scholarly journals RADIOCARBON DATING OF ORACLE BONES OF LATE SHANG PERIOD IN ANCIENT CHINA

Radiocarbon ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kexin Liu ◽  
Xiaohong Wu ◽  
Zhiyu Guo ◽  
Sixun Yuan ◽  
Xingfang Ding ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Writing System ◽  
Shang Dynasty ◽  
Ancient China ◽  
Sequential Samples ◽  
Oracle Bones

ABSTRACT Oracle bone script developed into a sophisticated writing system in Shang Dynasty of China more than 3000 years ago. The systematic scientific dating of oracle bones had not been previously reported. Here we present radiocarbon (14C) dates measured from the sequential samples of oracle bones that pertain to the Shang kings. The results indicate that King Wu Ding (who is called Wu Ting in some literature) reigned during 1254 BC to 1197 BC, and the Shang Dynasty terminated around 1041 BC. It also points that the Li group in the sequence of oracle bones is most probably related to the time of King Wu Ding and Zu Geng.

scholarly journals Removal of Contaminants from Oracle Bones During Sample Pretreatment

Radiocarbon ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sixun Yuan ◽  
Xiaohong Wu ◽  
Kexin Liu ◽  
Zhiyu Guo ◽  
Xiaolin Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Solvents ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Sample Pretreatment ◽  
Shang Dynasty ◽  
Royal Family ◽  
Purification Method ◽  
Chemical Reagents ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Removal Of Contaminants ◽  
Oracle Bones

Animal bones and tortoise shells were used for divination by the Chinese royal family during the Shang Dynasty (∼16th–11th century BC), and the divination results were recorded as inscriptions on oracle bones and shells, which are very valuable cultural remains and record many important events in the Shang Dynasty period. Thus, radiocarbon dating of oracle bones was used to build a precise chronology of the late Shang Dynasty. Due to their original burial conditions and the fact that in subsequent decades the pieces were traded or archived in museums, oracle bones are expected to be contaminated with exogenous materials from the environment and the conservation process. During dating, we found that some samples were contaminated by conservation chemical reagents. The contaminated samples were purified by removing exogenous chemicals with a series of organic solvents, in a method modified from Bruhn et al. (2001). Both whole bone and gelatin samples were processed with this purification method, resulting in satisfactory improvements in dating results.

scholarly journals RADIOCARBON DATING OF ORACLE BONES OF LATE SHANG PERIOD IN ANCIENT CHINA – ADDENDUM

Radiocarbon ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
Kexin Liu ◽  
Xiaohong Wu ◽  
Zhiyu Guo ◽  
Sixun Yuan ◽  
Xingfang Ding ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Ancient China ◽  
Oracle Bones

City drainage in ancient China

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 753-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Du ◽  
X. Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Drainage System ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Shang Dynasty ◽  
Ancient China ◽  
Ancient City ◽  
Northern Song ◽  
City Water ◽  
Planning And Construction

This paper gives an overview of the evolution of city drainage in ancient China, and analyzes the achievement of drainage of such cities as Pingliangtai in Henan province, Xibo of Shang Dynasty, Linzi, the capital of the State of Qi, Chang'an, the capital of Han and Tang Dynasties, Kaifeng, the Eastern Capital of Northern Song Dynasty, Ganzhou, Dadu, the capital of Yuan Dynasty; and Beijing, the capital of Ming and Qing Dynasties. This paper also sums up the characteristics and the management experiences of the drainage facilities of ancient Chinese cities, including drainage system management methods, rules and laws about drainage in different eras, and overall principles of ancient city water systems. At present, most major cities in China are facing issues relating to drainage systems and city water systems. These cities are often bothered by floods and other water-related problems. Learning from the ancestors' experience would be important and necessary for modern planners and decision makers. Therefore this paper may be used for reference in modern city planning and construction.

The myth of the Xia Dynasty

1984 ◽  
Vol 116 (2) ◽  
pp. 242-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Allan
Keyword(s):  
Shang Dynasty ◽  
Archaeological Excavation ◽  
The West ◽  
Nineteen Thirties ◽  
Chinese Historiography ◽  
Oracle Bones

Was there a Xia Dynasty? By the mid-nineteen thirties, the works of Henri Maspero and other scholars in the West and of Gu Jiegangand his compatriots in China had clearly established the originally mythological character ofthe founder of the Xia Dynasty (traditionally ca. 2200–1760 B.C.) and of the rulers who preceded him in traditional Chinese historiography. The excavations near Anyang of late Shang palaces, tombs and inscribed oracle bones had also established the authenticity of the Shang Dynasty which followed the Xia, or at least of the latter part of it. In 1936, Chen Mengjiapublished an article in which he related the Xia king list to the Shang and argued that the two periods were the same. For the next forty years, the question of the authenticity of the Xia was left largely in abeyance although most scholars did continue to assume that the Xia Dynasty, which was hereditary like the Shang, would some day be authenticated by archaeological excavation.

HAIL TO THE KING: A REVIEW OF TWO BOOKS BY DAVID N. KEIGHTLEY

Early China ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 567-573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Fiskesjö
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Doctoral Dissertation ◽  
Forced Labor ◽  
Columbia University ◽  
Shang Dynasty ◽  
Ancient China ◽  
Public Work ◽  
Ancestral Landscape ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Looking Back

Twelve years after Professor Keightley published The Ancestral Landscape, which was a fascinating, elegant summary of decades of investigations of the Bronze-Age Late Shang dynasty, he has now published another wonderful book on the same era, under the title Working for His Majesty. As the title suggests, and as he recounts in a highly personal preface looking back at the origins of this work, he returns in this book to the topic of his doctoral dissertation on Shang labor (Public Work in Ancient China: A Study of Forced Labor in the Shang and Western Chou, Columbia University, 1969).

Headhunting in ancient China: the history of violence and denial of knowledge

2018 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Milburn
Keyword(s):  
Han Dynasty ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Ancient China ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Violence ◽  
Oracle Bones ◽  
Chinese Texts ◽  
Enemy Combatant ◽  
The Way ◽  
Ancient Texts

AbstractHeadhunting has a long and well-documented history in China, but most people are today unaware of this practice, first recorded in Shang oracle bones and regularly mentioned in ancient Chinese texts until the Han dynasty. This ignorance is because headhunting subsequently came to be seen as a barbaric practice and knowledge concerning its long history was destroyed: this was achieved by inventing a new character, guo 聝, which means “to cut the ear of a dead enemy combatant” and using this to replace (and thus confuse meanings with) an older character guo 馘, which refers specifically to headhunting. Ancient texts in which headhunting practices are documented have been misunderstood and misrepresented by imperial era scholars to prevent anyone from seeing that ancient China was a headhunting culture. This study shows how dominant cultural norms can impact on the way in which texts are read.

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