East/Southeast Asia (Geographic Keyword)
251-275 (499 Records)
The origin of Oryza sativa and its genetic differentiation during domestication is a long-lasting problem attracting wide attention of agronomists, archaeologists and geneticists etc. An array of hypotheses have been raised to interpret how wild rice evolved into today’s domestic varieties. However, most studies of rice genetic diversity based on modern samples represent a biased sampling of germplasm from a restricted time period in rice evolution, so that important germplasm for understanding...
Investigation of incising techniques on jades from the Fuhao tomb in Yinxu (2017)
During the Shang dynasty，the remarkable tradition of working jades extends back to the Neolithic period. However, the duplicate or symmetrical design incised on jades is the major artistic style at that stage. The present study is based on examination of molds of tool marks on several jades unearthed from the Fuhao tomb in Yinxu by scanning electron microscopy. Our observations suggest that rotary incising wheels charged with abrasive (which is called Jieyu sand in ancient China) were used for...
Iron Grinding Technology in the Kofun Period: New Evidence and Research Techniques (2015)
Due to both a lack of direct evidence and lack of well-defined investigative methods, iron polishing and grinding technologies in the prehistoric Japanese archipelago remain poorly understood. Following the recent foundational research by Lyons, Kawano, and Suzuki, this project seeks to clarify the tools and gestures used to finish iron objects during the Kofun period. Photogrammetric techniques and 3D laser scanning were used to record and analyze striations left by original grinding on iron...
Islamic Trade and Entrepots in the Second Millennium Philippines Archipelago (2015)
The spread of Islamic influence throughout Island Southeast Asia and into the Philippines Archipelago was rapid and extremely effective in the second millennium AD. This model of colonization utilized down-the-line and proxy trading through Taosug and Iranun raiders as well as by the establishment of entrepôts established through intermarriage and local exchange. Power flowing through horizontal networks cemented regional networks and exported an extensive power structure into an otherwise...
Isotopic evidence of affinity and social classes of Mongolian noble family during Yuan Dynasty (2017)
So far, the relationship among Mongolian noble families is scarce due to little findings of Mongolian burials. In this study, isotopic analysis of Mongolian noble tombs was undertaken, aiming to understand the dietary affinity and social classes within Mongolian families. The isotopic similarity and difference was discerned among the population and the reason to account for that was also discussed.
Japanese archaeology, the market economy: resistances through community archaeology? (2015)
In Japan, the relationship between archaeology and the presently dominant neoliberal political economy is now giving rise to ethical issues faced primarily by archaeologists. In this presentation, I illustrate the difficulties which may have arisen from these relations, and explore other avenues of reflection within the implementation of a ‘community archaeology’. The results of my investigation are based on interviews of a sample of Japanese archaeologists and community members involved in...
Jeju Island Ceramics as Evidence of Overseas Trade (2017)
The inhabitants of Jeju island, Korea, maintained active trade routes with societies in the Korean Peninsula, the Japanese Archipelago, and mainland East Asia. These interactions are encoded in material culture, including imported pottery. Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis provides high-resolution data on ceramic geochemistry that allows for differentiation among local Jeju clay sources, Peninsular clays, and those from farther afield. Samples from the earliest known pottery-bearing sites...
Jomon pit-dwellings, sedentism, and food diversity (2015)
Archaeological data from the prehistoric Jomon period of the Japanese archipelago indicate that, by the middle of the Early Jomon period (ca. 6000 cal. BP), the presence of large settlements with dozens of pit-dwellings became common. Some of these pit-dwellings are quite deep, measuring more than two feet in depth. The residents of these settlements are considered to have been relying primarily on hunting, gathering and fishing. Environmental management may have been an important part of their...
Karakorum, Mongolia, a complex urban site in a non-urban society (2017)
It is undisputed that Karakorum was founded by the Mongol Emperor/Khan, saying this means we analyze a top-down planned large city in a non-sedentary, non-urban society. Therefore we will address the question of the layout of the city and the spatial organization. How are activities and people ordered, is there common space, what kind of infrastructure is provided by the city founders and how is it maintained during the nearly 200 years of the existence of the city. At which areas were landmark...
Khao Toh Chong Rockshelter, Krabi: A reflection on human behavioral adaptations driven by environmental change during prehistory (2015)
Human behavioral adaptation to environmental change (i.e., sea level rise, monsoonal events) in Southern Thailand is an area of archaeology that has not yielded much study due to the preservation issues or sampling techniques. In a case study approach, geoscience and archaeological methods were utilized to trace environmental and cultural shifts at a rockshelter site occupied throughout the late-Pleistocene and Holocene. Results from this case study begin to answer questions about the foraging...
Khmer Stoneware Ceramic Production and the Angkorian State (2017)
The Angkorian Khmer (900-1500 CE) manufactured an array of goods that materialized and celebrated political authority, from temples and religious statuary to ornaments and domestic tools. Khmer stoneware ceramics were one of the least spectacular and most ubiquitous of these, yet their distributional pattern deftly maps the geography of 9th – 15th century Angkorian rule. Archaeological research at Khmer stoneware kiln sites in the last two decades, coupled with excavations in Greater Angkor,...
A Kind of Broad-Leave Bronze Spears in North China That Are Similar to the Seima-Turbino Ones (2017)
Through type division of a kind of barbed broad-leave bronze spearheads discovered in North China and analogy analysis with the similar artifacts widely discovered in the Eurasia steppes, we consider they are results of the Qijia(齐家) People in the Gansu-Qinghai area(甘青地区) engaging with the further north Seima-Turbino People. However, based on the feature differences on many aspects between them, we consider the former is not a kind of exotic object, but imitations from the latter. The...
Kinship Organization Reflected in Bifurcated Settlements (2017)
The bifurcated settlements of prehistoric China indicate that their internal organization is a reflection of a kind of kinship organization akin to the moieties of South America, the phratries of North America, marriage classes of Australia, and the Xing groups of ancient China. With the emergence of clans, the Xing（姓） group system was transformed to the Zhaomu（昭穆） system.
The Kuahuqiao and Hemudu bone spades: use contexts and beyond (2015)
Bone spades crafted from large mammal scapulae recovered from archaeological contexts have generally been assumed to be earth-working implements, based on analogies with ethnographic artifacts. On the Ningshan Plain in eastern China, hundreds of scapular spades have been discovered. The majority of these scapular spades belong to the early Hemudu culture (7,000-6,000 BP), with a few earlier examples dating to the last stage of the Kuahuqiao culture (7,200-7000 BP). To identify the use contexts...
Land use and Field Ecologies in Southwest China (2017)
This paper complements prevailing studies on prehistoric domestication and agriculture with an eye toward the interrelated problem of land use and food security in south China. In ecologies characterized by monsoonal variability, rugged terrain, and dense vegetation, what are the conditions that challenge or enable the cultivation of a range of staples? Using archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic data, I examine how extensification of field practices enabled the cultivation of...
The landscape and regional integration of the Guan River Valley in the Eastern Zhou Period (770-221 B.C) (2015)
The regional full-coverage survey at the Guan River Valley reveals a highly integrated, hierarchical and structured settlement system in the first millennium B.C. This settlement system centered on a walled city on the broad alluvial plain of the middle stream. However, a supra-settlement, which was more than twice as large as the city, located at the mountainous area more than 25 km to the upper stream. The nature of this supra-settlement and its relation to the middle stream settlement system...
Landscape Modification and Social Change as Resistence among the Ifugao on the Borderlands of Spanish Philippines (2017)
Dominant historical narratives suggest that groups located on the periphery of colonial empires and states received minimal influence from the latter. However, recent studies that focused on borderlands indicate substantial culture change and ecological manipulation that contributed to successful resistance against conquest. The Ifugao Archaeological Project (IAP) investigated the colonial borderland of Spanish Philippines, focusing on the role of the adoption of wet-rice cultivation and...
The Landscape of China’s Participation in the Bronze Age Eurasian Network (2016)
In the last decade, much has been learned about the network of interactions in Bronze Age Eurasia, and the importance of the steppe pastoralists in the creation of this network. However, the mechanisms that enabled societies in ancient China (both those bordering on and distant from the steppe) to participate in the Bronze Age Eurasian arena are still poorly understood. Based on the latest archaeological discoveries in China, this article focuses on the participation of different regions of...
The Landscape of China’s Participation in the Bronze Age Eurasian Network (2017)
In the last decade, much has been learned about the network of interactions in Bronze Age Eurasia, and the importance of the steppe pastoralists in the creation of this network. However, the mechanisms that enabled societies in ancient China (both those bordering on and distant from the steppe) to participate in the Bronze Age Eurasian arena are still poorly understood. Based on the latest archaeological discoveries in China, this article focuses on the participation of four regions of ancient...
Landscape variability and regional settlement pattern of Shang's periphery: from regional full-coverage surveys (2016)
The landscape variability was one of the most important factors influencing the regional sociopolitical organizations in the peripheral regions of Shang. In this study, we compared the regional settlement pattern of two regions--one at the broad alluvial plain of the Middle Huai River, which presents a loosely-structured, but still hierarchical regional settlement pattern; and the other at the hilly Guan River valley, which shows a dramatic retreat of human occupation. By investigating these two...
A Landscape-scale Spatial Analysis of Neolithic Settlement Patterns in Jeju Island, Korea (2017)
Intensive archaeological research in Jeju Island, Korea conducted over last three decades have produced a rich set of spatial data on archaeological sites and feature distributions across the island. While these spatial data have high potential for improving archaeological understanding of past human activities, a systematic analysis of spatial data from Jeju has yet to be fully undertaken by archaeologists. In this study, we employ spatial analysis on high-resolution topographic data to enhance...
Large Walled Sites on the Chengdu Plain, Sichuan, China: Shifting Centers of Regional Emphasis (2017)
In the third millennium BC, several walled sites were inhabited in the Chengdu Plain of Sichuan, China. These late Neolithic settlements varied in size and shape, and they had mounded earth walls, some encompassing the largest areas of any known sites of their time in China. The site of Baodun is the largest known example, and has recently been the focus of extensive excavations. Other known sites in the region include Gucheng in Pi Xian County, the most completely preserved of these walled...
Late Bronze Age women of the steppe frontier: a bioarchaeological analysis of multiple sites in northern China (2017)
The late Bronze Age in the Inner Asian steppe was a transitional period, with the adoption of mobile herding, as well as increasing sociopolitical interaction and complexity among groups in this region. Although archaeological studies have indicated that many steppe groups engaged in a variety of subsistence practices, pastoralism in general has been characterized as a rather uniform lifestyle; and nomadic pastoralism in particular has been associated more often with the role of males, i.e., as...
Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age Transition in Korea: Implications from the Evaluation of Radiocarbon dates (2015)
The present study attempts to reconsider the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age transition in central Korea based on evaluation of available radiocarbon dates. Issues regarding reliability of the radiometric dating and its implications on the reconstruction of occupational density are addressed along with methods of evaluating a large set of radiocarbon dates falling between 2000 BC and 1000 BC. This in turn provides a basis for testing common assumptions of the transitional period in Korea....
The Late Pleistocene Environment and Lithic Technology in South China (2015)
There are more Paleolithic remains have been found in South China during the last two decades. Those provide much more new information on Pleistocene human adapatations in this region, especially some Late Pleistocene sites unearthed recently, from the Valley of Changjiang River to Lingnan region. New studies on those excavations indicate that pebble tool industries had been dominated this huge region before the MIS3. However, small flake tool assemblages emerged suddently during the MIS2 time...