Late Shang Cooking and Cooking Technology from Yinxu, China

Summary

A great deal of effort has been dedicated to developing detailed ceramic chronologies at the late Shang capital of Yinxu (ca. 1200-1045 B.C.E.) in China, but there has been comparatively less focus on the specific, actual uses of ceramic vessels and the roles that they played in the day-to-day life of Shang citizens. Local cooking practices and cooking technology in particular, both of which are key aspects in household dynamics and cultural identity, hold the potential to reveal important information about the daily lives of Shang residents as well as regional variability during the Shang period. This paper explores Shang cooking technology by conducting microstructural comparisons of li cooking vessels from three different Shang sites, highlighting the impact of local resources on ceramic technology despite stylistic similarities. This paper also discusses cooking-related finds excavated in May 2016 from a refuse pit at Dasikongcun, a residential locus of Yinxu, and presents use-wear analyses for li cooking vessels found at the site that may indicate particular cooking practices. This paper highlights the need for further investigation of cooking vessels at differing Shang sites as a method of exploring both daily life and regional variability during this period.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Lifeways in Bronze Age China

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16359