China's Hidden History
I am taking a break from my usual work to read through recent issues of my long-neglected core journal, Science. As a member of the AAAS, I get this huge journal every week, 52 weeks a year. It's full of stuff I can't digest, but it also contains stuff I can either digest profitably and with relative ease, as well as stuff I can digest if I work hard.
However, my historical instincts were hooked by pp 930-940 of the 21 Aug 2009 issue. In those pages, a summary of the findings about Chinese civilisation is presented, with nice charts and pictures.
Well well well, as the farmer said, looking at the three holes in the ground.
What we call 'Chinese civilisation' is widely supposed to have erupted from the Yellow River region and spread inland. At least, that's what most of us learnt. But the evidence shows multiple high-level cultures all over that part of the world. In fact, for the last 30 years, people have been setting out the idea that this civilisation 'grew out of a complex interweaving of many regional cultures' (p 932).
In 1987, archaeologists at a site called Sanxingdui, north of Chengdu, found traces of a previously unknown civilisation. Gold, jade and huge bronze statues were found. The site was not even hinted at in texts or myths. Later, a culture that appears to be the predecessor of that civilisation was discovered by people digging elsewhere on the Chengdu plain. The history of the Sichuan region is now not the same anymore. That's on p 935.
And so on, and so on. If this sort of discovery can still be made, what else is there to be found in the hidden history of mankind? Stuff like this keeps my sense of wonder alive. I am happy just to read about it; I would be overjoyed to someday have a part to play in it.
However, my historical instincts were hooked by pp 930-940 of the 21 Aug 2009 issue. In those pages, a summary of the findings about Chinese civilisation is presented, with nice charts and pictures.
Well well well, as the farmer said, looking at the three holes in the ground.
What we call 'Chinese civilisation' is widely supposed to have erupted from the Yellow River region and spread inland. At least, that's what most of us learnt. But the evidence shows multiple high-level cultures all over that part of the world. In fact, for the last 30 years, people have been setting out the idea that this civilisation 'grew out of a complex interweaving of many regional cultures' (p 932).
In 1987, archaeologists at a site called Sanxingdui, north of Chengdu, found traces of a previously unknown civilisation. Gold, jade and huge bronze statues were found. The site was not even hinted at in texts or myths. Later, a culture that appears to be the predecessor of that civilisation was discovered by people digging elsewhere on the Chengdu plain. The history of the Sichuan region is now not the same anymore. That's on p 935.
And so on, and so on. If this sort of discovery can still be made, what else is there to be found in the hidden history of mankind? Stuff like this keeps my sense of wonder alive. I am happy just to read about it; I would be overjoyed to someday have a part to play in it.
Labels: Archaeology, China, History
etched with acid at 12:16:00 am
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