Loess, Stone and City：Loess Plateau in the 3rd millennium BC

Sammy Lee Seminar

Lushanmao Site, Yanan

Friday, November 19, 2021
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Live via Zoom

Register for Zoom link here

This graduate seminar will be delivered in Mandarin. English interpretation will be provided by Prof. Li Min.

Loess, Stone and City：Loess Plateau in the 3rd millennium BC

Around 2300 BC, Shimao emerged as the center of a new and overarching political tradition in the northern loess plateau. At roughly the same time, the rise of Lushanmao（approximately 2 sq. km）marked the formation of a regional political center at the southern end of the plateau, possibly as Shimao’s rival. Taosi played a key role in the changing configuration of political landscape in the highlands during the second half of the third millennium BC. Besides their difference in architectural traditions, one using stone construction and another rammed earth, the two prehistoric urban centers of Shimao and Taosi displayed similarity in ceramic assemblage, urban layout, construction technique, jade assemblage, polychrome décor, ritual violence, and metallurgy, which cannot be explained simply with terms of competition or consecutive development. Construction of large-scale public structures and palace buildings with rammed earth and stone has become the architectural tradition of the southern and northern loess plateau, which has profoundly impact on the regional social structure and political tradition. Around 2000 BC, the political groups active in the loess plateau appear to include the northern polity centered at Shimao, the central polity centered at Lushanmao, and the Taosi polity in the south with close ties with Shimao, which developed in tandem with the Xia polity from the Central Plains. Together, these regional powers maintained their own cultural traditions and developmental trajectories at the turn of the second millennium BC, which contributed to the emergence of a political landscape with numerous competing powers at the dawn of Bronze Age China. 

黄土、石头与城：公元前第三千纪的晋陕高原
孙周勇 （陕西省考古研究院 研究员）

公元前2300年前后，晋陕高原北端以石峁城址为核心 “大一统”的政治格局形成。大致与此同时，晋陕高原南端面积超过200万平方米的芦山峁遗址的出现，宣告了晋陕高原南端区域政体中心的形成，代表了活跃在黄土高原腹地一支与石峁集团势均力敌的族群。
探讨公元前第三千后半叶晋陕高原的区域格局，陶寺遗址是不容回避且难以绕开的。陶寺与石峁这两大都邑性遗址，除了在“因地制宜，就地取材”原则下城址建设中夯筑与石筑传统的差异外，在典型器物、筑城规划、城址结构、夯筑技术、用玉制度、彩绘暴力、铸铜技术等方面更多展示了千丝万缕的关系，而这种关系可能远非承前启后、敌我对峙等简单认识能够概括的。
以黄土与石料为原材料构筑大型公共设施及宫室建筑成为晋陕高原南、北两端的建筑传统，深刻影响了区域政体的社会形态乃至治理体系。公元前两千年前后，活跃在晋陕高原这一区域的主要社会集团最少包括了以石峁为核心北方集团、以芦山峁为核心的中部集团及与石峁集团密切的陶寺集团，在一定时期内与夏集团鼎足而立，保持着自己独立的文化传统与发展轨迹，构建了公元前2000年前后“万邦林立”的社会图景。

Dr. Sun Zhouyong studied Chinese archaeology at Xiamen University in 1991 and served as an archaeologist in Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology since 1995. He obtained his PhD from the University of Australia La Trobe with a scholarship offered by the ARC in 2007. He has been engaged in archaeological surveys and excavations for more than 50 projects. The Shimao Archaeology Project directed by Dr. Sun has made great contribution to the origin of the Chinese Early Civilization, and also was awarded the titles of "World Archaeological Discovery" and “Top Ten Archaeological Discovery in China in 2012 and 2018”. With a broad international perspective, Dr. Sun is committed to promoting the exchanges and cooperation between Shaanxi Archaeology and cultural institutions overseas.

Li Min, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology; Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, UCLA. His areas of interest include：Social archaeology and cultural history of continental East Asia focusing on emergence early civilizations in Neolithic and Bronze Age China. Historical anthropology, material culture, and conceptions of the past in early modern China. Landscape archaeology, integrating systematic survey, analysis of archaeological ceramics, remote sensing imagery, traditional studies of stone inscriptions and numismatics.

 

The First Neolithic Urban Center on China's Loess Plateau：Discovery and Interpretation of Shimao Site, Shaanxi, China

2021 Sammy Yukuan Lee Lecture

Outer Stone Wall - Shimao Site

Saturday, November 20, 2021
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Live via Zoom

This lecture will be delivered in Mandarin. English interpretation will be provided by Prof. Li Min.

Register for Zoom Link Here

The First Neolithic Urban Center on China's Loess Plateau：

Discovery and Interpretation of Shimao Site, Shaanxi, China
Zhouyong Sun

Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology, China

  The Shimao Site is located in the northern part of Loess Plateau, a region previously regarded as the frontier of Chinese civilization. The site had become well known due to large quantities of jade items uncovered there since 1970s. The recent archaeological surveys and excavations identified the Shimao site as the largest Neolithic stone walled settlement in China（>400 ha, ca. 2300-1800 cal. BCE）.
Shimao was composed of a central palatial terrace surrounded by two layers of stone enclosures. The settlement was built as a sophisticated defensive system, consisting of baffled gates, gate towers, bastions, and corner towers. Shimao was a regional political and ritual center, evidenced by the discoveries of human sacrifice performed prior to the construction of the fortification, large quantities of jades（some embedded in the stonewalls）, bronze metallurgy, a main gate decorated with polychrome murals, and walls furnished with anthropomorphic stone carvings.
The discovery of Shimao revealed a unique trajectory to urbanism in China. This once powerful kingdom centered at Shimao was completely unknown in ancient textual records. Its discovery therefore also raises challenges to reevaluate sociopolitical changes over a broader region on the eve of Chinese dynastic civilization.

Dr. Sun Zhouyong studied Chinese archaeology at Xiamen University in 1991 and served as an archaeologist in Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology since 1995. He obtained his PhD from the University of Australia La Trobe with a scholarship offered by the ARC in 2007. He has been engaged in archaeological surveys and excavations for more than 50 projects. The Shimao Archaeology Project directed by Dr. Sun has made great contribution to the origin of the Chinese Early Civilization, and also was awarded the titles of "World Archaeological Discovery" and “Top Ten Archaeological Discovery in China in 2012 and 2018”. With a broad international perspective, Dr. Sun is committed to promoting the exchanges and cooperation between Shaanxi Archaeology and cultural institutions overseas.

Li Min, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology; Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, UCLA. His areas of interest include：Social archaeology and cultural history of continental East Asia focusing on emergence early civilizations in Neolithic and Bronze Age China. Historical anthropology, material culture, and conceptions of the past in early modern China. Landscape archaeology, integrating systematic survey, analysis of archaeological ceramics, remote sensing imagery, traditional studies of stone inscriptions and numismatics.

About Sammy Lee Lecture Series
First presented in 1982 in celebration of his 80th birthday, the Sammy Yukuan Lee Lectures on Chinese Art and Archaeology honors the life and philanthropy of respected businessman, art collector, and Chinese art authority, Sammy Yukuan Lee. This series is presented annually by the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies with support from the Sammy Yukuan Lee Foundation.

Due to the COVID-19 health crisis, we have temporarily shifted the lecture series to an online Zoom-based platform for 2021. This year we are pleased to feature two renowned speakers in their respective fields, Hsueh-Man Shen（Ehrenkranz Associate Professor in World Art, NYU）and Dr. Zhouyong Sun（Shaanxi Province Academy of Archeology）. Each speaker will lead a graduate workshop and deliver a public lecture, with Professor Shen speaking on November 5-6, 2021 and Dr. Sun on November 19-20, 2021. All events are free and open to the public.

Sponsor（s）: Center for Chinese Studies