Lungshan Horizon to Shang Dynasty China

Emergence of Civilizations / Anthro 341: Lecture 20

The emergence of civilization in China: Lungshan Horizon to Shang Dynasty

ã Copyright Bruce Owen 1999

Wenke simplifies this part of Chinese prehistory a bit much

he has "early complex societies" from 3000 BC to 2000 BC
but in fact, the transition to what he calls the "first civilizations" was irregular, with a lot of overlapping and persisting local traditions
and an interesting "horizon" pattern that we will see shortly

In various parts of China, during the last centuries of the Regional Neolithic (starting, say at 3500 BC) and for several centuries after (to, say 2500 BC), long-term trends towards increasing complexity continued and reached new levels

as we saw last time, various cultures in different regions developed special-purpose ceremonial sites, elaborate burial mound complexes, etc.

One of these more complex cultures of the terminal Regional Neolithic was the Liang-chu culture (also written Liangzhu) (3500 - 2200 BC)

Appeared about 500 years before the end of the Regional Neolithic
and lasted until about 2200 BC
Not in the Yellow River area, where we have been focussing, but rather to the south, on the coastal plain around the lower Yangtze river

clearly developed out of the local Regional Neolithic culture there
villages were still small, maybe even smaller than the contemporary Yangshao villages to the north

the Liang-chu culture is another example of the Regional Neolithic trend towards very elaborate burials for some high-status people

some very rich graves, often spatially segregated from poorer burials in the same cemetery
especially in the later stages of the Liang-chu culture
examples:

a rich burial at Ssu-tun

a young adult male
4 ceramic vessels, 14 stone and jade implements, 49 jade ornaments
24 jade rings and 33 jade ts'ung tubes

ts'ung tubes are apparently ritual objects, usually jade, that are rectangular blocks with faces carved on the outside and a large round hole through the center
the rings are also probably ritual, votive, etc.; they are not finger rings or personal ornaments

the jades were very well made in very hard stone, implying a lot of wealth
some of the jades and the male's femora were partially burned, suggesting some kind of burial ritual involving fire

burials with "extra" crania at Chang-ling-shan

one burial with over 40 items plus three human crania
another with two "extra" crania and numerous "extra" limb bones

square dirt platform at Yaoshan

containing rich burials

20 meter high burial mound at Sidun (65 feet tall!)

burial of a young man
with over 100 jade artifacts
body and jades were partly burned
other burned burials around the mound are thought to be sacrifices

clearly a powerful, wealthy elite emerging in this basically rural society

plus a new style of pottery

black, highly polished, very finely made
very thin walls, often with bamboo-like ring or ridge designs, cutouts in ring bases
some made on a true, fast potter's wheel
suggests craft specialization

This style of black pottery went on to became popular over a wide area of China

indicating an increased amount of interaction and shared ideas over a large area
and serving as a convenient marker for an important period of time called the "Lung-shan horizon"

The Lung-shan horizon, started around 3500 BC with Liang-chu culture, widespread by 2500 BC; lasted until about 1500 BC

a "horizon" that spread across northern China

a "horizon" is the extension of a style (usually of pottery) that becomes popular over a very wide area

horizons make convenient time markers
because any given style will only be popular for a limited period of time

so sites that contain objects in the horizon style must be roughly contemporary with each other

because a horizon style is widespread, it allows you to correlate what was happening in many different places at that same time
but since a horizon style may take a while to spread, appearance of the style in different places may not actually happen at the same moment
a horizon typically starts somewhere, and gets to its periphery later
horizons are also interesting because they imply widely shared ideas, probably beyond the pottery style that marks them

the Lung-shan horizon apparently started on the lower Yangtze river, in the Liang-chu culture, as early as 3500 BC

and for whatever reason, spread from there to the rest of an area of interacting cultures called the Neolithic "Chinese interaction sphere"

markers of the Lung-shan horizon

wheel-made, thin-walled black ceramics
pedestal vases with cutouts in pedestal (tou)
tripod pots (ting)
certain axe types
also jade ts'ung tubes (square outside with faces; large round hole inside)
scapulamancy (oracle bones)

this increasing similarity in ceramics and other goods was apparently not due to conquest, but to increasing interaction

because in each region there was a gradual local development towards the shared style
probably like the trend towards Kot Dijian pottery in the Indus
some items, like the ts'ung tubes and oracle bones, probably reflect increasingly widespread, shared ideology or religious ideas

the cultures that adopted this style formed the Neolithic "Chinese interaction sphere", which was most pronounced from 2500 - 1500 BC
several cultures in different regions were involved

don't worry about keeping track of these subdivisions; I only separate them here because this might help you make sense of the readings
Lung-shan in the coastal Yangtze River area: Liang-chu culture (3500-2200 BC)

already mentioned above; an early development of Lungshan traits

Lung-shan in the coastal Yellow River area (Shantung area): Shantung or Shandong Lung-shan (2700-1500 BC)

arose out of Ta-wen-k'ou culture, the terminal Regional Neolithic culture in this area

Lung-shan in the Middle Yellow River Valley

arose out of Yang-shao culture

plus Lung-shan cultures in various other areas...

subsistence continued as before, but probably more permanent and intensive:

millet in pits and vessels
lots of pig bone, some cattle and dog
in some areas, cattle, water buffalo, and sheep were domesticated

craft specialization apparently increased

pottery making probably required specialists

was made on a fast potter's wheel
kilns were more advanced

minor use of bronze for small objects probably implies specialist metalworkers

not so important in itself, but led into the very important role of bronze in the next period

settlements grew larger and many were walled

some houses like Yang-shao, with storage pits, etc.
similar organization, with clusters of houses around a central "long house"
but many sites were larger than Yang-shao villages
possibly more permanent (longer occupations)

may suggest a gradual shift from slash-and-burn to more intensive, permanent, fallow agriculture

numerous settlements had massive rammed-earth walls

at least two in the coastal Shantung area, several in the middle Yellow River area
these are the first major defensive works in Chinese prehistory

in fact, the first "public" works of any kind requiring significant labor to build (prior to this, only some special burials even approached this investment)

rammed-earth is also called "tamped earth", "stamped earth", "hangtu"

made of 12-14 cm thick layers of loess soil
very regular, selected clean soil with aggregate stones
pounded into wide, shallow molds
each layer 3 cm narrower than the one below, forming a slight taper

at Ch'eng tzu-yai (a town in the coastal Shantung area), the wall was 9 m (29 feet) thick, estimated 6 m (20 feet) high

the face was like a wall, but it was as massive as a whole solid building
encloses an area of 450 X 390 m (about 1/4 mile on each side)
about 18 hectares
could contain over 16 football fields
my rough estimate of population within the wall: 500 to 3600 people

based on Yangshao density of 100 houses/5 ha, probably 20 to 100 people/ha, and guessing that Ch'eng tzu-yai could have been up to twice as densely occupied

would have been a medium to large town, but probably not really city sized
yet an enormous labor investment in the wall

implies control of a lot of workers, agricultural surplus, etc.
extracting a huge amount of labor from the villagers, or maybe also drawing upon people living outside the walls -- implying power over a surrounding hinterland

example of Pingliangtai (middle Yellow River area)

rectangular rammed-earth wall 185 m (600 feet) on a side all around the town (illustrated in Barnes reading)

wall is 13 m (42 feet) wide at base, remains still stand 3 m (10 feet) tall
two entrances (north and south), one with gatehouses

underground drains of pottery tubes go under this gate

3.4 hectares (comparable to Jericho)
but much smaller than Ch'eng tzu-yai; illustrates the considerable variation over this large region
inside are rectangular buildings of mud brick, up to several rooms, with storage pits
some on raised platforms, suggesting special status
craft production areas inside the wall (ceramic kilns and manufacture of stone artifacts)

there were also much smaller walled compounds

both inside walled towns, and out in the countryside
square, 6 m (18 feet) on a side
on low rammed earth platforms (30 cm high)

although they don't look like much to us, these platforms would represent a lot of labor and would have been recognized as a privilege of wealth
especially since the platforms often contained sacrificial burials, and people would have known that

these would be high-status houses, like fortified villas
residences of powerful leaders of largely rural people?

several towns were around 17 hectares, still pretty small for "cities" in the western sense

but maybe a lot of people lived outside the walled area?

warfare and violence escalated dramatically

town walls suggest fear of attack
big increase in spear points and arrow points in the coastal Shantung area

the points make up a drastically higher percentage of all bone and stone artifacts than in earlier periods
since the people presumably were farming more than before and hunting less, the rise in points may be for weapons rather than hunting

Site of Chien-kou (middle Yellow River area)

surrounded by a circular town wall
within a house, six human skulls with signs of blows and scalping
two water wells that were stuffed with five layers of human bodies

male and female, all ages
some decapitated, some without feet

KC Chang sees this period as the beginning of "institutionalized violence"

between walled settlements: raids or warfare
within settlements

construction and burial sacrifices indicate ritual "peacetime" violence
carried out for rituals associated with high-status people

ritual practices became more elaborate, specialized, and associated with the elite

oracle bones: "scapulamancy" became widespread

deer, ox, sheep scapulae
but without any signs of writing yet (contrary to Wenke)
suggests rise of specialized shamans

animal "masks" or faces on artifacts made of pottery and jade are thought to have ritual significance
infant burials under house posts, under walls, or in walls

thought to be sacrifices for house-building rituals

some sites have rammed-earth house platforms that contain pits filled with layers of rammed earth and up to 7 burials between the layers

including both adults and children
thought to be ritual sacrifices associated with construction
sacrifice had shifted from animals to people
suggests increased power of elites, literally over life and death

burials have much more drastic variation in grave wealth than seen before

burials at Ch'eng-tzu indicate much more marked status and wealth hierarchy than in previous periods

this was the cemetery of the coastal Shantung Lung-shan walled town we looked at earlier, Cheng-tzu-yai
four categories, from poorest to richest:

narrow pit (54, or 62%)

body only, no goods or casket

small without ledge (17, or 20%)

no caskets
few goods

smaller with ledge (11, or 13%)

some caskets
many grave goods
sometimes including a thin cup on high stem, pig mandible

large with ledge (5 of these, or 6%)

wooden caskets
many grave goods
a thin cup on high stem, pig mandible

these graves were clustered in three groups, each group had all types of graves

suggests "stratified lineage" structure of historical China
that is, three lineages, each with its own hierarchy
this seems to continue the emphasis on separate lineages that we saw in the Regional Neolithic, especially in Yangshao villages and cemeteries

huge cemetery of T'ao-ssu, over 1000 burials excavated, thousands more thought to remain

three categories of graves, from poorest to richest:

small graves (87%)

over 610 so far
just big enough for an extended body, 50 cm to 1 m deep (i.e. shallow)
most have no goods

medium graves (11%)

about 80 so far
two different pit styles, shallow and wide, or deep and narrow

2.5 x 1.5 m, "shallow"
2.2-2.5 x .8-1.0 m, 2-3.5 m deep
segregated in separate areas of the cemetery

wooden coffins with red cinnabar powder spread inside
dead have headdresses, jewelry
goods include sets of ceramic vessels; jade ts'ung tubes, axes, rings, ornaments, pig mandibles
most of the medium graves seem to cluster around large graves

they aren't apparently sacrificial
maybe these people were associated with the very high status ones in the big graves

large graves (1%)

9 so far
3 m X 2-2.75 m pit
all preserved skeletons are male
wooden coffins with red cinnabar powder spread inside
100-200 items

wooden table
ceramics
jade rings and axes
whole pigs
five of the nine large graves had a "music set":

wooden drum covered with crocodile skin
"musical stone" (chime)
pottery tubes thought to be drums
this set of items symbolizes royalty in later Chinese texts

arranged in at least two separate clusters, each with all three types

the same pattern we have seen before, suggesting separate lineages with internal hierarchy

drastic new stratification of wealth and power

implied by the huge, labor-intensive rammed-earth wall projects
indicated by variation in dwellings

on platforms or not
with sacrificed burials under them or in walls, or not

especially visible in burials

size and shape of burial pit (plain, ledge, log chamber, etc.)
huge variation in quantity and quality of goods
division of cemeteries into groups, possibly by descent (clan membership), each with its own internal hierarchy of status

increasing use of jade, ivory, turtle shells in ritual associated with elites

implies that they got these exotic goods by long-distance exchange, probably controlling traders, surplus, craft production for exchange, etc.

implied by the elites' evident power to conduct sacrifices

was this civilization?

compared to the other cases, it has an interesting mix of characteristics
lots of social stratification and warfare
but limited urbanism, and still no writing

The Three Dynasties (Hsia, Shang, Chou) 2100-770 BC

shortly after 2000 BC, the first evidence of

real cities (urbanism) -- although with differences
states
writing

the Three Dynasties are known a little from written, historical sources

but Hsia and Shang were once thought to be mythological
now archaeology has proved that the written records refer to real places and societies

a few existing writings from the first millennium BC tell us mostly about Shang and later dynasties

they describe a society that was already up to 1000 years in the past

but they would have been based on written documents no longer available to us, so they may be reasonably accurate

these historical documents tell us that:

Shang China was composed of yi, or walled towns
the yi were organized hierarchically into kuo, or states
the kuo were ruled by the head of a clan, whose clan in turn was ranked relative to others in the same kuo

dynasties were just the families of rulers (clan heads) of unusually successful kuo (states)

initially there were several hundred kuo

constantly at war, conquering and losing control of each other

this description based on texts corresponds well to what we know of the archaeological Lung-shan horizon

since there is evidence of warfare, walled towns, clan-based status and burial, etc. back into the Lung-shan horizon
so it seems fair to think that the situation in Lung-shan and Hsia times was similar to what is documented historically for Shang

relationship of the three dynasties

considerable overlap in time, some in space
Early Shang was contemporary with Erh-li-t'ou (Hsia), but was further downriver
and the "subsequent" western Chou dynasty (1100-770 BC) was contemporary with later Shang, but was upriver

since the Shang dynasty was clearly "civilized", we won't go on to deal with the western Chou here

rather than a simple sequence of rulers, the dynasties represent geographical centers or competing lineages which rose to political and military preeminence at different times

Erh-li-t'ou (site and culture) 2100-1800 BC (shown as Hsia area on the map)

KC Chang: Erh-li-t'ou = Historical Hsia dyanasty?
Barnes: Erh-li-t'ou = Historical Early Shang?
there are dozens of Erh-li-t'ou sites
The biggest one, Erh-li-t'ou itself, is a huge site, 1.5 x 2.5 km (375 hectares)
up to 3 m deep: long, dense occupation in some places
no city walls! (at least, not yet found)

this seems unusual for this period; why no defenses?
maybe the "elephant" defense: too big to attack, even without defenses?
or the walls just have not been found yet?
or there was a peaceful interlude?

two enormous platforms for "palace" structures

rammed earth platforms, 1-2 m thick

containing burials, possibly sacrificed

platforms were built in foundation pits, so they projected only 80 cm above ground
the larger one was 100 x 108 m (325 x 350 feet)
with an additional 36 x 25 m low platform at the "back" of the main platform
with postholes for a rectangular hall 11 x 30 m

wattle and daub, gabled roof?
surrounded by a narrow (50-110 cm) rammed-earth wall at the edge of the platform
forming a veranda facing inside, indicated by rows of postholes
this layout, with the gate to south and the building to north, is typical of later buildings known to be palaces

pottery drainpipes
subsidiary buildings

wide variation in burials

some have nothing
all the way up to others that have evidence of lacquered coffins, even more elaborate than Lung-shan types

bronze

a characteristic vessel type: chüeh cup, of which seven have been found
weapons: knives and halberds (dagger or axe on a long spear-like shaft)

jades, turquoise inlays, lacquered wood, other wealth items
oracle bones

Shang Dynasty 1700-1100 BC

According to later histories

the Shang dynasty was founded by T'ang, who conquered the last of the Hsia kings
and founded a royal capital at Po.
later Shang kings moved the capital to other cities several times
29 kings followed T'ang in the Shang dynasty

Early or Middle Shang: the site of Cheng-chou and the Cheng-chou phase (Zhengzhou in the reader) (roughly 1700 - 1400 BC)

this is a subdivision of the Shang period; also called the Erligang or Ehr-li-kang phase
Dates to the early part of the Shang period

Possibly very early: the site of Cheng-chou may be the first Shang capital, the historical "Po"
Barnes dates it to the middle of the historical Shang dynasty

Cheng-chou is the largest of the sites of this time, 3.5 km square

surrounded by a rammed-earth wall
palace structures on rammed-earth platforms
bronze hairpins found in palace structures suggest high-status people lived there (no surprise)
large bronze, bone, and pottery shops outside the walls
at one bone workshop, there was a ditch that contained human crania, many with the tops sawn off

indicates an absolute control of life!

wall seen as enclosing ritual space, rather than literally for defense?

three other sites of this period also have walls (so far!), suggesting warfare

chariots in burials also suggest the importance of warfare

but this period does NOT yet have other Shang traits:

writing
royal mausoleums (yet)

Late Shang (the "Yin phase"): An-yang, the Shang capital in last 200-300 years of the dynasty (roughly 1400 - 1100 BC)

excavation at An-yang, starting in 1928, turned the Shang dynasty from legend into history
we can identify this site as the historical An-yang because oracle bones were found there that describe the names and travels of a series of kings

the list of kings that can be reconstructed from these bones closely matches later historical lists of Shang kings

An-yang was a huge city

24 square kilometers
but not walled (as far as we know)
widely scattered sectors with distinct functions

not a single dense urban core
sectors of the site now have names of the different modern villages near them

this suggests how loose the "city's" plan was
and how different it was from the western or Mesopotamian concept of a city

Sector with palaces

1 ha complex, clearly central to the site
53 high-status rectangular structures on rammed-earth platforms

divided into a residential area, a royal temple area, and a ceremonial area

although the areas may not have all been in use at the same time, meaning that the total size of the complex could have been somewhat smaller than it looks now

lots of human sacrifices associated with construction of platforms
wattle-and-daub walls, stone bases for probably wooden pillars, gabled roofs
underground water ditches under foundations
round semi-subterranean houses surround the rammed-earth foundations, presumably for servants
high-status burials, some with chariots and their horses

indicating that warfare and weaponry were associated with the palace and royalty

lots of oracle bones in the palace sector, also associated with royalty

surrounded by other sectors with habitation clusters, workshops, tombs
workshops include

pottery kilns
two bone working areas
two large bronze foundries
clay molds (for casting bronze vessels) and bone materials were even found in one of the palaces

suggesting direct palace control of craftspeople making bone and bronze goods
not surprising, since some of the bone artifacts were made from people -- which requires a lot of power to enforce
and since bronze was closely associated with royalty in written accounts, residential debris, and burials

a separate huge cemetery, with many hundreds of sacrificial victims as well as nobles and royalty

11 large tombs, presumably of the 11 historical rulers of An-yang

all looted long ago

over 1000 small graves
large graves

at least 7000 person-days just to dig each pit
cross-shaped, with ramps
wooden chamber built in the center
human sacrifices all around

some in coffins - presumably higher status
some decapitated - presumably not so high status
some just heads or other parts

lots of bronze, jade, shell, bone, pottery, etc.

Tomb Number 5, of Fu Hao, consort to King Wu Ting

much smaller than the 11 kings' burials, but never looted
over 1,600 items in total, plus 7,000 cowry shells
over 440 bronzes
over 590 jades
over 560 bone objects
over 70 stone objects

Anyang was clearly home to fabulously wealthy royalty -- and we don't even have the really big tombs to judge by

Origins and context of writing in China

earliest evidence of Chinese writing dates to the later Shang dynasty, around 1400 BC; well established by 1200 BC

many of the characters can be read, since they are recognizably versions of early Chinese writing, directly ancestral to modern Chinese writing
written on oracle bones and bronze vessels

the early examples, especially on bronzes, are generally just one or two characters, probably the name of the person who had the piece made

according to an early surviving text, a lot was written on bamboo strips and silk -- which would not survive in the ground
also, the character that looks like and refers to bound "books" of bamboo strips is found in late Shang inscriptions on bronzes and oracle bones, so these bamboo strip books were probably in use then
unfortunately, the founding emperor of the Ch'in Dynasty, around 100 BC, had all old books except those on medicine, divination, and agriculture burned
so there may have been a lot of early development of writing that has just not survived

The major early use of writing that we know of was scapulamancy (cattle scapulae) and plastromancy (on turtle plastron (shell))

continuation of the scapulamancy tradition of the Lung-shan horizon
cracked by applying heat to the back of a hollow bored in the piece
the cracks were numbered, then read in unknown manner
In Shang times, the cracks begin to have notations by them, showing the question and the answer
turtle shells were added in late Shang times

over 150,000 oracle bone fragments now known

thought to be some 10% of total written

content

record prophesies relating to royal entourage, events, etc., so they provide a lot of history
later used for political activities, gifts, mortuary activities, edicts...
question; prophesy; verification

often the king made the prophesy
surprisingly, the verification almost always shows him to have been correct...

Shang oracle bone c. 1200 - 1180 BC (from Keightley, in Senner 1989)

"Crack-making on chia-shen (day 21), Ch'ueh divined:" Charge: "Fu Hao's childbearing will be good." Prognostication: "The king, reading the cracks, said: 'If it be a ting day childbearing, it will be good. If it be a keng day childbearing, it will be extremely auspicious.'"

ting and keng are analogous to days of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday)
Verification: "On the 31st day, she gave birth. It was not good. It was a girl."
The baby was born on a chia day, thus the prophesy was correct.
Note: Fu Hao is the name of the "consort" in the unlooted large tomb at An-yang; the dates are right for this to refer to the same person!

other royal divinations involved groups of thousands of people for military and economic tasks

bureaucratic approach to scapulamancy

regular placement of holes
cracks numbered
divinations paired in positive and negative forms
divinations dated and followed up with verification
certain bones and shells were reserved for repeated use on the same subject, up to 170 days apart, suggesting a filing system of some sort
bones are often found in neat stacks, as if they had been archived in tied bundles or resting on shelves

NOT associated with business or record-keeping (at least what is preserved is not)
nature of the Chinese writing system

some signs relatively pictographic
mostly logographic

similar sounding words could be indicated by the same symbol
ambiguities were resolved by adding determinatives, or clues to which of several possible words was meant
the earliest oracle bones already have half their symbols marked with a determinative

this suggests that the system was already well developed by that time
so we really may be missing the early part of the development sequence

generalizations about the Three Dynasties

subsistence

all millet farmers

based on textual evidence, Shang and Chou also used soybeans, wheat, some rice

all used dogs, pigs, cattle, sheep

NO notable functional change in technology from the Lung-shan horizon

no major irrigation projects
no plows

bronze: an exception, or not?

used primarily for ritual (vessels) and war (weapons, chariot parts, and tools to make chariots)
no significant quantity or use of bronze tools for agriculture or other purposes
sophisticated bronze casting for ritual vessels, using piece molds

these vessels were highly decorated versions of otherwise identical ceramic forms
mostly used for holding, heating, and serving alcoholic drinks

capitals

not dense urban settlements, but rather networks of high and low status residential areas, administrative and ritual areas, workshop areas, cemeteries, etc.
rammed earth walls
high-status buildings on raised rammed-earth platforms, with timber posts on stone foundations
sunken, wattle-and-daub low-status housing

warfare

Early Shang capital of Cheng-chou was walled
chariots in Shang and Chou
written evidence of warring kuo

continuity of clan organization from Lung-shan horizon and earlier

based on inscriptions, layout of cemeteries, emblems on vessels in graves
i.e. rank was based on ancestry?

burial practices: extreme stratification
power of the elite

tremendous control of labor and resources
apparent control of life and death, as well
apparently had a monopoly on shamanistic paraphernalia

jades with animal faces (like ts'ung tubes) associated with shamanic powers
oracle bones (and turtle shells in Shang and Chou)
in historical documents, the power of rulers was attributed to their control of bronzes

necessary for weapons
but also for ritual
possession of "the nine bronze tripods" was necessary to rule in Chou Dynasty, maybe something similar was true in earlier Shang times?

this would have given the elite control of supernatural matters, and legitimacy as rulers

elites could have arisen from ritual specialists
or could have employed them

When would you first call it "civilization"?

Regional Neolithic?
Lung-shan horizon?
Ehr-li-t'ou / Hsia?
Early Shang? Late Shang?

In what ways was complex society in China similar to, and different from, the other cases we have looked at?
In what ways might the processes that led to it have been similar to the other cases we have look at, and in what ways different?

roles of urbanism; ritual; warfare
origin and nature of elites
nature and purposes of monumental structures
nature and role of clan (descent group) organization