Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T09:00:43.120Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pots and potters of the Bronze Age of north-west Xinjiang

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2019

Paula N. Doumani Dupuy Open the ORCID record for Paula N. Doumani Dupuy [Opens in a new window] ,
Peter Weiming Jia ,
Alison Betts  and
Dexin Cong
Paula N. Doumani Dupuy*
Affiliation:
Nazarbayev University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, 53 Kabanbay Batyr Avenue, Astana, 010000, Kazakhstan
Peter Weiming Jia
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and China Studies Centre, Old Teachers College, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Alison Betts
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and China Studies Centre, Old Teachers College, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Dexin Cong
Affiliation:
Archaeological Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Science, 27 Wangfujing Dajie, Beijing 100010, P.R. China
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: paula.dupuy@nu.edu.kz)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bronze Age agro-pastoralist populations with economies and materials that are generally consistent with the Andronovo Culture—but with localised variations—are known throughout the mountains bordering the Eastern Eurasian Steppe. Recently, evidence for this tradition has also been found in north-west Xinjiang, China, although many questions remain about the production, use and significance of ceramics here. The authors’ analyses of a sample of pottery from sites across the Bortala Valley permit the reconstruction of the ceramic chaîne opératoire and offer two distinct stories: one of cultural connectivity with regional networks of Eurasian pastoralists, and another about self-expression through small-scale local ceramic production.

Keywords

ChinaXinjiangBronze AgeAndronovoceramicschaîne opératoire
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 93 , Issue 371 , October 2019 , pp. 1231 - 1248
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Betts, A., Jia, P. & Dodson, J.. 2014. The origins of wheat in China and potential pathways for its introduction: a review. Quaternary International 348: 158–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.07.044Google Scholar
Betts, A., Jia, P. & Abuduresule, I.. 2019. A new hypothesis for Early Bronze Age cultural diversity in Xinjiang, China. Archaeological Research in Asia 17: 204–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2018.04.001Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51: 337–60. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200033865.Google Scholar
Caspari, G., Plets, G., Balz, T. & Fu, B.. 2017. Landscape archaeology in the Chinese Altai Mountains—survey of the Heiliutan Basin. Archaeological Research in Asia 10: 48–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2017.04.001Google Scholar
Chernikov, S. 1960. Vostochnyy Kazakhstan v Epokhy Bronzy. Moskva: Nauk.Google Scholar
Debaine-Francfort, C. 1998. Archéologie du Xinjiang des origines aux Han 2. Paléorient 15: 183–213. https://doi.org/10.3406/paleo.1989.4496Google Scholar
Doumani, P. 2014. Bronze Age potters in regional context: long-term development of ceramic technology in the Eastern Eurasian steppe zone. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Washington University.Google Scholar
Doumani, P., Frachetti, M., Beardmore, R., Schmaus, T., Spengler, R. & Mar'yashev, A.. 2015. Burial ritual, agriculture, and craft production among Bronze Age pastoralists at Tasbas (Kazakhstan). Archaeological Research in Asia 2015: 17–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2015.01.001Google Scholar
Doumani Dupuy, P., Spengler, R. III & Frachetti, M.. 2018. Eurasian textiles: case studies in exchange during the incipient and later phases of the Silk Roads. Quaternary International 468: 228–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.09.067Google Scholar
Frachetti, M. 2008. Pastoralist landscapes and social interaction in the Bronze Age. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Frachetti, M. & Bullion, E.. 2018. Bronze Age participation in a ‘global’ ecumene: mortuary practice and ideology across Inner Asia, in Boivin, N. & Frachetti, M. (ed.) Globalization in prehistory: contact, exchange, and the people without history: 102–30. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108573276Google Scholar
Frachetti, M. & Mar'yashev, A.. 2007. Long-term occupation and seasonal settlement of east Eurasian pastoralists at Begash, Kazakhstan. Journal of Field Archaeology 32: 221–42. https://doi.org/10.1179/009346907791071520Google Scholar
Gor'yachev, A.A. 2004. The Bronze Age archaeological memorials in Semirech'ye, in Linduff, K. (ed.) Metallurgy in ancient Eastern Eurasia from the Urals to the Yellow River: 109–52. Lewiston (NY): Edwin Mellen.Google Scholar
Han, J.Y. 2013. ‘The polychrome ceramic road’ and culture exchange in the East and the West during early period. Archaeology and Cultural Relics 1: 28–37.Google Scholar
Hanks, B., Epimakhov, A. & Renfrew, C.. 2007. Towards a refined chronology for the Bronze Age of the Southern Urals, Russia. Antiquity 81: 353–67. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00095235Google Scholar
Jia, P. & Betts, A.. 2010. A re-analysis of the Qiemu'erqieke (Shamirshak) cemeteries, Xinjiang, China. Journal of Indo-European Studies 38: 275–315.Google Scholar
Jia, P., Betts, A. & Wu, X.. 2009. Prehistoric archaeology in the Zhunge'er Basin, Xinjiang, China. Journal of Eurasian Prehistory 6: 167–98.Google Scholar
Jia, P., Betts, A. & Wu, X.. 2011. New evidence for Bronze Age agricultural settlements in the Zhunge'er (Junggar) Basin, China. Journal of Field Archaeology 36: 269–80. https://doi.org/10.1179/009346911X13140904382057Google Scholar
Jia, P.W., Betts, A., Cong, D., Jia, X. & Dupuy, P. Doumani. 2017a. Adunqiaolu: new evidence for the Andronovo in Xinjiang, China. Antiquity 91: 621–39. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.67Google Scholar
Jia, P.W., Betts, A., Cong, D., Jia, X. & Dupuy, P. Doumani. 2017b. Bronze Age Hill forts: new evidence for defensive sites in the western Tian Shan, China. Archaeological Research in Asia.Google Scholar
Jia, X. 2019. Major archaeological discoveries at Husta of Wenquan County, Xinjiang, China. Western Studies 1: 139–41.Google Scholar
Kovalev, A. (ed.). 2015. Earliest Europeans in the heart of Asia: the Chemurchek cultural phenomenon, part 2. St Petersburg: Nauk.Google Scholar
Kuz'mina, E. 1986. Drevneishie skotovody ot Ural do Tian’—Shania. Frunze: Ilim.Google Scholar
Li, X. 1991. New discovery in Xinjiang Tacheng. Western Regions Studies 1: 104.Google Scholar
Li, X. 1992. The cemetery and settlement site found at Health School in Tacheng, in Chinese Society of Archaeology (ed). Chinese archaeology yearbook (1991): 328–29. Beijing: Cultural Relics.Google Scholar
Lightfoot, E., Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute, G., O'Connell, T., Kukushkin, I., Loman, V., Varfolomeev, V., Liu, X. & Jones, M.. 2014. How ‘pastoral’ is pastoralism? Dietary diversity in Bronze Age communities in the central Kazakhstan steppes. Archaeometry 45: 574–623. https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12123Google Scholar
Linduff, K., Sun, Y., Cao, W. & Liu, Y.. 2017. Ancient China and its Eurasian neighbours: artefacts, identity and death in the frontier, 3000–700 BCE. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108290555Google Scholar
Liu, X. 2011. Studies on the new discoveries in Upper Yili River. Xinjiang Wenwu 2011(1): 84–107.Google Scholar
Loman, V.G. 1993. Goncharnaya tekhnologiya naseleniya tsentral'nogo Kazakhstana vtoroi poloviny 11-ogo. Moscow: Nauka.Google Scholar
Maksimenkov, G.A. 1965. Okunevskaya Kultura v Yuzhnoy Sibiri. Materials and Research in Archaeology of the USSR 130: 168–74.Google Scholar
Mei, J. 2009. Early metallurgy and socio-cultural complexity: archaeological discoveries in north-west China, in Hanks, B.K. & Linduff, K.M. (ed.) Social complexity in prehistoric Eurasia: monuments, metals, and mobility: 215–34. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511605376.013Google Scholar
Mei, J. & Shell, C.. 1999. The existence of Andronovo cultural influence in Xinjiang during the second millennium BC. Antiquity 73: 570–78. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00065121Google Scholar
Mei, J., Shell, C., Li, X. & Wang, B.. 1998. A metallurgical study of early copper and bronze artefacts from Xinjiang, China. Bulletin of the Metals Museum 30: 1–22.Google Scholar
Millward, J.A. 2007. Eurasian crossroads: a history of Xinjiang. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Motuzaite Matuzeviciute, G., Lightfoot, E., O'Connell, T., Voyakin, D., Liu, X., Loman, V., Svyatko, S., Usmanova, E. & Jones, M.. 2015. The extent of cereal cultivation among the Bronze Age to Turkic period societies of Kazakhstan determined using stable isotope analysis of bone collagen. Journal of Archaeological Science 59: 23–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2015.03.029Google Scholar
Panyushkina, I., Chang, C., Clemens, A. & Bykov, N.. 2010. First tree-ring chronology from Andronovo archaeological timbers of Bronze Age in Central Asia. Dendrochronologia 28: 13–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2008.10.001Google Scholar
Reimer, P. et al. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50 000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55: 1869–87. https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16947Google Scholar
Rouse, L., Grillo, K., Piermartiri, K., Rotondaro, E., Cogo-Moreira, H., Bargossi, G. & Cerasetti, B.. 2019. Not just ‘nomadic jars’: the Late Bronze Age ceramic assemblage from the mobile pastoralist site of Ojakly, Murghab region, Turkmenistan. Archaeological Research in Asia 18: 100–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2019.03.002Google Scholar
Ruan, Q. 2013. Studies on the discoveries of Andronovo affiliation found in Xinjiang, China. Western Archaeology 7: 125–54.Google Scholar
Rye, O.S. 1981. Pottery technology: principles and reconstruction (Manuals on Archaeology 4). Washington D.C.: Taraxacum.Google Scholar
Shao, H. 2009. Observing the Xinjiang discoveries of cultural remains related to Andronovo. Studies on Frontier Archaeology 8: 81–97.Google Scholar
Sherratt, A. 2006. The trans-Eurasian exchange: the prehistory of Chinese relations with the West, in Mair, V. (ed.) Contact and exchange in the ancient world: 30–61. Honolulu (HI): University of Hawai‘i Press.Google Scholar
Sitnikov, S. 1998. Nekotorye resul'taty issledovanie poseleniya Sovetskiy Put-I, in Kirushin, Y.F. (ed.) Ancient settlements of the Altai: 71–84. Barnaul: Barnaul State University.Google Scholar
Tan, S. 2011. A new exploration of the cemetery Xiabandi AII in Tash-Kurgan County in Xinjiang. Western Region Studies 3: 83–91.Google Scholar
Wang, L., Chen, F., Wang, Y., Qian, W., Mei, J., Martinón-Torres, M. & Chen, K.. 2019. Copper metallurgy in prehistoric Upper Ili Valley, Xinjiang, China. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11: 2407–17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0679-6Google Scholar
Wang, Y. & Ruan, Q.. 2016. New findings at Jirentai Goukou site in Nileke, Xinjiang. Western Region Studies 1: 132–34.Google Scholar
XAI Xinjiang Archaeological Institute. 1994. Shihezi Museum ancient tombs in Shihezi. Xinjiang Wenwu 4: 12–19.Google Scholar
XAI Xinjiang Archaeological Institute. 2012a. Brief report on the excavation at Tangbalasayi cemetery in Nileke County of Yili. Xinjiang Wenwu 2: 4–20.Google Scholar
XAI Xinjiang Archaeological Institute. 2012b. Excavation report of Aletengyemule reservoir cemetery in Yumin County. Xinjiang Wenwu 3–4: 14–75.Google Scholar
XAI Xinjiang Archaeological Institute. 2012c. Excavation of Kuokesuxi II cemetery in Tekesi County of Xinjiang. Xinjiang Wenwu 2: 51–67.Google Scholar
XAI Xinjiang Archaeological Institute. 2012d. Xiabandi cemetery of Xinjiang. Beijing: Cultural Relics.Google Scholar
XAI Xinjiang Archaeological Institute. 2013. Brief report on the excavation at Ayousai-goukou site in Xianyuan County of Xinjiang. Xinjiang Wenwu 2: 4–10.Google Scholar
XAI Xinjiang Archaeological Institute. 2014a. Brief report on the excavation at Qialege'er site of Nileke County. Xinjiang Wenwu 1: 32–35.Google Scholar
XAI Xinjiang Archaeological Institute. 2014b. Excavation report of Wutulan cemetery in Nileke County. Xinjiang Wenwu 1: 36–57.Google Scholar
XAI BRY Xinjiang Archaeological Institute, Bureau of Relics of Yili Kazaks Autonomous Region, Nileke Bureau of Relics. 2008. Brief report of excavation at Kalasu site in Nileke County of Xinjiang. Xinjiang Wenwu 3–4: 33–43.Google Scholar
XAI BRY Xinjiang Archaeological Institute, Bureau of Relics of Yili Kazaks Autonomous Region, Nileke Bureau of Relics. 2017. Jirentai-goukou site in Nileke County of Xinjiang. Archaeology 7: 57–70.Google Scholar
XAI TR Xinjiang Archaeological Institute, Tacheng Relics Office. 1996. The ancient burials in Sazi village of Tuoli County. Xinjiang Wenwu 2: 14–22.Google Scholar
XAI UR Xinjiang Archaeological Institute, Urumqi Relics Office. 2012. Brief report on the excavation at Saensayi cemetery of Urumqi, Xinjiang. Wenwu 5: 4–12.Google Scholar
Yu, Z. 1998. The survey of an ancient site near Xiakalanggu'er village in Ergongxiang, Tacheng. Xinjiang Wenwu 2: 35–38.Google Scholar
Zhang, Y. 1991. New discoveries from Yili Valley archaeology. Wenwu and Museology 6: 44–49.Google Scholar