emergence of modern archaeology has a history of 100 years, especially since the founding of the People's Republic of China, through the efforts of several generations of archaeologists, Chinese archaeology is experiencing a golden age, gradually establishing and improving the discipline system, and constantly making brilliant achievements.
This book systematically reviews the development and achievements of Chinese archaeology in the past 100 years, as well as the general situation of epigraphy before the birth of modern archaeology, and divides Chinese archaeology into seven stages: the predecessor epigraphy period, the gestation period, the birth period, the initial development period, the comprehensive development period, the continuous development period, and the new development period. With a century of achievements, it shows the profundity and longevity of Chinese civilization; With fruitful results, witness the significant contribution of Chinese archaeology to world civilization.
About the Author
Wang Shimin, born in 1935, is a native of Xuzhou, Jiangsu. He graduated from the Department of History of Peking University in 1956, majoring in archaeology. He retired in August 1995 as a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He used to be a member of the 3rd and 4th Council of the Archaeological Society of China, and a director of the Chinese Paleography Research Association. His main research interests are the history of archaeology and the study of Shang and Zhou bronzes. He has presided over the compilation project of "Yin and Zhou Jinwen Collection", participated in the compilation of "Archaeological Harvest of New China", "Archaeological Discovery and Research of New China", "Archaeology" volume of the first edition of "Encyclopedia of China", and "Changsha Mawangdui No. 1 Han Tomb", "Complete Works of Chinese Bronzes" and other books, and is the author of "History of Archaeology and Research on Shang and Zhou Dynasty Bronzes", "Biography of Xia Nai", and editor-in-chief of "Xia Nai's Anthology", "Xia Nai's Diary", "Mr. Xia Nai's Memorial Anthology", etc.
Table of Contents
<<<滑动查看本书目录>>>
Inside page appreciation
(Co-ordinator: Yibei; Editor: Siqi)