Definition: Taosi is an enormous Longshan culture site, located in Shanxi province of China. It was discovered in 2000. Its rammed earth walls are between 7 and 10 meters in width and form an elongated rectangle with rounded corners and encloses an area of nearly 2.7 million square meters.
Taosi was first built during the middle phase of the Taosi Longshan culture (2500-1900 BC). The site includes a very large cemetery (over 30,000 square meters) with thousands of graves. Most of the excavated graves contain no grave goods, but six of them contained elite goods, such as painted wooden coffins, jade, lacquer and ritual pottery sets and musical instruments.
Elite goods recovered from the royal tombs included pottery basins with dragon moifs, stone quing chimes, cast copper bels and a hu vessel with a brush-written wen character. According to recent news reports, an astronomical observatory has been identified within the precincts of Taosi.
Taosi was first built during the middle phase of the Taosi Longshan culture (2500-1900 BC). The site includes a very large cemetery (over 30,000 square meters) with thousands of graves. Most of the excavated graves contain no grave goods, but six of them contained elite goods, such as painted wooden coffins, jade, lacquer and ritual pottery sets and musical instruments.
Elite goods recovered from the royal tombs included pottery basins with dragon moifs, stone quing chimes, cast copper bels and a hu vessel with a brush-written wen character. According to recent news reports, an astronomical observatory has been identified within the precincts of Taosi.
Sources
Yang, Xiaoneng. 2004. Chinese Archaeology in the Twentieth Century: New Perspectives on China's Past. Yale University Press, New Haven.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
