Co-Evolution of Human Societies and Landscapes in the Capital Territory of Late Shang State (Phase II)

在国家科学基金的支持下，由美方George Rapp和景志春，中方王炜和唐继根率领的美中考古队将在中国河南安阳晚商遗址继续进行考古研究。这项多学科的研究集中在商朝晚期都城地区人类社会和景观的共同进化。在之前NSF的支持下，该项目找到并正在挖掘一个重要的新遗址，现在被称为环北商城[环北是‘环河以北’的意思]，填补了我们对商人了解的一个重要的年代性空白。这一遗址架起了商代早期郑州期与商代后期殷墟期之间的重要桥梁。该遗址是通过系统的地质考古岩心钻探发现的，目的是确定商代晚期中部地区考古沉积物的第三[垂直]维度和性质。考察队现在将继续挖掘环北商城，进行考古和地质考古调查，并研究与商朝晚期运行和最终崩溃有关的环境变化。环北商城的进一步发掘应该澄清它的政治地位，包括它在潘庚和两个继位国王统治期间可能的都城地位的问题。世界许多地区的复杂社会似乎是独立而大致同时发展的。考虑到个别案例的相似性，研究人员认为，文明的出现不是历史偶然的结果，而是一种潜在的发展过程，可以用科学来描述。为了获得洞察，使用比较方法可以审查世界不同地区的个别案件，以寻找共同的特征和趋势。经过几十年的深入考古研究，人们对中南美洲和近东的文明发源地有了很多了解。不幸的是，人们对中国的史前史了解较少，拉普博士和他的同事们的工作将有助于填补中国中部序列的一个重大空白。

With support from the National Science Foundation an American and Chinese team led by George Rapp and Zhichun Jing from the American side and Wang Wei and Tang Jigen from the Chinese side will continue archaeological research at Late Shang site of Anyang in the Chinese Province of Henan. This multidisciplinary research focuses on the co-evolution of human societies and landscapes in the capital territory of the Late Shang state. With prior NSF support the project located and is excavating a major new site, now called Huanbei Shang City [Huanbei means 'north of the Huan River'], that fills in an important chronological gap in our knowledge of the Shang peoples. This site bridges the critical gap between the Zhengzhou phase of the Early Shang and the Yinxu phase of the Late Shang. This site was discovered by systematic geoarchaeological core drilling that was undertaken to determine the third [vertical] dimension and nature of the archaeological deposits in the central region of the Late Shang Dynasty. The team will now continue its excavation of Huanbei Shang City, its archaeological and geoarchaeological surveys, and its studies of environmental change in relation to the operation and final collapse of the Late Shang state. Further excavation at Huanbei Shang City should clarify its political status, including the question of its possible status as the capital during the reign of Pan Geng and two succeeding kings.Complex societies developed in many parts of the world apparently independently and roughly at the same time. Given similarities among individual cases, researchers believe that the emergence of civilization results not from historical accident but from an underlying developmental process which is amenable to scientific description. To gain insight, use of a comparative approach allows individual cases in different parts of the world to be examined for common features and trends. Given intensive archaeological research over many decades a great deal is known about cradles of civilization in Middle and South American and the Near East. Unfortunately the prehistory of China is less well understood and the work of Dr. Rapp and colleagues will help to fill a major gap in the Central Chinese sequence.