Speaker : prof. Alain THOTE (École pratique des hautes études (EPHE))
Title:  Why Manuscripts were deposited into Tombs of the Late Zhou period and Early Han Dynasty?

Date: Tuesday, 6 March 2018, at 3pm
Venue: Room 702, Research Building, IHP, Academia Sinica, Taipei City


Abstract:
Since the second half of the twentieth century ancient Chinese manuscripts made of bound slips of bamboo or wood and silk sheets have nearly all been discovered in tombs that date between the fifth century BCE and the first century CE. The interest aroused by ongoing manuscript discoveries – both archaeologically excavated and looted, and from non-tomb settlement sites as well as from tombs – has not always been equally concerned with the close examination of the archaeological context in which manuscripts are discovered. As is made clear in this lecture, this context and the material characteristics of the manuscripts provide essential evidence for understanding the social and cultural background of the production and use of manuscripts during the centuries when manuscript culture in China was fully developed and had an effect on the lives of different social groups.

Organiser:
- EFEO Taipei Center
- Research Center for Ancient Civilizations, Institute of History and Philology, Sinica

This seminar will be chaired by Dr. HWANG Ming-chorng (Research Fellow, IHP, Academia Sinica).

The talk will be given in English. Registration is not required.
With the support of the French Office in Taipei (BFT)

 lecture