Asian Perspectives, 1992 - Volume 31, Number 2 (Fall)

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https://hdl.handle.net/10125/16582

Asian Perspectives is the leading peer-reviewed archaeological journal devoted to the prehistory of Asia and the Pacific region. In addition to archaeology, it features articles and book reviews on ethnoarchaeology, palaeoanthropology, physical anthropology, and ethnography of interest and use to the prehistorian. International specialists contribute regional reports summarizing current research and fieldwork, and present topical reports of significant sites. Occasional special issues focus on single topics.

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Center for South Asian Studies
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    Temporal Variation in Polynesian Fishing Strategies: The Southern Cook Islands in Regional Prespective
    (University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 1992) Allen, Melinda S.
    Geographic variability in Polynesian fishhook assemblages has long been recognized but largely unexplained. West Polynesian assemblages are typically small in number, relatively uniform in morphology, and often manufactured from Turbo. Those from East Polynesia are comparatively large and morphologically varied, and Pinctada margaritifera is the preferred raw material. Drawing on both geographically dispersed assemblages and the temporal sequence from Aitutaki, Cook Islands, I suggest that these assemblage differences stem from both structural properties of the two shell species and their differential availability through time and across the region. I also examine two sets of selective conditions, one that initially led to an increase in the frequency of angling in East Polynesia and a second that subsequently fostered a decline in angling on Aitutaki and possibly elsewhere in the region. KEYWORDS: Polynesian fishing, southern Cook Islands, fishhooks, technological variation, culture process.
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    The Glass Beads of Ban Bon Noen, Central Thailand
    (University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 1992) Pilditch, Jacqueline S.
    Recent excavations at the site of Ban Bon Noen in central Thailand produced glass beads from cultural deposits dated between 400 B.C. and A.D. 700. Most of the beads at the site fall into the category known as mutisalah and probably originated in India. Their relatively dense occurrence at Ban Bon Noen in nonmortuary contexts suggests that the site may have functioned as a node in a trade network linking Southeast Asia to India during the Iron Age. KEYWORDS: Prehistoric glass beads, Thailand archaeology, prehistoric trade.
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    New Dates for Prehistoric Asian Rice
    (University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 1992) Bellwood, P.; Gillespie, R.; Thompson, G.B.; Vogel, J.S.; Ardika, I.W.; Datan, Ipoi
    Accelerator Mass Spectrometry radiocarbon dates for rice husks and grains embedded in the fabric of pottery from India, Sarawak, and Bali are presented. Although it is not possible to prove that these specimens are all from cultivated and domesticated rices, their cultural and biogeographical contexts suggest that this was the case. The results can be used to support a dispersal of rice cultivation from the presumed Yangzi homeland to as far as the Ganga Valley and equatorial Malaysia by at least the mid-third millennium B. C. KEYWORDS: Rice, prehistory, India, China, Southeast Asia.
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    The Palaeolithic in Southern China
    (University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 1992) Olsen, John W.; Miller-Antonio, Sari
    Palaeolithic sites discovered in southern China in the last 20 years document the human occupation of this region through the Pleistocene. Tool inventories from localities south of33°N latitude and east of the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau have greatly expanded the range of variability in the Palaeolithic of this region. Bone artifacts and stone spheroids, once thought to be confined to northern Chinese Palaeolithic industries, have been recovered from South China sites as well. We see not only the persistence of the chopper/chopping tool tradition from the earliest Palaeolithic assemblages through to terminal Pleistocene sites but also the presence of assemblages dominated by smaller flaked implements, emphasizing the problems involved in equating hominid type and technology. Natural site formation processes affecting assemblage composition are a priority for future archaeological investigations. KEYWORDS: South China, Pleistocene, Palaeolithic, hominid, geoarchaeology.
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    The Nature of Japanese Archaeology
    (University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 1992) Pearson, Richard
    Despite some superficial organizational similarities with the study of archaeology in the West, Japanese archaeology is conducted in a manner that exemplifies aspects of Japanese culture, history, and political economy. Archaeological research is strongly centralized in Japan and guided by national policies, and can be indirectly linked to the National Learning Movement of the nineteenth century. Nationalistic interests are served by prehistoric investigations that emphasize continuity of historical links across time and space. Attention to description and compilation is shared with other disciplines. KEYWORDS: Japanese archaeology, history of archaeology, archaeological interpretation.
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    Editorial
    (University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 1992) Graves, Michael W.
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    31:2 Table of Contents - Asian Perspectives
    (University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 1992)
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