Embodied Materials: The Emergence of Figural Imagery in Prehistoric China Sandrine Larrivé ...

548 Pages·2015·9.26 MB·English

Embodied Materials:
The Emergence of Figural Imagery in Prehistoric China

Sandrine Larrivé-Bass

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

2015
© 2015

Sandrine Larrivé-Bass

All rights reserved
ABSTRACT

Embodied Materials:
The Emergence of Figural Imagery in Prehistoric China

Sandrine Larrivé-Bass

This dissertation explores the emergence of figuration in prehistoric China. It approaches
the topic by focusing on image-makers’ engagement with the materials they used to fashion
figural works. Chapter 1 presents a survey of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images created
from the Epipaleolithic through the Neolithic periods. It highlights a multiplicity of forms,
materials and representational approaches while uncovering recurring patterns. Chapter 2
introduces the principal theories scholars have applied to discuss this corpus, and draws out their
similarity with paradigms used in Western scholarship on prehistoric art. The discussion further
draws attention to a bi-directional influence exerted on the reception of prehistoric imagery in
Europe and China. Chapter 3 focuses on images produced prior to or around 5,000 BCE, and
repositions their emergence in the context of broader interests in materiality and representation.
The analysis uncovers trends and explores circumstances that notably led image-makers
separated in time and space to represent human heads as flat entities. Chapter 4 investigates the
role of pareidolia in the emergence of images. It reveals that perceptive imagination informed
the creation of some works, when craftspeople drew inspiration from forms in raw materials or
artifacts. Chapter 5 explores the possibility that image-makers sought to achieve material-
representation synergies. The discussion presents a new taxonomic model addressing materiality
and the sensory channels through which figurative images are perceived, and it describes how
these factors possibly constituted a core aspect of mimesis. The analysis proposes that some
image-makers employed both visual and tactile qualities of substances to represent animals and
human beings.
TABLE OF CONTENT

LIST OF MAPS vi
LIST OF FIGURES vii-lix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS lx-lxii

INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 1 Early Figural Imagery in China: An Overview of Artifacts 18
Introduction………………………………………………………………… …… 18
Figural Representations in the Middle Paleolithic: Hypothetical Cases…… …… 20
Late Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic Representations in China…………………… 25
The Early Bird Special…………………………………………………… 29
The Neolithic Period………………………………………………………........... 30
Neolithic Figural Imagery: Southern China……………………………………… 31
Neolithic Figural Imagery: Northern China……………………………………… 39
Large-Scale and Static Imagery………………………………………….. 39
Smaller-Scale and Movable Imagery………………………………. ……. 47
Anthropomophs…………………………………………………... 49
Zoomorphs……………………………………………………….. 64
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….. 78

CHAPTER 2 Early Figural Imagery in China: An Overview of Theories 81
Introduction………………………………………………………………………. 81
Historiography and Epigraphy………………………………………………….... 84
Rituals and Cosmology…………………………………………………………... 89
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Interpretational Models Influenced by Western Scholarship………………….…. 93
Diffusionism…………………………………………………………..…. 96
Totemism……………………………………………………………..….. 99
Shamanism…………………………………………………………..…… 107
Matriarchy…………………………………………………………..……. 114
Goddess Worship…………………………………………………..…….. 117
Fertility Rites……………………………………………………...……… 124
Worldwide Prehistoric Imagery and China……………………………..………… 129
Conclusion……………………………………………………………..…………. 133

CHAPTER 3 Early Interests in Material Synergies and Figural Representation 135
Introduction……………………………………………………………………….. 135
Materials First Embodied as Figures in China………………………………….... 137
Materiality and Intentionality…………………………………………………...... 144
Cross-Referential Links among Materials Used to Craft Artifacts…………......… 149
Pottery, Basketry, Hide Pouches and Fiber Ropes……………………..… 149
Ornaments: Stone for Shell, Shell for Turtle Scutes, Nephrite for
Bone, Shell for Enamel………………………………………………........ 151
Representation and the Emergence of Figural Images in Northeastern China...…. 157
Emergence of Figural Images in Nothern China: Dearth of Figures, Styles
and External Influence………………………………………………………..….. 160
Paucity of Early Images……………………………………………..…… 161
Starting from Scratch…………………………………………………….. 168
Anthropomorphic Heads…………………………………………. 170

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High Frequency of Facial Features Defined by Y-Shaped
Configurations Marking the Nose and Eyebrows………………… 174
Human Heads Represented as en Face Engravings or Sculpted
as Flattened or Flat……………….………………………….…..... 177
Human Faces: Expressions and Emotions……………………..…. 185
Barely Representational Images……………………………..…… 188
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..……. 190

CHAPTER 4 The Role of Pareidolia in the Emergence of Prehistoric Imagery 193
Introduction……………………………………………………………………….. 193
Pareidolia in the Study: Psychology, Neuroscience, Religion, Art History and
Prehistory…………………………………………………………….…… 194
Pareidolia and Chinese Culture…………………………………………………... 209
Terminology……………………………………………………………………… 212
Pareidolia, Terminology and Metaphors…………………………………………. 213
Pareidolia: A Phenomenon in the Emergence of Figural Representation
in Prehistoric China……………………………………………………………….. 217
Natural Shape of Bones, Plastrons and Antlers…………………………… 218
Reflexive Pareidolia……………………………………………………..... 227
Pottery Components………………………………………………. 228
Pottery Shape……………………………………………………… 230
Apertures on Ornaments and Tools……………………………….. 234
Double Apertures on Blades and Tools…………………………… 238
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………… 242

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CHAPTER 5 Perception, Materiality and Mimesis at the Core of Figural
Representation 244
Introduction………………………………………………………………………. 244
Perception, Culture and the Arts………………………………………………..... 246
Senses, Materiality, Craft and the Arts………………………………………....... 251
Approaching Mimesis Beyond Form Alone…………………………………..…. 255
Shaping Sensory Habits: Now and Then…………………………………….…... 258
Mimesis and Imitation Beyond the Arts……..…………………………….…….. 261
Mimesis and Mimicry as Form Production………………………………..…….. 265
Mimicry Differs from Figural Representation…………………………..……….. 266
Biological Mimicry and Classificatory Systems………………………...……….. 267
A New Taxonomic Model……………………………………………..…………. 269
Approach to Material Interests and Sensory Habits in Prehistoric China…..……. 272
Material Preferences………………………………………………………..…….. 276
The Case for Birds………………………………………………..………. 276
The Case for Pigs……………………………………………….……....... 277
The Case for Turtles……………………………………………………... 278
The Case for Fish……………………………………………………….... 279
Tactility and Metaphoric Impulse……………………………………………..…. 282
Tactility of Exclusivity………………………………………………………...…. 284
Material Choices at Anban…………………………………………………..…… 288
Of Humans and Frogs…………………………………………………………….. 292
Materiality, Pareidolia and Mimesis……………………………………………... 295
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..…. 296
CONCLUSION 298
iv
TIME LINE OF NEOLITHIC CULTURES MENTIONED 308
MAPS 309
FIGURES 315
BIBLIOGRAPHY 437

v
LIST OF MAPS

Map 1. Sites mentioned in the Introduction
Map 2. Administrative map of China showing provinces for sites and images discussed in
Chapter One
Map 3. Significant sites mentioned in Chapter Three
Map 4. Sites that yielded figural representations inspired by the forms of bones, plastrons,
antlers and objects
Map 5. Sites for images discussed in Chapter Five

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