The First Neolithic Urban Center on China’s Loess Plateau: Discovery and Interpretation of the Shimao Site

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The discovery of the Shimao site in northern Shaanxi, the largest Neolithic stone walled settlement in China (>400 ha; ca. 2300-1800 cal. BCE), revealed a unique trajectory to urbanism in China. This once powerful kingdom centered around Shimao was completely unknown in ancient textual records. The discovery challenges previous understandings of sociopolitical changes in early complex society over a broader region on the eve of the Chinese dynastic civilization.

Keynote Speakers:
Sun Zhouyong, PhD, Professor and Director of Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology

Commentators:
Chen Xingcan, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Liu Li, Stanford University
Nicola Di Cosmo, Institute for Advanced Study
Brian Lander, Brown University

403, Kent Hall, Columbia University

Please RSVP by September 15, 2017 at [email protected].