ANTH 3009

Yang-shao 5k-3k BC Ban-po Hengzhen Ho-mu-tu 5k-3k BC Lung-shan 3k-2k BC Cheng-tzu Shang 1700-1100 BC An-yang Hsi-pei-kang (Hsiao-tun)

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Yang-shao: name given to full scale villages practicing agriculture in the south Millet Rice (Images) Pottery and representations and signs mid 4th millennium close to the end of the Yang-shao period year New burial practices Long group burial pits o Inside the pits smaller burials Double (secondary) burials o Digging the graves up and reburying the bones o Bones that were excavated and reburied in a particular format o Communal burials What the relationship is between the people in the burial places. Ho-mu-tu In the north Wild varients were more populous than domesticated Decorations: carved bones, stylistic bird heads

 Material culture is growing more complex Increasing social differiantiation Grave goods include: bones, gold other valuable matter Amount of goods increases and the number of richly appointed graves increases. Evidence for increasing contacts between northern and southern communities o Contact shows up in the wealthier burials Jade Pottery In Egypt, we saw this as a step towards unification

Lang-shan A period of about 1k years that was the transition between agriculture to civilization. Period of further increase in differiantiation Start seeing evidence of large scale building projects Increasing evidence for the importance of ritual o In the bronze age we see and increase of ritual Increase in violence: weapons and defense Pottery o Packed Earth building tech Cheng-tzu Wall was 9M thick + 6M high A cemetery Pottery assemblage from the cemetery Expanse on the shapes and purposes of pottery 87 graves Evidence for ongoing changes for social Ornaments of stone and Jade Pottery Pig mandibles Distinguished 4 different categories 5 in 1st riches 11 in 2nd riches 17 in 3rd riches 54 in 4th riches

Divided into 3 distinct areas Each area has graves of all categories of riches o Earliest clear evidence of organization in eastern Asia o Stratified Lineage: ancestors In a lineage you have many different economic status Pottery vessels look extremely frail or delicate Devl into highly specialized

Interaction sphere A situation in which people separated by great distances interacting And exchange of particular social interaction reflected in the trade items Shang Writing o Oracle bones, name formulated in the 19th century o Scapula bones of pig and sheep Scapula offers the biggest relatively flat surface in mammals o Great debate about the origins of writing in eastern Asia Origins of writing go back to 6k bc Dominate scholarly opinion is that Shang Bronze age writing was not actual writing. Earliest full accepted writing 1300-1400 BC Silk and bamboo were the first things written on o The writing from this period is already linguistically complex Writing was devl around 2500 BC Writing started with several different places communicating with eachother. Similar symbols among one another and appear later in the writing form On jars have signs on them Found in wealthier burials Jades had signs

Generally believed that these signs were not names but maybe social signs or social status No evidence for groups of signs to display contextual meaning Number 18 on the map is An-yang Well known center, may have been the largest 310 sq km surrounded by wall of packed earth 10m in height. Writing, high status and ritual are particular tied together in wealthier burials Burial practice o Have ramps leading down to burial pits o Monumentality in underground and aboveground architecture o Smaller things are typical burials o Evidence for human sacrifice # of other individuals buried in tombs with the elites o Rulers were considered GODs Burial goods Jade Carved animals Spear tips Ornamental weapons Animals and drivers of carts Pottery Bronze vessels Appear only in the wealthiest burials Are a form of monumentality Not large but the investment in the material Writing on them o Very few depictions of humans o Families o Names o Events: treaties, weddings, etc. o Made in molds that were broken after they were made

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3/7/2012 9:07:00 AM