Geoarchaeological interpretations of regional ceramic and bronze production networks in northern China during the late neolithic and early bronze age : case studies in the Yiluo Basin and northern Loess Plateau
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The present dissertation investigates regional resource procurement and craft production networks within the context of early urbanism and state formation in northern China during the late third and early second millennia BCE by means of a series of geoarchaeological case studies in provenance analysis. The primary focus of the dissertation is on ceramic production within the Yiluo River basin of Henan province, the core territory of the Erlitou state. Ceramic petrography and portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry reveal that both clay and temper procurement and ceramic circulation within the Yiluo basin occurred over very local sub-regional scales, both before and after the emergence of the Erlitou urban center. The lack of Erlitou compositional production signatures within ceramic assemblages at regional centers throughout the basin likely suggest that ceramic production networks remained regionally dispersed following the formation of the Erlitou state, and that Erlitou potters were not engaged in high-intensity, export-oriented production. Agreement between the interpretations of both the petrographic and pXRF data are used to establish the archaeological validity of non-destructive geochemical provenance analysis of ceramics under "favorable" geological conditions. As a secondary focus, metallic ore resource procurement in association with pre-Shang copper and bronze metallurgical production networks at the Shimao urban center (ca. 2300 -- 1800 BCE) in the northern Loess Plateau of Shaanxi province is also investigated within similar contexts of early urbanism and developing sociopolitical complexity in China's "northern frontier." Lastly, though not necessarily related to processes of urbanism during late third/early second millennia BCE, a nephrite jade artifact assemblage from the late Neolithic (ca. 3500 BCE) Hamin site in Inner Mongolia is analyzed via pXRF.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2017 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Bonomo, Michael Frank |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences. |
| Primary advisor | Liu, Li |
| Primary advisor | Mahood, Gail A, 1957- |
| Thesis advisor | Liu, Li |
| Thesis advisor | Mahood, Gail A, 1957- |
| Thesis advisor | Stebbins, Jonathan Farwell |
| Advisor | Stebbins, Jonathan Farwell |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Michael Frank Bonomo. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2017. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2017 by Michael Frank Bonomo
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...