Archaeology of Ancient Yunnan

The Shizhaishan culture, a Bronze-Iron Age culture distributed over central and northeastern Yunnan, was first discovered through excavation of the Shizhaishan cemetery during the late 1950s. Between the second half of the first millennium BC and around AD 50, this archaeological culture was subjected to many influences from metropolitan China. This thesis discusses the processes of acculturation and sinicization of the Shizhaishan cultural complex in the light of historical texts and archaeological materials. The evidence suggests that the influence of metropolitan China was mainly mediated through Sichuan, and the eventual collapse of the Shizhaishan cultural complex as a recognisable archaeological entity occurred in the early Eastern Han period (ca. AD 50). This reflected changes ultimately related to the Han conquest of the Dian kingdom in 109 BC. The evidence suggest that Han immigrants advancing via Sichuan, thus forming a competitive settler population to confront the indigenous people. Based on the chronological distribution of Shizhaishan sites, the hypothesis of a southwards migration of the Shizhaishan people in response to Han intrusion is also stated.