On October 30, Qin Ling, Associate Professor at the School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, delivered a lecture titled “Archaeological Research on Prehistoric Civilizations: A Methodological Example of the Liangzhu Culture.” This was the fourth lecture in the China Studies Lecture Series for the 2024‒2025 academic year and was hosted by Lu Yang, Director of Graduate Studies at Yenching Academy.
Interview Notes
Before the lecture, Qin Ling laoshi gave an interview in which she shared her insights into the new technologies and methodologies used in modern archaeology. She highlighted how archaeology today requires the integration of multiple technologies, such as radiocarbon dating and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), to address complex issues. She emphasized the application of these new technologies in her studies on patterns of natural resource utilization and material science.
The study of natural resource utilization involves fields like zooarchaeology, phytoarchaeology, and geoarchaeology, reconstructing the conditions of natural resources in ancient times through scientific and technological approaches. Material science, on the other hand, enables the physiochemical analysis of ancient relic materials while advancing non-destructive analysis technologies to preserve cultural properties. Qin Ling laoshi also discussed cutting-edge tools in archaeology, such as ancient DNA research and artificial intelligence. Ancient DNA studies provide insights into human evolution and genealogies, while AI technologies introduce new possibilities for image recognition and intelligent learning in archaeology.
The relationship between the Liangzhu and Sanxingdui cultures reveals intriguing insights into the significance of similar cultural items found at these two sites, despite their separation in time and space. According to Qin Ling laoshi, such artifacts may have been widely distributed across different regions in China because the concepts behind them were disseminated and gradually accepted. For example, jade cong tubes gained popularity during the Shang and Zhou dynasties in the Chengdu Plain (including the Sanxingdui site), although this trend was not consistent across other regions. While gems and precious materials have been universally admired, their cultural significance and use have varied throughout history and across different areas. Artifacts like jade cong tubes from the Liangzhu and Sanxingdui cultures thus serve as legacies of shared cultural practices.
Interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches are crucial in archaeology, a field that encompasses diverse subfields such as Neolithic archaeology, phytoarchaeology, field archaeology, jade studies, and theoretical methods. Highlighting the question-driven nature of the discipline, Qin Ling laoshi explained that studying prehistoric societies, which lack textual records, requires multifaceted exploration. The formulation of the right questions plays a pivotal role, as these guide the selection of methods and technologies appropriate for research. By integrating methodologies from various fields, archaeologists can tackle complex issues, including the origins of Chinese civilization and the differing developmental patterns of Eastern and Western civilizations.
At the beginning of her lecture, Qin Ling laoshi posed three central questions: What is a prehistoric civilization? How did a prehistoric civilization emerge? What are the archaeological methods used to study prehistoric material culture? Using the latest archaeological data, she brought the Liangzhu society to life through the lens of settlement archaeology and cultural heritage research, addressing these questions with a case study of the Liangzhu culture.
The archaeological ruins of Liangzhu city, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019, have redefined the concept of statehood and civilization in Western archaeology. Unlike other disciplines, archaeology studies civilizations through material practices, examining remains of material culture and the socio-historical contexts that convey a civilization’s values and legacies. The Liangzhu findings prompted Western archaeologists to reconsider the limitations of V. Gordon Childe’s paradigms of early human societies, particularly in defining civilizations without writing systems.
Qin laoshi then elaborated on the archaeological significance of Liangzhu city, the largest and most complex regional state discovered to date. The site includes city walls, the Mojiaoshan palatial area, an aristocratic cemetery, and an advanced dam system. Archaeological evidence suggests a highly organized society with a division of labor and advanced skills for large-scale construction. The 1986 excavation of the Fanshan Mausoleum marked a milestone in Liangzhu research, uncovering the largest number of jade artifacts found at the site and providing evidence of social stratification.
Jades were central to the Liangzhu culture, reflecting productivity levels, social structures, and beliefs. Found exclusively in tombs, jade artifacts reveal a tomb owner’s cultural identity, social status, gender, and preferences. The shapes and combinations of artifacts vary across regions, enabling archaeologists to trace technological developments and cultural dissemination in the Circum-Taihu Lake area. Beyond jades, other material evidence—such as ivory artifacts, lacquerware, and pottery—demonstrates a sophisticated integration of advanced technology and valuable resources. This ritual system, emphasizing class stratification, laid the groundwork for the hierarchical systems of Bronze Age China, as evidenced by the production and use of bronze artifacts.
Qin Ling laoshi concluded her lecture by revisiting the three key questions she had posed. She illustrated how a primary civilization, such as Liangzhu, could emerge from indigenous traditions if a large population was organized for labor and resource integration. Civilizations can be studied holistically by analyzing their achievements, vertically by examining specific aspects like time and internal differentiation, or horizontally by comparing civilizations from the same period across regions.
She highlighted ongoing efforts to compare the Liangzhu culture with other major world civilizations, such as Ancient Egypt, Sumer, and Harappa, while emphasizing the need for more research on Liangzhu’s relationship with other prehistoric Chinese cultures.
Lastly, Qin laoshi discussed how to avoid "taking things for granted" in civilization research. She proposed two key questions: How can we assess a civilization's productivity? And how can we understand a “civilized” material culture? She suggested evaluating the compatibility of productivity and cultural practices through data and scale. Material culture, she explained, should be assessed based on its institutionalization, its relationship with ruling power, and its continuity over time. Material objects served as vehicles for ritual systems and cultural identities in ancient China, constructing order and meaning. The Liangzhu city ruins, with their extraordinary yet orderly artifacts, exemplify how ancient Chinese societies created complex ritual systems.
Q&A Session
Q: The Liangzhu culture is characterized by its remarkable rice-cultivating and jade traditions. What are the far-reaching impacts of the Liangzhu culture on Chinese culture as a whole?
A: China has two centers for primitive agriculture, and Liangzhu may signify the beginning of the country’s agricultural dichotomy between dry cultivation and rice cultivation. In this context, the Liangzhu culture can be seen as the first rice-cultivating culture in Chinese history, marked by intensive and meticulous rice farming practices.
As for the jade culture, the Liangzhu artisans revolutionized the use of jade, introducing advanced jade-making technologies. This innovation transformed how stones were worked, unlike practices seen in other regions of China and East Asia during the same period. Liangzhu artisans viewed jade as a material with intrinsic value and sought to maximize its potential. They employed specialized techniques, such as cutting with rope and blade-like tools and boring holes with bamboo tubes.
This marked a shift from the earlier practice of treating jade as part of general stone artifact production. In Liangzhu, jade became a symbol of power and privilege. The central authority consolidated control over resources, intertwining materials with social and political power structures.
Q: In the photos of the tombs, there are a few intact skeletons. How can we identify the deceased’s gender and their placement in the tomb?
A: The soil conditions in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River significantly impact the preservation of buried organic matter. The region's acidic soil typically erodes human bones unless they are buried below the waterline in a saturated environment. Skeletons buried in these conditions are better preserved, allowing archaeologists to study funeral customs specific to men and women by analyzing the placement and combination of burial objects.
When intact human bones are unavailable, archaeologists apply existing theories of funeral customs to interpret the burial. For example, burial objects in women’s tombs often differ from those in men’s tombs. In some cases, certain burial objects are exclusively found with women, while others are unique to men. These patterns serve as critical benchmarks for identifying the tomb owner's gender and understanding the arrangement of burial items.
