Ancient China

Neolithic (6000-2000 BCE)

1. sedentary agriculture
2. ceramics/pottery and stone tools
3. rammed earth construction
4. origins of writing
5. silk culture
6. divination
7. scrupulous attention to the dead

Bronze Age

1. weapons
2. chariots
3. ritual vessels
4. oracle bones

Shang Dynasty (1750-1045 BCE)

• theocratic state: politics and religion
• hierarchy pyramid
• Di
• the dead and the living
• communication with the ancestors
• divination

Zhou Dynasty (1045-221 BCE)

• Tien
• Mandate of Heaven
• segmentary state

Imperial China (221 BCE-CE 1911)

• Qin dynasty 221-207 BCE

Web Resources:

• Xia Artifacts
• Yangshao Artifacts
• Shang Artifacts
• Shang Oracle Bones
• Chinese Cultural Studies: Images
• Consortium: History of Ancient China