La plus vieille pyramide de Chine : Shimao

Asian countries attempt to demonstrate the antiquity of their civilizations to rival the wealth of Egyptian civilization.

Between 2011 and 2012, Chinese archaeologists reveal the oldest known pyramid in China, located at the Shimao site and erected around 2200 BCE.

The Shimao pyramid is approximately 400 years older than Kheops' pyramid in Egypt.

Archaeology plays a decisive role in revealing monuments symbolizing past glory and bringing Asian civilizations closer to the pharaonic era.

The Historical Records, written in the 1st century BCE by Sima Qian, are the first comprehensive account of Chinese history.

• The Xia (between 1900 and 1600 BCE) • The Shang (1570–1046 BCE) • The Zhou (1046–256 BCE)

Around 1900 BCE, China gradually left the late Neolithic period to enter its first Bronze Age, accompanied by evolution in tools, urbanism, and rituals.

The archaeological existence of the Xia remains to be proven because there are no written sources from this period, and the first kings mentioned by Sima Qian are relegated to legend.

The Xia are crucial in Chinese chronology because they mark the moment when China leaves the late Neolithic to enter the first Bronze Age.

Da Yu, or Yu the Great, is presented as the first monarch to have tamed the Yellow River floods, supposedly living between 2205 and 2197 BCE.

Archaeologists have discovered cities and cemeteries, but these remains are not as spectacular as the textual descriptions that follow.

The discovery of the Shimao site, dated to 2200–2000 BCE, changes our understanding of this period.

Shimao is located in Shaanxi province, between the Loess Plateau and the south of the Ordos Desert, much farther north than the zones where archaeologists believed the first cities developed.

The site spans over 400 hectares, equivalent to the area of Paris' first 3 arrondissements.

Although known in the 1990s, it took technological advances for Chinese archaeologists to map the site completely between 2011 and 2012.

• An inner city and an outer city • Over 400 dwellings, cemeteries, craft quarters • Palaces and sanctuaries

Access to the site is defended by three stone ramparts equipped with rammed-earth firing platforms, corner towers, and barbican entrances.

A gigantic monumental gate measures 9 meters wide and dominates the site's entrance.

A pyramid stands in the middle of the site, visible from every zone.

All these defensive elements indicate major political and military importance of the site.

The pyramid is known locally as Huang Cheng Tai, the Platform for the Imperial City, and has a stepped structure.

• 24 hectares at the base (240,000 m²) • 70 meters high • Comparable in size to Kheops' pyramid (259,000 m²)

Contrary to expectations, it is not a sanctuary or mausoleum, but the residence of elites and a reception or palace venue.

The pyramid features ingenious water-lifting systems to supply rooms placed at height, and craftsmen worked at the top of the complex.

• Every stone construction was accompanied by various rituals • Jade was embedded in walls to protect the ramparts • Decapitated women's heads were placed in ritual pits

A sacrificial altar was discovered with a pit 3 meters deep, attesting to numerous ritual deaths.

The entire society governing the lives of Shimao's inhabitants is anchored in very strong religious rites.

These sacrificial practices recall Pre-Columbian rituals, raising questions about this civilization's spiritual beliefs.

The stone lintels that support the pyramid's base are decorated with intriguing bas-reliefs, numbering around thirty.

• Zoomorphic heads (depicting animals) • Anthropomorphic heads (depicting human beings) • Motifs intended to protect the pyramidal enclosure

Approximately 700 years later, the same motifs appear exactly on bronzes of the royal Shang dynasty, attesting to major cultural continuity.

These images are associated with monsters intended to protect the seat of power from external threats and evil spirits.

The heads featured on Shimao's bas-reliefs will later be associated with the famous taotie masks, an animal motif that frequently adorns bronzes, jades, lacquers, and other materials.

• Some see ancient dragon representations • Others recognize a glutton, a monster meant to frighten • A means of repelling evil spirits

These taotie motifs are frequently found in many Chinese tombs, indicating their enduring spiritual importance.

The taotie motif has not disappeared and is found today in popular culture, such as in the film The Great Wall where taotie appear as monsters attempting to destroy China.

There has always been a dilemma over how bronze, a material crucial to the development of Chinese antiquity, arrived at the heart of the Yellow River.

• Shimao and its taotie mask imagery suggest that bronze comes from the steppe north of Mongolia • Like precious stones, horses, and other trade goods

Other sites discovered in Kazakhstan, Western Siberia, Mongolia, and Northern China contain objects similar to those found at Shimao.

A trade route distinct from southern maritime and land routes, connecting to the famous Silk Roads.

The discovery of Shimao revolutionizes our understanding of ancient Chinese dynasties and their connections with steppe civilizations.

This episode was produced in collaboration with archaeologist Arnaud Bertrand and the French Association of Friends of the Orient.

Shimao demonstrates lasting influence on later dynasties, particularly the Shang, attesting to major cultural and artistic continuities.

More information on the Shimao site and the Silk Roads is available in the video description and in other episodes of the Nota Bene channel.