First, what is archaeology?
The word "archaeology" appeared very early in Chinese. For example, Lu Dalin, a scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote a book Archaeological Map (1092), but the so-called "archaeology" at that time was limited to the collection and arrangement of some bronzes and stone carvings handed down from ancient times, which was very different from the archaeological significance in the modern sense. As one of the ancient civilizations in the world, China has long been paid attention to by scholars for its important value of investigating and studying ancient cultural relics. Epigraphy originated in the Northern Song Dynasty (960- 1 127) and had a certain academic system. It was more developed in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and finally formed the predecessor of China archaeology. Modern archaeology based on field investigation and excavation rose late in China. /kloc-from the end of 0/9 to the 1930s, explorers and expeditions sent by some imperialist countries sneaked into the border areas of China for activities. In the late 1920s, academic institutions in China began to excavate Zhoukoudian and Yinxu sites, which marked the birth of archaeology in China. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), investigations and excavations spread all over the country, and a complete archaeological system of China was gradually established.
Second, the scope of archaeological research
In principle, all parts of the world are generally limited to places where ancient humans lived and lived.
Archaeology is an integral part of historical science, but its research scope is ancient, so it has nothing to do with modern history and modern history! Since the origin of mankind, the lower limit has changed with the development of archaeology, and it cannot be unified because of the diversity and imbalance of cultural development in various regions. Archaeology in all countries has its own lower age limit. (Before the 1950s, the lower limit was defined before the appearance of characters, with emphasis on prehistoric archaeology; Since the 1950s, historical archaeology has been attached importance, and the lower limit has gradually extended backward.
The lower age limit of British archaeology is Norman invasion (1066); The lower limit of French archaeological age is the fall of Caroline dynasty (987); The lower limit of the archaeological age of American countries is Columbus who discovered the New World (about1451-1506) (1492). Generally speaking, the time limit of archaeology in China can be set at the end of the Ming Dynasty (1644) (which is why many archaeological books are at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and there is no content of the Qing Dynasty, such as "A General Introduction to Archaeology in China" by Zhang Zhiheng of Nantah Press).
In recent years, "medieval archaeology" appeared in Britain, with the lower age limit extending to the beginning of the bourgeois revolution (1640) and the so-called "industrial archaeology", and the lower age limit extending to the beginning of the industrial revolution in18th century and19th century. In America, there are so-called "historical archaeology" and "colonial archaeology", ranging from Columbus' discovery of America to the political independence of American countries at the end of 18 century or at the beginning of 19 century. The so-called "industrial archaeology" in Britain and the so-called "historical archaeology" or "colonial archaeology" in the United States actually use archaeological methods to study modern history, so it cannot be regarded as real archaeology.
On the contrary, some people limit the age range of archaeology to prehistoric times, that is, ancient times without written records. In this way, it is also inappropriate to exclude many historical periods of ancient civilizations from the scope of archaeological research. It must be affirmed that archaeology studies ancient times instead of modern times and modernity. But the "ancient" studied by archaeology should include not only prehistoric period, but also primitive historical period and historical period. As far as archaeology in China is concerned, the historical era not only refers to Shang and Zhou Dynasties, but also includes Qin and Han Dynasties and their later generations. It is wrong to say that "three generations or less can't pass the exam". Of course, the longer the history, the less written records, and the more significant the importance of archaeological research. To understand the prehistoric social history without written records, we must rely on archaeology to a great extent, so prehistoric archaeology and prehistory are equated.