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Taosi
Taosi (Chinese: 陶寺; pinyin: Táosì) is an archaeological site in Xiangfen County, Linfen, southwestern Shanxi province, northern 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.
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.
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.
An astronomical observatory was also partially preserved at Taosi, the oldest in East Asia.
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-circular 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.
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.
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Taosi
Taosi (Chinese: 陶寺; pinyin: Táosì) is an archaeological site in Xiangfen County, Linfen, southwestern Shanxi province, northern 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.
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.
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.
An astronomical observatory was also partially preserved at Taosi, the oldest in East Asia.
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-circular 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.
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.
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