Asian Perspectives, 2023 - Volume 62, Number 1 (Spring)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/113093
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Item type: Item , A Plant and Parasite Record of a Midden on Auckland Isthmus, New Zealand, Reveals Large Scale Landscape Disturbance, Māori-Introduced Cultigens, and Helminthiasis Manufacture and Usage in Angkor and China(2023-04-01) Horrocks, Mark; Brown, Adina; Brown, John; Presswell, BronwenThe study of Māori agriculture in New Zealand is hindered by lack of direct evidence in the form of plant remains and on Auckland Isthmus also by lack of excavation sites due to extensive urbanization. Recent demolition and earthworks for the construction of an apartment complex at Newmarket on the isthmus exposed a Māori shell midden. The midden was analyzed for plant (pollen, phytoliths, and starch) and parasite microfossils to shed light on Māori activity on the isthmus. The plant microfossil and 14C results show large-scale landscape disturbance by people and the discovery of pollen from the Māoriintroduced cultigens Colocasia esculenta (taro), Cordyline cf. fruticosa (tı- pore), and possibly Broussonetia papyrifera (aute, paper mulberry) demonstrates agricultural activity. In addition, phytoliths of B. papyrifera and starch and xylem of cf. C. esculenta and cf. Ipomoea batatas (ku-mara, sweet potato) were identified. The parasitological analysis identified egg packets of Dipylidium caninum, a dog parasite that would have adversely affected dogs and people on the isthmus. These microfossil types and their affinities are described in detail and discussed with reference to archaeological contexts elsewhere in New Zealand and the wider Pacific Island region, reviewing the locations and types of both macro- and microfossils of these cultigens and parasites previously reported in the Pacific Islands. Given the highly variable production and preservation of different organic tissues, the study also highlights the value of combining the three different types of analyses for the study of ancient human activity, in this case providing evidence of four of the six Māoriintroduced cultigens and a dog parasite from a single midden.Item type: Item , A Metal Production Center on the Southwest Frontier of the Han Empire: An Archaeometallurgical Study of the Heimajing Cemetery Site in Gejiu, Yunnan Province, China(2023-04-01) Li, Yingfu; Han, Dong; Huang, Lei; Yang, Ge; Li, YuniuThe Gejiu region in southeast Yunnan Province was an important metal and ore production area in China as early as the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.–A.D. 220). Past archaeological investigations in this region discovered an ancient smelting site. Large numbers of smelting-related relics including lead discs, copper ingots, and smelting wastes were also excavated from the Heimajing cemetery site nearby. These discoveries suggest that the burial occupants were probably involved in ancient mining, metal smelting, and the metal production industry. An archaeometallurgical analysis of smelting-related relics was conducted. The results demonstrated that lead, copper, and different copper-base alloys were produced in the region. The chemical compositional analysis and lead isotope studies of the samples collected from the Heimajing cemetery site suggest that there was probably a production and supply system and a demand for copper-base products in the Dian Kingdom (now central Yunnan) and Jiaozhi Commandery (nownorthern Vietnam) through cross-regional resource allocation. The Gejiu region therefore might have had a complete industry chain on the southwest frontier of the Han Empire.Item type: Item , Changes and Consistencies in Bone Technologies as a Sign of Cultural Transition About 4000 Years Ago in Eastern China: Insights from the Yinjiacheng Site, Shandong, China(2023-04-01) Yin, Ruixue; Luan, Fengshi; Doyon, LucThe study of cultural changes associated with the emergence of complex societies in Ancient China has heavily relied on evidence from ceramics, lithic technologies, changes in settlement pattern, burial practices, and prestige goods. However, it remains unclear whether, and if so to what extent, other aspects of material culture follow similar evolutionary trajectories. Here, we analyze a large bone tool assemblage found in Longshan (n = 76) and Yueshi (n = 124) contexts at Yinjiacheng, a key site from the Haidai region. These two cultural entities are of particular interest as they allow to investigate cultural change dynamics in the Haidai region during the transition between the Late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. Our assessment allows us to document changes in bone technology along three lines of evidence: typological diversity, technological know-how, and morphometric standardization. From a typological standpoint, we document an increased diversity in tool types during the Yueshi period compared to Longshan. However, the techniques used to manufacture bone tools during the Longshan and Yueshi periods remain broadly the same. Furthermore, we identify the persistence of specific reduction sequences for the manufacture of some awl and projectile point sub-types shared by the two cultural systems. Morphometrically, Longshan domestic tools are generally more standardized than Yueshi tools, while Yueshi hunting implements show a higher degree of standardization compared to their Longshan counterparts. We argue this pattern reflects the preservation of a common know-how among Longshan and Yueshi settlers at Yinjiacheng. We interpret the typological diversification of Yueshi hunting implements and changes in the standardization of Yueshi bone tools as a proxy for the articulation of this knowledge through applying less rigid rules of production to meet new emerging needs.Item type: Item , Rock Art and Early Cultural Dynamics in Eastern Mongolia(2023-04-01) Ankhsanaa, Ganbold; Mijiddorj, Enkbayar; Davaatseren, Byambasuren; Taylor, William Timonthy TrealDespite playing a key role in the history and prehistory of human societies in easternEurasia, the archaeological record of eastern Mongolia—particularly its rich tradition of rock art and petroglyphs—has been poorly integrated into western archaeological literature.We summarize a large body of recent scholarship from Mongolia’s three eastern provinces, Khentii, Sukhbaatar, and Dornod, to identify evidence of cultural activity in the region stretching from the Palaeolithic through the historic era. Rock art imagery from Eastern Mongolia reveals key insights into the region’s under-investigated archaeological record, including the co-occurrence of humans with megafauna such as the wooly rhinocerous and mammoth during the last Ice Age, occupation of the region by pre-pastoral cultures during the Holocene, and important pulses of activity associated with early pastoral cultures and empires during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. Future analysis of these sites promises to help us understand the murkiest chapters in the region’s past.Item type: Item , Communities and Social Dynamics: A Comparative Analysis of Settlement Systems in the Yuxi Valley and Northeastern China(2023-04-01) Wang, Wenjing; Xu, WenpengComparative studies of the development of larger-scale social formation often promote our understanding of the internal dynamics of social change. Hongshan societies in northeastern China and Lingjiatan societies in the Yuxi valley of the lower reaches of Yangzi River represent the scopes and various forms that can be taken by early hierarchical societies. Similarities in the shape, function, and symbolic meaning of jade artifacts of Lingjiatan and Hongshan have long been discussed in comparative studies, but the communities and social dynamics of the two archaeological cultures within the larger regional areas they occupied have yet to be compared. The research reported here conducted comparative exploration of social trajectories across four regions—Yuxi in the lower reaches of the Yangzi River and Chifeng, Upper Daling, and Niuheliang in northeastern China—from the Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age. Our comparison reveals the similarities and differences in patterns of settlement and demographies across the four regions and provides some insights into research questions that need to be answered in future.Item type: Item , Editor's Note(2023-04-01) Allard, Francis; Bellina-Price, Berenice; Field, Julie; Castillo, Cristina CoboItem type: Item , Table of Contents(2023-04-01)Item type: Item , Covers 1-4(2023-04-01)