The Formation Of Centralized State Form Archaeological Perspective

East Zhou period is a crucial time of social transition of ancient China.During East Zhou period,patriarchal clan system and enfeoffment system of West Zhou period gradually disintegrated,while bureaucratic system and prefecture system were formed in the process.Vassal states were all in centralized state form,laying the foundation of a two-thousand-year history of a centralized empire.During this process,authority structure of high-ranked people,social hierarchical structure and ritual system at that time had changed.All these changes left traces in funeral remains of tombs.And in central China,there were not only large-scaled mausoleums of the King of Zhou Dynasty and vassal kings,but only numerous medium-and small-scaled tombs,which all contained rich materials.Besides,the fact that officials seized political power through internal conflicts is quite a representative way to form a centralized state,such as Jin state dominated central China in the middle period of Spring-autumn,Six officials seized the power in the late period of Spring-autumn and finally in the early period of Warring States,Jin state was departed by three parts.Therefore,in this thesis,tombs from East Zhou period are research objects.Transitional processes from patriarchal clan system to bureaucratic system and enfeoffinent system to prefecture system in East Zhou period are explored and discussed by analysis of tombs in central China.Furthermore,trajectory of the development of centralized state is going to be depicted,too.7 chapters are presented in the thesis.In Chapter 1,there is an introduction of achievements of historical studies related to the thesis showing previous and present researches on tombs from East Zhou periods in central China.Outcomes and shortcomings of previous studies are summarized.Based on above,research aim of the thesis is introduced and research methods and outlines are stated.In Chapter 2,chronological analysis of tombs in central China is carried out and time of each phase is identified.Considering previous researches,in this thesis,the author conducts a typological study of tombs from East Zhou period in each area of central China based on the situation of tombs with bronze artifacts and tombs with pottery artifacts.Evolutional rules of each kind of artifact are revealed.According to the above,chronological frames of each area are constructed or corrected.Except for early period of Spring-autumn and late period of Warring States in some parts of areas,the rest of periods could divide into two phases,that is,early phase and late phase.Besides,absolute dates of each phase are figured out with the consideration of previous studies.In Chapter 3,issues related to the classification of tombs are discussed.First,there is a summary of problems from previous studies.Then,based on multivariate statistics analysis,tombs from East Zhou period in central China are classified.As a detailed example,cemeteries of Guo State are analyzed to illustrate the procedures of whole processes of quantization of elements of tombs,cluster analysis and adjustment and verification.Finally,experience and problems of cluster analysis are shown.In Chapter 4,high-ranked tombs are analyzed and compared.Through a comprehensive and systematic analysis of high-ranked tombs found in central China,the times and natures of some tombs are figured out.Moreover,the identities of some tombs' owners are predicted.Based on the above analysis,changes of powers of the King of Zhou Dynasty,kings of vassals and officials of vassal kings are revealed according to the state of high-ranked tombs.In Chapter 5,transformation of social structure in East Zhou periods are discussed.Based on classification of tombs,an analysis on diachronic changes of social hierarchical structures of each area in central China is carried out,which shows that whole social hierarchical structure of central China went through a process of differentiation and integration.Besides,in this chapter,regional differences shown in the process are summarized and explained in terms of historical background.In Chapter 6,an analysis on transitions of ritual system of East Zhou period is conducted,presenting processes from strict execution to collapse of systems,such as inner and outer coffin system and Ding-cauldrons centered bronze ritual artifact system in each area of central China by Pearson Correlation Coefficient analysis and variance analysis.With the consideration of changing social hierarchy and historical background at that time,effects of the transition are developed further.In Chapter 7,there is a conclusion about the formation process and expression of centralized state from an archaeological perspective.It shows that middle phase of Spring-autumn period and that of Warring States period are crucial stages of social transition in East Zhou period.And then influences of archaeological cultures in central China on Han culture are explored.Last but not the least,main innovations and shortcomings of this thesis are presented.