A GIS-Investigation of the Yangshan Cemetery, Qinghai, NW China

Summary

This paper focuses on the use of GIS (geographic information systems) to examine mortuary practice in the Yangshan cemetery (ca. 4300-4000 BP), Qinghai Province, Northwestern China. The abundant graves unearthed in the Yangshan cemetery are valuable sources for investigating local social and economic organization. However, mortuary practice at Yangshan appears to be complicated, including graves containing single or multiple individuals, individuals deposited in extended or flexed position, burials furnished with different types of grave goods, and etc. GIS provides a powerful tool to investigate spatial and statistic relationships between graves with these different variables. This study reveals new knowledge of late Neolithic communities in Northwestern China.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Guava Cat Archaeology: Papers in memory of Prof. Pochan Chen

Keywords

Spatial Coverage