Event Details:
Lunch Club provides affiliates of the Stanford Archaeology Center with a community-oriented forum for engagement with current issues in archaeology. On February 12, 2025 we will host Dr. Min Li from UCLA.
Abstract:
The ecumene of Bronze Age China is embodied in the legendary geography of Yu’s Tracks—the lands reputedly reclaimed from floods by Yu, the mythic founder of the Xia dynasty (circa 2100-1600 BCE). This study investigates the archaeological landscape of key pilgrimage sites associated with Yu’s flood-control journey. Through an analysis of their spatial arrangement, ritual offerings, and interconnections, I argue that the tradition of Yu’s Tracks reflects the rise of a religious network responding to the climatic upheavals of the late third millennium BCE. By mapping and systematizing geographic knowledge, the ritual reenactment of Yu's odyssey sought to invoke and harness the powers embedded in the vast, ever-changing landscape of his flood-control feats. This spatial ideology not only shaped religious practice but also laid the groundwork for later imperial statecraft. In subsequent dynastic periods, both Confucianism and Daoism drew from this ancient ritual tradition, influencing concepts of governance, kingship, and embodied practices of power.