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News: Ancient cities discovered in Yangtze Valley
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Submitted by vicky on Sunday, 03 August 2003 Page Views: 3610
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 Country: China Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
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  China's Yangtze River was once home to an ancient civilisation, just as the Nile, the Tigris-Euphrates and the Indus rivers were, according to new archaeological research. A series of 13 walled towns and cities have so far been discovered. Dating from around 3000BC these ancient urban centres - excavated by Chinese and Japanese archaeological teams over the past decade - appear to have had populations of up to 10,000.
The largest cities had up to three miles of defensive walls. The discoveries show that exactly the same process of urbanisation and state formation was taking place in China in the same river valley environment and in roughly the same period that similar developments were occurring in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.
Like the earliest phases of the other great riverine civilisations, the newly discovered Yangtze civilisation belonged to the neolithic period - substantially prior to the development in China of metal technology.
The culture that gave rise to these first Chinese towns had its origins in around 7000BC, when the first villages started appearing on the banks of the Yangtze. Indeed the Yangtze area was one of the first in the world to produce pottery - an amazing 13,000 years ago.
Archaeological investigations have so far revealed the sites of nine ancient towns in the Middle Yangtze Valley between Wuhan and Jiangling, and four in the Upper Yangtze near Chendu.
The excavations - carried out by the local Hubei Province Archaeological Institute and other Chinese and Japanese archaeological units - have been revealing evidence of the Yangtze Valley civilisation's culture. Stone weapons and sickles have been unearthed as well as jade statuettes of humans, birds and animals. Beautiful pottery with geometric designs is also being found. The three biggest urban sites each cover up to 2,250 acres.
The archaeological discoveries, revealed in the current issue of BBC History Magazine, show that the Yangtze Valley civilisation lasted for 500 years and collapsed as a result of climatic and environmental problems and warfare.
It is not clear who the people were who created China's first civilisation. They may have been related ethnically to Malays, Burmese or Tibetans, and were probably pushed south as peoples from further north invaded the Yangtze Valley.
According to one leading authority on Yangtze Valley archaeology, Professor Kazuo Miyamoto of Japan's Kyushu University, the discoveries are "transforming the academic world's understanding of early China".
Source: The Independent 03/08/2003
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| "Ancient cities discovered in Yangtze Valley" | Login/Create an Account | 6 comments |
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Re: Ancient cities discovered in Yangtze Valley (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Thursday, 11 January 2007 | | This place needs better maps.. im gonna fail history if i cant find everything i need for the map! | [ Reply to This ]
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When was Chinese civilization born? (Score: 1)
by coldrum on Tuesday, 22 May 2007
(User Info | Send a Message) | When was Chinese civilization born?
The origin and formation of Chinese civilization has always been a topic of wide discussion. The Chinese word "long" is an important symbol of Chinese civilization. Wherever there are Chinese communities, there is a "long" history. A sacred symbol of the nation, the Chinese word "long" is completely different from the West's interpretation, "dragon". Long ago a foreign missionary translated "long" into "dragon" by mistake. That mistake has been repeated for 300 years. Now, because of this mistake, some people have proposed abandoning the dragon as the symbol of Chinese civilization and replacing it with a new one." To consider this, we need to probe the origin and formation of the dragon culture and give a historical, scientific, cultural explanation of it.
The dragon culture was born at almost the same time as Chinese civilization. During the third meeting of the 5th Session of the 10th CPPCC National Committee held on March 11, I made a speech on the "Proposal on the project of identifying the origin of the Chinese civilization and studying the birth of the dragon culture". In addition to studying the 5,000 years of Chinese history, China also needs to study the origins of the Chinese civilization.
Scholars generally acknowledge that the origins of the Chinese civilization are diverse. Ancient relics and ruins discovered over the years support scholars' theories. In 2006, the Archaeological Institute of Gansu issued a "Report on the Excavation of Dadiwan Relic Site from the Neolithic Age in Qin'an County," in which it confirmed that Dadiwan culture, an advanced culture from the Neolithic Age, existed in the Dadiwan region at Qin'an County, Gansu province, between 8000 and 5000 years ago. A legend handed down from generation to generation for several thousand years tells that the founder of the Chinese civilization is Taihao Fuxi, a legendary god in ancient Chinese mythology. Fuxi ¡®lived' between 8000 and 7000 years ago, 2000 years earlier than the Yan Emperor and Huang Emperor. ¡®Alive' during the late matriarchal society and early patriarchal society in the Dadiwan area, he is a historic figure representing the beginning of a prosperous era and a great culture. Records in many ancient books also provide evidence of the Fuxi culture.
Fuxi culture and Dadiwan culture overlapped in both time and space. This is unlikely to be a coincidence ¨C it appears the cultures originated from the same ancient civilization.
Looking into the records on the Fuxi and Dadiwan cultures, it is clear there is a strong dragon culture. Images of an ancient dragon have been found on pottery unearthed at the Dadiwan site. Historians say Fuxi people established social administrative organs (nine divisions and six sub-divisions) and named them "long divisions" (dragon divisions). Each "long division" had a unique totem. Obviously, the dragon culture was created by the Fuxi civilization, which is the root of the profound and mystic Chinese civilization.
To study the origins of the Chinese civilization and dragon culture, we need to pay equal attention to the Fuxi and Dadiwan cultures and adopt new research concepts and methods.
Firstly, we should establish a culture-oriented concept of historical research. Culture is the heart of history; history is a record of cultural heritage and development. No matter how a country and a nation change, its culture remains unique and persistent. Culture is handed down from generation to generation, carrying the tradition and spirit of the nation with it. A nation with a strong sense of national identity and self-consciousness is unlikely to be alienated or conquered. Therefore, historians should focus on the origin and evolution of culture at every stage in history, as well as the influence on culture on history.
Secondly, we should use new methods to identify historical materials. Historians should pay equal attention to historical records, artifac
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Re: When was Chinese civilization born? (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Monday, 15 October 2007 | | Archeological escavation around Qinghai Lake NE Tibetan plateau indicate occupation circa 9000BCE by hunter groups turned pastoral shepards, near headwaters for Yellow and Yangtze Rivrs | [ Reply to This ]
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New discovery of Neolithic jade culture in China (Score: 1)
by coldrum on Thursday, 18 June 2009
(User Info | Send a Message) | New discovery of Neolithic jade culture in China
Zhejiang province is famous for its Liangzhu culture, the last neolithic jade culture of Yangtze River Delta of China. And now more ancient jade vessels dating back five thousand years have been found in the cities of Haining and Xiaoshan.
It's the deepest tomb ever found in Zhejiang province. Located near Haining, tomb number 5 is 3.3 meters long from north to south and nearly half a meter across, east to west.
Fang Xiangming, research of Zhejiang Archaeology Research Institute said, "It's rare to find such a large and well-preserved tomb. The depth of the NO.5 tomb is 1.1 meters. It's the deepest tomb found in the Jiaxing area. It's a big discovery judging by the tomb's size and the rich variety of the antiques found in it."
A piece of jade "Yue", a kind of ancient weapon in China, reveals the noble identity of tomb number one's owner. He may have been the head of a tribe whose members were under his control.
Also in Zhejiang province, antiques dating back to the Shang and Zhou dynasties about 5,000 years ago have been discovered in Xiaoshan. The site is near Mianquan Mountain on the Puyang River. It's also where some precious ancient pieces of porcelain were found in two thousand and seven and eight. The exact age of these findings still needs to be confirmed. An archeological team is now carrying out excavation work there for the next two months.
http://english.cctv.com/20090612/101414.shtml | [ Reply to This ]
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