Lecture by Professors Joseph W. Ball and Jennifer Taschek.
Sanxingdui 三星堆, one of the great archeological finds of the twentieth century, was first discovered in 1929 when a farmer outside of Chengdu 成都, Sichuan 四川 found jade artifacts while digging in a ditch. Despite decades of archeological excavations, this site was not well known until 1986 when another man uncovered ancient sacrificial pits containing hundreds of 3,300-year-old bronze and jade artifacts fashioned with artistic style and depictions of people distinct from any found in China before. This discovery in the ancient Shu 蜀 kingdom shook up the traditional view that Chinese civilization first developed further east along the Yangtze River 長江. The ?official,? national view is that the Shu were an alien people from the distant west who were heavily influenced by Shang 商朝 and Zhou 周朝 cultures before being absorbed into mainstream Chinese civilization. But some scholars contend that the Shu was actually a parallel indigenous people, forming part of a multiethnic base from which Chinese civilization emerged. This presentation by Professors Joseph W. Ball and Jennifer Taschek will summarize their contributions to a conference in Chengdu examining these issues. They will discuss the anthropology of Shu culture using the Maya, Olmec and other ancient New World civilizations as a model to discover the significance of the Sanxingdui discovery.
Admission: $2 per person.
Members and children under age 12 are free.
Location: San Diego Museum of Man
1350 El Prado, Balboa Park
For more information:
Phone: (619) 338-9888
or
Visit: www.sdchm.org
Sanxingdui 三星堆, one of the great archeological finds of the twentieth century, was first discovered in 1929 when a farmer outside of Chengdu 成都, Sichuan 四川 found jade artifacts while digging in a ditch. Despite decades of archeological excavations, this site was not well known until 1986 when another man uncovered ancient sacrificial pits containing hundreds of 3,300-year-old bronze and jade artifacts fashioned with artistic style and depictions of people distinct from any found in China before. This discovery in the ancient Shu 蜀 kingdom shook up the traditional view that Chinese civilization first developed further east along the Yangtze River 長江. The ?official,? national view is that the Shu were an alien people from the distant west who were heavily influenced by Shang 商朝 and Zhou 周朝 cultures before being absorbed into mainstream Chinese civilization. But some scholars contend that the Shu was actually a parallel indigenous people, forming part of a multiethnic base from which Chinese civilization emerged. This presentation by Professors Joseph W. Ball and Jennifer Taschek will summarize their contributions to a conference in Chengdu examining these issues. They will discuss the anthropology of Shu culture using the Maya, Olmec and other ancient New World civilizations as a model to discover the significance of the Sanxingdui discovery.
Admission: $2 per person.
Members and children under age 12 are free.
Location: San Diego Museum of Man
1350 El Prado, Balboa Park
For more information:
Phone: (619) 338-9888
or
Visit: www.sdchm.org
