Asian Perspectives, 2024 - Volume 63, Number 1 (Spring)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/113095
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Item type: Item , IN Memoriam REMEMBERING DOUGLAS ERNEST YEN (20 MARCH 1924 – 7 JULY 2023)(2024-03-22) Kirch, Patrick V.Item type: Item , The Birth of Yamatogoto Culture: Stringed Instruments and the Formation of Complex Society in Pre- and Protohistoric Japan(2024-03-22) Stromberg, KirieExcavated Japanese zithers are likely the oldest surviving stringed instruments in East Asia. This article reviews diachronic changes that occurred in the forms of wood zithers in pre- and protohistoric Japan over approximately two millennia (ca. 1500 B.C.–A.D. 600). It highlights developments such as the addition of resonator boxes, average size increase, and inclusion of figural ornamentation. Results indicate that these formal developments, in addition to the adoption of a seated playing posture as portrayed in Kofun haniwa musician figurines, were driven by the needs of growing communities and their leaders. This analysis suggests that examining changes in musical instruments can be used alongside traditional lines of evidence to research the origins of social complexity and thereby carves out space for a humanistic approach to the study of prehistory.Item type: Item , Item type: Item , Item type: Item , Prehistoric Stone Ornaments from Phromtin Tai, Central Thailand: New Perspectives on Workshop Traditions through the Study of Drilling Methods(2024-03-22) Lertcharnrit, Thanik; Rienjang, Wannaporn; Carter, Alison; Keonver, Jonathan Mark; Law, Randall W.The multi-component site of Phromtin Tai, Thailand is notable for its long occupation from the Late Bronze Age (ca. 700–500 B.C.E.) through early historic periods (ca. C.E. 500–900). Multiple field seasons of excavation in burial and habitation areas at the site have recovered a large number of glass and stone beads. Here we present the study of 57 stone beads from the site using qualitative and quantitative methods that demonstrate the presence of multiple stone ornament workshop traditions. Examination of perforations from beads and pendants made from regionally available raw materials of marble, nephrite, serpentine, and other undetermined stone have identified the use of metal drills with abrasives and diamond drills. These drilling techniques along with the distinctive shapes of some finely made beads, as well as the reworking of older broken beads suggests the presence of different scales and organization of local production in Southeast Asia. The different shapes and production processes of carnelian and banded agate beads also may represent various workshop traditions. Some of these latter beads may have originated in South Asia, while others may have been made in different regions of Southeast Asia. This study demonstrates that careful examination of ornament production techniques, and especially bead perforation technology, can be used to identify the presence of different workshop traditions allowing for more fine-grained consideration of inter- and intra-regional bead exchange networks in Southeast Asia. The presence of many semi-precious stone beads of different materials and having morphologically and technologically distinct features at Phromtin Tai demonstrate the active consumption of the beads by social elites at the site. These diversified and exotic status markers represent an intensification and acceleration of the economy and social complexity at Phromtin TaiItem type: Item , Bronze Art, Cultural Norms, and Group Identity: A Group of Late Western Zhou and Early Spring and Autumn He Vessels Analyzed in Their Temporal and Spatial Contexts(2024-03-22) Hua, Xia; Shelach-Lavi, GideonA new generation of scholars has called into question the homogeneous nature of Western Zhou culture and the sweeping imposition of this culture over a large region that covers much of present-day China. Our study contributes to this debate by focusing on a coherent group of bronze vessels dated to the end of theWestern Zhou and beginning of the Spring and Autumn periods. He (盉) vessels with drum-shaped bodies, bird-like lids, and human-like legs are among the most unique and artistically innovative artifacts of this period. While these unique artifacts have been found in and near the center of the Western Zhou polity, they are not associated with the rituals of the royal house, but rather with those of other aristocratic lineages.We argue that the artistic style of the vessels was part of the culture developed around the royal Zhou house and in areas close to it, although it is not strictly representative of the royal culture of the Western Zhou, being instead associated with minor lineages. A multi-dimensional analysis of this group of vessels, addressing their geographical distribution, location within their archaeological context, and social associations, combined with an analysis of their decorative scheme and the inscriptions cast inside them, enables us to better understand the sociocultural landscape of this period. Our study suggests that diversity existed not only in remote border areas or among the lower strata of society, but also within the cultural core of the Western Zhou polity and among the highest echelons of the aristocracy. Such processes of diversification are associated with the development of local and regional identities and with the growth of the political independence of aristocratic lineages during the final years of the transition from the Western Zhou to the Spring and Autumn periods.Item type: Item , Northern Black Polished Ware: A Technological Enigma(2024-03-22) Kanungo, Alok Kumar; Roy, Oishi; Ingle; varad; Kulkarni, Chinmay; Upadhyay, Prabhakar; Vikrama, BhuvanIn ancient India, complex technologies for forming and firing pottery were developed to meet the challenges of different types of clays and available fuels, as well as diverse cultural and ritual needs. Clays, slips, and firing processes were simultaneously customized through time and space, resulting in innovative region and period-specific specialized wares. While the knowledge of some pottery making traditions was passed from one generation to the next, and can be documented to some extent today, other techniques, such as the manufacture of Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW), have been lost. Attempts by scholars either to deconstruct this ware scientifically or reconstruct the technique experimentally have largely been unsuccessful. This article is yet another attempt to deconstruct NBPW manufacturing methods, primarily the preparation of the slip, using petrographic XRD, XRF, and microscopy on seven sherds of various shades coming from different sites and times within the peak NBPW period.Item type: Item , Covers 1-4(2024-03-22)Item type: Item , Table of Contents(2024-03-22)