For this week, I read four texts. The first first built off of the idea of complex societies by talking about Taosi. Taosi was an extremely large and complex area from the 2600-2000 BCE. Tying into what was defined as a complex society from last week, Taosi fits the definitions to a tee. It had class structure as seen through the ornateness of some tombs compared to others, culture, and trading.
The second text focused more on the idea of the Xia dynasty by talking about Erlitou, another “state” from before the Shang dynasty with a wide-reaching culture. The existence of these kinds of states and cultures gave way to discussion of whether a Xia dynasty existed and whether there’s a connection between Erlitou and the Xia dynasty.
There is compelling evidence, as Erlitou lines up with theories of the Xia dynasty both geographically and temporally, but the idea is still just a theory because there is no concrete evidence. Personally, I don’t believe there’s a connection between Erlitou and the Xia dynasty because of the lack of any concrete evidence. It is entirely possible that Erlitou is its own thing or a part of something else.
The third and fourth texts talked about the Shang dynasty with the fourth being specifically about the oracle bones. What interested me was the extreme respect these people had for the dead to the point where they thought dead ancestors could impact the living and gave sacrifices to their ancestors. That idea is so strange to me as I can’t fathom how anyone could believe that. But the Shang lived in a different world with a different culture. If everyone around me was saying that my ancestors can actively control parts of my life and there were few to no people suggesting otherwise, I might have believed it. The texts are secondary sources but the oracle bones are primary sources.
I also looked at some bronze inscriptions from the Zhou dynasty. They were interesting snapshots into some aspects of the culture of the Zhau. Two out of the three inscriptions mentioned winning battles by killing and destroying the enemies and all three of them had someone be rewarded.
These inscriptions may have been written by some chronicler of some kind, meant to show off the victories of the Zhou. That would explain the first and third talking about destroying enemies and showing off how heroic these people are with rewards. These are primary sources.
Next week I will continue to think about what to do for my show and tell project and look for potential topics in lectures and assignments.
