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  3. The Chinese Neolithic
  • Cited by 65
      • Li Liu, La Trobe University, Victoria
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    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      September 2009
      January 2005
      ISBN:
      9780511489624
      9780521811842
      9780521010641
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511489624
      Dimensions:
      (247 x 174 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.845kg, 330 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (247 x 174 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.543kg, 332 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Area Studies, Archaeological Theory and Methods, Asian Studies, Archaeology, Archaeology of Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and The Pacific
      Series:
      New Studies in Archaeology
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    • Selected: Digital
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    Subjects:
    Area Studies, Archaeological Theory and Methods, Asian Studies, Archaeology, Archaeology of Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and The Pacific
    Series:
    New Studies in Archaeology
    Information

    Book description

    This book studies the formation of complex societies in prehistoric China during the Neolithic and early state periods, c. 7000–1500 BC. Archaeological materials are interpreted through anthropological perspectives, using systematic analytic methods in settlement and burial patterns. Both agency and process are considered in the development of chiefdoms and in the emergence of early states in the Yellow River region. Interrelationships between factors such as mortuary practice, craft specialization, ritual activities, warfare, exchange of elite goods, climatic fluctuations, and environmental changes are emphasized. This study offers a critical evaluation of current archaeological data from Chinese sources, and argues that, although some general tendencies are noted, social changes were affected by multiple factors in no pre-determined sequence. In this most comprehensive study to date, Li Liu attempts to reconstruct developmental trajectories toward early states in Chinese civilization and discusses theoretical implications of Chinese archaeology for the understanding of social evolution.

    Reviews

    "The Chinese Neolithic is a major achievement. The book presents a coherent and methodologically quite sophisticated vision of the late prehistory of the middle and lower Yellow River basin...Liu's compelling investigation into the precursors of the early Chinese dynasties elicits great admiration." - Lothar von Falkenhausen, University of California, Los Angelos Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

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