Amazing stuff!
"Archaeologists have excavated three c. 3,000–2,400-year-old ritual structures in Shandong Province, China, indicating that the origins of a shared Chinese cultural identity lie in ceremonial gatherings that sowed the seeds for the political unification of China under the First Emperor. ..."
From the abstract:
"With the eastward expansion of the Western Zhou c. 1050 BC, the Jiaodong Peninsula on the north-east coast of modern-day China became part of a large polity.
Excavations at Qianzhongzitou, located on this peninsula, are revealing how political control over local populations took place. Here, the authors focus on a sequence of Zhou-period, non-residential platforms, the construction of which signifies new forms of ritual spaces. These types of spaces, also found elsewhere in the region, arguably aided in the state assimilation of local deities, illustrating the critical role that ritual played in political unification of early Chinese states and dynasties."
Figure 1. Location of sites
Figure 5. The layout of the platforms and associated features at Qianzhongzitou
Excavation of one of the platforms, indicating its exceptional scale, making it useful for large, communal gatherings.
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