THE YELLOW RIVER

VALLEY
The Neolithic Age; the Shang and
Zhou Dynasty
OLD STONE AGE
( PALEOLITHIC, ca. 500,000-ca. 5000 B.C)
Ancient humans appeared in China in the Paleolithic
Age.
They used roughly broken stone as tools and
weapons; they hunted and fishes but did not farm or
make pottery, weave cloth or built houses.
Since the discovery of Peking man (the name given
to the first ancient human remains to be discovered
in China, found in the Zhou Koudian Cave, near
Peking now Beijing)
Lan Tien man was an earlier relative discovered in
1963, and somewhat later and more highly evolved
form of human was discovered in Anhui Province in
1982.
The old Stone Age a period in which mere survival
probably consumed all of the time and efforts of
these ancient peoples.
There was no time for embellishment; there was
scarcely time to maintain adequate protection from
enemies and to hunt food.
Modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) appeared around
twenty-five thousand years ago.
NEW STONE AGE
( PALEOLITHIC, ca. 5000-1600 B.C )

China’s ancient tradition reports that the first

dynasty was that of Xia. Chinese archeologist place
the time of Xia dynasty between 2100 and 1600
B.C. Some Chinese archeologists tend to believed
that the site of Erlitou ( which will be further
discussed under the Shang dynasty, successor to
the Xia ), was probably capital of the Xia dynasty as
well. In any event, it seems likely that one or
another of the Neolithic cultures will eventually be
identified as that of the Xia people.
Particularly in the West, the very existence
of the Xia dynasty is questioned by some
scholars. But it should be remembered that
this same skepticism was characteristic of
Westerner’s views of the Shang dynasty
until the excavation of Anyang corroborated
the tradition evidence.
In the third decade of the twentieth century
Western scholars finally accepted the Shang
dynasty as a fact.
 The Chinese have traditionally called their country the
Middle Kingdom. This concept may have arisen during
the Neolithic Age, perhaps at the time of Xia dynasty.
One of the most distinguishing and enduring
characteristics of the Chinese people as a cultural entity
has been the sense of a need to protect themselves from
outsiders.
Xia was the epoch of the great emperors of legend.
Later Chinese looked back with admiration and gratitude.
The inhabitants of Xia communities lived in small hunts
with a central hearth and a smoke-hole in the roof. As
time went on, the buildings became more substantial.
 Neolithic architecture

Neolithic houses were

simple but sufficient The
houses were small and
the floors were usually
sunk into the earth from
three to six feet;
House plans varied from
round to rectangular
 The people were settled
farmers who supplemented
their food supply by hunting
with bows and arrows and
by fishing.
They preferred the harder
stones such as jade
because of their superiority
in holding an edge.
NEOLITHIC POTTERY
Neolithic Age produced stone well-made and
handsomely designed pottery vessels.

They are of three basic types :

1.painted, with designs in red, black, and
sometimes white, on a rust or buff-colored ware;
– black, burnished, but unpainted; and
3. Gray corded, neither painted nor burnished ware,
while the gray corded pottery followed it.
THE PAINTED POTTERY CULTURE

The people who made painted pottery lived

in the valley of the Yellow River and its
tributaries, that is, in North China Gansu
Province in the west to shandong province
in the east.
Common characteristics
Since painted pottery was discovered at Yangshao
village in Henan province,
Yangshao has remained as a general term for all
the painted pottery cultures.
It is handmade without a potter’s wheel, and the
designs were painted in mineral colors, which were
made durable when the pots were fired bonfires.
The porosity of the vessel walls automatically
regulated the temperature and humidity of the
contents through heat ang humidity exchange with
the outside air.
Cemetery vessels
Painted vessels found in the
cemetery sites of the
Banshan hills of Gansu
Province are considered the
finest examples of such
pottery. Although they
similar in shape, with a small
base wide, rounded
shoulders,
These jar were placed in
shadow graves, where they
held food for the dead.
Pottery Shapes
a. Yangshao painted
pottery from Banpo
village.

It is likely that a small

woven reed or split
bamboo mats was used
as a upon which to begin
the coiled clay pot.
Black Burnished Pottery (ca. 2500 B.C- into
the Bronze Age; terminus uncertain )

Major sites of excavation of

Black burnished pottery.
Longshan pottery is different
from the earlier painted
pottery as cultures.
Xia dynasty ( ca. 2100-1600 B.C. )

The forms and techniques

began to change radically
from flat bottomed, thick-
walled simple jars and
bowls.
The handle is on an axis
with the spout. Spout,
handle, and three feet are
characteristic of the jue of
the succeeding Bronze Age.
Gray corded pottery ( before ca. 5000 B.C.-
Shang Dynasty or later )
This pattern result from
beating the surface with
cord-covered. Two
technical feutures
distinguish this pottery
from the earlier
categories:
Its surface is rough
because the clay is
sandy.
THE BRONZE AGE IN CHINA
The Shang and Zhou Dynasties
THE SHANG DYNASTY
(ca. SEVENTEENTH-ELEVENTH
CENTURY B.C)

The Shang was one of the several

coexisting groups in ancient china.
Erlitou may have been the site of the first
Shang capital.
Early shang (ca. seventeenth-
fifteenth century B.C.)
The earliest bronze vessels thus far discovered in china
have come from the erlitou culture, so that it is possible that
bronze was an invention not of the Shang ( which has been
the prevalent view for view for over fifty years ) but of the
Xia people. Four phases of occupation have been identified
at Erlitou. The first two may have been within the Neolithic
Age. The third and fourth phases contained elements of
culture that relate to the Shang cultural phase.
Erlitou was a walled city walled city with a large central
building on a raised base of rammed earth.
 Erlitou Model of palace. Luoyang municipal
museum

This must have been a major structure and is referred to as

the palace, although archeologists point out there is no
specific evidence, other than size, to support this
designation.
Centralized Power
The Centralized Power, walled cities, architectural types,
and unbridgeable social and political abyss between the
rulers and the ruled were all present.
Centralization of Power made possible the conscription and
maintenance of the large work force required in mining and
smelting the ore,
The benefits of the new age were reserve executively for
the rulers and their relatives. The land, The technology and
the all workers all belonged to the rulers.
The mass of people continued living in the Stone Age life-
style, even while using the most advanced technology their
world had ever seen to produced objects of precious
bronze.
Use of Metal Objects
The Discovery that metal could be worked into useful
products was made in China, probably just preceding 2000
B.C. Future excavation will probably reveal earlier
examples than those thus far known from Erlitou, which are
the oldest yet discovered.
One type has three legs, and handle, and a spout.
Perhaps it was used to produce a trancelike state for the
king or his shaman (religio-magical practitioner who
fulfilled a role very similar to that of the medicine man in
native American cultures), making it possible to contact the
spirit world.
Bronze Technology
Shang bronze vessels were cast by the piece-mold
method.
These earliest bronze vessels are the most thinly cast; they
are also the smallest. Their discovery has led to a
reassessment of the evolution of bronze technology in
China. Thus, while these earliest pieces may be neither
dramatic nor especially attractive, they have caused a flurry
of excitement among scholarly disciplines.
The bronzes derived their functions from the earlier pottery
cultures.
 Burial Practices
In 1974 three test pits were dug in the palace area.
From them two bronze vessels, three weapons,
and four circular metal discs were recovered.
The vessels are three-legged and have handles set at
ninety degrees to a narrow spout. At the possible side the
lip is a point
Jue ceremonial vessels
Early Shang dynasty
(ca. 17th century B.C.)
H. 10 1/8”
 Rectangular cauldron
(fang ding).
Middle Shang ( 5th century B.C.)
H. 39 ½ “ Weight 181 ½ lb.
These vessels were usually round with three legs, but this
is a four-cornered version an it is called a fang (square)
ding.
The simple designs were cut and pressed into the interior
of the clay mold so that they would come out in relief on the
finished bronze vessels.

Only two simple tools were used:

1. a blunted round point
2. Needlelike point

This is the largest bronze of the Middle Shang period so

far discovered. It was found in 1974 at Zhengzhou.
Zun. Bronze.
Late Shang
H.14”
These tomb chambers held the coffin,
and around it were arranged the large
quantities of grave goods the deceased
would need in the next life. Not only
various useful and ritual objects but also
clothes and food as well as slaves, and
sometimes even relatives, were buried
with a high-ranking noble.
 Surviving Objects
A great many objects of the Shang dynasty were to delicate
to survive the rigors of time. Metal and stone objects are
better preserved than fragile materials such as wood and
cloth. However, we know that Shang used silk and that at
least the ceremonial buildings and the great tomb
chambers were of wood construction.
The bronze vessels that preserve for us the high style of
the Shang dynasty, but there were many other objects of
bronze as well; implements and weapons as well chariot
fittings and other paraphernalia of both ceremony and wall.
 Dagger-axe
Ivory-color jade
Shang
The Early Shang vessels from Erlitou are
small, thin, and minimally decorated.

The Middle Shang bronzes from Zhengzhou

are larger and thus exhibit larger areas of
design, but most of the surface of these
pieces are without surface designs.
Zun, in form of owl. Bronze
Late Shang
Zun, wine vessels in shape of bird. Bronze.
Late Shang dynasty
H. 18 ½ “
Detail of Gui Bronze
THE ZHOU DYNASTY
The Chinese conceder the Zhou dynasty
their classical age. I
It was the longest dynasty in their history.
During this era elements of the preceding
Neolithic and Shang cultures were refined,
while some new concepts were added that,
taken together, formed the fundamentals of
Chinese civilization.
 Gui. Bronze
Early Zhou (eleventh century B.C.)
H. 9 1/8 “
 Gui. Bronze
Early Zhou
(tenth century B.C.)
H. 8 ¼”
Ding. Bronze; silver inlay
Jin Cun style
Late Zhou
Ding. Bronze.
Liyou style
Late Zhou
Hu. Bronze.
H. 47”