Cheng and the Question of Large Walled Settlements in Neolithic China

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Large Neolithic settlements (approximately 1–4 km2 in size) surrounded by rammed earth walls or moat enclosures are frequently referred to as cheng (often translated as “the walled city”) in Chinese archaeology and analyzed as proto-urban centers through Childe’s notion of urban revolution. As an emic concept in classical Chinese, however, the notion of cheng highlights the wall enclosure as a defense mechanism around the settlement without necessarily imply the presence of urban life within it. Instead of evoking an imagined vision of urbanization to fill in the social space within these wall enclosures, this paper presents a comparative study of the great Yangshao, Liangzhu, Qujialing-Shijiahe, and Longshan sites to understand the organizational plurality and diversity of the large walled settlements in Neolithic China. I will explore the different dynamics of large population aggregation, the significant variation in their population density, and the diverse social mechanism responsible for the constitution and maintenance of these settlements. Besides alternative control strategies and centralized political authority, I will focus on pilgrimage and other ritual activities potentially responsible for the emergence of these monumental sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37809.0