﻿FAR 
  EASTERN 
  CIVILIZATIONS 
  — 
  BISHOP 
  

  

  505 
  

  

  who 
  burned 
  their 
  dead 
  on 
  pyres. 
  And 
  a 
  custom 
  of 
  cremation, 
  appar- 
  

   ently 
  not 
  of 
  Buddhist 
  origin, 
  is 
  still 
  practiced 
  by 
  certain 
  Tibeto- 
  

   Burman 
  tribes 
  of 
  western 
  China. 
  

  

  During 
  the 
  Chou 
  period 
  the 
  important 
  dead, 
  covered 
  with 
  red 
  

   pigment, 
  were 
  placed 
  in 
  wooden 
  chambers 
  constructed 
  underground. 
  

   Goods 
  and 
  particularly 
  bronze 
  vessels 
  were 
  buried 
  with 
  them, 
  as 
  well 
  

   as 
  human 
  beings, 
  although 
  not 
  in 
  such 
  numbers 
  as 
  in 
  the 
  preceding 
  

   Shang 
  Dynasty. 
  Chariot 
  burials 
  also 
  occurred, 
  as 
  in 
  the 
  west. 
  Burial 
  

   mounds, 
  usually 
  though 
  not 
  always 
  truncated 
  pyramids 
  of 
  earth, 
  

   often 
  gigantic 
  in 
  size, 
  were 
  then 
  erected 
  over 
  them. 
  (See 
  pi. 
  1 
  and 
  

   figs. 
  18, 
  19, 
  and 
  20.) 
  

  

  ills' 
  

  

  \{, 
  j-'-Wl^t^i 
  \i 
  .-^ 
  .j. 
  . 
  .jJ^i 
  , 
  JJ 
  l 
  ^At»vJ7ii7--giBd»ygag)»>*" 
  1 
  **&mii 
  

  

  Figure 
  19. 
  — 
  Group 
  of 
  ancient 
  grave 
  mounds, 
  northwestern 
  China. 
  

  

  THE 
  BRONZE 
  AGE 
  REACHES 
  WESTERN 
  JAPAN 
  

  

  Apparently 
  about 
  the 
  close 
  of 
  the 
  Chou 
  period 
  or 
  very 
  shortly 
  

   thereafter, 
  bronze 
  began 
  to 
  appear 
  in 
  western 
  Japan. 
  It 
  came 
  from 
  

   the 
  Asiatic 
  continent 
  by 
  two 
  routes, 
  the 
  one 
  through 
  Kyushu, 
  western- 
  

   most 
  of 
  the 
  larger 
  islands 
  of 
  the 
  archipelago, 
  the 
  other 
  from 
  Korea 
  

   to 
  the 
  northwestern 
  shores 
  of 
  the 
  main 
  island. 
  The 
  area 
  over 
  which 
  

   it 
  diffused 
  itself 
  was 
  roughly 
  that 
  bordering 
  the 
  Japanese 
  Inland 
  

   Sea; 
  it 
  did 
  not 
  extend 
  far 
  beyond 
  the 
  eastern 
  extremity 
  of 
  that 
  body 
  

   of 
  water. 
  

  

  IRON 
  AGE 
  

  

  IRON 
  APPEARS 
  IN 
  CHINA 
  

  

  The 
  advent 
  of 
  iron 
  in 
  China 
  had 
  no 
  such 
  revolutionary 
  effect 
  on 
  the 
  

   development 
  of 
  civilization 
  there 
  as 
  had 
  that 
  of 
  bronze, 
  something 
  

   like 
  a 
  thousand 
  years 
  earlier. 
  It 
  had 
  no 
  immediate 
  influence 
  on 
  the 
  

   political, 
  social, 
  or 
  economic 
  life 
  of 
  the 
  country, 
  but 
  meant 
  merely 
  

  

  