A Study On The Archaeological Remains Of The Zhou Dynasty In The Huai Valley

This dissertation based on archaeological stratigraphy and typology, focuses on the chronological study on the archaeological remains of Zhou Dynasty in the valley of Huai River, in terms of analyses of pottery and bronze. It divides the archaeological remains of this region during Zhou into five stages:the first one in the period of the end Shang and early Zhou; the second in the late part of early Western Zhou and the early part of middle Western Zhou; the third in the part of middle Western Zhou and the early part of late Western Zhou; the fourth between the periods of Western and Eastern Zhou; the fifth in the middle of Spring and Autumn Period. The first stage does not temporally join well with the second one, because inadequate archaeological records have been found about the end Shang and early Zhou. The rest of stages clearly show a continuous tradition in the perspective of changes of pottery style, no chronological missing link observed between them. By the typological analysis of bronzes, it further divides the mortuary materials of Zhou into four stages: the first one in the late period of Western Zhou; the second from the intermediate time between Western and Eastern Zhou to the early part of early Spring and Autumn Period; the third in the late part of early Spring and Autumn Period; the fourth in late Spring and Autumn Period. Archaeological materials of the first stage are limited, only found in the southeastern part of Shandong Province.Then this paper analyzes the cultural composition of Zhou remains in details after it establishes the temporal framework of Zhou remains in the Huai Valley. The analysis of pottery assemblage indicates that the composition of Zhou in the Huai Valley primarily consists of many cultural factors such as Zhou, late Shang, new variants of Zhou, Wu, Lu and Chu, among which the new variants of Zhou and indigenous cultural factors predominate, and the rest are secondary. In these areas, different stages do not have completely common cultural factors. Southeast Henan and Northeast Hubei have more similarities with the Huai Valley, that is, their cultural factors are dominated by new variants of Zhou from the Huai Valley, while there are also indigenous factors of the Huai Valley. The rest factors are secondary. These three areas make up a cultural area—the Upper and Middle Huai Area. The new variants of Zhou and the indigenous factors came into being earliest in the middle Huai Valley in terms of the chronological sequence of the formation of every culture. They expanded into the other areas and merged together into a mainstream. The area of southeast Shandong is close to the north Jiangsu. The cultural factor of Zhou dominates the areas, where the cultural factor of Lu is also visible because of the geographic relationship. In fact, the Zhou cultural factor most likely relates to the state of Lu. These two small areas make up another cultural area—the North Jiangsu and Southeast Shandong Area. The cultural history of the area shows that new variant of Zhou and indigenous cultural factors had a much less influence on the parts of southeast Henan and northeast Hubei. The area of southeast Shandong also received influences from the culture of Qi in later stages.The cultural composition of bronze assemblages suggests that the Zhou cultural factor discovered in the areas of upper Huai and southeast Shandong plays an important role in variable artifact assemblages, in particular, in the area of southeast Shandong, where its cultural features show no significant difference from the traditional Zhou and prolong for a long time. In contrast, the area of the middle and lower Huai received much less influence of the Zhou culture. From the intermediate time between Western and Eastern Zhou and the early part of early Spring and Autumn Period, each area has been found its own characteristic vessels. This specific feature, which has many similarities with the Huai Valley in Anhui, is most obviously shown in the area of the middle and lower IIuai, and it also has a certain proportion in the assemblage of the upper Huai. The regionally characteristic artifacts are not so important as other areas. At the same time, there were some cultural interactions between these areas, all of which were significantly influenced by the cultural of Chu, and consequently formed the united Chu culture of the Warring States Period.This dissertation compares the archaeological remains of Zhou Dynasty in the Huai Valley with the Zhou cultures of the nuclear Zhou area, eastern part of the Huai Valley, Jiaodong Peninsula, and then it proposes that the archaeological remains of Zhou Dynasty in the Huai Valley represent a new archaeological culture, different from the cultures of Zhou, Chu, Wu and east Yi of the Jiaodong Peninsula. It further defines the distributional limits of this culture. It reexamines the network between the people of Zhou and the Huai Valley in early Western Zhou in term of bronze inscriptions, and points out that the Zhou remains of the Huai Valley belongs to Huai Yi. At the same time, it differentiates these concepts such as Huai Yi, south Huai Yi, south Yi and east Yi. That is, Huai Yi is a group including all indigenous people in the Huai Valley, south Huai Yi indicates the Yi people of the upper and middle Huai, and south Yi is the short name of south Huai Yi. As for east Yi, it is a different concept from Huai Yi in Western Zhou. It means the Yi people of Shandong in early Zhou. The paper also examines the origin of Huai Yi, and regards that its main source was indigenous and finally merged into the civilization of Hua Xia (China) in the periods of Chu and Qin.It also attempts to analyze the social structure of Huai Yi in the Zhou Dynasty in terms of archaeological records. The work suggests that the local states of Huai Yi in Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn Periods were some complex formed by several cities and outskirts, and has a social complexity of state. But it does not exclude the possibility that there were only some pro-state social organizations in the period of Western Zhou.Finally, with the evidence from archaeological records and historical documents, the dissertation argues that the area of Huai Valley did not have the necessary conditions for infeudation in the consideration of social background in which the infeudation of the states such as Qi, Lu, Jin, and Yan had been done. There were also not adequate demands for infeudation, so the local states of Huai Yi would not have been infeudated by Zhou. By examining the historical processes of archaeological cultures after the infeudation of Qi, Lu, Jin, and Yan, it proposes that in early Zhou by infeudation combined with kin links, the Zhou culture was diffused into an extremely large area by integrating indigenous cultures, faster than any archaeological culture that has been ever recognized. Meanwhile, these kin links gradually faded with the passage of time, and the indigenous styles of each state became stronger and clearer. Consequently, the colorful indigenous cultures of infeudated states came into being with evident imprints of the Zhou culture. But in the area of Huai Valley a myriad of states dominated in the periods of Western and Eastern Zhou, no a single powerful state emerged because there was not this kind of infeudation, and an integrating impetus from it.