A Settlement Landscape Reconstruction Approach Using GIS Analysis with Integrated Terrain Data of Land and Water: A Case Study of the Panlongcheng Site in the Shang Dynasty (Wuhan, China)

The landscape of ancient sites has changed greatly with the passage of time. Among all of the factors, human activities and the change in natural environment are the main factors leading to the change in site landscape. The Panlongcheng site, which is located in Hubei Province, China, has a history of 3500 years with the most abundant relics in the Yangtze River Basin during the Shang Dynasty. As a near-water site, the landscape of the Panlongcheng site is greatly affected by water level changes and water conservancy activities. In this paper, by using spatial information technology, the data obtained from land and underwater archaeological exploration were integrated to restore landscapes of Panlongcheng sites in different periods. After removing modern artificial features and topsoil, the landscapes of the sites before the Shang Dynasty, in the Shang Dynasty and modern time were reconstructed. Combining historical records of water level changes, the landscape and water–land distribution of the Panlongcheng site were compared. The analysis results reflect the interaction between water level changes and human activities in this region for thousands of years, and support the archaeological findings in the near-water area of the Panlongcheng site, which provides a new idea for the landscape reconstruction and analysis of near-water sites.

The excavation of a cache of lead ingots in Liujiazhuang Locus North of Yinxu, Anyang, Henan

In August 2015, an earthen cache pit of lead ingots was discovered to the northwest of Liujiazhuang Village within the Yinxu site. The round pit yielded an assemblage of 293 lead ingots weighed 3404kg. The ingots are shaped like turtle shells with broader fronts and narrower rears. Their full length measured from 10cm to 70cm. Lead was an important element in the bronze metallurgy of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. The excavation of the cache of lead ingots is significant to the studies of the scale, technology, organization, and management of the bronze-casting industry of the Shang dynasty.

Bulls for sacrifice, cows for work? Morphometric models suggest that female cattle were used for traction in the Chinese Bronze Age Late Shang dynasty (ca. 1300–1046 BCE)

Training animals to pull agricultural equipment and wheeled transport significantly shaped and advanced human economic systems. In this context the use of large domestic animals such as cattle was a milestone event in human history, part of what Sherratt memorably termed the Secondary Products Revolution: the use of the products of live animals such as milk, wool and traction power. It is commonly assumed that male cattle were generally preferred for traction because of their greater strength compared with females, and the importance of the latter for breeding and, in some societies, for milk and for dairy products, but surprisingly little is known of this aspect of the Secondary Products Revolution in prehistoric China. Here we apply established morphometric models to 10 assemblages of cattle bones from Chinese Bronze Age (ca. 2000–221 BCE) contexts. Our results indicate a process of intensified cattle labour exploitation at this time and, intriguingly, we also observe the earliest labour employment of female cattle during the Late Shang dynasty (ca. 1300–1046 BCE). It is proposed that female cattle may have been required for traction because of the large numbers of male cattle, especially bulls, that were sent for ritual sacrifice. Such a strategy reveals a sophisticated social management, upon which the Late Shang civilisation eventually developed.

14C DATING OF THE ERLITOU SITE

ABSTRACT This article outlines the research progress on radiocarbon (14C) dating of the Erlitou site. The Erlitou site, belonging to the Bronze Age, located in Yanshi, Henan province, China, was discovered by archaeologists in 1959 when they investigated the Xia people’s remains in the area where the Xia people lived according to the records of ancient documents. Since then, there has been a standing debate about whether the site belongs to the Xia or Shang dynasty. By the mid-1990s, several hundred discussion articles on the issue had been published, but the question was still unresolved. Therefore, evidence from the chronology has attracted a great amount of attention. The dating of the Erlitou site began in the 1970s, and since the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project began in the mid-1990s, by application of wiggle-matching on the basis of improving the dating accuracy, the date of the Erlitou site has gradually become clear, which provides a basis for the archaeological research on the Xia and Shang dynasties.

Estudio sobre los términos de la cónyuge femenina en la dinastía Shang (ca. 1600 a.C. – 1046 a.C.)

[Sinologia Hispanica, China Studies Review, 11, 2 (2020), pp. 79-100] Kinship is one of the most basic principles of society, based on marriage and blood, and as we all know, the kinship system in Chinese is the most complicated of the known languages, but the Shang Dynasty system (ca 1600 BC - 1046 BC) was very different from those of later generations and today. The Inscriptions on Shell and Bones is an important first-hand corpus to get closer to the Shang dynasty. Among the plates recovered, on the terms related to the meaning of “spouse”, find: 𥇛 (jū), 妻 (qī), 妾 (qiè), 妃 (fēi), 匕 (妣) (bǐ), 母 (mǔ), 帚 (妇) (fù), etc., most of which are still used during later generations, but it seems that their meaning is not exactly the same as later generations, even the meaning of some words is very different. Through the study of these terms of female spouses, in addition to being able to better understand the kinship system during that period of the shangs, we can also better understand the family and social status of women in that dynasty.

商武丁时期的“示屯”关系（约前1250—前1222） The Relations of “shi tun” (示屯) during the Reign of Wu-Ding of Shang (≈1250 B.C. - 1222 B.C.)

[Sinologia Hispanica, China Studies Review,8, 1 (2019), pp. 39-62] In Annals of Spring and Autumn it is stated that: “State affairs are worship and military affairs.” The inscriptions on turtle shells and bones are records of the escapulimancia during the Shang dynasty (≈1600 BC - 1046 BC), and that covers all aspects of life and society. The “tun” (屯) is a unit of measurement used for the turtle shells and bones of the oracle during the Shang dynasty. A shell or a bone is “a pian (丿)”, and a pair is “a tun (屯)”. “Shi tun” (示屯) refers to the “offering of shells and prepared bones”, is one of the important sources of oracular bones. The organization and analysis of reception records in those bones allow us to get to know this dynasty of more than 3,000 years ago from a new perspective. In addition, we can also understand the social status of taxpayers and signatories, through comparisons with the content of otheroracular bones.

The Impact of Ancient Landscape Changes on the City Arrangement of the Early Shang Dynasty Capital Zhengzhou, Central China

Buried underneath modern Zhengzhou city in Henan Province, China, lies the archeological remains of one of the ancient capital cities of the Shang dynasty (1766 – 1122 BCE). Although it is likely that people planned this Shang capital city according to the demands of the surrounding environment, there is no clear relationship between the current environment, such as the hydrology and topography, and the ancient city’s layout. To better understand the relationship between planning principles used during the Shang dynasty and the nearby environment at Zhengzhou, we measured and sampled stratigraphic exposures at excavation locations throughout Zhengzhou. Through these excavations we obtained both absolute and relative chronological data from each culture layer, enabling us to use geospatial interpolation and analysis methods to reconstruct the ancient landscape. The results show that ancient city’s different activity areas had a close relationship with their environmental context. For example, the Shang dynasty palace was located on high ground and workshops were located down below along the courses of ancient rivers. In conclusion, we argue that research that merges geomorphology and archeology is a necessary prerequisite for understanding the development of urban areas.

FROM THE HISTORY OF THE FORMATION OF THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY OF PAINTING IN CHINA

Court painting in China has evolved over the millennia. With the advent of each new dynasty, the artistic institution at the emperor's court changed its location and name, and so did the status of artists. Fine art and its genre content depended entirely on the emperors' preferences. This article attempts to present a holistic picture of the reformation of the artistic structure at the imperial court at different historical stages, from the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC) to the reign of the Qing dynasty (1616–1911). The work presents the artistic structure of China and identifies its leading representatives at each stage of development. The first information about the Imperial Academy of Painting dates back to the period of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC – 25 AD), when the Shangfang Department was mentioned. During the last Qing dynasty, the court structure of painting was a complex mechanism, with artists working in the Art Department (Huayuanchu), the Ruiguan and Qixiangong workshops.