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Consumption, exchange and production at the Great Settlement Shang: bone-working at Tiesanlu, Anyang

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2011

Roderick B. Campbell ,
Zhipeng Li ,
Yuling He  and
Yuan Jing
Roderick B. Campbell
Affiliation:
1Merton College, Oxford University, Merton Street, Oxford OX1 4JD, UK (Email: roderickbcampbell@gmail.com)
Zhipeng Li
Affiliation:
2Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 27 Wangfujing St., Beijing 100710, PR China (Email: lizhp@cass.org.cn; yuanjing@cass.org.cn)
Yuling He
Affiliation:
3Anyang Workstation, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, West Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan 455000, PR China (Email: stationay@gmail.com)
Yuan Jing
Affiliation:
2Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 27 Wangfujing St., Beijing 100710, PR China (Email: lizhp@cass.org.cn; yuanjing@cass.org.cn)
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Extract

Excavations at the Shang capital of Anyang have uncovered a massive bone-working industry. The animal bones, mainly those of cattle, pig and deer were provided as a spin-off from regular large-scale sacrifice, and made mainly into pins, awls and arrowheads. Although some of the pins were destined for the tombs of prominent women, a penetrating analysis shows that production greatly overran local consumption and the authors are able to raise the likelihood of a wide market for traded objects in addition to the more expected control of production by the elite.

Keywords

ChinaAnyangBronze Agebone-workingeconomy
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 85 , Issue 330 , December 2011 , pp. 1279 - 1297
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2011

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