ARCH 272W Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Erlitou Culture, Taosi, Chinese Economic Reform
30 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Eventually states in the yellow and yangtze valleys. State origins = interplay between history, archaeology and nationalism. There was a focus on creating a great nationalistic history. Anyang 1920s late shang capital, this was lead by a chinese archaeological team, this was the first time that archaeology was used to prove that a mythical site was true and existed. Most of the early written histories are written centuries after an event occurred, often mythical. History and archaeology have different timelines in china. Either one you follow it leaves one out. Archaeology reveals a lot of regionalism; there is a lot more going on that is not covered in the written records. Makes is far more complex than the master narrative suggests. Very influenced by the chinese literature, the history of historiography in the country goes back a lot longer than archaeology. Very strong sense of trying to make a great nationalistic history.
