Ancient civilizations find common ground

Shared value

Westra chose Henan province for his studies on environmental archaeology and comparisons in archaeological cultures, because he felt China's history wasn't prominent enough in world history records, with many mysteries waiting to be solved. Henan, as "the cultural heartland of China" and one of the birthplaces for the world-famous Yellow River civilization, is an ideal location for gaining such knowledge.

"The more I read chapters of human history, mostly written by Western historians, I found that the China chapter was a bit too short for what it should be. Therefore, I wanted to come here and discover what should be added. There is a vast amount of knowledge here that is gradually seeping into world history, but there's much more to add," he says.

"As my academic interest drew me to study China in great detail, the less I wanted to study it from a distance. I wanted to be there …where you have clusters of archaeological sites and can get a sense of the landscape, the light and the soil. Seeing it for yourself is the most fundamental experience for an archaeologist," he adds.

Westra played a role in establishing The Chinese School of Classical Studies at Athens, an institute founded in 2024 to promote academic research and exchanges on classical civilizations worldwide. From his perspective, China and Greece have a lot in common, which enables such cooperation.

"I think China and Greece are societies that have a deep desire to understand, write, and communicate about the world around them to essentially think their way out of problems and crises that they developed," says Westra.

Two great thinkers, Confucius and Plato, emerged in both countries around the same period — the 5th century BC — and developed similar ideas in cultivating oneself, education, and moral ethics.

"Plato and Confucius emerged in times of relative instability and thought about what morality is, what order is, what virtue is, and how to maintain order in the world around them," says Westra.

Westra believes that by reflecting on each other's history and experience, both countries can benefit from valuable lessons.

"Greek history will benefit a lot from the Chinese perspective of history. From my understanding, Chinese history tends to think in dynastic arcs or the long-term continuity of events, whereas Greek history is more punctuated by disconnected moments. I think there is a lot of value in looking at Greek history in a similar long arc of development as the Chinese do to their own past," says Westra.

He also believes Greek archaeologists can learn from their Chinese counterparts by combining archaeological fieldwork with textual evidence to generate a better understanding, as in the past they tended to separate them into distinct categories.

"When you study another civilization, you start looking at your own a little differently," he says. "We tend to work in our own little space, and then suddenly you discover other ideas or other perspectives of history, and that can shift a little bit, or at least enrich your perspective. So, it's a very novel and very innovative approach to history."