What is archaeology

Archaeology denotes the ****similarities observed in ancient remains (especially in primitive societies).

The term "archaeology" appeared very early in Chinese, such as the Northern Song Dynasty scholar Lu Dalin had written the book "Archaeological Map" (1092), but at that time, the so-called "archaeology", limited to some of the heirloom bronzes and stone carvings and other objects of the collection and organization, and the meaning of the modern meaning of archaeology has a big difference.

12 announced the 2015 Chinese archaeology six new discoveries. Including: Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, Western Han Haihunhou Tomb, Hainan southeast coastal area of the Neolithic site, Jiangsu Xinghua, Dongtai City, Jiangzhuang Liangzhu culture site, Shaanxi Baoji City, Zhouyuan site, Han Wei Loyang City Palace Palace Taichi Hall site and Liaoning "Dandong one" Qing Dynasty shipwreck site.

China as one of the world's ancient civilizations, early scholars have noted the important value of ancient relics and ancient relics research. In the Northern Song Dynasty (A.D. 960-1127), with a certain academic system of "jinshi", to the Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1644-1911) is more developed, and ultimately formed the predecessor of Chinese archaeology. The modern archaeology based on field investigation and excavation emerged later in China. from the end of the 19th century to the 1930s, some imperialist countries sent explorers and expeditions to China's border areas to carry out activities, and in the late 1920s, Chinese academic institutions began to carry out excavations at sites such as Zhoukoudian and Yinxu, marking the birth of Chinese archaeology. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the investigation and excavation throughout the country in all regions, and gradually established a complete system of Chinese archaeology.

Scope of research

Spatial scope:

In principle: all over the world, generally limited to ancient human habitation, activities.

Archaeology is an integral part of the historical sciences, but its scope of study is ancient, so it is irrelevant to recent and modern history! Since the origin of mankind, the lower limit has changed with the development of archaeology, and because of the diversity and imbalance of cultural development in various regions, so it can not be unified, the archaeology of all countries have their chronological lower limit. (Before the 1950s, the lower limit was limited to before the appearance of writing, favoring prehistoric archaeology; after the 1950s, historical archaeology was emphasized, and the lower limit was gradually extended backward)

Britain's lower limit of archaeological age is the Norman invasion (1066); France's lower limit of archaeological age is the overthrow of the Carolingian dynasty (987); the countries in the Americas are the lower limit of the age of archaeological age is the date of the C-Columbian (c.1451-1506). 1451-1506) discovered the New World (1492). Generally speaking, the age of Chinese archaeology can be set at the end of the Ming Dynasty (1644) (this is why many archaeological books on the Ming Dynasty, no Qing Dynasty content, for example, the Nanjing University Press Zhang Zhiheng's General Theory of Chinese Archaeology is this)

Since the recent period of time, the United Kingdom has the "Medieval Archaeology", the age of the lower limit extends to the beginning of the bourgeois revolution ( 1640), and the so-called "medieval archaeology", which has been extended to the beginning of the bourgeois revolution (1640). In the United Kingdom, there is the "medieval archaeology", which extends down to the beginning of the bourgeois revolution (1640), and there is the so-called "industrial archaeology", which extends down to the beginning of the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the Americas, there are the so-called "historical archaeology" and "colonial archaeology", which range from the discovery of the Americas by Columbus to the political independence of the American countries at the end of the 18th century or the beginning of the 19th century. However, the so-called "industrial archaeology" in Britain and the so-called "historical archaeology" or "colonial archaeology" in the Americas are in fact the use of archaeological methods in order to study modern history, and therefore can not be regarded as real archaeology.

On the contrary, there are some people who limit the chronological scope of archaeology to the prehistoric era, that is, the ancient times without written records. This excludes the historical eras of many ancient civilizations from the chronological scope of archaeological study, which is also inappropriate. It must be affirmed that archaeology does not study modern times or contemporary times, but ancient times. However, the "ancient times" studied by archaeology should include not only prehistoric times, but also protohistoric times and historical times. As far as Chinese archaeology is concerned, the historical era not only refers to the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, but also includes the Qin and Han Dynasties and their subsequent generations. It is not true to say that "the ancient times are not below the third generation". Of course, the older the history, the less written records, the more significant the importance of archaeological research. To understand the social history of the prehistoric era of mankind without written records, it is necessary to rely to a great extent on archaeology, and thus prehistoric archaeology and prehistory are equivalent.