Advances in Archaeology of Prehistoric and Early China
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)
The last decade academic has witnessed a dramatic progress in development of research on archaeological sciences in China. Recent achievement in this area has resulted in some interpretations on new materials of prehistoric and early historic China which would be interested to international communities. Papers in this symposium will present on-going projects that address new methods, results and perspectives. Papers have striven to integrate analyses into broader interpretations of meaning of the origin and evolution of human and technology, transition of culture, origins of agriculture, rise of early state, and paleo-environmental reconstruction and the forth from approaches of archaeological sciences (eg. archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, stable isotope analysis, use-wear and residue analysis, material analysis), ethnoarchaeology and anthropology.
Other Keywords
settlement •
Ceramics •
Subsistence •
Archaeological Survey •
Technology •
Zooarchaeology •
Quartzite •
Use-Wear Analysis •
Method •
Human Adaptation
Geographic Keywords
Asia (Continent) •
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Isl (Country) •
Territory of Guam (Country) •
Republic of Indonesia (Country) •
Republic of Tajikistan (Country) •
Kyrgyz Republic (Country) •
Japan (Country) •
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lan (Country) •
Kingdom of Thailand (Country) •
Kingdom of Cambodia (Country)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-13 of 13)
- Documents (13)
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Archaeobotanical records of the Middle and Late Neolithic plant food utilization from North Jiangsu Plain (2017)
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As an transition zone between the southern and northern China, the Huai river valley possesses distinct uniqueness in climate environment, agriculture, archaeological culture and other aspects. We have taken a series of archaeobotany case study on the Neolithic sites of different period,such as Shunshanji, Longqiuzhuang, Wanbei, in the lower Huai river valley. Combined with previous archaeobotany research in this area, so we can summarize the plant food utilization in various periods. The...
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Archaeological survey of mound sites in Southwestern Shandong, China: Plants and people (2017)
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The surveyed area, Heze city of southwestern Shandong, China is located at the lower reaches of the Yellow River. Most archaeological sites in this region were deeply buried, from 3m to more than 10m. Very few archaeological works especially excavations had been taken due to the depth. Our survey of 2012-2015 revealed that these sites had been continuously occupied for a long history. The occupation started from Beixin culture (c. 5000 -4100 BC), continued to Dawenkou culture (c. 4150-2650 BC),...
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Characterization of early imperial lacquerware from the Luozhuang Han tomb, China (2017)
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This paper focuses on presenting the characterization of materials from fragmented pieces of an imperial lacquer plate in the Luozhuang Han tomb, which dates to the early Western Han dynasty. Various non-invasive and minimally invasive techniques were performed, including optical and electron microscopy, XRF, Raman spectromicroscopy, FT–IR, XRD and THM-Py–GC/MS. The lacquerware pieces consist of a five-layer structure, which includes (from the top): a red pigmented layer, two lacquer finish...
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Determination of Use-Wear Evidence on Quartzite Tools: Experimental and Archaeological Studies (2017)
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Use-wear analysis has become an essential method for functional study of archaeological lithic artifacts. Quartzite is one of the main raw materials for lithic tools during Paleolithic period in many sites in the world. However, use-wear studies on quartzite tools are poorly developed due to its poor quality and rough surface. In this paper, the objective is to provide some reference data of determination of use-wear evidence, including both of the experimental and archaeological studies. In...
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The emergence, development and regional differences of the mixed farming of rice and millet in the upper and middle Huaihe River, China (2017)
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In this research, flotation and starch analyses were conducted on samples from eight archaeological sites in the upper and middle HRV. The results indicate that the mixed farming of rice and millet first appeared in the later phase of the middle Neolithic in the regions of the Peiligang Culture, then developed quite rapidly in the late Neolithic (6.8–5.0 ka BP), finally becoming the main subsistence economy at the end of the Neolithic in the upper HRV. However, there are obvious differences in...
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A Glimpse of Rice Exploitation at Mojiaoshan Site, Liangzhu Culture: Archaeobotany and Rice Charring Experiment (2017)
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Located at the Lower Yangtze River, China, Mojiaoshan Site is a 'palace' and center of Liangzhu Culture. On the edge of the Mojiaoshan platform, a waste accumulation of rice (H11) was found in recent years. Based on the archaeobotanic remains from this accumulation, this paper tries to preliminarily discuss the rice exploitation at Mojiaoshan Site. By conducting a charring experiment aiming to distinguish the rice broken before charring from rice broken after charring, the research tried to...
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An Investigation of Genetic Differentiation in Early Domestication of Oryza Sativa Based on InDel Molecular Marker Method (2017)
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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...
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Mineralogical make-up of casting moulds and its archaeological implications for bronze making techniques in ancient China (2017)
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In order to understand how bronze vessels were produced and the knowledge involved we cannot limit our study to simply the bronze vessels themselves. Thus, the analysis on bronze mold production plays a key role to our understanding of bronze vessel production. The focus in this study will be on the 155 mold fragments currently housed at the Royal Ontario Museum, originally from Anyang dated to the Shang dynasty. Petrographic analysis was utilized for this research on raw materials and how the...
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New archaeological evidence of prehistoric cultural interactions in the middle of Han river valley, central China (2017)
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During 2007 - 2009, the Gouwan Site in Xichuan County, Henan province, was excavated by archaeologists from Department of Archaeology, Zhengzhou University. Located in the middle of Han River valley, the site represents prehistoric cultural manifestations of Yangshao, Qujialing, Shijiahe and Wangwan III in their four developmental sequences although remains of the earliest Yangshao are the most abundant. While the Yangshao and Wangwan III were part of north cultural system in the Central Plains,...
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A new variability of cobble-tool industry associated with a bone tool technology from the Luobi Cave, South China (ca.11-10 ka): a comparative perspective from Southeast Asia (2017)
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The characterization of Paleolithic culture in South China and their relationship with mainland Southeast Asia remains ill-defined and unclearly known. The lithic industry of South China has been characterized as simple "cobble-tool" industry persisting from early Pleistocene to Holocene and the most representative industry of Southeast Asia was also marked by pebble-tool techno-complex termed Hoabinhian during late Pleistocene-early Holocene. The possible cultural link of the two regions was...
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Prehistoric Human Adaptation to Tibetan Plateau Environment indicated by 151 site in the Qinghai Lake Basin (2017)
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Current study indicates that Northeastern Tibetan Plateau (NETP) is one of the first widely occupied places by prehistoric people on the Tibetan Plateau. This makes NETP very important to understand the human history on the plateau and human adaptation to high elevation environment. Hence, 151 site, a paleo- to Epi-Paleolithic site in the Qinghai Lake basin on NETP, was chosen to excavate. Thousands pieces of animal bones, hundreds pieces of stone artifacts and several possible hearths were...
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Subsistence in the Late Pleistocene of China: A view from Laonainaimiao site (2017)
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The paper presents the taphonomic and zooarchaeological analyses of the fauna from the Laonainaimiao site of Late Pleistocene in the central plain area of China. The taphonomy observation shows that the bones were accumulated by human activity. The taxa of the fossil assemblage is composed mainly of Equidae and Bos primigenius, followed by gazelle, deer, wild boar, rhinoceros etc. Most carcasses of Equidae and Bos were likely to be transported to the site as a whole. The carcasses were...
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A Thin Section Petrographic Study of Early to Late Shangshan Ceramics from Zhejiang, China (2017)
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Ceramics from the early Holocene Shangshan Culture, in Zhejiang Province, China, have been subjected to thin section petrographic analysis in order to characterize clay groups, view production patterns, and aid in the development of a complete understanding of the Shangshan technological tradition. Analysis has revealed a pattern in the local production of ceramic vessels likely related to the transformations in cooking methods and dietary patterns that coincided with new evidence for the...