Over 80 years of systematic excavations at Anyang, the site of the last capital of China's late Shang period (c. 1250–1050 BC), have revealed magnificent and diverse material remains on a huge scale. The Shang's craft industries, which produced their stunning bronze, lithic and other artefacts, have, however, drawn relatively less attention in comparison with other areas of Shang archaeology. Li Yung-ti's new book, Kingly crafts: the archaeology of craft production in late Shang China, is a vital addition to this key period of early Chinese civilisation, and an important contribution to understanding the formation of urban landscapes at Anyang. Li combines culture-history and anthropological archaeology through a systematic analysis of archaeological finds housed in mainland China and Taiwan, drawing upon his years of work in key related organisations. The discussions understandably focus primarily on bronze and bone industries, driven by the availability of archaeological evidence, but also consider crafts of other materials.
Chapters 1 and 2 introduce the question of craft production and its study within Shang archaeology, defining the issues, the data and its constraints/biases. Li presents a chronological review of workshop excavations, valuably identifying the concentrations and contemporaneous operations of multiple craft workshops. He sets out three types of production contexts that he employs throughout the book—namely large-scale, artisan-centred and household. Chapter 3 presents bronze production as the first case study, synchronising archaeological evidence and research to date, particularly relating to section-mould casting technology. Through charting the stages, resources, facilities and skills involved in bronze casting, the author considers the organisation of bronze workshops, their changing layouts and technological innovations over time.
Chapter 4 explores the making of bone crafts from the sources of raw materials, product ranges, manufacturing steps and standardisation, and contexts of production. The author argues that large-scale bone artefact production was motivated less by a bottom-up market economy as previously suggested, but driven by the political economy of the Shang elites. In Chapter 5, the attention shifts to a number of artefact types, including those made of marble and shell inlay, ivory, stone blades and pottery, the workshops for which are archaeologically less well-attested. The author argues for the potential for artisan-centred multimedia workshops dedicated exclusively for royal consumption, located in the temple-palace area.
In the final chapter, it is argued that large-scale and artisan-centred craft production was ultimately controlled by the Shang kings in relation to urban layouts (including recently discovered roads and canals) and broader sociopolitical structures. Regarding the key question of who ran the large-scale craft workshops, Li proposes an alternative model (usefully summarised in a diagram on p. 184) and challenges the predominant lineage-based interpretation, which is derived from kinship groups clustered together in both settlements and burials. Through adopting theories and perspectives on urban studies from other parts of the world, the reader is invited to rather consider an urban layout based on neighbourhoods and districts. The discussions and arguments on the control and management of craft workshops are thought-provoking and provide a valuable contribution to our understanding of the social geography of Anyang.
Overall, the chapter structure is well planned and balanced, reflecting the availability and volume of archaeological evidence; for example, the focus on bronze casting in Chapter 3 and the grouping of other crafts in Chapter 5. A notable omission from the discussions, however, is jade. As one of the most exclusive and prestigious materials for the Shang—the tomb of Queen Fuhao, for example, contained over 700 jade artefacts—it seems a significant material for the author's arguments on the royal control over craft industries. Yet only a brief overview of the lithic/jade workshop remains at Xiaotun North is provided (p. 31), although other lithic industries are discussed, including marble artefacts and stone blades. For the latter, reference is made to Li Chi's pioneering study of the stone blades from Xiaotun, but the author does not consider their materiality, despite Li Chi (Reference Chi1952: 526) identifying seven blades made of jade from Nanyang (a place renowned for jade mining). We cannot be certain how the Shang perceived and defined jade in relation to other stones, but we can be confident that it did not reflect modern geological definitions. This conceptual uncertainty surely warranted some, even brief, consideration.
This book offers a crucial contribution to Shang archaeology, advancing our knowledge of their impressive craft production and its underlying social and political contexts. The writing style is accessible, and the illustrations and data charts are of good quality and well-presented. I would highly recommend this book both to scholars and students of Shang/Chinese archaeology and those interested in exploring comparative studies of craft production in early civilisations.
