Mark your calendars! Thursday, April 16th there are several sessions relating to east & southeast Asian archaeology:
Asian Art Museum Reception for East and Southeast Asian Archaeologists
Location: Asian Art Museum (200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA)
Time: 5:30pm-7:30pm
The Qijia Culture of Northwest China – Entering a New Era of Research
Room: Union Square 13
Time: 8:15pm-12:00pm
Chair: Rowan Flad
Abstract: The Qijia Culture plays a central role both in terms of the history of archaeology in Northwest China and as a tradition that occupies a critical time and place in the social and technological transitions that underlie the “origins of Chinese civilization.” Occupying a vast territory covering much of the modern province of Gansu, as well as adjacent areas of Qinghai, Ningxia and Shaanxi, the Qijia Culture dates to the end of the third and early second millennia BC and witnessed important transformations in subsistence practices, the adoption of new plant and animal domesticates, developments in metallurgy and pottery production, dramatic environmental events and climate change, the introduction of new types of prestige goods, among other shifts. This panel includes presentations of new research on various aspects of the Qijia Culture that reflect renewed interest in this cultural tradition and provide new insights on the important transformations that occurred.
8:15 New Research at Qijiaping (Rowan Flad, Andrew Womack, Yitzchak Jaffee and Jung Zhou)
8:30 The Cemetery at Qijiaping: New Insights into the Production and Use of Ceramic Vessels (Andrew Womack)
8:45 Radiocarbon Dating of Qijiaping site in Gansu Province, China (Xiaohong Wu)
9:00 Rethinking Burial Practice in Qijia Culture (Rita Dal Martello)
9:15 Preliminary Bioarchaeological Analysis of the Qijia Culture Mogou Site (2400-1900 BCE), Gansu Province, China (Christine Lee)
9:30 Ritual Animal Use of “Qijia Cultural,” Evidence from Mogou Cemetery, Lintan County, Gansu Province, China (Hua Wang, Ruilin Mao and Hui Wang)
9:45 Early Bronze Age Animal Use at Lajia, a Qijia Culture Site in Qinghai Province, China (David Fargo, Maolin Ye and Yin Lam)
10:00 Questions and Answers
10:15 Turquoise Ornaments and Inlays Technology in Qijia Culture-A Comparative Study of Qijia Culture and Erlitou Culture (XiaoLi Qin)
10:30 A Technical Study of Casting and Inlay on Chinese Ceremonial Weapons at the Harvard Art Museums (Ariel O’Connor and Katherine Eremin)
10:45 Dietary Shift and Cultural Evolution Relation to Intercontinental Cultural Exchanges and Climate Change in the Hehuang and Contiguous Regions, Northwest China ~3600 Years Ago: Evidence from Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotopic Analysis (Minmin Ma, Guanghui Dong, Hui Wang and Fahu Chen)
11:00 Cereal Cultivation Shift during Qijia Culture Period in Gansu and Qinghai Province, NW China: Archaeobotanic Evidence (Weimiao Dong and Guanghui Dong)
11:15 The Evolution of Qijia Culture and its Contacts with Other Cultures (Hui Wang)
11:30 Louisa Fitzgerald-Huber (Discussant)
11:45 Shuicheng Li (Discussant)
Archaeology in Asia
Room: Grand Ballroom A
Time: 10:30am-12:30pm
49-a Mumun Period Households and the Rise of Inequality in Korea (Rachel Lee)
49-b Differing Methodologies in Computing for Smith’s Mean Measure of Divergence between Chinese and Western Literature (Matthew Go and Xu Zhang)
49-c Neolithic Development in Eastern Dongbei Region, China (Zhuowei Tang, Lixin Wang, Pauline Sebillaud, Duan Tian-jing and Gyoung-Ah Lee)
49-d Exploring the Social Structure of Kunming Yangfutou Cemetery, Yunnan, Southwestern China (Pochan Chen)
49-e Spaces and Places: Examining Historic Maps from South Asia (Uthara Suvrathan)
49-f A Study on the Mid-to-Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age Agricultural Economies and their Development at Huizui Site, Yiluo Valley Region, China (Ha Beom Kim)
49-g Use-Wear Analysis of the Stone Tools at the Wansan Site, a Neolithic site in Taiwan (Chihhua Chiang)
49-h The Diet and Subsistence System of Yuan-Shan People in Taiwan (Cheng-Yi Lee, Maa-Ling Chen, Peter Ditchfield, Mark Pollard and Ching-Hua Lo)
49-i A Reexamination of the Terrestrial Animals Depicted on the Rock Art of Bangudae in Southern Korea: Problems of Animal Domestication and Chronology (Bong Kang)
49-j Salt and Salt Fermented Fish in Northeast Thailand, Prehistory to the Present (Andrea Yankowski and Puangtip Kerdsap)
Archaeologies of Islands and Atolls of Oceania
Room: Grand Ballroom A
Time: 10:30am-12:30pm
52-a Holocene Transitions in Highland Papua New Guinea: Linking Climate Change to Changes in Subsistence and Mobility with New Models and Data (Jennifer Huff)
52-b Archaeological and Paleo-Environmental Investigations in the Aitape Area of Northern Papua New Guinea, 2014 (Mark Golitko, Ethan Cochrane, Shaun Williams and Jason Kariwiga)
52-c Early Settlement of Atolls in Eastern Micronesia: Investigations on Mwoakilloa Atoll (Adam Thompson, Aaron Poteate, Scott Fitzpatrick and William Ayres)
52-d Mortuary Practices of the Pre-Latte and Latte People of Guam Based on Data from the Naton Beach Site (Cherie Walth)
52-e The Colossal Hats (pukao) of Monumental Statues: An Analysis of Shape Variability among the pukao of Rapa Nui (Sean Hixon, Carl Lipo and Terry Hunt)
52-f Socioeconomic Change in Tikopia Household under the Perspective of Ecological Change (Yan Cai)
52-g Whose Bone is This? An Investigation into Modern Histological Methods of Species Identification with Application to Archaeological Faunal Assemblages in the Pacific (Sophie Miller)
52-h Nukubalavu 1: A Preliminary Examination of Mid-Sequence Ceramics and Culture Change on Vanua Levu, Fiji (Ian Takaoka and Jozie Banas)
52-i Anthropogenically Driven Decline and Extinction of Sapotaceae on Nuku Hiva (Marquesas Islands, East Polynesia) (Jennifer Huebert)
52-j Coastal Groundwater Seeps on Rapa Nui (Matthew Cole, Matt Becker and Carl Lipo)
52-k Application of Object-Based Image Analysis of High Resolution Imagery to Identify Archaeological Features on Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) (Jordan Pratt, Isabela Kott, Christopher Lee, Carl P. Lipo and Terry L. Hunt)
52-l Starch and Ceramics: Dietary Transition and Technology in the Sigatoka Valley, Fiji (Nicole Hernandez, Julie Field, John Dudgeon and Christopher Roos)
52-m Rapa Nui: The Influence of Freshwater Sources on Prehistoric Settlement Distribution (Tanya Zeferjahn, Michelle Baroldi, Chris Lee, Carl Lipo and Matt Becker)
52-n Spatial Analysis of Prehistoric Garden Features on Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) (Isabela Kott, Carl P. Lipo, Christopher Lee and Terry L. Hunt)
Neolithic and Bronze Age China
Room: Union Square 2
Time: 1:00pm-2:45pm
Chair: Zhang Wenjie
1:00 The Ritual System of the Zhongli King’s Bronzes (Wenjie Zhang)
1:15 Casting Technology and Craft Production of Bronze Wares in the Central Plains of China in Late Shang Dynasty (13th BC- 11th BC) (Yu Liu and Zhanwei Yue)
1:30 Colonial Developments in a Global Context-Complex Connectivity in the Western Zhou World (Yitzchak Jaffe)
1:45 Of Kings and Artisans: Comparing Household and Palace-Temple Rituals at Yanshi Shangcheng (Katrinka Reinhart)
2:00 Bell-Shaped Storage Pits and Social Evolution in the Yuanqu Basin, North China (Jim Railey)
2:15 Gained Bioarchaeological Insight from the Skeletal Human Remains at Dabaoshan, South Central Inner Mongolia, China (Xu Zhang)
2:30 Preliminary Results from the Bioarchaeological Investigation of Human Sacrifical Victims from China’s Late Shang Dynasty (Daniela Wolin, Natasha Osing, Jigen Tang, Yuyun Tang and Lingling Deng)
New Insights into Painted Pottery from Northwest China
Room: Union Square 1
Time: 2:45pm-5:00pm
Chair: Hung Ling-yu and Zhang Liangren
Abstract: This panel considers the origin, context, production, and circulation of painted pottery from Northwest China with broad perspectives. Used by people of varied backgrounds and in different contexts, these objects are dated around 8000 to 2000 years ago, from the Neolithic through Early Iron Age. Today, many museums throughout the world hold these ancient pots in their collections. Previous studies provide limited knowledge beyond chronological typologies of vessel forms and decorations. With new methods and data, participants of this panel develop and rethink hypotheses of population movement, cross-regional connection, material exchange, technological diffusion, stylistic imitation, and cultural identity behind these well-known objects. New studies consider the ceramics as well as other findings, such as millet, textiles, leather vessels, and cowrie seashell. As comparable motifs can be noticed among painted pottery from China, Central Asia, Southeast Europe, and Southeast Asia, the geographic scope of discussion includes China and other regions of the Eurasian Continent in regional and cross-regional perspectives.
2:45 Neolithic Northern China in the Context of Early Eurasian Interactions (Eric Carlucci and Ling-yu Hung)
3:00 Considering a ‘Chinese Element’ in Southeast Europe before the 2nd Milennium BC (Ting An)
3:15 Understanding the Production of Majiayao Painted Pottery in Gansu: New Data and New Thoughts (Yi-Xian Lin, Ian Freestone and Hui WANG)
3:30 Migration, Diffusion, and Trade: Potting in Neolithic NW China (Ling-yu Hung and Jianfeng Cui)
3:45 Painted Pottery of the Siba Culture and Its Implications (Shuicheng Li)
4:00 The Dispersion of Early Painted Pottery in Northwest China (Liangren Zhang)
4:15 Prehistoric Painted Pottery of Xinjiang (Enguo Lu)
4:30 Louisa Fitzgerald-Huber (Discussant)
4:45 Questions and Answers
The Archaeology of East and Southeast Asia
Room: Union Square 1
Time: 6:00pm-7:30pm
Chair: Fumie Iizuka
6:00 Towards a Socio-Ecological Understanding of Agrarian-Based, Low-Density Urbanism in Early Tropical State Formations (Gyles Iannone)
6:15 What was Erlitou? Social Transformations from the Longshan Period to the Erlitou Period in a Network Perspective (Li Zhang)
6:30 Adoption of Ceramic Technology: Case Study from Incipient Jomon of Southern Kyushu (ca. 13,500/14,000-12,000 cal yr BP) (Fumie Iizuka, Masami Izuho and Pamela Vandiver)
6:45 Transition from Hunting and Gathering to Food Production on the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan (Hiroto Takamiya and Hitoshi Yonenobu)
7:00 An Application of Obsidian Hydration Dating to Prehistoric Sites in Japan (Yuichi Nakazawa and Fumito Akai)
7:15 Starch and Stone: Preliminary Evidence from Jomon Period Ground Stone in Southwestern Hokkaido (Emma Yasui)
Tribes, Chiefdoms, and Early States in Late Prehistoric Japan
Room: Golden Gate 3
Time: 6:00pm-8:30pm
Chair: Ken-ichi Sasaki
Abstract: This session presents the results of recent research into the archaeology of chiefdoms and early states in late prehistoric Japan. The time period under consideration spans from ca. 500 B.C. to 600 A.D. During this time period, local societies evolved from tribal-level to chiefdom-level, and eventually from the third to fifth centuries A.D. several regional societies were united to form the central polity at an early-state level. The social and cultural evolution during this time period is characterized by strong regional differentiation in the speed and process of evolution and patterns of interaction with other regions, although the major subsistence base was wet rice agriculture. Moreover, interaction with the Chinese continent and Korean peninsula played a major role in the development of social complexity. In the middle third century, highly standardized keyhole-shaped burial mounds appeared in many regions of Japan, but strong regional differences remained. In this session, we want to emphasize this interplay between autonomous local polities and the central polity in the process toward more complex society.
6:00 History of Research into the Jomon-Yayoi Transition (Masaki Shibata)
6:15 Beginning of Agriculture and Immigrants from the Korean Peninsula in Prehistoric Japan (Kazunori Misaka)
6:30 Settlement Expansions during the Yayoi Period, Japan (Atsushi Uemine)
6:45 Wars and Battles as Cultural Phenomena in Bronze and Early Iron Age of Japan (Kunihiko Wakabayashi)
7:00 Transition from the Yayoi to Kofun Periods in Third Century A.D. Japan (Gen Miyoshi)
7:15 Wide-Range Regional Interaction Prior to State Formation in Late Prehistoric Eastern Japan (Yutaka Tanaka)
7:30 Spread of Digging Tools and the Social Change in Kofun Period Japan (Masanori Kawano)
7:45 The Role of Iron Weaponry and Martial Ideology in the Political Consolidation of Early Japan (Joseph Ryan)
8:00 Adoption of Horse-Riding Practices in Fifth-Century Japan and its Political Significance (Ken-ichi Sasaki)
8:15 A Religious Perspective on State Formation Process in Seventh Century A.D. Japan (Tetsuo Hishida)