Oscar Montelius and Chinese Archaeology

This paper demonstrates that Oscar Montelius (1843–1921), the world-famous Swedish archaeologist, had a key role in the development of modern scientific Chinese archaeology and the discovery of China’s prehistory. We know that one of his major works, Die Methode , the first volume of his Alteren kulturperioden im Orient und in Europa , translated into Chinese in the 1930s, had considerable influence on generations of Chinese archaeologists and art historians. What has previously remained unknown, is that Montelius personally promoted the research undertaken in China by Johan Gunnar Andersson (1874–1960), whose discoveries of Neolithic cultures in the 1920s constituted the breakthrough and starting point for the development of prehistoric archaeology in China. In this paper, we reproduce, translate and discuss a long forgotten memorandum written by Montelius in 1920 in support of Andersson’s research. In this Montelius indicated his belief in the potential of prehistoric Chinese archaeology as well as his predictions regarding the discoveries about to be made. It is therefore an important document for the study of the history of Chinese archaeology as a whole.