Abstracts of Papers presented N–Z
Arranged in alphabetic order according to authors' family names.
[A–M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z]
N
NAGATOMO Tomoko (Otemae university), "The Relation of the Korea Peninsula and the Japanese Islands in The proto-Three Kingdoms Period"
The Proto-Three Kingdoms Period is early about parallel to the time from the mid of the Middle to the Late Yayoi period. The exchange with a Korean Peninsula and Japanese islands of the time is attested by import of iron artifacts and materials for iron or acquisition of bronze material. Although the conclusion of the argument on domestic source of iron has nor come to conclusion, it is hard to think that there was no import of materials at all. Rather it is presumed that the materials imported from overseas to some extent. Ironware distributed from Kyushu to Kanto, was considered to have been transported as materials or products from the Korea Peninsula directly or indirectly, and we can trace a exchange with the Korea Peninsula. It is emphasized that iron materials or products were imported through Kyushu on the bases that Iron artifacts founded in Kyusyu were superb. But it is possible that the coastal area of the Sea of Japan had means of direct exchange with the Korea Peninsula. This possibility is represented following sites where a large amount of iron artifacts are found. Kyoto Naguoka site in the later part of the Middle Yayoi period, Tottori Aoyakamijithi site, Shimane Mukibanda site, Ueno II site and Hukushuma Hayashi-Hujishuma site in the Late Yayoi period.
Bronze ware was imported as products in the latest of Early Yayoi period and after then, was transported as materials. Types were varied from region to region, so bronze objects seemed to be manufactured in each region. Taking account of the situation of iron import, it is difficult to say that bronze materials and products were imported only through Kyushu. It is necessary to think that the information and the materials were imported through the coastal area of the Sea of Japan as well. As noted above, the relationship between the Korea peninsula and the Japanese Islands has been argued focusing on metal objects mainly. Can't the trace, be found in the commodities? If exchange of the commodities is recognized, we can consider that the daily relationship and frequent exchange of information were also achieved. Therefore, I intend to consider the relationship between the Korea Peninsula and the Japanese Islands by focusing on the pottery. I discuss the relationship by dealing with short-necked jar, form composition and handles. The bottom of the pottery changed to rounded-shape in the terminal stage of Yayoi period. It is said that this change was not a simple change of pottery form but had relation to the way of boiling use. The rounded-bottm pot such as Shounai type pot, Kibi type pot and Sanin type pot, were really elaborately manufactured, had regional characters and transported to long distant region. In all these aspects show that the movement of the rounded-bottom pot differed from the previous pottery. Some scholars regard this pottery as more specialized products. The rounded-bottom pottery were absent in the previous period in Japanese Islands. So, I would examine the influence of the Korea Peninsula.
NAKAMURA Daisuke (Osaka university), "Relationship in ritual of funeral between Japan and Korea"
In East Asia, to devote pottery as funeral goods is widely seen also including the Zhongyuan area. In these places funeral goods were put in the burial pit or coffin. Among them, in the whole Korean Peninsula and the Liaodong area, small pots used as it conspicuously in about BC.1000.
We call this period the Mumon-pottary culture in the Korean Peninsula. In Japan, the Jomon culture transferred to the Yayoi culture under the influence of Mumon-pottary culture. Although the customs of funeral goods using small pots were also received in the Yayoi culture, most of small pots were put on burial pit in the earliest stage of it. However, from early stage of the Yayoi period, the custom putting small pots in the coffin or the burial pit as well as the Korean Peninsula comes to be seen widely.
In Japan, many elements of the Mumon-pottary culture; the pottery style, stone implement composition, dolmens, and wooden coffin, etc. were received straightly from the earliest stage. Under this situation, the difference is shown in the ritual act of funeral at the beginning. In what does this phenomenon originate?
In the Jomon culture, especially in western part of Japan, it is very rare for the dead to possess something other than accessories. Further more the dead possessed accessories are either not so much. In the Jomon culture including East Japan, there is often to devote pottery in stone alignment covered burial pit, and these are rarely put in grave-pits except Hokkaido area of Japan archipelago.
It has become clear that the Yayoi culture which has received not only material culture, but also ideology from the Korean Peninsula. Despite under such situation the details of custom have not become same style by traditional custom of the Jomon culture. Namely in spite of having received the form of pot and using it at a grave, the detail of a ritual act haven't result in the same style as the Mumon-pottery culture.
Various acts in a grave reflect most strongly the religious idea including the attitude against the dead. Although whether putting pottery in or on the burial pit may be not so important, we should not treat it briefly because of it reflecting the religious idea.
After the Early stage of the Yayoi period, the Yayoi culture gradually resembles the culture of the Korean Peninsula in mortuary practices as the funeral goods including bronze implements and the ritual act in the grave. If such transitions in the grave of Yayoi culture are taken into consideration, the difference in the act in the grave of a beginning term will be important as what shows the differences in the basic culture of Japan and Korea at that time.
NAKAWO Masayoshi (Research Institute for Huimanity and Nature), "Water shortage in an oasis-region in western China in Yuan Dynasty and the last decades"
Vast arid and semi-arid regions are extended in central Eurasia, where water resources are mostly dependent on glaciers distributed in high mountains surrounding the arid regions. Shortage of waters has become a big issue in the arid regions, for example in the Heihe River Basin, where the shortage forces the local people to move and change their lifestyle. With an increasing trend of air temperature in association with the global warming, however, the amount of river discharge from glacierized basin should have been larger than the total sum of the precipitation over the basin, because a shrinkage of glacier associated with the warming should provide with an additional water to the rivers.
In the basin, there are many ruins in the desert that indicate the long history of the region for more than 2000 years. No water, however, is available at present around the sites of the ruins, indicating a significant change, during the historical time period, in water circulation system over the region. A cooling trend in air temperature, near the end of Yuan Dynasty to the beginning of Ming Dynasty, was inferred from an ice core analysis, which is in contrast with the present situation. The cooling trend indicates that discharge water is smaller than the total sum of the precipitation, possible leading to a water shortage at that time.
It is of interest that water shortage takes place both in recent period with warming temperature, and near the end of Yuan Dynasty with a cooling trend respectively. It is considered that the role of human impacts would be different at different time periods for the changes in water resources, although peak populations, at Xixia to Yuan Dynasties, were close to the present population.
NAMBA Junko (Tenri University), "Gender Archaeology of China"
The study on women's history in China is just opening the door. The main studies are going from the Literary, Ethnological or Philosophical approach, and Archaeological approach focusing on gender is backward.
From the overview on the women's history in China, it is pointed out that the influence of Confucianism is very strong on women's state, and this is also seen in the eastern Asian world. Although the thought of Confucianism was always changing as the period, however the thought was established in the mood of society of Spring and Autumn Period, and I think it is very important to study on the society of Shang to Zhou Dynasties, and the archaeological approach will provide much on that study.
NELSON Sarah M. (University of Denver), "Gendered Archaeology and the Question of Power in East Asia"
The topic of gender has been slow to develop in East Asia, but some recent projects demonstrate the possibilities for our region. This paper reviews the new developments, and ties the locus of power in archaeology to the understanding of gender and power in the past.
NIKITIN Yury (Department of Social Antropology of Far Eastern State Technical University), "Excabation of Bohai tomb in Primorye in 2003"
In August, 2003, we had found and excavated the first grave of Bohai period, near to Kraskino ancient town. Many years of research activities of the site, which is playing an important role for Bohai archeology, includes 10 years of international archeological cooperation. However, at attempt to find out the burial sites of Bohai period in 1991-1993 years, were excavated some tombs of Jing period. Therefore, discovery of the first burial site of Bohai period is very important fact for the further researches.
The tomb was discovered at 300 m to northwest from the western gate of Kraskino walled town on the earthen platform, which towered above boggy plain near the coast of a small river gulf. There was no any surface attributes and the tomb was found only because of using tested device, first several stones were found on depth 40 - 50 cm. After removing a humus level and making a cleanup for several times, it became obvious, that we found the ruins of a burial construction.
The tomb was constructed like a correct rectangular stone chamber by the flat stone plates. The size of stone construction is almost 4 meters from the north to the south and 3.4 meters from the west to the east. Very accurate stonemasonry of the chamber has three lines of the stones, which were putting in six levels. It was used a clay to fix up the stone construction at the bottom part, especially at internal side. A small dromos was built at the southern side of the chamber, the entrance of the dromos was closed by several big The tomb was destroyed at the ancient time, and so these boulders were budged from it's original position. The main part of a big stone cover-plate of a chamber was broken and its fragments were and thrown out of the east and west walls of a crypt. There was a trace of a tomb at the down level of the northern part of the chamber and was separated from its southern part by a stone wall which was also destroyed. The was no any traces of a coffin, human bones and fire inside the tomb.
Some remains of the iron belt were found under a stones blockage and a layer of clay at northeast corner of the bottom of the tomb. This remains consist the buckle, four rectangular, three oval metal plates and a tip of a belt. Safety of a belt is poor, so there was no any traces of a leather, with an exception of several rectangular and oval little plates, fastened on the internal side of a belt. In gate area was found a single ceramic fragment - a fragment of a circular gray clay pot. Similar stone chambers and belts, are well-known at others Bohai burial sites in northeast China ( for ex. Beida, Dongning, Liudinshan etc.) and Chernyatino in Primorye region.
O
ODA Yuki (Kyushu University), "The adaptation of cremation practices in ancient Japan: a case study in the northern Kyushu region"
This paper examines the spread and local adoption of cremation practices in ancient Japan. It has been recognized that cremation was first adopted by the upper class in the Kinai district of central Japan and diffused to peripheral regions in the transitional phase between the Kofun (mounded tomb) and the Nara period. However, regional differences in the process of the adoption have not yet been sufficiently investigated.
The author approached the issue by examining the timing of the cessation of the construction of Kofun mounded tombs and of the adoption of cremation practices in different areas of the northern Kyushu region of western Japan.
The outcome revealed that a range of patterns existed in the way local communities adopted cremation practices, and the author infers that they reflected differences in the process through which local polities were incorporated into the newly established centralized political structure of the ancient Japanese state.
P
PAK Yangjin, (Chungnam National University), "Korean Archaeology at the Crossroads: Retrospect and Prospect"
This paper is an introduction to the opening session entitled "Korean Archaeology at the Crossroads: Retrospect and Prospect." It will first review major accomplishments of Korean prehistoric and historical archaeology in the past sixty years or so, and discuss in detail most recent archaeological developments in the past decade. It will also discuss major theoretical and methodological issues in the comtemporary Korean archaeology. Then this paper will address a few challenges Korean archaeology will have to face in the coming decades. It will finally introduce the six speakers who will review achievements and problems of Korean prehistoric archaeology in chronological order and of historical archaeology in regional scale.
PARK Soonbal (Chungnam National University), "Review of Baekje Archaeology"
According to the traditional historiography, Baekje, which was one of three constituent polilical entities of Three Kingdoms along with Goguryeo and Silla, is believed to have been established in 18 B.C. and lasted until A.D. 660. Baekje archaeology thus deals with material remains of this ancient state of Baekje. However. current archaeological data suggest that Baekje became a statehood society only in the second half of the third century A.D. If Baekje archaeology is supposed to deal with only the statehood society of Baekje, then the temporal range may cover only about four hundred years from the mid third century to 660 A.D. This paper not only discusses these important issues surrounding the date of the formation of the Baekje state, but also reviews past and current researches on the chronological frameworks, mortuary practice, three capitals and other walled cities, foreign relations of Baekje, and finally suggests the future directions and challenges of Baekje archaeology.
PISIPATY Siva Rama Krishna (Sri Chandra Sekharendra Saraswathi Viswa Mahavidyalaya), "Environmental Constraints and cultural adoptions during third millennium BC"
The first civilization is now generally placed in the third millennium BC with an advent of metal. It marks the raise of civilizations like at Mesopotamia, Egypt, etc. By the end of the second millennium BC, these urban elements diverted and were converted into other forms. Of course, the greater cultures do not die, they simply fade away and change into other forms. The influencing factors and causes behind the collapse of the first urban civilization and then the human crises behind evolution of the new way of practices like vedic rituals (burning of herbals, offerings to Fire God, worship of nature and elements, etc.) are the subject matter of the present paper. Further, it marks an attempt to find the possible causes behind the raise of new social systems of practices, which not only prevail thousands of years but also were the major universal practice of the early human. Iran, Afghanistan and southern parts of central Asia may be collectively referred to as 'Greater Iran'. Among many factors, environment or ecological determinism or what is now called 'Green Imperialism' and epidemiological or pathological problems are mainly considered and explained scientifically for the cultural changes/transitions during the period under consideration in general and particularly in the Greater Iran Region. Nail flooding records and palaeo-climatists and environmentalists reports are considered for discussion. Further, Early Sindh Vedic literature is also considered and made an attempt to explain scientifically the cultural responses according to the changes in nature and environment. Many leguminous plants/herbals, which are described in the early literature and practiced to fire along with the other materials, are also considered for study. Some experimental observations (burning of herbals along other materials) and ethnological data analysis are a source matter to the paper. Because, many traditional practices which were stated during the period under discussion, are still prevailed and practices in Sindh and beyond Sindh regions.
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QI Wuyun (Institute of Archaeology, CASS) "A Study of Environmental Archaeology on the Prehistoric Culture"
The paper initiatelly reconstructs the evolution process of vegetation and climate for 1600 years from the period of Late Dawenkou culture to Yueshi culture based on the pollen analysis of relics samples of the late Neolithic age and the Bronze age in Upper Shu river, Shandong province. The thesis also explores the issues of human and land relationship such as interaction between the natural change and the choice of settlement sites, food structure, economic pattern and cultural progress combined with geological and geomorphologic field survey and laboratory methods such as GIS and SPSS techniques, flotation of plant remains, plant silicate and isotope analysis of human bone.
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ROLETT Barry (University of Hawaii) "Early Seafaring and Exchange in Southeast China: New Evidence for the Austronesian Homeland"
Early voyaging in Southeast China and across the Taiwan Strait is associated with the origins of the Austronesians, whose Lapita and Polynesian descendants were the best seafarers of their time. Recent research in both Southeast China and Polynesia shows that the geological sourcing of stone adzes is an effective method for reconstructing voyaging and interaction spheres. Centers for the mass production of high-quality adzes emerged in certain areas with abundant supplies of naturally-occurring fine-grained volcanic rock. The earliest known quarry and adze production center is in the Penghu Islands, in the Taiwan Strait. Beginning at least 4000 years ago, adzes made in Penghu were systematically transported to and distributed throughout the southwest coast of Taiwan. This tradition of early seafaring and exchange may represent a defining characteristic of the nascent Austronesian culture.
ROSEN Arlene (Institute of Archaeology, University College London), "Holocene Environmental Change and Agricultural Opportunism in the Development of Early Complex Society"
Geoarchaeological research was initiated in Henan Province, China in order to sketch out a general picture of Holocene landscape changes and how these might have impacted the development of complex society in the Yiluo Basin from Mid-Holocene Peiligong times (6000 BC) through the Bronze Age Erlitou Period beginning at 1900 BC. The study was conducted within the context of an archaeological survey and excavation project directed by L. Liu, X. Chen, and Y.K. Lee. This research allowed us to construct a general model of significant environmental changes that would have impacted past societies living in the study region. Preliminary results indicate that the Peiligong period took place during an episode of warmer and wetter climatic conditions than at present. In the Yiluo catchment area, rich dark soils developed in well-watered valleys that were characterized by stable perennial stream systems. This provided a productive environment for the first Neolithic millet farmers. A major landscape change occurred during the succeeding Yangshao period. Stream valleys began to fill with silty alluvium in response to major hydrological changes and greater runoff. This alluvium provided the Yangshao Period farmers with the opportunity to grow rice in naturally irrigated fields. The presence of a rice-economy was confirmed by phytolith analyses from Yangshao and Longshan Period ash pits in the Yiluo Basin. Geoarchaeological investigations in the vicinity of the site of Huizui showed that in the late Longshan period, this valley alluviation continued to provide broad well-watered valleys. However, by Erlitou times, this alluviation came to an end and the streams of the Yiluo catchment cut down to depths over 10 meters and began to narrow their beds. This downcutting coincides with other regional evidence for drier climatic conditions after 1900 BC. This would have had a major impact on the Early Bronze Age societies at that time by reducing the amount of agricultural land available for intensive irrigation farming, just at the time when larger populations were being organized into a more complex level of social and political hierarchies. Future research from the site of Huizui and others in the Yiluo Basin will attempt to determine how Erlitou populations adapted to these drier climatic conditions by importation of rice and other foodstuffs, or by developing more sophisticated systems of intensive agriculture.
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SEONG Chuntaek (Chungnam National University), "Forty Years of Paleolithic Research in Korea: Achievements and Problems"
The present essay gives a general overview of past and future of Korean Paleolithic archaeology, which may be a timely attempt, because exactly 40 years have passed by the year of 2004 since the first Paleolithic site, Sokchang-ni, was excavated. A brief research history is reviewed along with the discussion of problems and future research directions. The 40 years of Paleolithic research sees a dramatic increase in terms of the number of discovered archaeological sites and amount of collected Paleolithic materials. Despite the great advance in the quantity of the available archaeological record, many problems remain unsolved. We still do not have a full picture of Pleistocene paleoenvironmental history. Site formation processes should be extensively analyzed in order to reconstruct the evolution of Paleolithic landscape and establish workable chronostratigraphy. A standard typological scheme of artifact collections is required to enhance archaeological analyses. Chronology has always been problematical, and we need to develop more convincing methods, both scientific and archaeological, to disentangle many problems. In this vein, the paper attempts to propose a general outline of the evolution of Paleolithic technology.
SERGUSHEVA Helana (Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Far Eastern Branch), "The plant cultivation dynamics of the early agricultural societies of Primorye regionquot;
For the present time the periodization of the Late Neolithic of Primorye region connects with the Zaisanovka cultural tradition completely. There are three phases of the Zaisanovka cultural tradition evolution (early, midden and late). According to the opinion of most of investigators the agriculture was the component part of the Zaisanovka people subsistence. But up to now there were not direct evidences on agriculture. We made an attempt to clarify there was a dynamics of the plant cultivation on the early and late phases of Zaisanovka cultural tradition in continental zone of Primorye on the base of the direct and indirect evidences. Moreover we the are more useful for approaching problems of the evolution agriculture (and early agriculture too). We analyzed and compared the direct and indirect evidences of the plant cultivation from two Neolithic sites of Primorye: Krounovka-1 (early phase of Zaisanovka culture) and Novoselitche-4 (late phase of the Zaisanovka culture). The main attention was given to the analysis of the direct evidences of the agriculture the cultural plants remains.
Both sites attitude to the different phases of the Zaisanovka cultural tradition. Krounovka-1 site has data 464040.. (Beta 171662) 479744 .. (NUTA2-5281). The site belongs to the Early phase of the Zaisanovka cultural tradition. We got the domesticate millet caryopses of two species: broomcorn and foxtail millet (Panicum miliaceum L., Setaria italica L.(?) from two pit dwellings by the water flotation. For the present day these seeds are the earliest direct evidences of the agriculture in the Neolithic of Primorye.
Novoselitche-4 site are dated 384070 .. (-13400) 3755 35 .. (-36748). The site belongs to the Final phase of the Zaisanovka cultural tradition. A lot of the cultural millet seeds (more than 400) of same two species (Panicum miliaceum L., Setaria italica L.(?) were found on the pit dwelling by water flotation.
Thus there are not the divergences on the list of cultigens cultivated on two sites. On both sites the broomcorn millet prevailed on the crops. But the number of millet seeds from Novoselitche-4 site is more numerous (460 seeds) than that from Krounovka-1 site (13 seeds). There are the divergences between the lists of the stone tools used for agriculture on the sites. There is the only grinding stone on Krounovka-1 site. We did not find axes, knifes or anything else. But there are a lot of agricultural tools from Novoselitche-4 site. There are axes, semi-lunar knifes, grinding stones. The forms of these tools are advance.
So the dwelling and site areas are employed for indirect evidences of the adaptation successful of the early agricultural societies. The dwelling area on Krounovka-1 site is not more than 25 m2 . The dwelling area on Novoselitche-4 site is 42 m2 . Thus there is the range of data (direct and indirect) clearly show the positive dynamics on the plant cultivation of early agricultural societies in the continental zone of Primorye region in III-II th. BC. We can see advance in agriculture connecting with increasing of number of seeds, set of agricultural tools and size of dwellings in continental part of area of the Xaisanovsky populations.
SEYOCK Barbara (University of Munich, Dep. of Asian Studies, Institute of Sinology) "The Wei-chih Tung-i-chuan as a Source for the Perception of the Metal Age Cultures in the Korean Straits Region"
In historical or archaeological sciences the differentiation between historic and prehistoric periods commonly relates to the existence or non-existence of the art of writing. History, in this sense, is considered as the study of the past making use of written records, documents or inscriptions, while archaeology focuses on the material evidence of early cultures. There are, of course, points of contact between history and archaeology, i.e. when the results of archaeological excavations and explanations contribute to the understanding of fully historic periods, such as the archaeology of the middle ages does, or the relatively new field of industrial archaeology.
Another point of contact concerns the contrary situation of a fully prehistoric period in a given cultural region with historical material existing outside the culture in question. It is in this case that we speak of a proto-historical culture, a culture with no indigenous script nor otherwise written accounts, but with outside observers who already had accomplished a tradition of historical records and who took an interest in recording what was going on beyond their own political-cultural sphere.
For East Asia, at the beginning of the Christian era, it is the culture of the Chinese mainland that maintained the position of an advanced civilization. Accordingly the first comprehensive written report on the cultures living on the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago originates from one of the early Chinese standard histories, the Wei-chih 魏志 - as part of the San-kuo-chih 三國志 -, written in the late 3rd century AD. The report on the so-called "Eastern barbarians", the Tung-i-chuan 東夷傳, was composed as a sort of foreign relations handbook, "written by bureaucrats attached to the central government and for the use of such bureaucrats" (Dubs 1946: 31). It describes the history, culture and activities of the different barbarian peoples such as the Han 韓 in the Korean south and the Wa 倭 on the Japanese islands.
From an archaeological perspective the early centuries AD in the Korean Straits region are characterized by some remarkable new features that initiated societies based on increasing social stratification and political self-awareness. Owing to the establishment of four Chinese commanderies in the North of the Korean peninsula in the year 108 BC the technique of bronze and iron production spread to the Korean south coast and crossed the Straits. Chinese goods such as bronze mirrors and horse-and-carriage equipment were imported from Han as well as Wa communities. New ceramic traditions appeared, and some specific burial forms such as the jar burial or the burial precinct were in use on both sides of the Straits. In the Korean south east some richly furnished burials illustrate the influx of formerly scythic elements into the culture of the Proto-Three Kingdom period, or the late iron age respectively, and in the north of Kyūshū (Japan) archaeological excavations revealed a strong cluster of Yayoi period burial sites, settlements and workshops. Locally produced goods seem to have been extensively traded.
This paper tries to illuminate how the information of the historic report on the Eastern Barbarians contributes to the understanding of the early cultures around the Korean Straits, and how the historical account supplies us with additional explanatory approaches.
SHELACH Gideon (Hebrew University), "Pastorals of Agriculturalists: GIS Analysis of Upper Xiajiadian Settlement Patterns from the Chifeng International Collaborative Archaeological Research Project"
This paper uses data collected by the Chifeng International Collaborative Archaeological Research Project to address the developments that took place in the Chifeng region during the end of the second millennium and the first half of the first millennium BC. It is during this period, named by Chinese archaeologists Upper Xiajiadian culture, that we find the earliest indications of pastoral economy in northeast China. Using GIS tools I compare the settlement patterns of the Upper Xiajiadian period with that of agricultural societies - known archaeologically as the Lower Xiajiadian culture - which inhabited this area during the late third and early second millennia BC. I examine the meaning of the transition to pastoralism and the intensity and effects of interregional interactions.
Comparison of the Lower Xiajiadian and Upper Xiajiadian cultures raises fundamental questions about the society of the two periods and about socio-political and economic processes in the area. What can differences in the material remains of the two periods tell us about the people and societies which produced them? Why are they different and how did this change occur? Are the differences related to the ethnic makeup of the population and to human migration into the area? Does it reflect a transition to pastoralist adaptation and if so why pastoralism gain importance during the first millennium BC?
While my analysis suggest that during the Upper Xiajiadian period segments of the society were engaged in pastoral activity this was not a wholesale change. Large segments of the population continue to live in permanent villages and agriculture remained an important economic resource. The dramatic cultural change we observe in the material record is, therefore, seen as reflecting an ideological change as much as it is the outcome of socio-economic developments.
SHIGEMATSU Tatsuji (Kyushu University) "Dynamics of the regional society as seen from the study of Yayoi pottery"
The purpose of this study is to reconstruct the dynamics of a regional community in the Later Yayoi period by studying changes in the regional variability of pottery. The late Late Yayoi period of the Okayama Plain in the Inland Sea region of Japan saw the development of unique mortuary customs including the construction of tumuli and highly decorated mortuary pots. A significant transformation of social organization can be inferred to have given rise to it.
By analyzing changes in the regional variability of the pottery style of the region, the following findings have been made: 1) During the late Middle Yayoi period, the inter-site similarity of pottery assemblage was comparatively high. 2) During the middle and late Late Yayoi period, the similarity began to decrease and the region became fragmented into a number of micro style zones. 3) The most remarkable point is that stylistic differences emerged in distinct manners in different shape categories. It is particularly significant that the distinct regional styles which appeared in pedestalled bowls, a particularly well-made shape-type in the assemblage, were closely related to emerging units of local integration marked by settlements and tumulus clusters.
The above suggests that the identity of newly emerging units of local integration was signified particularly strongly by a pottery shape-type to which specific symbolic meanings were attached.
SHIN Sook-Chung (Wonju Museum of Yonsei University), "Analyses of firing conditions of pottery vessels from Neolithic to Joseon period"
Korean potteries were produced over the Ages of Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Age throughout the periods of the Three Kingdoms, United Shilla, koryo and Chosun. In such periods there appeared potteries that were fired harder at a higher temperature. The process and technique of pottery production, especially firing temperature, are often subjects of curiosity as firing pottery at a higher temperature would mean progress in production process. In order to study those subjects the writer and coworkers made approximately 20 cases of ceramic analysis, in consequence of which various interesting facts were detected.
The results of the analyses are as follows :
1) The raw materials used in the production of potteries of Neolithic and Bronze Ages are Kaolinite, Illite, Chlorite, montmorillonite, and mixer layers. All these constituents were evenly used and well mixed. Coming into the Iron Age there appeared potteries of silt. In other words, soft clay replaced viscous clay.
2) According to the development of production technique, quartz became homogenous tempering material, and only small quantities were used.
3) Potteries firing temperature apparently progressed as an age(period) got into another.
potteries from Neolithic to Bronze Age : 550-800 C degrees
plain hard pottery of the Iron Age : 900 C degrees
potteries of the Three Kingdom Period : Over 1000 C degrees in consideration that mullite and crystobalite were detected.
potteries of Chosun Period : over 1100 C degrees
SHŌDA Shinya (Chungnam National University), "The first bronze dagger in the southern part of the Korean peninsula and related problem "
A "Liaoning type" bronze dagger, has been excavated at the dolmen no.1 in Birae-dong site, Daejeon city, in 1997. It has been found with a pottery and 5 pieces of stone arrowheads. According to the chronological order of this area, these stone arrowheads prove that this bronze dagger is the earliest one in the southern part of Korean peninsula. This discover raised two big questions regarding the northeastern Asian archaeology. The first one is about the dating, that includes the C-14 dating of Yayoi period in Japan. The other one concerns the characteristics of the circulation of the bronze daggers in the earlier part of the bronze age (Mumun-pottery age) in Korea. The radiocarbon analysis showed that the dolmen no.1 dates back to 1,145~900B.C. But the emergence of the Liaoning type daggers is dated to 9 or 8 century B.C. as we see in the inscriptions of the dates on the bronzes that have been associated with. So, the dating by C-14 seems to be incorrect and an appropriate dating seems to be necessary. Heretofore it has been said that the bronze daggers in this area were used as a ceremonial item and not as a practical tool. But it seems that the dagger of Birae-dong had been used in the latter way. Has it been brought from China? Why did the Mumun-culture society have this kind of dagger? In this report, opinions about these problems will be shown.
SINGH Vinod Kumar (Aligarh Muslim University): "Pre-modern Irrigation Technology in Bundelkhand: Based on the Survey of Waterworks"
This paper is based on the detailed surveys of waterworks undertaken by us in the region of Bundelkhand.This study attempts to analyse the indigenous technology through which the people in Bundelkhand preserved and used water for irrigation purposes.It studies the pre-modern technology involved in the collection, storage and circulation of water. Hopefully, our study shall shed new light on the extent to which the Indian civilization was receptive to science and technology in the pre-modern period.
A large part of south Asia is a semi-arid zone. Conservation of water in various ways for irrigation as well as for human consumption has always remained an important civil need in this region. In the pre-modern period this need was sought to be met by constructing dams, barrages, embankments, step-wells, aquaducts and canals. Remains of these pre-modern waterworks scattered all over the sub-contient need to be studied systematically. A detailed study of these structures may enable us to understand the techniques and devices used in pre-modern India for conserving water. At the same time this investigation should also make it possible for us to relate the development of these devices with the changes in the architectural forms and techniques.
It is also to be borne in mind that the ground water hydrology is the science of occurence, distrubtion and movement of water below the surface of earth. The largest available source of fresh water lies underground. The total ground water potential is estimated to be one third the capacity of ocean. The main source of ground water is precipitation. A portion of rain falling on earth`s surface infiltrates into ground, traces down and when checked by impervious layer to travel further down, forms ground water. The ground water reservoir consists of water held invoids with in a geological statum.
I have also plotted different kinds of water works on the map of south Asia. Slides would also be shown of these structures along with their layout drawings.
SONG Eunsook (The Institute of Humanities, Chonnam National University): "Subsistence Patterns of Korean Neolithic: Osanri and Jigyeongri Adaptations on East Coast of Korea"
The Neolithic on central-eastern coast Korea is divided chronologically into Osanri and Jigyeongri phases. Osanri phase(early Neolithic) was an adaptation heavily dependent on salmon fishing, and Jigyeongri phase(middle-late Neolithic) was a mixed economy. Composite fishhooks and fish processing tools dominate stone tool assemblage of Osanri phase. During this phase, seasonal residential movement was praticed for salmon fishing, thus it was an economy with high efficiency but low stability. To the contrary, assemblage of Jigyeongri phase consists mainly of grinding stones, net sinkers, and points, showing it was an inland-oriented mixed economy with lower efficiency and higher stability compared to Osanri adaptations. Around 4000 BC when the temperature became very warm, Osanri adatation which had depended heavily on salmon was replaced by Jigyeonri adaptation suggest that the change did not take place indigenously, but resulted from population migration from other areas. After the apperance of the Jigyeongri adaptation. Discontinuity between the two phases and the abrupt appearance of the Jigyeongri adaptation, the number of sites dramatically increased and site duration became much longer.
SONG Guoding (The Institute of Archaeology of Henan Province): "The Human Sacrifice of the Mid-Shang Dynasty"
Human Sacrifice plays a very important role in the ritual activities through ancient time to recent society. The earliest phenomenon of using human being as sacrifice was found in the Longshan Culture period. During Shang Dynasty, the practice of using human sacrifices was recorded in the Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Many human beings were used as offerings and in very brutal manner. This phenomenon is proved by the more and more archaeological finds. Comparing the archaeological finds from Zhengzhou Shang City, Xiaoshuangqiao Shang Site, and Anyang Yin Ruin in Henan Province; Gaocheng Taixi Shang Site in Hebei and Panlongcheng city in Hubei, we had better understanding about the special ritual activities by using human sacrifices in Mid-Shang period. This kind of social phenomena can be classified as immolated slaves and funeral murders, for the people as sacrifices came from different resources and used for different purposes.
The human beings were killed for the purpose of ritual activities, to worship their ancestors to beg for the lucky year or even for rain, or celebrate victories etc. The human sacrifices almost all came from the captures of war, perhaps only small partial were the present from its colony tribes. Funeral murder means when the noble died, his wife, concubines or even his servants were killed according to their own wishes to be buried together with him.
The human sacrifice remains in Mid-Shang are relatively less than those in Late-Shang phase, but they have distinguished characters. They were mostly found within or near the foundations of buildings, such as the human sacrifice remains near the palatial area in Xiaoshuangqiao Site, including the mass sacrificial burials, joint burial tombs, single person burials, the burials in the ruin pits etc. The Baijiazhuang period of Zhengzhou Shang City belongs to mid-Shang, in which many human sacrifice remains were found, such as about a hundred human skulls with cutting signs excavated in the ditch of Shang palatial area.
The earliest tomb with funeral murder was also found in Zhengzhou Shang City. One human sacrifice was found in it. In Gaocheng Taixi cemetery, human sacrifices were found in the second platform of the tomb, probably the servants or the concubine of the tomb owner. In one tomb of Panlongcheng City, three human skeletons as funeral murders were found, one is an adult with some burial objects; and one is a child, found underneath the adult; the other one was buried in front of the coffin.
According to the archaeological finds, the phenomena of the human sacrifices used in Mid-Shang period could be classified as:
1. The usage of human as sacrifices to consecrate for laying of the building foundation.
2. The ritual activity by using human sacrifices near their ancestral temples and palaces.
3. The human sacrifices in tomb including funeral murder and mass burial pits.
4. The human sacrifice used in community area, suburb and mountain areas for special ritual activities.
SRIVASTAV Om Prakash (Aligarh Muslim University): "Terracotta Beads in Ancient India: An Archaeological Approach"
Beads are the basic and earliest ornament worm by the people in ancient India. Pre and Proto historic sites have yielded different types of terracotta artefacts in abundance. Beads are the specific type of ornamental item among bangles, armlet, pendants, ear-study etc. Beats are found in different metals and material but the present is based on archaeo-literary study of terracotta beads of ancient period only. We have found the terracotta beads of different shapes and sizes lie flat, irregular, globular, spherical aricha-nut shaped, drum shaped oval etc. I have categorized them all accordingly.
An attempt has been made to focus on its prolific use, its technique and its trend in environs and other possible use if any. It was commonly worn by men and women. Terracotta bead have been reported in larger quantity from chalcolithic and Iron age sites. However, by studying these implements archaeologist have tried to deduce some inferences regarding human activities and the stage of life they were leading. There life pattern and cultural activities are reflected through their workmanship. The minimum information regarding the technological development is gleaned by studying such artefacts created by pre & proto-historic human beings. Through the frequency and quality of these artefacts we are also able to conceive the affluence of the society. Moreover, our study also help to establish socio-economic structure of the society under study.
SUN Yan (Gettysburg College): "Bronzes from Xin'gan: Local Response to the Cultural and Political Expansion of the Shang"
The late second millennium BCE witnessed the emergence of several regional powers. The Shang centered at the Central Plain was only one of these who had the earliest known history. Beyond this dynastic center, one of the powerful contemporaries of the Shang was found at the Gan River valley in the south named as the Wucheng Culture (ca. 1500 - 1200 BCE). Bronzes from Xin'gan of the Wucheng culture were dominated by Shang style or Shang inspired design. Nevertheless, distinctive local style was also presented on bronzes that owe little or nothing to the Shang.
How and why the Wucheng culture accepted or rejected certain Shang styles from the Central Plain, how this phenomenon was affected by local cultural traditions and social organization, and what roles the Shang and the Wucheng played in the dynamics of their interactions will be the focus of the discussion.
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TAJIRI Yoshinori (Kyushu University): "The Context and Social Significance of the Small Bronze Mirrors Imitating the Chinese Originals Excavated from the Korean Peninsula"
The bronze mirrors imitating the Chinese originals distributed widely over the Korean peninsula and the Northern Kyushu region of Japan. These mirrors, called the small imitative mirrors hereafter, are considered to have substituted the Chinese originals, and some scholars argue that they were treated as prestige goods. It has been widely accepted that the small imitative mirrors excavated from the Korean peninsula were manufactured and used locally. However, the molds for their casting have not been found in the peninsula. The author reinvestigated the small imitative mirrors excavated from Korean peninsula in terms of their manufacturing technology and contexts. The investigation revealed that the specimens from the peninsula and from Kyushu were manufactured in an identical manner. However, it has to be noted that they were treated differently from the Northern Kyushu equivalents as far as the contexts from which they were excavated are concerned. Those suggest that the small imitative mirrors excavated from the Korean peninsula were made in Northern Kyushu, imported to and used in a distinct manner in the peninsula.
The current of socio-cultural and material influences came from the peninsula to the archipelago during the Yayoi period, and the case of the small imitative mirrors, according to the result of this investigation, in that sense, was a rare exception. The author argues that the different ways in which the mirrors treated in the peninsula and in Kyushu reflected different meanings attached to the mirrors and different social relations which were mediated through the exchange and use of the mirrors.
TAKAKURA Hiroaki (Seinan Gakuin University) & MIZOGUCHI Koji (Kyushu University): "Some Problems with the Outcome of the A.M.S. Dating of the Yayoi Period by the National Museum of Japan"
The outcome of the A.M.S. dating project by the National Museum of Japanese History, particularly its finding of the beginning of the Yayoi period being as much as 500 years older than the widely accepted date, is stirring controversy in Japan. The fact that the dates produced do not significantly deviate suggests that they are probably right as far as the natural scientific methods used and procedure taken are concerned. However, that does not necessarily prove the validity of the dates as that for such a historical episode as the beginning of the Yayoi period, particularly concerning that they significantly contradict the dates deriving from the chronology constructed by archaeological materials accurately datable from Chinese historical documents. Difference between the archaeolo-historical absolute chronology and the A.M.S. dates is particularly significant in 1) the beginning of the production of forgeable cast iron items, 2) the beginning of the construction of tumuli (that in Japanese archipelago would turn out to be 500 years earlier than China if we accepted the A.M.S. dates), and 3) the dates for Han bronze mirrors (should we accept the A.M.S. dates, Late Han mirrors would turn out to have been produced in the Early Han period and Early Han mirrors produced in the Warring states period). The A.M.S. dates also wildly contradict the duration of jar burial cemeteries of the northern Kyushu region calculated from the relative chronology of burial jars and the age estimation of skeletal remains. Concerning the above, the validity of the A.M.S. dates can be subject to examination only after the above mentioned discrepancies are solved. In that regard, the outcome of the A.M.S. dating project by the National Museum of Japanese History should be treated as a new piece of information for the construction of the absolute chronology of the Yayoi period.
TAKAKURA Jun (Faculty of Letters, Hokkaido University): "The Middle to Upper Palaeolothic Transitional Process in East Asia: A Preliminary Approach"
Correlations of the changes in biology and in behavior, as well as the search for the cultural differences between the anatomically modern humans and the archaics, have been the important subject of research for over a century in world prehistory. On the contrary, the scarcity of the archaeological and anthropological evidence concerning this issue in East Asia made it difficult to understand the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transitional process in global context. More recently, a new series of discovery and dating in Korean peninsula, Siberia and Japanese archipelago entered into this discussion.
In the light of these new records, the imperative problem seemed to arise is more likely to concern the definitions of Upper Palaeolithic themselves in East Asia. According to the traditional view points, the existence of blades in lithic assemblages was thought to be the critical criteria to determine whether Upper Palaeolithic assemblages or not. My intention, then, is to work on definitional aspects of the reduction process in lithic assemblages, taking into the consideration of their relative temporal order and orientation. My formulation is very general and places the main emphasis on the conceptual characterization of the each elements of constituting lithic reduction sequence.
TANI Naoko (Kyushu University): "The Formation Process of the Custom of Jar Burial in Northern Kyushu, Japan"
This paper examines the origin of Yayoi jar burial practice of the northern Kyushu region of Japan. The practice is widely considered to have been originated in Late Jomon jar burial tradition, and it is believed that its genealogy was uninterrupted. However, a re-examination of the distribution, the combination of pottery shape-types used, the manner of deposition, and allied burial goods of the Jomon and Yayoi jar burials has revealed that the character of the jar burial practice changed significantly between those periods.
The speaker concludes that Northern Kyushu Yayoi jar burial practice was established in the beginning of the Yayoi period under influences from the Korean peninsula and was formalised during the final phase of the Early Yayoi period.
TAWARA, Kanji (Tsushima Museum of History and Foklore, Mine), "Tsushima in the Focus of Cross-cultural Relations"
Archaeology in Korea and Japan today, at the beginning of the 21st century, is manifold. Dynamic interactions between institutions and scholars of both countries resulted in many conferences and studies in the last few decades. However, the archaeological research of the respective nations still tend to publish their results only in their specific national languages, and thus contribute to the separation of what should be treated within a mono-political discourse of cultural developments.
Moreover, the history of the last ca. two hundred years determined archaeological approaches, as becomes obvious when looking at the racism and the romantic ideals of earlier Japanese archaeology, which leant heavily on the imperialistic models of 19th and early 20th century Europe. The Japanese archaeology after World War II rejected such colonial attitudes. However, today once again approaches comparable to these ideas seem to appear in the archaeological understanding, emphasizing national or even local issues and meanings. In consequence, - as Tsushima Island is located in the middle of the Straits that separates Korea and Japan -, Tsushima Island is also positioned outside, or, depending on the specific research perspective, at the outer edge of the archaeological discourse of the two nations.
However, the results of archaeological excavations, the material evidence, such as bronzes and ceramics, and the situation of the sites actually show how much closer the relationship between Korea and Japan had been in prehistoric and early historic ages, in comparison to the modern world systems. With this paper, I will try to introduce the basic theme of this panel comprising the history and social environment of Tsushima Island within the Straits.
TOKUDOME Daisuke (Kyushu University), "The Changes and Distribution Patterns of House Forms during the Prehistoric Period in China"
In this essay, in order to clarify the emergence and context of the palace and ancestral shrine, which has been conceived as significant attributes of the early state, the author examines the changes and distribution patterns of house-forms and architectural remains during the prehistoric period in the He-nan region in China.
First, the author re-classified the houses/architectural remains by focusing on construction technique. Next, the author invesitigated regional differences.
The work revealed the timing of the emergence of the construction techniques used in the construction of palacial buildings. Furthermore, it was also revealed temporal changes in the function and structure of vernacular architecture which probably reflected changing social organization.
TSUMURA Hiro’omi & ANEZAKI Tomoko (National Museum of Japanese History): "A New Approach to Palaeo-topography Using GIS for an Archaeological Perspective: a Case Study in the Kanto Plain, Japan"
The purposes of this study are to reconstruct the palaeo-topographies of the prehistorical Japan, to consider the influences of these for human activities, and search for the solutions or analytics to these perspectives by using Geographic Information System (or Science: GIS) directly. Until now as a golden rule, we archaeologists had quoted the results of quaternary research, although such an approach is very rough and sketchy in imagining the human behaviors. And these reconstructed models were not suitable to restore the paleo-synecologies as natural scenery of human actions, either. For instance, when we would like to know of a prehistoric human access channel to natural resources, any assumptions like lifting/dropping the sea-surface uniformly to draw the coastlines are meaningless. The things which we want to reconstruct are not outlines of the seashore, but are concrete details of geomorphological features which are the cost friction for human walking with gathering supplies and which influence, like a local islanding of environment, the paleo-synecologies.
The following approaches were practiced: 1. To reconstruct the palaeo-topographies, many elevation and geo-coordinate information of the volcanic ashes and pyroclastic flow strata were collected from archaeological site reports on the Kanto plain. 2. Using these spatio-temporal data, TIN modeling which is one of the geo-statistical analytics was tried to create DEM in some paleolithic phases with GIS. 3. To assess the cost frictions that influence the prehistoric people's movement, some cost-surface models were constructed from DEM. 4. The site-catchment areas were redrawn based on them.
In next step, 5. To inspect the actual situation as human history in archaeology, some specific sources of obsidian were mapped on DEM, and to identify each hinterland, the cumulative human walking costs were allocated based on the Voronoi method. 6. Similarly, to assess the human hunting/gathering or environmental domestication activities and to estimate degrees of a local islanding of environment, the geomorphic quantities in each site-catchment area were compared. 7. From these results, their hinterlands of natural resources and cost-distances were assessed. And finally, 8. These physical geometrical layers were overlaid with some contemporaneous site distribution map layers using GIS. 9. Many trend-surfaces of paleo-environmental attributes were created from site distribution maps and the spatial correlations were computed among them.
As a result, it is clear that this GIS approach which are is on the paleo-topographies is very powerful and effective to assemble the paleo-environment when we consider a concrete image of prehistoric human activities. We should understand these results as new counterparts of archaeological or geographical methodology. Archeologists must try personally an Archaeo-geographical approach without unquestioningly swallowing the research of another discipline's (Quaternary studies') spatio-temporal scale.
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VOSTRETSOV Yuri (Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the People of the Far East Vladivostok), "Environment Changes and Migrations: A Case Study"
The North-Western part of the Sea of Japan Basin is characterized by combination of both tropical and sub-arctic climatic influences, complicated costal and continental relief, and opposing streams of hot and cold currents. These conditions resulted in a highly patchy ecological landscape. The most interesting area of the Eastern Sea of western coast is that of Peter the Great bay (Southern Primorye), which is usually considered as a separate cultural region that created unique prehistoric cultures. One of the most interesting questions is how cultural traditions changed, what reasons and mechanisms it had. Now we can mark out two turning-points in Middle and the beginning of Late Holocene when notable changes in region cultural traditions happened. The first is dated about 4.800-4.300 BP, and the second - about 2.400-2.200 BP.
1. Ecological circumstances
What changes in environment took place at those intervals in the coastal zone and inland?
According to paleogeographic data we can point out that:
1. Environmental change during first period was similar but more dramatic than the second one.
2. During these periods costal zone became non-convenient for marine fishers-hunters because considerable changes of landscape and seascape structures took place and usual for the population resource base was destroyed. At the same time costal zone became more attractive for cultivators because of more stable precipitation.
Thus there were formed the conditions ejecting surplus part of cultivators from continental zones into coastal ones.
2. Subsistence and cultural changes
The first time interval. It was the period of cultural changes in the region. From this period there was the change of cultural tradition from comb-impress ceramic to incised ceramic at the Western part of the Eastern Sea. In the Primorsky territory it led to disappearance of Boisman culture and to appearance of the Zaisanovsky cultural tradition.
We can point out the following reasons for the fact that the Zaisanovsky cultural tradition appearance was caused by new cultural groups migration into Primorye:
1. appearance of new ceramic tradition (design and technology of marking);
2. changes in stone tools production, in set of stone tools and using of other row materials for them;
3. new subsistence systems - cultivation of millet;
4. change of settlement pattern;
Thus, appearance of the sites of Zaisanovsky cultural tradition was connected with wave-type spread of population of early millet cultivators from North-West of Korean peninsula and Southern Dunbei.
From that time the first stage of adopting agriculture in Primorye region began.
The second time interval coincides with the beginning of the second stage of adopting of cultivation in the Eastern Sea Basin near 2400-2300 BP and is connected with spreading of millet , barley , wheat cultivators in the North-Western (Krounovsky culture from ca. 500 BC - at least 200-300 AD) and rice cultivators (Yayoi culture ) in the South. Expansion of both cultures began approximately simultaneously near 3 c. BC. The start of moving can have been initiated by changing of ecological and social circumstances. After 3 c. B.C. populations of Krounovsky culture occupied most part of area of Yankovsky culture in coastal zone.
Conclusion
- There is some ecological similarity in the expansion of cultivators for both turning-points.
- The cooling of climate and fall of sea level precede cultural changes in both turning-point intervals.
- In both cases we can see preceding decline of maritime economics and depopulation of coastal groups of Boisman and Yankovsky cultures.
- In both cases environmental conditions pushed out surplus part of cultivators from continental to the coastal zone.
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WATANABE Makoto (Kyushu University): "Pottery and Social Strategy: the Introduction of a New Pottery Assemblage in the Yayoi-Kofun Transitional Period of San’in Region, Western Japan"
This paper investigates the process through which the pottery assemblage originated in the Kinai region of central Japan was introduced to the San?셢n region of western Japan.
The pottery assemblage originated in the Kinai region came to distribute throughout western Japan at the beginning of Kofun period. The phenomenon has been understood as the reflection of the spread of the sphere of the sociopolitical influences of the Kinai polity, and related evidences such as the size hierarchy of keyhole-shaped tumuli and their distribution pattern suggest that the Kinai region functioned as the center of the interaction networks of chiefs covering the western portion of the archipelago. With those in mind the process through which the Kinai pottery assemblage called the Furu style assemblage was introduced to different areas of the San?셢n region was investigated.
The study revealed regional differences in the timing of the adoption of Kinai style pottery shape-types and in the process of their subsequent localization. The author argues that the differences reflected different sociopolitical strategies taken by local communities in manipulating outside contacts and the items symbolizing the contacts.
WIESHEU Walburga Maria (Division of Graduate Studies, National School of Anthropology and History, Mexico): "Inner and Outer Walls in Urban Development in China"
In this paper I try to discuss the function of walls in the process of urban transformation of China which took place in the period of transition from the Late Neolithic to the first state societies that rose in the Three Dynasties Period of the Bronze Age, out of an atmosphere of competitive interaction and intergroup conflict between the chiefdom entities of Longshan times.
An emphasis is placed here not only in outlining the mainly secular nature of the early fortified sites but also to analyse existing archaeological data in relation to the military hypothesis of urban origins which states that cities evolved as fortified centers or military strongholds around which the population agglutinated in search for defensive protection and against a background of intensifying conflict.
But as the presence of walls and other fortified elements seems not be a universal feature in all early centers, I prefer to consider them better as a sort of "palace-city" which served as the capital-sites of the earliest state societies. Moreover, as I have argued in several of my earlier papers, I hold that the original nucleus of the first cities formed the frequently protected inner walled core where the seats of state government were installed and elite compounds were segregated from the common population that lived outside the walled areas, so that actually the early urban settlements were much bigger in size.
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XIA Zhengkai (Beijing University): "Preliminary Study on the Prehistoric Disasters at Lajia Site, Qinghai, China"
Lajia Site, located near the upper reaches of the Yellow River and the border of the Qinghai Province and Gansu Province, is a large-scale site of the Qijia Culture. In 2000 and 2001, archaeologists excavated an unusual scene of prehistoric dramatic and miserable disasters. Lots of geologic-geographic evidences revealed that the Lajia Site was ruined by coinstantaneous disasters. Mainly floods from the Yellow River and earthquakes, accompanying mountainous torrents. Study on these disasters and their driven forces could provide us not only the knowledge on the paleaoenvironment of the area, but also offer us a valuable site to assess the influence of the natural disasters on human civilization development.
XU Jay (The Art Institute of Chicago): "Southern Influence in the Northern Zone: Evidence from Bronze Vessels of the Anyang Period"
The Northern Zone of China has long been recognized as a crossroads penetrated by different Bronze Age cultures of north Asia. In studying the dynamics of cultural interaction in this region and its development as a distinctive cultural entity, close attention has been paid to the region?셲 relationship with the Central Plain, Central Asia, and South Siberia. The Shang civilization of the Anyang period (c. 1200" 000 BC) figures largely in this network of cultural connections. A large number of bronze vessels of this period have been unearthed in the loess plateau along the banks of the Yellow River in Shanxi and Shaanxi. They are routinely characterized as products of the Shang culture or, for those with unusual stylistic features, as local variations of the Shang prototypes.
The present study addresses the possible existence of a southern connection in the Northern Zone. In the first part of the paper, the author discerns and describes in detail a number of bronze vessels among those found in Shanxi and Shaanxi that bear stylistic features identifiable as characteristic of bronzes from the middle Changjiang region in south China. This body of evidence argues for a southern influence in the Northern Zone and a network of cultural communications that is wider than previously thought. In the second part, the author discusses likely routes by which cultural influence or actual goods between these two regions may have traveled.
The identification of a group of bronzes originating in the middle Changjiang region among the so-called Shang or Shang-inspired bronzes encourages an adjustment in our view of the relationship between the Northern Zone and the Shang civilization as well as the relative position of the Shang in the cultural geography of early Bronze Age China. These two issues are discussed briefly in the third part of the paper.
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YANG Dongya (Simon Fraser University) and LIU Li (La Trobe University): Wild and Domestic Water Buffaloes in Ancient China: Ancient DNA Analysis
This study employed DNA approach to identify buffalo-like ancient faunal remains unearthed from Neolithic sites (4,500 BP) in China. The objectives were to identify whether these bones were from buffaloes, and more specifically, whether they were from wild or domestic buffaloes.
Mitochondrial DNA fragments of less than 200bp were successfully extracted and analyzed in a dedicated ancient DNA research facility using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. Strict contamination controls and vigorous decontamination measures were exercised throughout the lab process. Four of six specimens yielded positive and reproducible ancient DNA sequences. The BLAST search against GenBank and phylogenetic analyses indicated that these DNA sequences were closely related to those of buffaloes, pointing to the identity of buffaloes. Some significant differences, however, were observed from those DNA data of modern domestic buffaloes, indicating that the ancient remains might represent a wild type of buffalo or a different type of domestic buffalo.
The preliminary results of this study have demonstrated that ancient DNA can be extracted from ancient buffalo remains as old as 4,500 years. When more samples from more sites are tested in the future, DNA variation patterns of ancient buffaloes should be revealed and regional and temporal changes of buffaloes in China could be reconstructed. The genetic information can be used to understand the fate and history of indigenous buffaloes in China, and their relationship with the later domestic water buffaloes in China. It is hoped that combination of ancient DNA and other lines of archaeological evidence will shed new light on the natural history of water buffaloes in China and adjacent regions.
YANG Tanya (University of Arizona): "The Stupa-Pagoda Tradition in East Asia"
The pagoda is one of the most important buildings in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Buddhist temples. It is widely recognized that the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese pagoda originated from the Indian stupa. In China, Korea, and Japan the pagoda usually maintained the Indian stupa's role as a place to entomb a relic of a Buddhist sage or as a votive monument. However, the form of the Indian stupa and the East Asian pagoda do not resemble each other. Existing theories follow one of two basic approaches to explain the differences. The "horizontal" approach argues that the Indian stupa is the prototype for the pagoda. The second, the "vertical" approach, tries to explain the development of the pagoda in China by identifying Chinese antecedents and influences. These theories have problems with chronology, ignore symbolism at work in each particular culture or only analyze certain aspects of the tradition. I will present a theory that looks at form, function, chronology and symbolism to explain the development of the East Asian pagoda tradition.
I propose that the development of the East Asian pagoda is neither "horizontal" nor "vertical." The wooden pagodas built during the Tang Dynasty in China and the Nara Period in Japan retain a great deal of influence in their form and symbolism from the Indian stupa, such as the central pillar, the finial, and the relic container at the base. At the same time, the monument has the basic form of Han Chinese towers, added elements that had Chinese cosmological significance and were compatible with the core formal elements of the Indian stupa, and produced the East Asian pagoda. The elements found in both the Indian stupa and the East Asian pagoda was included in both monuments because they were already significant cultural icons. Although the monument retained the form created in China when it was introduced to Korea and Japan, additional refinements were made.
I will demonstrate how the East Asian pagoda developed from its origin in India as it passed into China via Central Asia and was transformed in China before being introduced into Korea and then Japan. I will explore the style of the architectural elements and religious symbolism as well as the utilitarian aspects of architecture in an analysis that combines the often isolated approaches of art history, religious studies, and archaeology. I assert that trade relations and the exchange of ideological systems between India, China, Korea, and Japan can be better understood by the study of these monuments.
YIM Youngjin (Chonnam National University): "Burials and Construction Context of the Janggo-shaped Tombs"
Janggo-shaped tombs investigated in the Youngsan River Valley of southwestern Korea are considered to provide an important clue to understanding the relationship between Korea and Japan in ancient period. Since the shape of these tombs are identical to the Keyhole-shaped tombs in contemporaneous Japan, various models regarding who were buried in them and why they were constructed in Korea have been proposed. They are,
(1) Indigenous elite model: Elites in the Youngsan River Valley, who had a rivalry with Baekje and independently interacted with Japan, were buried in them.
(2) Japanese delegates model: Burials were Japanese delegated for trade.
(3) Japanese delegated by Baekje model: Burials were Japanese who were delegated by Baekje to control local power.
(4) Japanese refugee model: Burials were political refugees from Japan.
The fourth model is the most likely for following reasons. First, Janggo-shaped tombs in the Youngsan River Valley are scattered in areas outside Naju, the political center, which lacked local power base. Second, their structure is stone-chamber tomb as is the case in northen Kyushu equivalents. Third, the dates of the tombs ranged only between the late 5th and early 6th centuries. These strongly suggest that the burials of the Janggo-shaped tombs were elites from nothern Kyushu who came to Mahan as political refugees to escape from Yamato's expansion.
The existing view that southwestern Korea was merged into Baekje in the 4th century fails to explain the existence of Janggo-shaped tombs in these area. Instead, Janggo-shaped tombs in the Youngsan River Valley indicates that Mahan remained as an independent local polity until the early 6th century.
YUN Hyeung-won (National Museum of Korea): "Hudgiin-Tolgoi Hunnu Tombs in Mongolia"
We have an national archaeological excavation project between Republic of Korea and Mongolia. It was achieved by The National of Korea, The National Museum of Mongolian History, The Institute of Archaeology Mongolian Academy of Sciences for seven years in Mongolia. Especially we interested in Hunnu in Mongolia with ancient burial culture in Korea. Hunnu is descripted in ancient chinese records, but archaeological datum is not so much enclosed in the world. Hunnu had great power in the step area and it was influenced from Europe to far east Asia. 2001 Mon-Sol Project aimed Hudgiin Tolgoi Tumuli in Mongolia that is belong to central area of Hunnu. we selected 4tombs by geophisical method and excavated 4tombs. we investigated such tombs that may Hunnu warrior's burials. It had many kinds of artefact as pottery, bronze ornaments, horse equipment, iron tools, bones etc. And we found human skeleton in each burial, including europian and mongoloid. in addition we calculated AMS datings from 2nd century B.C. to A.D.1st century. So we want to show about our joint work to world-wide scholors who come to Korea and it will be good chance to understand about ancient burial culture in the east Asia.
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ZAGORULKO Andrey (Russian Research Institute for cultural and Natural Heritage): "Rethinking Sopohang: Evolution of Neolithic Site in North-East Korea"
Recently, there are a lot of studies devoted to the localization of cultural regions during Neolithic Age in Korean peninsula. Most of these regions had special features, though basal cultural indicators were the types of ceramics. Practically each investigation has considered that neolithic sites of Eastern part of Northern Korea had formed the special cultural region in each stage (early, middle, late) of Neolith.
The most well-known site in north-east region is (Kulpo)Sopohang, which had included the Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age cultural layers. So one could find there complete cultural chronology of the whole region. North Korean archaeologists had distinguished: two Paleolithic layers, five Neolithic and two Bronze Age layers.
Thus, Sopohang had presented cultural scale, indicating the processes which took place in this region, in particular the evolution of Neolithic cultures and transition from Neolith to Bronze Ages. The excavations at Sopohang were finished in 1964. Since, it appeared a lot of archaeological data concerning with Neolithic culture in North East of Korean peninsula and neighboring regions. In Primorie province (Russia) archaeologists had identified new Neolithic culture named Boisman. The Boisman neolithic ceramic was not found in Sopohang, though the same type of decoration and form were known from neighboring neolithic Rajin site. Zaisanovka culture appeared to be divided by two stages. Indeed Bronze age ceramics had differed from the ceramics of Chodo and Bomui-kusok sites. So it became rather complex to use the Sopohang cultural chronology for reconstructing of regional processes in Neolith because it did not reflected the some important cultural changes.
In this situation it is important to attempt to specify distinguished cultural layers of Sopohang site (except of Paleolithic ones).
ZHANG Liangren (University of California, Los Angeles): "The Mode of the Wucheng Community’s Economic connection with the Shang Metropolitan Centers"
The 1989 discovery of the Dayangzhou tomb in the Jiangxi Province marked a sensational moment in Shang archaeology. This tomb, corresponding to the early Anyang period, is furnished with an extraordinarily rich deposit of luxury objects outside the Shang metropolitan centers. This substantial corpus of new material revived an age-long discourse over Bronze Age cultures in South China, and this renewed discussion arrived at two mainstream opinions. Firstly, there existed an advanced local bronze industry in south China; and secondly, the local elite played a peripheral role in the Shang world system?봲upplying raw materials to the Shang urban centers. While these opinions represent a significant progress of scholarship, they are problematic. My own analysis of this new material as well as earlier discoveries at the Wucheng settlement, a regional center to which the occupant of the Dayangzhou tomb must have belonged, produces very different results.
The most prominent finds of the Dayangzhou tomb were the 48 bronze vessels. These vessels display a broad array of distinctive stylistic features, despite that they follow Shang prototypes in both forms and motifs. These features led many scholars, who had long argued for an advanced indigenous bronze industry and civilization in south China based on stray finds, to believe that their opinion has now gained a firm ground. But the fact that little ceramic molds but stone molds?봧ncapable to produce vessels?봦ave been discovered at Wucheng undermines this hypothesis. Considering that this settlement has been excavated to a great extent, I am inclined towards another hypothesis that these bronze vessels were imports, more accurately, ordered products from foundries in the Shang metropolitan centers in the north.
While this hypothesis sounds odd to many scholars, it is quite possible within the politico-economic context of the time. It has been long believed that the Wucheng community, situated in a region rich of copper ore, supplied this mineral to the prestige goods production in the Shang urban centers. There is evidence further indicating that this community traded another locally available raw material, gaoling clay. It is for this reason that many studies have ascribed a peripheral role to the Wucheng site in relation to the Shang urban centers. Such account, however, simplified the politico-economic connection. My study discloses that originally the community came into being as a colony of the Shang kingdom, carrying the mission of exploiting the gaolin clay and copper ore on behalf of prestige goods production in the motherland. In return, the Shang colonizers, who sought to perpetuate the ritual life of their mother culture, imported bronze vessels from foundries in their motherland, since they did not have capacity to produce them; they ordered bronze vessels from the Shang foundries, and had them produced to their own tastes. Thus the Wucheng elite did not simply act as a raw material supplier, but also attempted to live their own political and religious life. Over time the Wucheng community became independent culturally, and probably politically as well, from the Shang kingdom; while the elite continued to supply raw materials and to order bronze vessels, they developed a divergent aesthetic appetite of the vessels.