CLAS-110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Rammed Earth, Junzi, Human Nature
Document Summary
Xia civilization 2500 bc-ish to the 18th century bc-ish. Later sources wrote down their own history. Known almost exclusively from archaeology, however writing is being used: writing has 4000 characters and we can decipher about half of them. Writing is done vertically: oracle bones animal bones where writing has been scratched on them. Nods to the deep belief in the afterlife during this time. The chinese were definitely using metallurgy, and during the shang dynasty was the first time they began to use it. Used bronze to make ceremonial drinking vessels and weapons. The shang capital was established at zhengzhou (chen-chou), but later moved to anyang. Both just off the yellow river in the valley. The capital was at zhengzhou for about 300 years. Had an enclosure wall (18 metres at its base, 9 metres at its peak). Inside the wall were the most elite people. Outside of the wall are bronze workshops, cemeteries, dwellings of ordinary people etc.