{"id":1192,"date":"2009-08-21T02:14:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-21T02:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wp-a_lawler\/?p=1192"},"modified":"2024-12-21T12:06:16","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T17:06:16","slug":"archaeologists-raise-the-old-with-the-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/archaeologists-raise-the-old-with-the-new\/","title":{"rendered":"Archaeologists Raise The Old With the New"},"content":{"rendered":"Researchers work to transform China\u2019s development boom from a curse into a blessing for ancient sites<\/p>\n
CHENGDU, CHINA\u2014Amid tangles of highways and phalanxes of high rises in this booming capital of Sichuan province, more than 30 hectares of prime urban real estate\u2014three times as large as New York City\u2019s Battery Park\u2014is meticulously landscaped around two massive glass, steel, and stone pavilions. But unlike many of the high-rise buildings, this $75 million, 2-year-old complex is not the modern headquarters of a successful Chinese corporation. Instead, it is a museum paying homage to a 3000-year-old settlement and its surprisingly rich culture, which until recently was completely unknown.<\/p>\n
![\"raise2\"](\"http:\/\/andrewlawler.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/raise2.jpg\")
This sprawling ancient site, called Jinsha, lies 1000 kilometers from the traditional center of Chinese civilization along the Yellow River (see p. 934) and deep within a region long assumed to have been a cultural backwater until it was absorbed into the Qin dynasty in the 3rd century B.C.E. In recent decades, however, archaeologists have uncovered astonishing evidence of sophisticated and largely independent cultures in the region dating back to 2500 B.C.E., cultures that are helping to rewrite the origins of Chinese civilization (see p. 930).<\/p>\n
A decade ago, Jinsha was still buried. Until its accidental discovery during a construction project, the site was verdant farmland on the outskirts of a city with a mere 5 million people. Today, thanks to savvy archaeologists and their allies in city government, the new Jinsha Site Museum not only offers a welcome haven from urban sprawl but also sets aside a large area for future digs. The excavated area is covered with a vast glass roof, and a separate building houses state-of-the-art exhibits. Chengdu hotels and department stores proudly sport the site\u2019s icon, a gold sun disk surrounded by four birds, as a symbol of the city\u2019s unique past.<\/p>\n
Jinsha creates a place of beauty, bolsters civic pride, and pulls in tourists\u2014and its success is encouraging other cities to follow suit. \u201cDozens of local governments have come to see this,\u201d says Zhu Zhangyi, 49, who is now the museum\u2019s vice curator. \u201cIt has become a model.\u201d Western archaeologists are deeply impressed, too. \u201cThe priority is to teach people about their past,\u201d says Gary Crawford of the University of Toronto, Mississauga, in Canada. \u201cThey are willing to put real money into that\u2014and we could learn some lessons from that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Archaeologists say models such as this are desperately needed in a country developing more rapidly than any other in human history. Half of the world\u2019s concrete is poured in China. There are more than 2 million kilometers of highways, double the amount there was in 1986. And cities like Chengdu\u2014 which now boasts more than 10 million people and adds a million a year\u2014have mushroomed, eating up land along rivers and on plains typically favored by ancient peoples. The pace of construction threatens to destroy sites ranging from Paleolithic campsites to Han royal tombs, and with them, a treasure trove of data critical for understanding the role of East Asia in early human migrations, animal and plant domestication, and urbanization.<\/p>\n
Halting or even slowing development in a society eager to emerge from rural poverty is not possible. Instead, archaeologists are exploring creative ways to collaborate with both government and developers, and using museums like Jinsha\u2019s to build popular support forpreserving key sites. Thus China\u2019s development boom is powering a new wave of archaeological discovery and appreciation even as it threatens sites. Courts are increasingly willing to enforce harsh penalties on looters (see sidebar, this page). And in a dramatic departure from the past, local governments are now willing to lend support and funds to preserve sites. \u201cIt was a great fortune we discovered [Jinsha] in 2001,\u201d says archaeologist Zhu, who led the team that examined the site just ahead of developers. \u201cIf it had been earlier, it would have been impossible to preserve the whole area.\u201d<\/p>\n
During a recent visit by Science, however, archaeologists at several provincial centers also warned that they must race to keep up with the bulldozers and have largely set aside purely academic endeavors in order to rescue sites. The recent economic downturn, rather than easing the pace, has only quickened it, as the central government pumps hundreds of billions of dollars into dams, canals, and highways to stimulate the economy. Says Zhu: \u201cWe have to do our best to persuade our government that if it doesn\u2019t move aggressively to protect sites, there will be nothing left in 10 or 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Water over the dam?<\/strong><\/p>\nThe current boom is hardly the first threat to China\u2019s past. Qin Shi Huang, the man credited with first unifying China in the 3rd century B.C.E., consolidated the Great Wall and left behind the famous terracottaarmy in his mausoleum\u2014two of the modern nation\u2019s most famous tourist attractions. But he also ordered that evidence of previous rulers be destroyed in order to ensure his importance in history. More than 2 millennia later, China\u2019s revolutionary leader Mao Zedong encouraged his people to obliterate \u201cold ways of thinking,\u201d triggering the destruction of thousands of ancient buildings and artifacts. During the years of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s and early 1970s, archaeological publishing ceased, university courses were restricted to political subjects, and many researchers were forced out of their jobs.<\/p>\n
Today, the more insidious threat is not to China\u2019s visible past but to the undiscovered sites that lay safely underground until recent development. The most infamous example of this third wave of destruction is the Three Gorges Dam project, which began in 1993 and eventually drowned a 600-kilometer stretch of the middle Yangtze River. The government initially allotted $37.5 million for archaeological salvage, although archaeologists called for at least $500 million. The amount was only marginally increased, and salvage work was not finished before the dam was completed in 2006 (Science, 1 August 2008, p. 628). \u201cWe may have missed a few sites,\u201d says one Chinese archaeologist sheepishly.<\/p>\n
Other massive projects have received less publicity but are having a tremendous impact. The $8 billion South-North Water Transfer Project will divert water from the wetter areas of central and southern China to its thirsty north, through a complex mix of reservoirs, canals, and dams. When complete by 2014 (Science, 25 August 2006, p. 1034), the central route\u2014an average of 110 meters wide\u2014will cut across nearly 1300 kilometers, much of it in central Henan Province, which is traditionally considered the homeland of Chinese civilization.<\/p>\n
Ma Xiaolin, vice-director of the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in Zhengzhou, says work on the canal has uncovered some 340 sites in Henan alone, from Neolithic settlements to Tang Dynasty tombs. Ma says time and funding for salvage work are ample, but there are complications. Archaeologists are now excavating a 2000-year-old king\u2019s tomb and have requested that the government alter the canal route. \u201cNo decision has been made,\u201d says another scientist familiar with the site. \u201cIt\u2019s a sensitive issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sensitivity reflects the tension between development and preservation. China passed a heritage protection law in 1982, but archaeologists say it was only haphazardly enforced until recently. \u201cIn past decades, we were in a very bad position,\u201d says Wang Yi, who leads the Chengdu City Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics. \u201cSince the first law was passed 27 years ago, we have been fighting against developers. And in the past, local governors were enemies of archaeologists. \u2026 We could not counter a city\u2019s development.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that is changing. In 1997, the government made violations of cultural heritage laws a criminal act punishable by jail terms and even the death penalty. In Chengdu, the manager of a real-estate company went to jail for 5 years for failing to do archaeological salvage work before construction. \u201cThere have been those who destroyed sites and artifacts\u2014but now, if they do, they get in big trouble,\u201d says Wang. \u201cEven government officers don\u2019t dare break this law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hearts and minds<\/strong><\/p>\nAlong with the legal stick comes a carrot. Both the city and provincial government see that development \u201cis not just about an increase in GDP,\u201d asserts Wang. \u201cWe have to make this mainstream, so that all branches of government and citizens support archaeology.\u201d He and a growing number of other Chinese researchers are increasingly involved in outreach activities to create a broader constituency for protecting sites. \u201cIt is impossible not to lose some sites,\u201d says Wang Wei, director of the Institute of Archaeology in Beijing. \u201cBut the public is starting to appreciate the importance of cultural heritage\u2014and that you can move the site of a planned building.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"raise3\"](\"http:\/\/andrewlawler.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/raise3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The archaeologists\u2019 efforts can be seen in a new and surprising phenomenon: multimillion dollar popular archaeological museums that have opened in recent years across China, sporting three-dimensional movies, elegant restaurants, and exhibits that equal or surpass those in major U.S., European, and Japanese cities. Many, like the Jinsha museum, are on land protected from further development. \u201cFor less than $100 million, the Chengdu municipal government bought a history 1000 years older than it had before,\u201d Zhu says over sushi in the chic museum restaurant.<\/p>\n
In another example, last October a gleaming monument of Iranian marble opened outside the southern port city of Hangzhou to celebrate Liangzhu, which started flourishing around 3500 B.C.E. and is one of the oldest major settlements in China. Now 42 hectares around the site have been protected from major development. When a real-estate company sought to buy neighboring land, the government sold it for under market value in exchange for nearly $24 million for the museum and private-sector expertise in big projects. \u201cThis was a real innovation,\u201d says archaeologist Jiang Weidong, director of the Liangzhu Museum, over tea in his sleek Bauhaus-style office.<\/p>\n
The exhibit lays out methods of excavation, the evolution of the site, and the day-to-day life of its people 5000 years ago, using cutting-edge artifacts, films, and displays. Visitors can even walk through a recreation of the settlement, showing both the jade-wearing elite\u2014who were buried in elaborate tombs high on earthen platforms\u2014 as well as modest tradespeople and rice and millet farmers in wattle-and-daub houses.<\/p>\n
Back in Chengdu, archaeologists are also using their facilities to win the hearts and minds of their citizens. After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, curators at Jinsha opened the grounds to more than 40,000 people who camped out amid fears of aftershocks. To mark the first anniversary of the disaster in May, they waived admission fees and drew an impressive 50,000 citizens. Regular festivals promote the site as a cultural oasis amid the city\u2019s congestion.<\/p>\n
Such efforts raise awareness of the nation\u2019s heritage, and plans for park and museum complexes at ancient sites are taking hold all over China, from the 3500-year-old city of Erlitou in the central plains to the ancient Silk Road city of Turfan in the far western province of Xinjiang (see p. 940). In May, a new underwater museum opened along the Yangtze, preserving 1200-year-old poetic inscriptions and measurements of annual high-water levels on rock from the waters impounded by the Three Gorges Dam. Such museums also provide opportunities for archaeologists themselves, and some scholars who studied abroad are now finding ways to return to China for research or even permanently (see sidebar, p. 938).<\/p>\n
Getting the goods<\/strong><\/p>\nIn the rush to modernize, modest prehistoric settlements are at particular risk, although sometimes they can win a reprieve. In Shaanxi province, west of the central plains, for example, construction of a vehicle factory was put on hold after the discovery of an unusually complex, moated, Neolithic site with a line of pottery kilns suggesting specialized handcrafts, dated to a surprisingly early 4000 B.C.E. \u201cThe site was preserved, and the provincial government paid dozens of millions of yuan [tens of millions of U.S. dollars] to move the factory,\u201d says Wang Weilin, vice director of the Shaanxi Archaeological Institute.<\/p>\n
Wang, whose organization includes 130 archaeologists, says developers pay nearly $3 million annually to cover the costs of salvage work in his province. But he is particularly concerned about smaller sites without dramatic architecture and artifacts. \u201cWe see traces of such sites, but we worry we might not catch up with development,\u201d he says. Harvard University archaeologist Rowan Flad, who is collaborating with Wang, notes that international efforts \u201care often the only way Back in Chengdu, archaeologists are also using their facilities to win the hearts and minds of their citizens. After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, curators at Jinsha opened the grounds to more than 40,000 that work beyond that of a salvage nature can get done,\u201d because of the time pressures on Chinese institutes.<\/p>\n
Smaller, more ancient sites are also at greater risk because they typically lack what Chinese archaeologists privately call \u201chao dongxi,\u201d which can be roughly translated as \u201cgoodies\u201d in English. \u201cThere is a tendency among some Chinese archaeologists to look for the goodies, that is, the grave goods with artistic merit and which embody China\u2019s cultural heritage,\u201d says Magnus Fiskesj\u00f6, an anthropologist at Cornell University. \u201cFishbones don\u2019t qualify.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result, material with the potential for providing critical data on scientific questions, such as ancient diet, health, and social organization\u2014including fishbones\u2014is often overlooked, particularly during fast-paced salvage digs. Even human bones are often still disposed of rather than analyzed, says Fiskesj\u00f6.<\/p>\n
That tendency is changing, albeit unevenly. In Zhengzhou, Ma, who studied at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, is eager to show off his labs and storage facilities, which include well-labeled blue bins of human and animal bones from a host of sites. \u201cSmaller institutes just collect artifacts and throw away the rest,\u201d he says. \u201cWe want to focus on new techniques involving plants, animals, and human skeletons and set up databases for each site.\u201d With a healthy $3 million annual budget, Ma\u2019s institute has the funds to do more detailed research. But the organization is now juggling a dozen excavations, and he expects to conduct more than 30 digs this year alone\u201490% of which are salvage operations.<\/p>\n
Despite\u2014and because of\u2014the pace of development, archaeologists in China appear surprisingly optimistic. \u201cGiven the investment from our government, the 21st century will be a golden age for archaeology in Sichuan,\u201d predicts Chengdu\u2019s Wang. With an interested public plus provincial government coffers filled by the economic boom, China is now paying heed to its archaeological treasures in a way that once might have been criticized as a bourgeois luxury. Says Jiang, smiling over green tea in his sun-filled office: \u201cWhen your granary is full, you pay more attention to ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n
Science-2009-Lawler-Archaeologists_Raise_The_Old_With_the_New-936-40.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers work to transform China\u2019s development boom from a curse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-magazine"],"yoast_head":"\n
Archaeologists Raise The Old With the New • Andrew Lawler<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Researchers work to transform China\u2019s development boom from a curse into a blessing for ancient sites CHENGDU, CHINA\u2014Amid tangles of highways and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/325\/5943\/936.summary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Archaeologists Raise The Old With the New • Andrew Lawler\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Researchers work to transform China\u2019s development boom from a curse into a blessing for ancient sites CHENGDU, CHINA\u2014Amid tangles of highways and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/325\/5943\/936.summary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Andrew Lawler\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AndrewLawlerAuthor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AndrewLawlerAuthor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-21T02:14:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-21T17:06:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/andrewlawler.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/raise2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"AndrewLawler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"AndrewLawler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"12 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/science.sciencemag.org\\\/content\\\/325\\\/5943\\\/936.summary#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/archaeologists-raise-the-old-with-the-new\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"AndrewLawler\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022\"},\"headline\":\"Archaeologists Raise The Old With the New\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-21T02:14:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-21T17:06:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/archaeologists-raise-the-old-with-the-new\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2422,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/science.sciencemag.org\\\/content\\\/325\\\/5943\\\/936.summary#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/andrewlawler.com\\\/website\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/raise2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Science Magazine\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/archaeologists-raise-the-old-with-the-new\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/science.sciencemag.org\\\/content\\\/325\\\/5943\\\/936.summary\",\"name\":\"Archaeologists Raise The Old With the New • Andrew Lawler\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/science.sciencemag.org\\\/content\\\/325\\\/5943\\\/936.summary#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/science.sciencemag.org\\\/content\\\/325\\\/5943\\\/936.summary#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/andrewlawler.com\\\/website\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/raise2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-21T02:14:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-21T17:06:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"Researchers work to transform China\u2019s development boom from a curse into a blessing for ancient sites CHENGDU, CHINA\u2014Amid tangles of highways and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/science.sciencemag.org\\\/content\\\/325\\\/5943\\\/936.summary#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/science.sciencemag.org\\\/content\\\/325\\\/5943\\\/936.summary\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/science.sciencemag.org\\\/content\\\/325\\\/5943\\\/936.summary#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/andrewlawler.com\\\/website\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/raise2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/andrewlawler.com\\\/website\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/raise2.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/science.sciencemag.org\\\/content\\\/325\\\/5943\\\/936.summary#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Archaeologists Raise The Old With the New\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Andrew Lawler\",\"description\":\"Andrew Lawler is author of four books\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022\",\"name\":\"AndrewLawler\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/content\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/content\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/content\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1920,\"caption\":\"AndrewLawler\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/content\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg\"},\"description\":\"Andrew Lawler is author of three books, Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World\u2019s Most Contested City, The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke, a national bestseller, and Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?: The Epic Saga of the Bird that Powers Civilization. As a journalist, he has written more than a thousand newspaper and magazine articles from more than two dozen countries. His byline has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and many others. He is contributing writer for Science and contributing editor for Archaeology. Andrew\u2019s work has appeared several times in The Best of Science and Nature Writing.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AndrewLawlerAuthor\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/andrew-lawler-9b5a064a\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/LawlerAndrew\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCsliIwdDC_wPYE01Se2zzAw\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Archaeologists Raise The Old With the New • Andrew Lawler","description":"Researchers work to transform China\u2019s development boom from a curse into a blessing for ancient sites CHENGDU, CHINA\u2014Amid tangles of highways and","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/325\/5943\/936.summary","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Archaeologists Raise The Old With the New • Andrew Lawler","og_description":"Researchers work to transform China\u2019s development boom from a curse into a blessing for ancient sites CHENGDU, CHINA\u2014Amid tangles of highways and","og_url":"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/325\/5943\/936.summary","og_site_name":"Andrew Lawler","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AndrewLawlerAuthor","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AndrewLawlerAuthor","article_published_time":"2009-08-21T02:14:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-21T17:06:16+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/andrewlawler.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/raise2.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"AndrewLawler","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"AndrewLawler","Est. reading time":"12 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/325\/5943\/936.summary#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/archaeologists-raise-the-old-with-the-new\/"},"author":{"name":"AndrewLawler","@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022"},"headline":"Archaeologists Raise The Old With the New","datePublished":"2009-08-21T02:14:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-21T17:06:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/archaeologists-raise-the-old-with-the-new\/"},"wordCount":2422,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/325\/5943\/936.summary#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/andrewlawler.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/raise2.jpg","articleSection":["Science Magazine"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/archaeologists-raise-the-old-with-the-new\/","url":"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/325\/5943\/936.summary","name":"Archaeologists Raise The Old With the New • Andrew Lawler","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/325\/5943\/936.summary#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/325\/5943\/936.summary#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/andrewlawler.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/raise2.jpg","datePublished":"2009-08-21T02:14:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-21T17:06:16+00:00","description":"Researchers work to transform China\u2019s development boom from a curse into a blessing for ancient sites CHENGDU, CHINA\u2014Amid tangles of highways and","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/325\/5943\/936.summary#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/325\/5943\/936.summary"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/325\/5943\/936.summary#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/andrewlawler.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/raise2.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/andrewlawler.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/raise2.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/325\/5943\/936.summary#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Archaeologists Raise The Old With the New"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/","name":"Andrew Lawler","description":"Andrew Lawler is author of four books","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022","name":"AndrewLawler","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg","width":1920,"height":1920,"caption":"AndrewLawler"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg"},"description":"Andrew Lawler is author of three books, Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World\u2019s Most Contested City, The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke, a national bestseller, and Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?: The Epic Saga of the Bird that Powers Civilization. As a journalist, he has written more than a thousand newspaper and magazine articles from more than two dozen countries. His byline has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and many others. He is contributing writer for Science and contributing editor for Archaeology. Andrew\u2019s work has appeared several times in The Best of Science and Nature Writing.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AndrewLawlerAuthor","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/andrew-lawler-9b5a064a\/","https:\/\/x.com\/LawlerAndrew","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCsliIwdDC_wPYE01Se2zzAw"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18530,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions\/18530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}