The search for China’s roots
The Chengdu Plain lies flat and fertile in central China’s Sichuan Basin. Cut by tributaries of one of China’s most important rivers, the mighty Yangtze, the plain is something of a rarity in the hilly region, making it ideal for agriculture, now and in antiquity. Harvard archaeologists are at work there, plumbing the roots of some of China’s early civilizations. The world’s most-populous country traces its past to the Qin dynasty, the first to unify large parts of the nation. The Qin arose just north of Chengdu, and its fertile fields made it their first target of expansion. “The first region conquered outside of their homeland was the Sichuan Basin,” said Rowan Flad, an associate professor of anthropological archaeology who is leading an international team of researchers working in the region. “It was the breadbasket for the Qin army as they conquered.” Flad has been at work on the plain since 2005 on...