Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T05:02:36.930Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fortified settlements and the settlement system in the Northern Zone of the Han Empire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Chen Bo  and
Gideon Shelach
Chen Bo
Affiliation:
Department of East Asian Studies, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91905, Israel School of History, Zhengzhou University, 100 Science Road, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, 450001 China
Gideon Shelach
Affiliation:
Department of East Asian Studies, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91905, Israel
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

How far are settlement patterns affected by imperial systems of administration and control? The prototype city state consisted perhaps only of the population centre and its surrounding hinterland, but large territorial states, and still more empires, required complex systems of government and defence. Historical sources tell of the Chinese imperial system of ‘commanderies’ or provinces, and ‘county seats’ or subordinate centres, but this may conceal a range of local variations and development histories that only detailed archaeological survey can reveal. In this study, devoted to the Northern Zone of the Han Empire close to its border with the troublesome Xiongnu, a four-fold hierarchy of walled settlements is presented which varies in its character, origins and development even within this single zone. Many of its special features can be attributed to the pressures and insecurities of the border setting, and are the direct result of Han imperial planning.

Keywords

ChinaWestern HanEastern Hancommanderiescounty seatsXiongnucitieswalled sites
Type
Method
Information
Antiquity , Volume 88 , Issue 339 , March 2014 , pp. 222 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2014

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

Ban, GU. 1964. Han shu. Beijing: Zhonghua.Google Scholar
Bu, F. 2002. Preliminary research on the reasons of agricultural disasters in Zhou, Qin and Han dynasties. Nongye kaogu 2002(1): 290-94.Google Scholar
Chifeng International Collaborative Archaeological Research Project. 2003. Regional archaeology in eastern Inner Mongolia: a methodological exploration. Beijing: Kexue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Demek, J. 1972. Manual of detailed geomorphobgical mapping. Prague: Academia.Google Scholar
Fan, YE. 1965. Hou Hanshu. Beijing: Zhonghua.Google Scholar
Fu, Z. 1980. The effect of the Chinese ancient cities in the national economy, in Fu, Z. (ed.) The collection ofessays on the Chinese economic history(First): 321-86. Beijing: Sanlian shudian.Google Scholar
Guo, S. (ed.). 2003. Chinese cultural relics atlas—Inner Mongolia. Xi’an: Xi’an ditu.Google Scholar
Hijmans, R.J., Cameron, S., Parra, J., Jones, P., Jarvis, A. & Richardson, K.. n.d. World Clim—global climate data. Available at: http://www.worldclim.org/ (accessed 3 October 2013).Google Scholar
Jiang, L. 2010. Researches on the tombs of Han Dynasty in northern China. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Jilin University.Google Scholar
Lewis, M. E. 2006. The construction of space in early China. Albany: State University of New York Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, M. E. 2007. The early Chinese empires: Qin and Han. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Lin, J. (ed.). 1985. The social civilization of Qin and Han.Xi'an:Xibei daxue.Google Scholar
Lin, J. 1986. The history of Qin and Han dynasties. Shanghai: Shanghai renmin.Google Scholar
Liu, Q. 1998. The archaeological discovery and research on the Han cities, in Yanjiusuo, Shaanxi Kaogu (ed.) Yuan Wang Ji: 544-51. Xi'an: Shaanxi renmin yishu.Google Scholar
Liu, Q. & Li, Y.. 2003. The Han Changan city. Beijing: Wenwu.Google Scholar
Loewe, M. 1987a. Introduction, in Twitchett, D. & Fairbank, J. K (ed.) The Cambridge history of China—the Ch'in and Han empires, 221 BC—AD 220: 1–19. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Loewe, M. 1987b. The former Han Dynasty, in Twitchett, D. & Fairbank, J. K. (ed.) The Cambridge history of China—the Ch in and Han empires, 221 BC—AD 220: 103–222. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lu, S. 1982 [1947]. The history of Qin and Han dynasties. Shanghai: Shanghai guji.Google Scholar
Man, Z. 2009. A research on the climatic change in the historical period in China.Jinan:Shandongjiaoyu. Neimenggu Wenwu Gongzuodui.Google Scholar
Man, Z. 1961. A preliminary report of the excavation of Meidai ancient city in Hohhotin 1959. Wenwu 1961(8): 20–25.Google Scholar
Pines, Y. 2012. The everlasting empire: the political culture of ancient China and its imperial legacy. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Pines, Y., Von Falkenhausen, L., Shelach, G. & Yates, R. D.S. (ed.). 2013. The birth of empire: the state of Qin revisited. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C. & Level, E.. 1984. Exploring dominance: predicting polities from centres, in Renfrew, C. & Cooke, L. (ed.) Transformation: mathematical approaches to culture change: 145–67. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Wenwuju, Shaanxi Sheng. 1998. Chinese cultural relics atlas—Shaanxi. Xi'an: Xi'an ditu.Google Scholar
Shelach, G. & Teng, M.. 2011. The environmental basis of settlement distribution, in Chifeng International Collaborative Archaeological Project (ed.) Settlement patterns in the Chifeng region: 88–100. Pittsburgh (PA): Center for Comparative Archaeology, Pittsburgh University.Google Scholar
Shen, C. 1994. Early urbanization in the Eastern Zhou in China (770-221 BC): an archaeological view. Antiquity 68:724–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shi, Y. (ed.). 2006. Atlas of Chinese culture relics—Shanxi. Beijing: Zhongguo ditu.Google Scholar
Simaqian. 1962. Shiji. Beijing: Zhonghua.Google Scholar
Teng, M. 2009. An environmental archaeological research on the Chifeng region by the support of GIS technique. Beijing: Kexue.Google Scholar
Wang, X. 2008. Archaeological research on the ancient walled sites in Hetao area from Warring States to Qin and Han dynasties. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Renmin University.Google Scholar
Wei, J. 2007. Research on the Great Walls and fortresses in the Warring States, Qin and Han periods in the Hetao area. Bianjiang kaogu 2007(6): 214-26.Google Scholar
Wu, C. 1995. The second research on the chronological issues of the Chong an Hancitysitein Fujian Province. Kaoguyu Wenwu 1995(2): 62–70.Google Scholar
Xie, X(ed.). 2006. Xiangfen Taosi Yizhi Yanjiu. Beijing: Kexue.Google Scholar
Xu, P. 2002. The archaeology of the Great Wall of the Qin and Han dynasties. Journal of East Asian Archaeology 3:259–81.Google Scholar
Yang, C. 1990. Research on the age and characters of the Han city in Chong'an Village. Kaogu 1990(10): 915-24.Google Scholar
Yang, K. 1984. A study of the plan of Chang'an city in the Western Han Dynasty. Wenbo 1984(1): 19–24.Google Scholar
Yang, K. 1989. A restudy of the plan of Chang'an city in the Western Han Dynasty. Kaogu 1989(4): 348-56.Google Scholar
Yuan, G. & Zeng, X.. 2004. A research on the relation between the inner enclosure and outer enclosure of the Shang city in Zhengzhou. Kaogu 2004(3): 59–67.Google Scholar
Bowuguan, Yuxian. 1997. A report of Daiwangcheng city site. Wen Wu Chun Qiu 1997(3): 21–26.Google Scholar
Zhang, J. 2006. The city society in the Han Dynasty. Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian.Google Scholar
Zhao, H. 1995. An archaeological survey and research of early Great Walls in China, in Dong, Y. (ed.) Monograph ofthe International Conference of Great Walls: 238-49. Changchun: Jilin renmin.Google Scholar
Zhao, H. 2002. Qin Han Kaogu. Beijing: Wenwu.Google Scholar
Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo. 2004. Zhongguo Kaoguxue: Liang Zhou Juan. Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhou, C. 2001. Research on the Han cities. Beijing: Renmin.Google Scholar
Zhu, K. 1972. A preliminary research on the climate change in last 5000 years in China. Kaogu 1972(2): 15–38.Google Scholar