"Archaeological Paradigm Shift" Result

The world of archaeology rarely experiences a true paradigm shift. For decades, the narrative of early Chinese civilization flowed steadily along the Yellow River, centered on the dynastic sequence of Xia, Shang, and Zhou. The bronzes from these cult

The year is 1986. In a quiet, rural county in China's Sichuan province, local workers digging clay for bricks stumble upon something extraordinary. What they unearthed—a trove of bizarre, larger-than-life bronze masks, a towering tree of life, and a

The story of Chinese archaeology, for much of the 20th century, followed a powerful and compelling narrative: the Yellow River as the singular "Cradle of Chinese Civilization." This was the heartland of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, whose bronz

It was 1986 when Chinese archaeologists, digging in a quiet corner of Sichuan province, unearthed something that would send shockwaves through the world of archaeology. From sacrificial pits emerged bronze masks with bulging eyes, a towering bronze t