Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1538: Transfer of the right to speak

Why large-scale ruins can be used as symbols of civilization is itself a "correction" of the earliest Western archaeological definition of civilization.

Metal, writing, and cities are indispensable. As a distinction between civilization and culture, it is too simple and crude.

For example, metals and writing, the most typical of which are a series of civilizations such as the Maya in South America. Almost no metal artifacts have been found so far, but their high-level construction technology, large-scale urban agglomerations, magnificent carvings and pyramid altars undoubtedly show that Its complex social structure, upper and lower classes, theocratic kingship, and highly developed productive forces.

Although it has no metal or text, its architectural structure can reveal their profound understanding of the universe, and this understanding is passed down systematically and on a large scale with its unique unknown model. You Can we say it is not civilization?

Since the Mayan civilization without metal and writing should be classified as civilization, then conversely, the definition of Western civilization marked by the three elements of metal, writing, and cities should be overturned or corrected.

Then we need to look at the essence through the phenomenon, and return to the plan that Zhou Zhi elaborated in the paper before, replacing the sign of metal with the height of human technological development that can be studied from the ruins; what can be inferred from the ruins can be formed into a system, The richness of knowledge passed down through mass transfer to replace the symbol of words;

Because in the final analysis, metal is a characteristic of technology, and writing is a characteristic of communication. Now, using the height of science and technology and the richness of inheritance to replace metal and writing is just replacing phenomena with essence, which is completely reasonable.

Zhou Zhou agrees with the rest of the city's characteristics, and the definition of a city is also very clear: that is, the characteristics that can reflect complex social structures, upper and lower classes, theocratic kingship, and highly developed productive forces.

For example, urban functional divisions such as city walls, water supply and drainage systems, residential areas, commercial areas, handicraft areas, palace areas or sacrificial areas can fully prove these characteristics.

In other words, if a large-scale site has these characteristics and reaches a certain scale and can accommodate the production and living activities of more than 5,000 people, such a large-scale site can be defined as a city.

If the culture of such a city lasts long enough and its advanced technological features and knowledge inheritance features can reach certain standards, it can naturally be called a "civilization."

Such a civilization can almost be equated with the existence of a country.

Then the question returned to a strong inference from the domestic historians - within the scope of activities of the Xia and Shang tribes seen in ancient documents, that is, in the Central Plains area of ​​​​the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, it is unlikely to discover any new archaeological culture. . Therefore, the Xia culture in archeology must be included in the various stages of various cultural types that have been discovered in this space and at this time.

If Zhou Zhi's paper can be recognized by the academic community, then the theoretical weapon will be complete, and the remaining work is to find out the historical records among the sites that can be called "civilizations" in the Central Plains area in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. The one with the greatest overlap between Xia and Guo will be fine.

This "Xia Ruins" can basically be identified as the Erlitou ruins.

In the summer of 1959, when Mr. Xu Xusheng, a famous Chinese archaeologist, led a team to conduct a survey of "Xia Ruins" in western Henan, they discovered the Erlitou ruins, which kicked off the exploration of Xia culture.

After dozens of archaeological excavations at the Erlitou site, archaeologists have made a series of significant gains.

In 1977, Mr. Xia Nai named this type of cultural relics "Erlitou Culture" based on new archaeological results.

From the 1960s to the present, the excavation and research of the site has gone through three stages:

The first stage: From the early 20s to the late 60s, archaeologists established the cultural framework sequence of phases 70 to 1, revealed the foundations of palaces 2 and 20, discovered bronze smelting sites, cleaned up tombs of different levels, and determined The urban nature of the site was revealed. The second stage: In the 80s, archaeologists conducted a series of rescue excavations, including the remains of copper casting workshops; they discovered many architectural sites and tombs, and unearthed a large number of pottery, bronzes, jade, lacquerware, turquoise, etc. .

The third stage: Entering the 1990s, the work team carried out systematic drilling and key excavations in the palace area, discovering and cleaning up several large building foundations; the palace area and its nearby roads were explored, and on the periphery of the palace area, they discovered There are criss-crossing roads and rutted ruins.

Through decades of continuous excavation and research, the Erlitou site has made the above-mentioned series of important discoveries. China's earliest main road network, the earliest palace inner city area, the earliest official handicraft workshop area, the earliest bronze ritual group, the earliest turquoise group and many other "best in China" have been discovered.

There is no doubt that this is a city. If we change it to the traditional expression in Chinese historical materials, this is the "city of China" written in "The Thousand Character Essay".

Up to now, the Erlitou site has been determined to be about two kilometers from east to west and 1.5 kilometers from north to south. At the same time, the population living in this city is as high as 20,000 to 30,000.

The cultural era included in the site ranges from the Yangshao Culture and Longshan Culture about 5,000 years ago to the Eastern Zhou and Eastern Han Dynasties.

Its peak period ranged from the 21st century BC to the 16th century BC, which basically coincides with the "Xia" recorded in historical materials.

Taking these districts to confirm the historical data and the civilization standards set by Zhou Zhi, there is no doubt that this is a large and highly developed city. From its prosperous age, system, technology, and social development level, it is as high as the "Xia Dynasty" in the literature. consistent.

After referring to other exclusive evidence and using new standards to consider, the Erlitou Civilization Site is the Xiadu Site.

The latest archaeological results emerging from the Erlitou site have made it increasingly popular in the academic world. Zhou Zhi's paper promptly changed the logical relationship from "If you can't find cultural relics that confirm the existence of the Xia Dynasty, you cannot prove the existence of the Xia Dynasty." It became "We have found a civilization site that conforms to the Xia Dynasty's regional characteristics, scale characteristics, civilization height and chronological continuity characteristics, so we identify it as the Xia capital. If you don't agree, please use the above four points to argue and overturn our conclusion. Prove us wrong."

Can it be overturned? Of course not. Since it cannot be done, then maintain the original logic.

This not only marks the victory of the science of rules and academics, but also involves the transfer of the right to speak.

Turning his mind to this point, Zhou Zhi basically understood why Minister Liu attached so much importance to his paper. It seemed that the country was preparing to put forward its own ideas from this perspective and redefine new academic standards for the archaeological community around the world.

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhi smiled and said: "The earliest standard itself was something that was tinkered with by a few Western scholars in the past five years or so."

"According to their standards, it cannot explain South American civilization, let alone Chinese civilization, or even their own Easter Island. It should have been changed long ago."

Minister Liu's eyes suddenly lit up. This guy was really smart. He knew what he wanted to ask with just one click.

(End of this chapter)