Archaeologist Claims Chinese Civilization Dates Back 8,000 years

A noted archaeologist is challenging conventional wisdom on one of the world’s oldest cultures, arguing that Chinese civilization has a recorded history stretching back 8,000 years—three millennia beyond the widely accepted benchmark, Dannie Peng reported for the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Feng Shi’s audacious claim clashes with archaeological evidence and research indicates that Chinese civilization is generally recognized to be more than 5,000 years old.

An article published late last year on the official portal Chinese Social Sciences Net made the bold new claim that the emergence of astronomy should be seen as the starting point of Chinese civilization.

The author was Feng Shi, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a research fellow at its Institute of Archaeology.

Feng Shi’s audacious claim clashes with archaeological evidence and research, such as the Chinese Civilization Origin Project, which indicate that Chinese civilization is generally recognized to be more than 5,000 years old.

The Liangzhu archaeological finds place the rise of a complex, state-level society, social stratification, and early urbanization in the Yellow and Yangtze River regions between 5,000 and 5,800 years ago.

Chinese archaeological finds pale in comparison to those recovered in Gobekli Tepe, Turkey, which are dated to more than 10,000 years ago.