On June 15–16, archaeologists from home and abroad gathered at Zhengzhou University in Zhengzhou, central China’s Henan Province, for an international symposium on “Archaeology and Chinese Civilization,” as they interpreted the formation and development of early human civilizations from different dimensions and contributed insights to studies of Chinese civilization.

Early civilizations

Scholars’ in-depth discussions focused on key civilizational elements such as important sites, tombs, and artifacts, exploring domains like technology, the economy, politics, and religious thought. Edward Swenson, director of the Archaeology Centre at the University of Toronto in Canada, illustrated the pivotal role of sacrifice and cosmopolitics in shaping and disseminating early civilizations through a comparative analysis of the Yinxu Site in Anyang, Henan, and the Moche Ruins in South America.

The development of a writing system is a fundamental milestone in the progression of human societies into civilizations. Feng Shi, a Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, conducted an analysis of Chinese characters found on artifacts discovered from the Neolithic sites Taosi in Xiangfen, Shanxi Province, and Liulinxi in Zigui, Hubei. His research revealed that Chinese characters have a history of at least 7,000 years, providing solid philological evidence for the thesis that Chinese civilization has existed for at least 8,000 years.

Fang Hui, director of the Institute of Cultural Heritage at Shandong University, explained that “jizuo” (kneeling), a standard universal behavior originating from the Central Plains, emerged from the multifaceted interplay of the subsistence economy, living conditions, the designs of cooking vessels, and the integration of diverse human groups. This practice also represented a distinctive choice made by people in the Central Plains in response to social development.

Regional interactions

In recent years, excavations concerning the origins of Chinese civilization have been conducted extensively across the nation. Scholars have traced the development of regional civilization, examining the connections and interactions between different areas, and studying how the historical pattern centered around the Central Plains took shape.

Through excavations and research of early Yangshao Culture (5000–3000 BCE) sites, scholars have gained a profound understanding of the settlement patterns and social structures of that era. Ma Xiaolin, curator of the Henan Museum, emphasized major archaeological breakthroughs from the mid-to-late Yangshao Culture. Through systematic investigations into prehistoric population migration, and tombs and burial objects of key sites in the Central Plains, as well as settlement patterns and social structures of the mid- and late-Yangshao Culture, Ma was able to assert that this period was critical to the origins of Chinese civilization.

The first half of the third millennium BCE witnessed vibrant material exchanges among the Liangzhu Culture (3300–2300 BCE) in Zhejiang, Dawenkou Culture (4100–2600 BCE) in Shandong, and Qujialing Culture (3400–2600 BCE) in Hubei. Shinichi Nakamura, vice president of Kanazawa University in Japan, noticed that jade artifacts, lacquerware, and pottery, which symbolized the authority of the upper class, were transported over long distances across these regions. By observing relics unearthed from the Jinzhai Site in Xiaoxian County, Anhui, the Fuquanshan Site in Shanghai, and the Zoumaling Site in Shishou, Hubei, he conjectured that long-distance migration likely occurred in different directions from southeastern China. In the first half of the third millennium BCE, the Liangzhu site complex occupied a central position in the dissemination of civilizational elements in the southeastern part of China.

Yu Xiyun, deputy dean of the School of History at Wuhan University, studied the development of civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, using the Fenghuangzui Site in Xiangyang, Hubei, as an example. He noted that the Qujialing Culture appears to have spread widely to neighboring regions in its later stage, deeply penetrating the Central Plains in particular. Concurrently, a large Shijiahe city was established where the Tangjialing city once stood, at the southern foothill of the Dahongshan Mountain in the northern Jianghan Plain. By this time, cultures in different regions of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River had likely integrated into a vast regional state.

The symposium was co-hosted by Zhengzhou University and the Henan Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage.