The Archaeology of China: From the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age

500 Pages·2012·26.47 MB·English

by  Li Liu

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF CHINA
This book explores the roles of agricultural development and advanc-
ing social complexity in the processes of state formation in China.
Overaperiodofabout10,000years,itfollowsevolutionarytrajectories
of society from the last Paleolithic hunting-gathering groups, through
Neolithicfarmingvillages,andontotheBronzeAgeShangdynastyin
thelatterhalfofthesecondmillenniumBC.LiLiuandXingcanChen
demonstrate that sociopolitical evolution was multicentric and shaped
by interpolity factionalism and competition, as well as by the many
material technologies introduced from other parts of the world. The
bookillustrateshowancientChinesesocietiesweretransformedduring
this period from simple to complex, tribal to urban, and preliterate to
literate.
LiLiuisSirRobertHoTungProfessorinChineseArchaeologyinthe
DepartmentofEastAsianLanguagesandCulturesatStanfordUniversity.
Sheistheauthoroftwobooks,TheChineseNeolithic:TrajectoriestoEarly
States and (with Xingcan Chen) State Formation in Early China, as well
asmorethanseventyjournalarticlesinbothEnglishandChinese.
Xingcan Chen is Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of the Institute
of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as well as
ProfessorintheDepartmentofArchaeology,GraduateSchool,Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences. He is the author of numerous articles and
books, including The History of Chinese Prehistoric Archaeology (1895–
1949), Essays on Archaeology, and (with Li Liu) State Formation in Early
China.

CAMBRIDGE WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY
series editor
NORMAN YOFFEE, UniversityofNevada,LasVegas
editorial board
SUSAN ALCOCK, BrownUniversity
TOM DILLEHAY, VanderbiltUniversity
STEPHEN SHENNAN, UniversityCollege,London
CARLA SINOPOLI, UniversityofMichigan
DAVID WENGROW, UniversityCollege,London
The Cambridge World Archaeology series is addressed to students and
professionalarchaeologists,andtoacademicsinrelateddisciplines.Most
volumes present a survey of the archaeology of a region of the world,
providinganup-to-dateaccountofresearchandintegratingrecentfind-
ings with new concerns of interpretation. While the focus is on a spe-
cific region, broader cultural trends are discussed and the implications
of regional findings for cross-cultural interpretations considered. The
authors also bring anthropological and historical expertise to bear on
archaeological problems and show how both new data and changing
intellectualtrendsinarchaeologyshapeinferencesaboutthepast.More
recently,theserieshasexpandedtoincludethematicvolumes.
recent books in the series
stephen d. houston and takeshi inomata, TheClassicMaya
philip l. kohl, TheMakingofBronzeAgeEurasia
lawrence barham and peter mitchell, TheFirstAfricans
robin dennell, ThePalaeolithicSettlementofAsia
christopher pool, OlmecArchaeologyandEarlyMesoamerica
samuel m. wilson, TheArchaeologyoftheCaribbean
richard bradley, ThePrehistoryofBritain
ludmila koryakova and andrej epimakhov, TheUralsandWestern
SiberiaintheBronzeandIronAges
david wengrow, TheArchaeologyofEarlyEgypt
paul rainbird, TheArchaeologyofMicronesia
peter m. m. g. akkermansa and glenn m. schwartz, The
ArchaeologyofSyria
timothy insoll, TheArchaeologyofIslaminSub-SaharanAfrica

cambridge world archaeology
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF
CHINA
From the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age
li liu
Stanford University
xingcan chen
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
cambridgeuniversitypress
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521644327
(cid:2)C LiLiuandXingcanChen2012
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
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noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2012
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Liu,Li,1953December12–
ThearchaeologyofChina:fromthelatepaleolithictotheearlybronzeage/LiLiu,
XingcanChen.
pagescm. (Cambridgeworldarchaeology)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-521-64310-8(hardback)
1.Prehistoricpeoples–China. 2.Archaeology–China–History–20thcentury.
3.Antiquities,Prehistoric–China. I.Chen,Xingcan. II.Title.
gn855.c6l64 2012
931–dc23 2011052557
isbn978-0-521-64310-8Hardback
isbn978-0-521-64432-7Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurlsfor
externalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublicationanddoesnot
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Dedicated to
Professor Kwang-chih Chang
If we have been able to see further, it was only because we stood on the shoulders of
giants.