Li Ji (archeologist)

Li Ji (Chinese李 济/李 济, Wade- Giles: Li Chi, born July 12, 1896 in Zhongxiang, Hubei Province; † August 1, 1979 in Taipei ) was a Chinese archaeologist and anthropologist. He is considered one of the founders of Chinese archeology and was the first Chinese who performed modern archaeological excavations. With his excavations at Anyang he was instrumental in proving the historicity of the Shang Dynasty.

Li Ji was born into a wealthy family in the province of Hubei. In 1918 he went to the United States and took up studies in anthropology at Harvard University. This he graduated in 1923 with a PhD from. He then worked for a short time in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, and then returned to China. There, he taught at Nankai University and conducted in 1925-26 in the south of Shanxi Province excavations to Yangshao Culture by. In 1928 he was appointed the first head of the archeology department of the Academia Sinica and then taught at Qinghua University.

From 1928 to 1937 he headed the excavations at Anyang ( Yinxu ). In these more than 300 tombs, including four royal tombs, and the remains of a royal palace were discovered. Among the findings included, among other things, evidence of early Chinese bronze art and described a variety of oracle bones, which included an early form of Chinese writing. These excavations contributed decisively to establish up to this point still controversial historicity of the Shang Dynasty. In 1937 the excavations were terminated by the outbreak of World War II in China.

After the takeover by the Communists in China by Mao Zedong, Li Ji fled to Taiwan in 1949 and became in 1950 the head of the archeology and anthropology at the National Taiwan University in Taipei.

Works

  • The Formation of the Chinese People. An Anthropological Inquiry (1928 )
  • The Beginnings of Chinese Civilization (1957 )
  • Anyang (1977 )

Swell

  • Timothy Murray: Milestones in Archaeology. A chronological encyclopedia. ABC -CLIO, Santa Barbara, Calif. 2007, ISBN 978-1-576-07186-1, pp. 388ff. , (Excerpt in the Google Book Search )
  • Barbara Ann Kipfer: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology. Kluwer Acad. / Plenum Publ, New York, NY 2000, ISBN 0-306-46158-7, pp. 310-311, (excerpt in the Google Book Search )
  • Li Ji in the Encyclopædia Britannica
  • Clayton D. Brown: Li Ji: Father of Chinese Archaeology. In: Orientations Vol 39, No. 3, April 2008, ISSN 0030-5448, pp. 61-66.
  • Orient archaeologist
  • University teachers ( Tsinghua University )
  • University teachers (China)
  • University teachers (Taipei )
  • Chinese
  • Born 1896
  • Died in 1979
  • Man
Wade–Giles Integrated Authority File
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