Chinese archaeologists on BU visit report stunning finds

By David J. Craig

Members of the CAS archaeology department received riveting news when a group of prominent Chinese archaeologists visited BU April 11 to tour the University's facilities and present lectures on their work.

Wensheng Qin, vice-director of the Henan Provincial Institute of Archaeology, revealed that a team of Chinese archaeologists led by Guoding Song, director of the Shang City Museum at Zhengzhou, recently discovered several ceramic vessels in the northern Chinese province of Henan that bear what is believed to be the earliest known Chinese writing. The vessels, found at a site called Xiaoshuangqiao, which was originally excavated in 1989 near the present city of Zhengzhou, contain red symbols and markings that are similar to characters previously found on oracle bones from the same period -- the Shang Dynasty (1500 to 1100 b.c.).

Qin also described the discovery, this winter, of a huge Shang city wall just several kilometers from Anyang Yinxu, a major Shang site discovered 70 years ago near the present city of Anyang. The site, roughly four square kilometers in area, is the largest Shang city ever discovered.

East meets West prior to an April 11 lecture on archaeological findings in Henan Province, China. From left to right: Jian Leng, an adjunct professor of anthropology at Washington University-St. Louis; Xinmin Sun, director of the Henan Provincial Institute of Archaeology in Zhengzhou; Shuya Wei, a professor at the Department of Conservation at the Henan Provincial Museum; Robert Murowchick, a CAS research associate professor of archaeology and anthropology, and director of BU's International Center for East Asian Archaeology and Cultural History; Yuqin Song, director of the Ecology Section of the Center for Environmental Sciences at Peking University; Wensheng Qin, vice-director of the Henan Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Zhengzhou; and Guoding Song, director of the Shang City Museum at Zhengzhou. Photo by Vernon Doucette

"This is research that hasn't even been published yet," says Robert Murowchick, a CAS research associate professor of archaeology and anthropology and director of BU's International Center for East Asian Archaeology and Cultural History. "In the case of the new Shang city, I think what fascinated everybody in the room is the fact that an area within a mile of Anyang Yinxu, a site that has been heavily excavated for 70 years, would yield a new discovery. That shows what a fertile area north China is for archaeologists. Even in a country that has seen a lot of excavation, we've really only uncovered the tip of the iceberg."

Yuqin Song, director of the Ecology Section of the Center for Environmental Sciences at Peking University, also presented findings April 11. He said that by analyzing sediment layers in Inner Mongolia, he and fellow researchers recently discovered that three ancient, agricultural Chinese civilizations that existed there between 3500 b.c. to 1000 a.d. -- the Hongshan, Xiajiadian, and Liaodai cultures -- degenerated largely because their "slash-and-burn" agricultural practices allowed rich farmland to be consumed by desert. Farming techniques that expose rich soil to the elements and lead to erosion are still practiced in less developed areas of China, he said.

"The Chinese government recognizes the achievement of this archaeological study," said Song through translator Jian Leng, an adjunct professor of anthropology at Washington University-St. Louis, adding that the study of desertification is a new branch of Chinese anthropology. "The results provide important historical lessons for the prevention and control of desertification in China."

Bridging East and West

The delegation of visiting Chinese archaeologists also included Guoding Song; Xinmin Sun, director of the Henan Provincial Institute of Archaeology; and Shuya Wei, a professor at the Department of Conservation at the Henan Provincial Museum. According to Murowchick, the members of the group are among the most senior archaeologists in Henan Province, which is a hotbed of archaeological research.

The fact that the group came to a Western university to foster collaborations with Western scientists may be as amazing as the research Qin and Song presented. Western archaeologists and those from East Asian nations have traditionally had little direct collaboration, Murowchick says, due largely to the fact that prior to the 1990s, laws in many East Asian nations, including China, prevented Western scientists from participating in archaeological research on Asian soil. As a result, communication between scientists from the different cultures was limited, and East Asian archaeologists were slow to embrace Western research methods.

But the members of the visiting delegation are among a new wave of East Asian archaeologists who are interested in advancing Western scientific techniques in their country and collaborations with Western archaeologists. "They represent a major shift in the field of archaeology in China, one which holds the prospect of enormous new opportunities for Western scholars in the future," Murowchick says.

Murowchick launched the International Center for East Asian Archaeology and Cultural History last year to facilitate collaboration between Western archaeologists and those from Asian nations by hosting academics in this country, organizing library exchanges, and acting as a clearinghouse of information about modern scientific and research techniques.

In conversations with the visiting Chinese archaeologists, he says, plans were made to put members of the delegation in touch with experts in the United States who can provide advice on a historical preservation project being planned in China.

And, according to Qin, access to modern excavation techniques involving geophysics, satellite imagery, and remote sensing -- such as those available through BU's Center for Remote Sensing -- are tantalizing enticements to planning future research collaboration with Western researchers. "Now, we must spend much time digging in the ground to know where artifacts are," he said after the lecture, through Leng. "This technology would save us time. Such tools are new to China, and still not common."

Murowchick will be teaching BU's first East Asian archaeology courses next spring; he says that within a year there will be opportunities for BU researchers to dig in East Asian countries. Currently, he is involved in a major research project in China with archaeologists in Beijing.

"What we get out of these collaborations is much more hands-on experience working alongside Asian scholars," he says. "They have enormous experience handling materials that are likely to be found in Asian soil, so they know how to care for and preserve materials such as lacquer, which is rare anywhere else in the world. Western archaeologists bring new approaches to the study of these materials, so these increasing collaborations are highly beneficial to both sides."