Asian archaeologyPub Date : 2020-09-17DOI: 10.1007/s41826-020-00036-0
Wa Ye, Anke Hein
{"title":"A buried past: five thousand years of (pre) history on the Jing-Wei floodplain","authors":"Wa Ye, Anke Hein","doi":"10.1007/s41826-020-00036-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41826-020-00036-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The Jing-Wei Floodplain, located in Shaanxi, China, has been home to various groups of people over the last 5000 years. Drawing together evidence from archaeology, paleobotany, geomorphology, climate sciences, and history, this paper provides a <i>longue durée</i> study of the local (pre)history of human occupation in this area with a special focus on human adaptation strategies and environmental history. In particular, the study summarizes and evaluates archaeological and geomorphological field research conducted over the last ten years and connects it with often overlooked local historical accounts and recent climate research in the Wei River Valley and observations on recent economic developments and their impact on both the environment and the people living in it. In spite of a rather long hiatus in occupation from the second century BCE to the twelfth century CE, the evidence shows that there are close similarities in human-environment relations and even continuities into the modern period. Though being a highly localized study, this paper can serve as an example for how such <i>longue durée</i> studies may be conducted in other regions, and it provides some suggestions for future field and laboratory research.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":93733,"journal":{"name":"Asian archaeology","volume":"4 1","pages":"1 - 15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1007/s41826-020-00036-0","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50491864","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Asian archaeologyPub Date : 2020-09-16DOI: 10.1007/s41826-020-00037-z
Song Wu, Pauline Sebillaud
{"title":"Research on the merels game in medieval China","authors":"Song Wu, Pauline Sebillaud","doi":"10.1007/s41826-020-00037-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41826-020-00037-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The merels game is a kind of board game that has been played in the Mediterranean region since the Antiquity and spread all over Eurasia during the Middle Age. There are three types of merels boards in China, among which the type with three-layer concentric squares and diagonals is the most common. After reviewing all the available archaeological data, this article shows that this game spread to China along the grassland Silk Roads. It was introduced into the Bohai State at the latest during the Tang Dynasty (AD ninth century) and became popular in the northern grassland and northeast China regions during the Liao and Jin Dynasties (AD tenth-thirteenth centuries). It spreads to the Central Plains as early as the Northern Song Dynasty and kept on circulating during the following centuries. During the Ming Dynasty, it was called “Macheng” and became a popular chess game often played in the streets.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":93733,"journal":{"name":"Asian archaeology","volume":"4 1","pages":"41 - 52"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1007/s41826-020-00037-z","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50487759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Asian archaeologyPub Date : 2020-07-14DOI: 10.1007/s41826-020-00035-1
Francis Allard
{"title":"Review of Ban Chiang, Northeast Thailand, volume 2A: background to the study of the metal remains Joyce C. White and Elizabeth G. Hamilton, editors University of Pennsylvania Museum of archaeology and anthropology, Philadelphia University museum monograph 149. 2018","authors":"Francis Allard","doi":"10.1007/s41826-020-00035-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41826-020-00035-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":93733,"journal":{"name":"Asian archaeology","volume":"4 1","pages":"57 - 62"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1007/s41826-020-00035-1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50480600","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Asian archaeologyPub Date : 2020-07-07DOI: 10.1007/s41826-020-00034-2
Katheryn M. Linduff
{"title":"Joyce C. white and Elizabeth G. Hamilton, editors 2018. Ban Chiang, Northeast Thailand, Vol. 2B: Metals and Related Evidence from Ban Chiang, Ban Tong, Ban Phak Top, and Don Klang","authors":"Katheryn M. Linduff","doi":"10.1007/s41826-020-00034-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41826-020-00034-2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":93733,"journal":{"name":"Asian archaeology","volume":"4 1","pages":"53 - 56"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1007/s41826-020-00034-2","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50431081","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Asian archaeologyPub Date : 2020-06-29DOI: 10.1007/s41826-020-00033-3
Gonen Sharon, Uri Berger
{"title":"Rock art in south Levantine dolmens","authors":"Gonen Sharon, Uri Berger","doi":"10.1007/s41826-020-00033-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41826-020-00033-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Thousands of dolmens are scattered throughout the southern Levant, mainly in Syria, Israel, and Jordan. These megalithic burials, dated to the early stages of the Bronze Age, are an understudied and little understood phenomenon of Levantine archaeology. Unlike in Europe and other parts of the world, rock art has rarely been reported from Levantine dolmens, despite more than 150 years of research and hundreds of excavated dolmens of the thousands of megalithic structures recorded. A fortunate discovery, in 2012, of engraved features on the ceiling of the central burial chamber of a giant dolmen in the Shamir Dolmen Field has markedly altered our current body of knowledge. Since this finding, rock art has been discovered at three additional dolmen sites. These latest discoveries are presented in the context of their significance to the broader phenomenon of the mysterious megalithic burials of the Levant.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":93733,"journal":{"name":"Asian archaeology","volume":"4 1","pages":"17 - 29"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1007/s41826-020-00033-3","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50523354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Asian archaeologyPub Date : 2020-05-15DOI: 10.1007/s41826-020-00031-5
Jang-Sik Park, William Gardner, Jargalan Burentogtokh
{"title":"Micro-Scale Iron Smelting in Early Iron Age to Mongol Period Steppe Communities of North-Central Mongolia and its Implications","authors":"Jang-Sik Park, William Gardner, Jargalan Burentogtokh","doi":"10.1007/s41826-020-00031-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41826-020-00031-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Given the high level of technological sophistication involved in iron smelting, a common assumption held is that small mobile communities of the Mongolian steppe relied on trade with larger, settled, manufacturing centers for the acquisition of iron objects. Recent archaeological investigations in Mongolia suggest, however, that mobile pastoralist households and communities maintained a very active iron production industry. Although mounting evidence clearly points to the presence of household and community-based production, less is known about the level of technology employed by cottage industry scale manufacturers. In this paper we present the findings from excavations of mobile pastoralist dwellings and furnaces from sites in the Tarvagatai Valley of north-central Mongolia dating between 400 BC –AD 1300 that include a small assemblage of iron and iron-related objects bearing evidence of bloomery production. This material not only helps further substantiate that mobile communities in Mongolia had their own means of metal production but also indicates the innovative implementation of an existing technique at a scale previously deemed too small to be practical except in marginal steppe environments.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":93733,"journal":{"name":"Asian archaeology","volume":"3 1-2","pages":"75 - 82"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1007/s41826-020-00031-5","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50485017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Asian archaeologyPub Date : 2020-05-15DOI: 10.1007/s41826-020-00030-6
Nicholas Skopal, Souliya Bounxaythip, Louise Shewan, Dougald O’Reilly, Thonglith Luangkhoth, Julie Van Den Bergh
{"title":"Jars of the jungle: A report on newly discovered and documented megalithic jar sites in Lao People’s Democratic Republic","authors":"Nicholas Skopal, Souliya Bounxaythip, Louise Shewan, Dougald O’Reilly, Thonglith Luangkhoth, Julie Van Den Bergh","doi":"10.1007/s41826-020-00030-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41826-020-00030-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Xieng Khouang and neighboring provinces in Central Laos are home to a vast megalithic landscape featuring large stone jars, discs, and imported boulders located in elevated positions. Sites were first noted in the late nineteenth century, with systematic recording commencing in the 1930s. Despite subsequent survey efforts and more recent excavations, many previously noted sites remain unconfirmed and others undiscovered, limiting our understanding of the geographic extent of the jar sites and the culture that created the jars. Here we present the results of a 2019 survey across Xieng Khouang Province which led to the documentation of 15 previously unreported megalithic sites and one potential habitation site. With the inclusion of the survey data, the Lao PDR Government database of jar sites will grow from 83 to 102, with 94 of the sites now geo-located.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":93733,"journal":{"name":"Asian archaeology","volume":"3 1-2","pages":"9 - 19"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1007/s41826-020-00030-6","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50485018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Asian archaeologyPub Date : 2020-05-14DOI: 10.1007/s41826-020-00029-z
Peining Li
{"title":"The trade patterns of the South China Sea during the Song period","authors":"Peining Li","doi":"10.1007/s41826-020-00029-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41826-020-00029-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper aims to outline two different trade patterns in the South China Sea during the Song period by examining the distribution pattern of cargos on the Intan, Cirebon, Nanhai No.1 (南海I号) and Quanzhou Bay 泉州湾 wrecks. Through the detailed analysis, it is argued that the voyage of some merchant ships would be conducted at the request of a single authority, from a few available, who handled bulk selling while the remaining spaces on the ship would be leased to some individual traders who did retail business. The major cargo on board would be aimed toward a single directional destination, as is represented by the Inan and Cirebon wrecks. In other cases, the sea-going journey would be a joint operation involving multiple traders and the major cargo would be handled by peddlers and possibly sold at a number of ports-of-call, as is seen with the Nanhai No.1 and Quanzhou Bay wreck.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":93733,"journal":{"name":"Asian archaeology","volume":"3 1-2","pages":"83 - 93"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1007/s41826-020-00029-z","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50482059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Asian archaeologyPub Date : 2020-05-06DOI: 10.1007/s41826-020-00032-4
Jason D. Hawkes, Anne Casile
{"title":"Back to basics: returning to the evidence and mapping knowledge in south Asian archaeology","authors":"Jason D. Hawkes, Anne Casile","doi":"10.1007/s41826-020-00032-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41826-020-00032-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In this article we advocate a return to the consideration and examination of the basic building blocks of archaeological enquiry: the evidence. Reacting to a widely held perception that archaeology now understands various commonalities of human experience, we suggest that such concepts and the inevitable oscillation towards “big picture” approaches that stems from them are problematic. They engender a type of scholarship that does not always engage fully with the evidentiary bases of interpretation and that risks assuming a great deal about large parts of the world that have not been studied in as much detail as others. We explore this by looking at the South Asian context, where archaeologists are forced to contend with a number of constraints, chief among which is a relative absence of archaeological evidence. Focusing on one particular sub-region, we piece together exactly what evidence exists and consider what can (and cannot) be said from it. On one level this serves as a useful comparator for those working in other parts of the world who may not appreciate the evidentiary constraints that exist elsewhere. Yet beyond this and simple questions of analogy, we suggest that detailed consideration of an area such as the one presented here forces us to return to even more fundamental questions relating to when archaeological research becomes “interesting”, “ground-breaking”, and “new”; and who decides this.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":93733,"journal":{"name":"Asian archaeology","volume":"3 1-2","pages":"95 - 123"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1007/s41826-020-00032-4","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50456522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Paleolithic Lithic Artifacts and Industries from Survey along the Muling River Basin, Heilongjiang, China","authors":"Zuowen Cui, Quanjia Chen, Youqian Li, Wanbo Li, Shituo Liu, Tianxu Wei","doi":"10.1007/s41826-019-00028-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41826-019-00028-9","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>From April to May, 2016, an archaeological survey for Paleolithic sites along the Muling River Basin was carried out jointly by a team from the School of Archaeology of Jilin University, the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Heilongjiang Province, and local city and county Cultural Relics Administrative institutes. A total of 21 Paleolithic localities and 974 stone artifacts were found. This paper presents the results of this survey and a typological classification of the stone artifacts found in these localities, which are divided into different industry types (Flake, Blade, and Microblade) through their characteristics. Stratigraphic methods are used to speculate on the ages of the collected assemblages. Then, their functions are discussed through considerations of percussion technique, tool processing, and toolkits. Finally, they are compared with Paleolithic sites of the same age from surrounding areas.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":93733,"journal":{"name":"Asian archaeology","volume":"3 1-2","pages":"35 - 46"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1007/s41826-019-00028-9","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50515353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}