438 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1940 



of the second millennium B. C. and has been traced there to still 

 earlier forms. The other is the socketed spearhead, evolved in the 

 West before the beginning of the same millennium from an earlier 

 tanged type. Both implements, though absent from China in their 

 more primitive stages, appear there fully developed during the Shang 

 Dynasty. 



THE WESTERN CHOU PERIOD 



Not long before the close of the second millennium B. C, the Shang 

 Dynasty fell before invading peoples from the west headed by a group 

 called the Chous.^^ Tlie chieftain of the latter then made himself 

 king of northern China — roughly, the basin of the Yellow River. 

 There he set up a feudal organization, primitive in type but forming 

 nonetheless a decided advance over the mere tribute-collecting system 

 of the Shangs. 



The Chous, too, worshipped their ancestors, and also various divini- 

 ties, of whom T'ien, "the Sky," was supreme.^^ They seem likewise to 

 have introduced into China the 7-day week ^^ and the employment of 

 eunuchs as harem guards — both traits believed to have originated in 

 the Near East. 



At or not long after the Chou conquest (the point is still undecided) 

 there appeared in northern China the custom of erecting grave mounds 

 over the illustrious dead. This practice had already long prevailed in 

 the steppe belt, from southeastern Europe far into central Asia. In 

 that area, just as eventually in China, mounds were heaped over tomb- 

 chambers (of wood or stone) richly furnished with grave goods; and 

 further, in both areas the bodies thus interred were covered with red 

 pigment, haematite or cinnabar. 



SOCIAL GROUPS IN CHOU FEUDALISM 



The Chinese civilization of earlier Chou times was the possession 

 mainly of a small ruling class. The masses, on the other hand, retained 

 much of the ancient Neolithic culture of their ancestors."* For this 

 we have evidence both in ancient literary notices and in the abundance 

 of stone implements and primitive pottery found on, or just beneath 

 the surface of, the soil. Further, in line with what has already been 

 indicated, while weapons of bronze are common on Chinese sites, 

 industrial tools hardly ever occur. 



" On the probable date of the Chou conquest, see my paper cited In footnote 14 ; ref. 

 on p. 237. 



^T'len and Shang Tl (the chief god, as we have seen, of the previous dynasty) were 

 eventually equated with each other, much as Zeus and Jupiter, originally quite distinct, 

 came to be identified. 



*»The Shangs, prior to their overthrow by the Chous, had used a "week" or day-period 

 of 10 days. 



** On the survival of Neolithic types of pottery among the Chinese peasantry of early 

 historical times, cf. footnote 9. 



