The Oxford Handbook of the History and Practice of Chinese Archaeology

This volume focuses on the history and practice of archaeology in the Sinophere (China and Taiwan). It brings together 48 chapters by a diverse community of international scholars (archaeologists, historians, heritage specialists, and museum professionals) from Asia, Europe, and North America. The chapters cover many of the most significant issues in Chinese archaeology: the discipline’s origins in antiquarian practices at least a millennium old; its beginnings amid the cultural, intellectual and epistemological tumult of the early 20th century; the intersection of local and international scholarship in the formation of the discipline; the specificities of fieldwork practice and institutional organisation; the impact of scientific methods that have transformed knowledge. Chapters on particular sites (such as Yinxu, Erlitou, Sanxingdui, Shimao) offer overviews of excavation history; they also discuss the contexts (intellectual, cultural, social, political, economic, and institutional) that have shaped research questions and knowledge. Authors explore and analyse frameworks and contexts around fieldwork; educational curricula; and the theories and methods that have moulded research agendas. Chapters on archaeology from diverse regions (including those on the edges of the contemporary People’s Republic of China) illuminate both the plurality of sites investigated by Chinese archaeologists and local contestation with centralised narratives about China’s deep past. Chapters on Chinese archaeology’s recent extension into sites outside China’s borders ask important questions about the future of the discipline, while chapters on archaeology in museums and public history explore the cultural, political and social role that archaeology plays more broadly in China in the 20th and 21st centuries.