The prehistory and the formation process of Chinese civilization have long been of interest to world historians. However, knowledge of this period is constantly evolving because much of our understanding of ancient China is based on archaeological data that continues to come to light.
This fourth edition of K.C. Chang’s now-standard text on Chinese archaeology incorporates the latest information that has become available since the end of the Cultural Revolution. Chang has rewritten and reorganized the material, using a new format to discuss the period from the early humans and their Palaeolithic cultures through the first agricultural settlements to the rise and development of the earliest civilizations around 1000 B.C. Chang now demonstrates that several regional cultures developed independently of one another and began to be linked together around 4000 B.C. According to Chang, the interaction of these cultures laid the foundation for the Chinese civilization that we recognize in the early dynasties and in China’s written history. Chang also presents provocative views on the distinctive process of the rise of civilization, urbanism, and the state society in China, as embodied in the Chinese archaic bronzes. The book includes more than 300 illustrations, most of which are new.
