The Empire of Sacrifice:  The Great City Yong and the Archaeology of Religion

Tang Special Annual lecture in Archaeology, 2019-2020

The Empire of Sacrifice:
The Great City Yong and the Archaeology of Religion

Keynote Speakers:
Tian Yaqi, Researcher,  Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology
Recent Archaeological Research on the City Yong of Qin Empire

Chen Aidong, Assistant Researcher, Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology
Archaeological Studies of the State Sacrifice of Qin in the Vicinity of the Great City Yong

Commentators:
Robin D.S. Yates, Mcgill University
David W. Pankenier, Lehigh University
Terence N. D’Altroy, Columbia University
Li Feng, Columbia University

Friday, March 13, 2020 (11:00 AM – 5:00 PM)
403, Kent Hall, Columbia University

Please RSVP by March 6, 2020

In recent years, archaeological research at the city Yong 雍 has made important progress to uncover the ecologic system as well as the religious dimension of this great pre-imperial Qin capital. Of the five sacrificial altars of Qin (秦五畤) located in the vicinity of Yong, the most famous altars to Heaven of all time, archaeologists believe that they have found at least three and possibly four. While two (including the Blood Pool 血池) have been excavated in the past two years, excavations are undergoing on the other two in 2019-2020. There is little doubt that these new works will shed important light on the mentality of the Qin Empire and on the religious tradition of early China in general. While the political and military history of the Qin Empire were the subjects of numerous studies, we are only now beginning of understand the role of religion in the formation of that empire.