Archaeological cultures have been an essential part of the study of prehistory, especially the Neolithic Age, since the beginning of the discipline. However, for a long time now doubts have been raised about their ability to reflect the reality of life in antiquity. These Neolithic "cultures", as they are defined by archaeologists, appear to have little semblance to how anthropology or the general public understand the concept of "culture". This thesis aims to re-conceptualize archaeological cultures and demonstrate ways in which these constructs of our modern typology can be made to relate to ancient human behavior. I apply these ideas in the archaeology of ancient China where the use of archaeological cultures has gone largely unquestioned and certain prehistoric cultures are ascribed a special significance in the formation of Chinese civilization. After tracing the history of the culture concept in anthropology and the archaeologies of America, Europe, and China, I present a new framing of the term based on current ideas about style, practice, and social boundaries. The identification of cultures relies on detecting behaviors that are so ingrained that they are subject to little conscious manipulation and hence dependable signifiers of the cultural environment they were acquired in. In terms of Neolithic archaeology, the best way of achieving this is by discerning certain behavioral steps in the production of pottery, in this case the forming of the vessel rim. I give a detailed introduction to a group of Neolithic cultures in the Middle Yangzi River Region in Central China and demonstrate how the traditional culture concept by which they were defined has created problems in interpreting the underlying processes resulting in a long and unresolved debate about their relationship to each other. Then I apply my own typology of vessel rims to published material on the one hand and plot my measurements of the rims of vessels in Chinese museum collections on the other hand. The emerging patterns hint towards the invention and adoption of the potter's wheel in this time and region as a decisive force of cultural change.

This book examines the emergence of imperial state in East Asia during the period ca. 400 BCE–200 CE as a network-based process, showing how the geography of early interregional contacts south of the Yangzi River informed the directions of Sinitic state expansion. Drawing from an extensive collection of sources including transmitted textual records, archaeological evidence, excavated legal manuscripts, and archival documents from Liye, this book demonstrates the breadth of human and material resources available to the empire builders of an early imperial network throughout southern East Asia – from institutions and infrastructures, to the relationships that facilitated circulation. This network is shown to have been essential to the consolidation of Sinitic imperial rule in the sub-tropical zone south of the Yangzi against formidable environmental, epidemiological, and logistical odds. This is also the first study to explore how the interplay between an imperial network and alternative frameworks of long-distance interaction in ancient East Asia shaped the political-economic trajectory of the Sinitic world and its involvement in Eurasian globalization. Contributing to debates around imperial state formation, the applicability of world-system models and the comparative study of empires, The Imperial Network in Ancient China will be of significant interest to students and scholars of East Asian studies, archaeology and history.

Leading archaeologist Tianlong Jiao takes readers on an archaeological investigation into the patterns and processes involved in the cultural changes on the coast of Southeast China during the Neolithic period. (Archeology/Anthropology)

This work address the question of the emergence of social complexity in the Yangshao culture (ca. 4900-3000 BC) in Central China based on analysis of settlement patterns and faunal remains from Lingbao, western Henan. A total of 31 Neolithic sites have been found along two rivers during a regional survey in 1999. Analyses of regional settlement patterns reveal the emergence of social complexity in the middle Yangshao period (ca. 4000-3500 BC), indicated by dramatic population growth, increases in site number and occupation area, and the appearance of settlement hierarchies.

Drawing on both the results of recent archaeological research and anthropological theory, leading experts synthesize current thinking on the nature of and variation within Neolithic social arrangements. The authors analyze archaeological data within a range of methodological and theoretical perspectives to reconstruct key aspects of ritual practices, labor organization, and collective social identity at the scale of the household, community, and region.

The transition from hunting and gathering to farming – the Neolithic Revolution – was one of the most signi cant cultural processes in human history that forever changed the face of humanity. Natu an communities (15,100–12,000Cal BP) (all dates in this chapter are calibrated before present) planted the seeds of change, and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) (ca. 12,000–ca. 8,350Cal BP) people, were the rst to establish farming communities. The revolution was not fully realized until quite late in the PPN and later in the Pottery Neolithic (PN) period. We would like to ask some questions and comment on a few aspects emphas- ing the linkage between biological and cultural developments during the Neolithic Revolution. The biological issues addressed in this chapter are as follows: × Is there a demographic change from the Natu an to the Neolithic? × Is there a change in the overall health of the Neolithic populations compared to the Natu an? × Is there a change in the diet and how is it expressed? × Is there a change in the physical burden/stress people had to bear with? × Is there a change in intra- and inter-community rates of violent encounters? From the cultural perspective the leading questions will be: × What was the change in the economy and when was it fully realized? × Is there a change in settlement patterns and site nature and organization from Natu an to Neolithic? × Is there a change in human activities and division of labor?

First published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Animals have played a fundamental role in shaping human history, and the study of their remains from archaeological sites - zooarchaeology - has gradually been emerging as a powerful discipline and crucible for forging an understanding of our past. This Handbook offers a cutting-edge, global compendium of zooarchaeology that seeks to provide a holistic view of the role played by animals in past human cultures. Case studies from across five continents explore ahuge range of human-animal interactions from an array of geographical, historical, and cultural contexts, and also illuminate the many approaches and methods adopted by different schools and traditions instudying these relationships.

Ancient Central China provides an up-to-date synthesis of archaeological discoveries in the upper and middle Yangzi River region of China, including the Three Gorges Dam reservoir zone. It focuses on the Late Neolithic (late third millennium BC) through the end of the Bronze Age (late first millennium BC) and considers regional and interregional cultural relationships in light of anthropological models of landscape. Rowan K. Flad and Pochan Chen show that centers and peripheries of political, economic and ritual activities were not coincident, and that politically peripheral regions such as the Three Gorges were crucial hubs in interregional economic networks, particularly related to prehistoric salt production. The book provides detailed discussions of recent archaeological discoveries and data from the Chengdu Plain, Three Gorges and Hubei to illustrate how these various components of regional landscape were configured across Central China.

This book is the first-ever monograph on clustering patterns in prehistoric settlements. It not only theoretically explains the difference between natural settlement communities and organizational forms for the first time, but also demonstrates the importance of understanding this difference in practical research. Based on extensive archaeological data from China and focusing on the evolution of prehistoric settlements and changing social relations, the book completely breaks with the globally popular research mode which is based on the assumption that settlement archaeology has nothing to do with prehistoric social organization. In terms of research methods, the book also abandons the globally popular method of measuring the grade and importance of settlements according to their size and the value of the unearthed objects. Instead, it focuses on understanding settlements’ attributes from the combined perspective of the group and individuals. On the one hand, the book proves that the clustering patterns in prehistoric settlement sites reflect the organizational forms of the time; on the other, it demonstrates that historical research focusing on the organizational forms of prehistoric societies is closer to the historical reality and of more scientific value. The intended readership includes graduates and researchers in the field of archaeology, or those who are interested in cultural relics and prehistoric settlements.