Taosi

Taosi

陶寺
Location in north China
Location	China
Region	Shanxi
Coordinates	35°53′26.17″N 111°29′49.82″E / 35.8906028°N 111.4971722°E / 35.8906028; 111.4971722
Area	280 ha
History
Founded	c. 2300 BC
Abandoned	c. 1900 BC
Cultures	Longshan culture

Taosi (Chinese: 陶寺; pinyin: Táosì) is an archaeological site in Xiangfen County, Shanxi, China. Taosi is considered to be part of the late phase of the Longshan culture in southern Shanxi, also known as the Taosi phase (2300 BC to 1900 BC).

Taosi was surrounded by a gigantic rammed-clay enclosure. This was discovered from 1999 to 2001 by the archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; they attributed this wall to the Middle Taosi period (4,100 to 4,000 BP). Rectangular in form with an inner area of 280 ha.^[1]

An internal rammed-earth wall separated the residential and ceremonial areas of the elite from the areas inhabited by commoners, signifying the development of a stratified society.^[2][3]

The Huaxia settlement outgrew the perimeter of the wall. The settlement is the largest Longshan site discovered in the Linfen basin of the Yellow River, and is possibly a regional center. The settlement represents the most politically organized system on the Central Plains at the time. The polities in the Taosi site are considered an advanced chiefdom, but may not have developed into a higher political organization. It was not the Taosi polities but the less socially complex Central Plains Longshan sites, the scattered, multi-system competing systems that gave rise to early states in this region.^[4]

An astronomical observatory was also partially preserved at Taosi, the oldest in East Asia.^[5]

This was discovered in 2003-2004. Archaeologists unearthed a Middle Taosi period semi-circular foundation just beside the southern wall of the Middle Taosi enclosure, which could have been used for calendrical observations. The structure consists of an outer semi-ring-shaped path, and a semi-circular rammed-earth platform with a diameter of about 60 m. The platform is 42m in diameter and over 1000 sq m in area, and can be reconstructed as a three-level altar.

The most important construction preserved was a semi-cirular structure of rammed earth, facing East. Depending on the interpretation, this was (a) a tall wall pierced with a number of irregularly spaced and separated slots, or (b) a series of pillars, separated by small somewhat irregular vertical spaces. This wall or line of pillars was linked to a central position from which observations could be made by peering through the empty spaces. Standing in the center of the altar and looking out, one finds that most of slots are oriented toward a given point on the Chongfen Mountain to the East.^[6]

In ancient times, sunrises related to the winter and summer solstices might have been visible through different slots. This means these slots might share a function similar to the Thirteen Towers of the Chankillo Observatory, having been intentionally constructed for calendrical observation of the sunrise on particular given days, in order to follow the local solar calendar, which would have been crucial for rituals and also for the practice of agriculture at that time.^[7]

A painted pole discovered in a tomb at the prehistoric site dating from perhaps 2000 or 2300 BCE is the probably the oldest gnomon known in China.^[8] From ancient texts, we know that the gnomon was widely used in ancient China from the second century BC onward in order determine the changes in seasons,and to determine positional orientation, including geographical latitudes. The ancient Chinese used shadow measurements for creating calendars that are mentioned in several ancient texts. According to the collection of Zhou Chinese poetic anthologies Classic of Poetry, one of the distant ancestors of King Wen of the Zhou dynasty used to measure gnomon shadow lengths to determine orientation around the 14th-century BC.^[9][10][11]

In a tomb at the site, a copper object resembling a gear was also discovered. All lunar months always have an integer-dependent number of days, since the half-days of lunar months do not exist in practice. The 29 open spaces might match the 29 days of some lunar months. Most lunar months have 30 days, and thus the 29 day lunar months would have been exceptional, requiring special treatment. One could therefore link this to the observatory as well, assuming that it was also a calendrical device.

The cemetery of Taosi covered an area of 30,000 square meters (3ha) at its height.^[12]

The cemetery contained over 1,500 burials. The burials at Taosi were highly stratified (the most stratified of Longshan sites), with burial wealth concentrated in the graves of a few males (nine large graves). The largest graves were placed in separated rooms with murals, had a large cache of grave goods (some with over 200 objects, including jades, copper bells, wooden and crocodile skin musical instruments); middle-size graves featured painted wooden coffins and luxury objects; most of the small graves did not have grave goods.^[13]

Musical instruments have been unearthed at Taosi, including drums, chimes, and a jaw harp. A single bronze bell was also found at a Taosi grave.

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  Kouxian (jaw harp)
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  Pottery drum
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  Stone chime
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  Bronze bell

Bone used for scapulimancy

Markings from the Taosi site

Several Chinese archaeologists postulate that Taosi was the site where the state of Tang (有唐) was conquered by Emperor Yao (traditionally c. 2356–2255 BC), who later instituted Taosi as the capital.^[14]

In Chinese classic documents Yao Dian (Document of Yao) in Shang Shu (Book of Ancient Time), and Wudibenji (Records for the Five Kings) in Shiji (Historic Records), King Yao assigned astronomic officers to observe celestial phenomena, including time and position of sunrise, sunset, and stars in culmination, in order to systematically establish a lunisolar calendar with 366 days a year with leap month. The observatory found at Taosi coincides with these records.^[15] It is theorized that the city collapsed with a rebellion against the ruling class.^[16][17][18]

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  Bone hairpin with turquoise inlays
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  Painted vessel, 2300-2100 BC
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  Black tripod vessel
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  Small bronze toad
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  Jade bi disk

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Taosi.

• Chang, Kwang-chih. The Archaeology of Ancient China, ISBN 0-300-03784-8
• He, Nu and Wu, Jiabi. Astronomical date of the "observatory" at Taosi site
• Higham, Charles, The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia, ISBN 0-521-56505-7
• Liu, Li. The Chinese Neolithic: Trajectories to Early States, ISBN 0-521-81184-8