China - History

Question 1

Archaeology in China

Answer 1

• The practice of archaeology in China has been rooted in modern Chinese history. The intellectual and political reformers of the 1920s challenged the historicity of the legendary inventors of Chinese culture, such as Shennong, the Divine Farmer, and Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor.

Question 2

Early humans

Answer 2

• considerable evidence of Homo erectus by the time of the Lower Paleolithic (the Paleolithic Period
• Significant Homo sapiens cranial and dental fragments have been found together with Middle Paleolithic artifacts.
• A number of widely distributed H. erectus sites dating from about 1.8 million years ago during the early Pleistocene Epoch manifest considerable regional and temporal diversity

Question 3

Neolithic Period

Answer 3

• complex of developments in stone tool technology, food production and storage, and social organization that is often characterized as the “Neolithic Revolution” was in progress in China by at least the 6th millennium bce
• temperatures in Neolithic China were probably some 4 to 7 °F (2 to 4 °C) warmer than they are today
• he primary Neolithic crops, domesticated by the 5th millennium bce, were drought-resistant millet
• By the Bronze Age, millet, rice, soybeans, tea, mulberries, hemp, and lacquer had become characteristic Chinese crops
• stone tools used to clear and prepare the land reveal generally improving technology
• Study of the historical reduction of the size of human teeth suggests that the first human beings to eat cooked food did so in southern China.
• By the 3rd millennium bce the regional cultures in the areas discussed above showed increased signs of interaction and even convergence. That they are frequently referred to as varieties of the Longshan culture (c. 2500–2000 bce) of east-central Shandong
• Although there is no firm archaeological evidence of a shift from matrilineal to patrilineal society, the goods buried in graves indicate during the course of the 4th and 3rd millennia an increase in general wealth, the gradual emergence of private or lineage property, an increase in social differentiation and gender distinction of work roles, and a reduction in the relative wealth of women.