Anne P. Underhill - Böcker

This book offers an anthropological analysis of how craft production changed in relation to the development of complex societies in northern China. It focuses on the production and use of food containers-pottery and bronze vessels-during the late prehistoric and early historic periods. A major theme is how production and use of prestige vessels changed in relation to increase in degree of social inequality. The research and writing of this book took place intermittently over a period of several years. When I first outlined the book in 1994, I planned to offer a more limited and descriptive account of social change during the late prehistoric period. In considering the human desire to display status with prestige goods, my initial approach emphasized how the case of northern China was similar to other areas of the world. I began to realize that in order to adequately explain how and why craft production changed in ancient China, it was crucial to consider the belief systems that motivated produc­ tion and use of food containers. Similarly, a striking characteristic of ancient China that I needed to include in the analysis was the preponderance of food containers, rather than other goods, that were buried with the deceased. I decided to investigate the social and ritual uses of food, bever­ ages, and containers during more than one period of Chinese history. Some strong patterns could have emerged during the late prehistoric period.

A comprehensive account of a pioneering archaeological project in the province of Shandong that transformed understandings of regional settlement patternsFrom 1995 to 2007, researchers from China and the United States conducted a systematic, full-coverage regional archaeological survey in southeastern Shandong Province, China, covering an area of more than 1,400 square kilometers. This pioneering multiyear international project transformed the archaeological understanding of regional settlement patterns from the Neolithic to the Han period in southeastern Shandong. As an update of the 2012 synthesis published in Chinese, this volume is the most detailed account of the project in English. The team discovered many new sites, including the earliest known Neolithic settlements in the area, and revealed distinctly different regional settlement patterns in the hinterlands of the two largest late Neolithic sites, Liangchengzhen and Yaowangcheng. The book includes field procedures, methods of analysis, and descriptions of major sites generously illustrated with maps as well as photographs of key artifacts and archaeological localities. Distributed for the Yale Peabody Museum

Commemorating the life and scholarship of Lingyi Zeng, this volume considers production and exchange within the larger context of early Eurasian societies  This volume commemorates the life and scholarship of Lingyi Zeng, a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Yale University until illness overtook her in 2020. Building on Zeng’s research, which focused on the production, exchange, and consumption of ceramic vessels across Eurasia from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries CE, this book contributes to recent endeavors in the humanities and social sciences by reimagining conventional understandings of the vast region stretching from East Asia to the Middle East. In addition to publishing Zeng’s preliminary results, the contributors take inspiration from her research, expanding on two broad themes that formed the basis of her work: production and exchange. Their research investigates sites, different kinds of ancient remains, and texts leading up to and through the Mongol period. Several studies consider large-scale interactions, while others focus more closely on site-level analyses or analytical methods. Together, they provide a longue durée perspective on the interconnectedness of this region. Using a regional perspective, this volume considers production and exchange within the larger context of Eurasian societies, tracing the varied ways that complex societies developed and the processes that articulated adjacent societies in networks of mutual transformation.

A Companion to Chinese Archaeology is an unprecedented, new resource on the current state of archaeological research in one of the world’s oldest civilizations. It presents a collection of readings from leading archaeologists in China and elsewhere that provide diverse interpretations about social and economic organization during the Neolithic period and early Bronze Age. An unprecedented collection of original contributions from international scholars and collaborative archaeological teams conducting research on the Chinese mainland and TaiwanMakes available for the first time in English the work of leading archaeologists in ChinaProvides a comprehensive view of research in key geographic regions of ChinaOffers diverse methodological and theoretical approaches to understanding China’s past, beginning with the era of established agricultural villages from c. 7000 B.C. through to the end of the Shang dynastic period in c. 1045 B.C.

This book offers an anthropological analysis of how craft production changed in relation to the development of complex societies in northern China.