Science and Technology of The Song Dynasty - Archaeology

Archaeology

During the early half of the Song Dynasty (960–1279), the study of archaeology developed out of the antiquarian interests of the educated gentry and their desire to revive the use of ancient vessels in state rituals and ceremonies. This and the belief that ancient vessels were products of 'sages' and not common people was criticized by Shen Kuo, who discussed metallurgy, optics, astronomy, geometry, and ancient music measures in addition to archeology. His contemporary Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072) compiled an analytical catalogue of ancient rubbings on stone and bronze. In accordance with the beliefs of the later Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886), some Song gentry —such as Zhao Mingcheng (1081–1129)— valued archaeological evidence over historical works written after the fact, finding written records unreliable when they failed to match with the archaeological discoveries. Hong Mai (1123–1202) used ancient Han Dynasty era vessels to debunk what he found to be fallacious descriptions of Han vessels in the Bogutu archaeological catalogue compiled during the latter half of Huizong's reign (1100–1125).