Wheeled Vehicles in the Chinese Bronze Age (c. 2000-741 B.C.)
Author: Anthony Jerome Barbieri-Low
Publisher:
Published: 2000
Total Pages: 124
ISBN-13:
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China in the Early Bronze Age
Author: Robert L. Thorp
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 2013-03-25
Total Pages: 321
ISBN-13: 0812203615
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOne of the great breakthroughs in Chinese studies in the early twentieth century was the archaeological identification of the earliest, fully historical dynasty of kings, the Shang (ca. 1300-1050 B.C.E.). The last fifty years have seen major advances in all areas of Chinese archaeology, but recent studies of the Shang, their ancestors, and their contemporaries have been especially rich. Since the last English-language overview of Shang civilization appeared in 1980, the pace of discovery has quickened. China in the Early Bronze Age: Shang Civilization is the first work in twenty-five years to synthesize current knowledge of the Shang for everyone interested in the origins of Chinese civilization. China in the Early Bronze Age traces the development of early Bronze Age cultures in North and Northwestern China from about 2000 B.C.E., including the Erlitou culture (often identified with the Xia) and the Erligang culture. Robert L. Thorp introduces major sites, their architectural remains, burials, and material culture, with special attention to jades and bronze. He reviews the many discoveries near Anyang, site of two capitals of the Shang kings. In addition to the topography of these sites, Thorp discusses elite crafts and devotes a chapter to the Shang cult, its divination practices, and its rituals. The volume concludes with a survey of the late Shang world, cultures contemporary with Anyang during the late second millennium B.C.E. Fully documented with references to Chinese archaeological sources and illustrated with more than one hundred line drawings, China in the Early Bronze Age also includes informative sidebars on related topics and suggested readings. Students of the history and archaeology of early civilizations will find China in the Early Bronze Age the most up-to-date and wide-ranging introduction to its topic now in print. Scholars in Chinese studies will use this work as a handbook and research guide. This volume makes fascinating reading for anyone interested in the formative stages of Chinese culture.
Boot, Hooves and Wheels
Author: Saikat K Bose
Publisher: Vij Books India Pvt Ltd
Published: 2015-06-01
Total Pages: 595
ISBN-13: 9384464546
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe books title has an apparent misnomer—boots were not used in early armies, at least as apparent from temple sculptures which depict bare-bodied and barefooted soldiers. But is it likely to have been true? Or social reasons led to suppression of footgear on temple walls? The book explores these and myriad other questions on the military experience of South Asia, hoping to construct a picture of how men, animals, and equipment were used on South Asian battlefields from the end of the Paleolithic till the dawn of our era. Further, as all that happens on battlefields is no more than the tip of the proverbial iceberg whose submarine mass conceals many cause–effect relationships in a wide variety of fields, the author, adopting a wide fronted approach, examines the evidence of anthropology, literature, mythology, folklore, technology, archaeology, and architecture, to reconstructs the military atmosphere of South Asia beyond the battlefield, which is the aim of this book.
Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies
Author: Sitta Reden
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Published: 2019-12-02
Total Pages: 954
ISBN-13: 3110604949
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe notion of the “Silk Road” that the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen invented in the 19th century has lost attraction to scholars in light of large amounts of new evidence and new approaches. The handbook suggests new conceptual and methodological tools for researching ancient economic exchange in a global perspective with a strong focus on recent debates on the nature of pre-modern empires. The interdisciplinary team of Chinese, Indian and Graeco-Roman historians, archaeologists and anthropologists that has written this handbook compares different forms of economic development in agrarian and steppe regions in a period of accelerated empire formation during 300 BCE and 300 CE. It investigates inter-imperial zones and networks of exchange which were crucial for ancient Eurasian connections. Volume I provides a comparative history of the most important empires forming in Northern Africa, Europe and Asia between 300 BCE and 300 CE. It surveys a wide range of evidence that can be brought to bear on economic development in the these empires, and takes stock of the ways academic traditions have shaped different understandings of economic and imperial development as well as Silk-Road exchange in Russia, China, India and Western Graeco-Roman history.
The Archaeology of Early China
Author: Gideon Shelach-Lavi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2015-01-26
Total Pages: 393
ISBN-13: 0521196892
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book covers Chinese archaeology from the first people to the unification of the empire, emphasizing cultural variations and interregional contact.
Transportation through the Ages
Author: Michael Woods
Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books TM
Published: 2024-08-01
Total Pages: 83
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe ancient world saw many empires rise and fall. But how did massive empires such as Babylon or Rome move information and resources across continents? They relied on one of the oldest technologies in human history: transportation. Ever since humans first began migrating within and outside of Africa, they have needed transportation technology to help move themselves and their possessions. Beginning with shoes to support feet over rough ground and boats to traverse water, humans quickly created a wide range of inventions to help them move faster and carry more over long distances. From prehistoric hunting paths to the widespread highways of Rome, learn about the ancient transportation methods that shaped human history and paved the way for planes, trains, and superhighways.
Prehistoric Societies on the Northern Frontiers of China
Author: Gideon Shelach
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-04-08
Total Pages: 217
ISBN-13: 1134944888
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe northern borders of China - known as the Northern zone - were a key area of interaction between sedentary and nomadic people during the late second and early first millennium BCE. During this period the region's unique economy, socio-political systems, local cultures and identities took shape. 'Prehistoric Societies on the Northern Frontiers of China' analyses the archaeological record to examine the changes that took place in Northern China in the first millennium. Drawing on field work in the Chifeng area of Inner Mongolia, the book explores dramatic changes in the construction of identities alongside more gradual changes in subsistence strategies and political organization. The book is unique in integrating the archaeological data and historical records of this period with anthropological theory to examine the role of identity construction and the use of symbol in the shaping of East Asian society.
Unlocking the Chinese Gate
Author: Galia Dor
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2024-05-01
Total Pages: 374
ISBN-13: 1438497547
DOWNLOAD EBOOKUnlocking the Chinese Gate offers an innovative analysis of gates in early Chinese thought and material culture. Observing gates from various perspectives—including philosophy, architecture, and psychology—and through the conceptual lens of Chinese correlative thinking, Galia Dor conceptualizes the Chinese gate as a membrane-like apparatus that, from the space "in-between," efficaciously manifests (de) the Way (dao) into the "ten thousand" forms of actualized life. This methodology exposes an open-to-closed gradation between pairs of inside/outside (wai/nei) that resonates throughout the Chinese model of psychocosmic concentric circles. The consequential strategies (e.g., continuity/break, chaos/order) demonstrate how early Chinese cosmological, philosophical, and political idealities, as well as afterlife religious beliefs, were applied—including the various approaches to and practices of self-cultivation. The book sheds new light on ancient Chinese thought and material culture and offers points of comparison to Western thought and modern science, including a model of "decision-gating" that carries relevant implications and insights to our current lives.
Empires of the Silk Road
Author: Christopher I. Beckwith
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2009-03-16
Total Pages: 506
ISBN-13: 1400829941
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAn epic account of the rise and fall of the Silk Road empires The first complete history of Central Eurasia from ancient times to the present day, Empires of the Silk Road represents a fundamental rethinking of the origins, history, and significance of this major world region. Christopher Beckwith describes the rise and fall of the great Central Eurasian empires, including those of the Scythians, Attila the Hun, the Turks and Tibetans, and Genghis Khan and the Mongols. In addition, he explains why the heartland of Central Eurasia led the world economically, scientifically, and artistically for many centuries despite invasions by Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Chinese, and others. In retelling the story of the Old World from the perspective of Central Eurasia, Beckwith provides a new understanding of the internal and external dynamics of the Central Eurasian states and shows how their people repeatedly revolutionized Eurasian civilization. Beckwith recounts the Indo-Europeans' migration out of Central Eurasia, their mixture with local peoples, and the resulting development of the Graeco-Roman, Persian, Indian, and Chinese civilizations; he details the basis for the thriving economy of premodern Central Eurasia, the economy's disintegration following the region's partition by the Chinese and Russians in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the damaging of Central Eurasian culture by Modernism; and he discusses the significance for world history of the partial reemergence of Central Eurasian nations after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Empires of the Silk Road places Central Eurasia within a world historical framework and demonstrates why the region is central to understanding the history of civilization.
Ancient Transportation Technology
Author: Mary B. Woods
Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books
Published: 2011-01-01
Total Pages: 100
ISBN-13: 0761372679
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDid you know . . . • People first used skis more than 8,000 years ago? • The first wheels were used in pottery—not for transportation? • Traffic jams often clogged the streets of ancient Rome? Transportation technology is as old as human society itself. The first humans on Earth used simple transportation tools. They bundled logs together to make rafts. They used long poles and flat boards to carry heavy loads. Over the centuries, ancient peoples learned more about transportation. The ancient Indians trained elephants and horses for travel. The ancient Chinese developed the first compasses. The ancient Greeks built massive battleships. So what kinds of tools and techniques did ancient people use? How did maps of the world improve over time? And how did ancient transportation set the stage for our own modern transportation technology? Learn more in Ancient Transportation Technology.
