Resources and Society in Ancient China

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Resources and Society in Ancient China" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The connection between society and resources does not involve a deterministic relationship whereby resources directly and inevitably determine social organization, benefit, and survival. Instead, the relationship entails a dialectic, and social forces exert an impact on, and sometimes completely determine aspects of the use of resources and their distribution. In archaeological contexts, various subjects have been explored concerning the interaction between resources and society. The deep history of societies in East Asia and the diversity of associated resources provide a unique opportunity for studying the interaction between resources and society in the past, present, and future. By bringing together the recent archaeological work on a wide range of topics and approaches, including metals, ceramics, lithics, animals, plants, and various other forms of natural and social resources, this session hopes to provide a more comprehensive understanding of resources and society in ancient East Asia.

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-12 of 12)

  • Documents (12)

Documents
  • Dinning at the Colonial Frontier: The Maintenance of Erligang Foodways at Panlongcheng (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Qi Li.

    This is an abstract from the "Resources and Society in Ancient China" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Located in the middle Yangtze region, the Panlongcheng site represents the southernmost extent of the Erligang civilization’s expansion during early Bronze Age China. While much scholarly work has concentrated on elucidating the site's significance and its implications for understanding the unique cultural expansion in ancient China, there has been...

  • The Dynamic World of Ritual: Oracle Bone Divination Practices in East Asia (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jie Shen.

    This is an abstract from the "Resources and Society in Ancient China" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Oracle bone divination, an ancient East Asian practice for predicting the future, originated in northwestern China during the middle Neolithic period (5000–3000 BCE) and ultimately became a prominent ritual during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. Its influence reached the Korean Peninsula and Japanese archipelago around 500 BC, potentially...

  • How Were Stones Used in a Bronze Age Society? A Case in the Middle Yangtze River (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Xin Su.

    This is an abstract from the "Resources and Society in Ancient China" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Numerous previous archaeological discoveries and studies have shown that rulers from the Central Plains during the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1600–1050 BC) were motivated to systematically construct settlements and operate in the Jianghan Area of the Middle Yangtze River drainage at least in part in order to control metal resources in the middle and lower...

  • Metallurgy in the Arc: Technological Choice and Resource Management Strategy during the Late Shang Period (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ruiliang Liu.

    This is an abstract from the "Resources and Society in Ancient China" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The concept of the Arc, proposed in 1980s by Tong Enzheng and further developed by J. Rawson in the last 10 years, refers to the vast landscape stretching from northeast to southwest China. Its unique geography incorporates both pastoralism and agriculture, vital to the communication between the Eurasian Steppe to the Central Plains of China in...

  • Rammed-Earth Construction as a Catalyst for Social Transformation (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Liye Xie.

    This is an abstract from the "Resources and Society in Ancient China" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper explores a series of inquiries regarding the role of rammed-earth construction during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age in China, specifically focusing on how the organization of human resources propelled social transformation. The study encompasses the following dimensions: First, community dynamics. How did the collaborative...

  • Reevaluating the Concept of Sustainability in the Context of Animal Resource Utilization in Ancient China (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jada Ko.

    This is an abstract from the "Resources and Society in Ancient China" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The extraction and utilization of natural resources often come with an underlying question of sustainability. At present, there are constant debates on and readjustments to how sustainability is measured. One of the biggest challenges is to establish suitable baselines to evaluate the balance between resource economies, resource availability, and...

  • Resource Networks of Sanxingdui (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Li Haichao.

    This is an abstract from the "Resources and Society in Ancient China" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Located in southwest China, Sanxingdui is well-known for its outstanding and unique bronzes as well as gold, jade, and other high-value artifacts. However, the origin and circulation of these precious resources have not been disclosed. The author believes that the strategic location contributed greatly to the prosperity of Sanxingdui. It was...

  • Resources, Technological Traditions, and Social Networks: A Study of Late Neolithic Cooking Vessels in the Lake Taihu Region (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Xiaoli Qin. Xiaohan Zhao.

    This is an abstract from the "Resources and Society in Ancient China" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the Songze cultural period, there were two distinct technological pathways for the production of pottery cooking vessels, including Ding (tripod) and Yan (steamer), used in the vicinity of Lake Taihu. In areas like southern Jiangsu, Shanghai, and Jiaxing, plant debris was commonly mixed with clay to create fiber-tempered vessels. In...

  • Settlement Construction and Craft Production: Recent Discoveries at the Panlongcheng Site (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Zhuo Sun.

    This is an abstract from the "Resources and Society in Ancient China" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Panlongcheng site was the largest urban settlement in the middle Yangtze River during the Xia and early Shang period (1500–1300 BC). In recent years, the joint archaeological expedition has carried out archaeological excavation at the Yangjianwan North and Wangjiazui locus of the Panlongcheng site. The new discoveries in the two loci reveal the...

  • Social Structure Indicated by the Distribution of Bronze Resources in the Sanxingdui Culture (ca. 3200–3000 BP), Southwest China (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Xiaoge He.

    This is an abstract from the "Resources and Society in Ancient China" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Bronze was one the most precious resources for the Sanxingdui culture in southwest China, and the distribution of bronze resources reflected the social structure of Sanxingdui culture. This paper investigates the latest artifacts excavated from the eight burial pits at the Sanxingdui sacrificial site, and through cross-pit match of artifacts,...

  • The Underestimated Utilization of Aquatic Resources in Neolithic Northern China: Evidence from Stable Isotopes (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Yu Dong. Yuanyuan Wang. Fen Wang.

    This is an abstract from the "Resources and Society in Ancient China" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. There is no doubt that millet farming and pig husbandry were the dominant subsistence practices in late Neolithic northern China. However, wild resources, such as foraged fruits and nuts, shells, and hunted wild animals, also contributed substantially to people’s diet at this time. Wild resources, especially aquatic resources, are sometimes...

  • Water and Land: A Case Study of Panlongcheng in the Middle of Yangtze River (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Qiushi Zou.

    This is an abstract from the "Resources and Society in Ancient China" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the past few decades, research on the Panlongcheng site has achieved important results and progress in many aspects, but few scholars have discussed the site's geomorphological environment, especially the water environment. Researchers have long believed that the environment and landscape of Panlongcheng we see today are no different from the...