EAANnouncements 18
Spring 1996
Contents
EAAN actives:
President: Prof. Gina L. Barnes, East Asian Studies, Univ of Durham, Durham DH1 3TH, UK.
Tel. 191-374-3231, Fax 191-374-3242; email: [...]
Secretary: Dr. Yangjin PAK, Dept of Anthropology, Harvard Univ, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Tel. 617-496-3796, Fax 617-496-8041; email: [...]
Treasurer: Prof. Sarah Nelson, Dept. of Anthropology, Univ. of Denver, 2130 S. Race, Denver,
CO 80208, USA. Tel. 303-871-2682/2406, Fax 303-871-2201; email: [...]
Korea Treasurer: Dr. Insook LEE, #204-33 Kaenari Apt., Yeoksamdong, Kangnam-ku, Seoul
135-082 Korea. Tel/Fax 2-553-8027.
Japan Treasurer: Prof. Hideo KONDO, Dept History, Faculty of Letters, Tokai Univ, Kitakaname
1117 Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, Japan. Tel. 463-58-1211x303, Fax 463-83-8198.
China Treasurer: Ms. Jianjun YANG, c/o Liaoning Provincial Archaeological Research Institute,
Liaoning Provincial Museum, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
Korea Representative: Dr. Insook LEE
Japan Representative: Prof. Hideo KONDO
China Representative: Dr. WANG Tao, Art & Archaeology Dept., SOAS, Univ. London, Thornhaugh
St., London WC1H 0XG, UK. Tel. 171-637-6192, Fax 171-436-3844.
European Representative: Dr. Mark Hudson, From April 1st: Dept of Archaeology, Faculty of
Letters, Okayama University, 3-1-1 Tsushima, Okayama 700 Japan. Fax 86-255-9903.
North American Representative: Dr. James Grayson, Centre for Korean Studies, Sheffield
University, Sheffield S10 2UJ, UK. Tel. 114-282-4390, Fax 114-272-9479.
EAANnouncements Editor: Prof. Gina L. Barnes
Journal Editor: Prof. Lothar von Falkenhausen, Art History Dept, Dixon Hall, UCLA, Los
Angeles, CA 90024-1417, USA. Tel/Fax 310-359-1689; email: [...]
China Round-up Editor: Dr. Francis Allard, Dept of Anthropology, Forbes Quad, Univ of
Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA. Tel. 412-648-7510; email: [...]
Japan Round-up Editor: Dr. Mark Hudson
Book Reviews Editor: Mr. Simon Kaner, 20D Guest Road, Cambridge, Cambs, UK. Tel. 1223-563314.
advertisement: Asian Rare Books Inc.
MEMBER NEWS (in alpha-order):
Sarah ALLAN (Dartmouth) is the new Burlington Northern Professor of Chinese Studies in the Dept of East Asian & Middle Eastern Languages & Literatures. Her contact numbers are:
Work 603-646-2457 Fax 603-646-3115
Home 603-643-1936 email: [...]
She also gave a conference paper at SOAS in the Percival David Foundation Colloquy, June 1995, entitled "Jade as an idea in ancient China".Francis ALLARD (Univ Pittsburgh) is planning on visiting China again this summer. One stop is Gansu province, where he plans to meet with archaeologists and inquire about settlement patterns and recent work pertaining to the Neolithic and early Bronze Age of the region. He hopes to visit the museums and some of the sites. The second stop is Guangdong province, where he'll meet with some local archaeologists to discuss possible future fieldwork.
Barbara BANKS (prev. Univ Chicago) has a new address and contact numbers:
Director
Lentz Center for Asian Culture
329 Morrill Hall
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0372, USA
[...]Gina BARNES (Univ Durham) spent two months in China from late Sept to late Nov '95 under the auspices of CSCC (the Committee for Scholarly Communication on China). Six weeks were spent based at the Liaoning Provincial Archaeological Research Institute in Shenyang, Liaoning, where she liaised with Prof. GUO Dashun on research at Niuheliang, but the field season planned for September has been suspended until further notice. She was able to make side trips to Changchun and Ji'an in Jilin province. At the former she met with Prof. YANG Jianhua and other members of the Dept of Archaeology at Jilin University; and at the latter, she was able to tour the magnificent 5th- and 6th-century Koguryo sites on the north side of the Yalu river. Subsequent to Liaoning, she spent 10 days in Xi'an at Xibei University and 7 days in Shanghai at East China Normal University. In Shanghai she pursued Niuheliang project concerns with the Archaeological Institute for Remote Sensing and the Shenda Tanaka Geological Corp.
Magnus FISKESJÖ (Univ Chicago) writes that in the summer of 1995 he spent two months in China, mostly in Yunnan, visiting Chinese scholars as well as archaeological sites and studying traditional agricultural practices in western Yunnan. Also, he took part in the Center for American Archaeology excavations for several weeks at the Moundhouse site in the Illinois river valley, a remarkable 2000-year-old floodplain ceremonial site.
Rowan FLAD (Chinese & Korean protohistoric & early historic archaeology)
640 Hidden Valley Dr., Apt. 101
Ann Arbor, MI 48104, USA
Home 313-769-4046
email: [...]
Rowan writes: "I am a recent graduate of the University of Chicago Anthropology Department. I am hoping to begin graduate work this coming fall in an archaeology program and hope to concentrate on East Asian Archaeology. I am currently affiliated with the Alisar Höyük and Cadir Höyük excavations in central Turkey under the direction of Ron Giorny."FUJIO Shinichiro (Rekihaku) has been wired for email. You can contact him at: [...]
Douglas FUQUA (Univ Hawaii) completed his Master's Degree in History (Archaeology) at Meiji University in March 1995 and has returned to the University of Hawaii to complete his MA there as well. His new address is:
Punahou Royale, Apt. #1801
1541 Dominis St.
Honolulu, HI '96822, USAHASHIMOTO Nahoko (Japanese medieval and modern archaeology & history)
East Asian Studies
Elvet Hill House
University of Durham
Durham DH1 3TH, UK email:
Home 191-386-4481 Work 191-374-3231 Fax 191-374-3242 [...]
Nahoko is a Ph.D. student doing archaeological theory. Her primary interests are the adaptation processes of Buddhism in Japan.Frank HOFFMANN (Korean medieval history & art history)
3 Peabody Terrace #31
Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Home 617-576-1889
email: [...]
Frank is a Ph.D. candidate in Korean History at Harvard University, at the moment receiving a scholarship from the Korea Foundation. He has just begun writing his thesis on colonial Korean painting and prints, focusing primarily on the development and social function of art in the colonial context. In his thesis, he will try to identify and document correlations between innovations in the styles and techniques of painting and prints, and development in other areas of Korean culture and socioeconomic life.
While his own research focuses on historical and art historical issues of late 19th- and 20th-century Korea (in this respect he has published some articles, reviews, and translations in Korean Studies, Internationales Asienforum, Wŏlgan misul, etc.), he is also very interested in the archaeology of Korea, especially in the historiographic discourse (concerning early Korean-Japanese and Korean-Chinese relations; issues of cultural influence and domination; correlations in the debate over 'origins' by Korean archaeologists talking about proto-Korea and art historians or art critics writing about modern Korean art, etc.).Mark HUDSON (ANU) submitted his PhD thesis last September (it is still under examination). Until early March 1996 he is a Visiting Fellow in the Division of Pacific and Asian History at the ANU. (Address: Pacific and Asian History, RSPAS, ANU Canberra ACT 0200, Australia. New fax: 6-249-5525). He spent October and November in Japan helping Professor T. Akazawa with his Neanderthal exhibition and conference at the Tokyo University Museum. He is now back in Canberra working as a part-time research assistant on an economic history project looking at the role of the bureaucracy in the development of Meiji and Taisho railroads in Japan, as well as writing several entries on Japan for the Italian Encyclopedia of Archaeology.
Best new news: Mark has been hired as the foreign archaeology lecturer at Okayama University! Congratulations! From April 1st, he can be reached at
Dept of Archaeology
Faculty of Letters
Okayama University
3-1-1 Tsushima
Okayama 700 Japan
Fax 86-255-9903Juha JANHUNEN (Univ Helsinki) published two linguistic papers recently:
"Kitanjin wa nanigo o hanashite ita ka?" [What language did the Khitan speak?]. Minpaku Tsushin 68: 82-5, 1995.
"On the formation of Sinitic scripts in mediaeval northern China." Journal de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 85: 107-24, Helsinki.Ms Mary KENNEDY (Prehistoric - early historic Japanese archaeology, history & art)
Postfach 1563
D-71005 Boeblingen
Germany
Work 7031-16-4365
Fax 7031-16-2424
email: [...]
For the past 26 years, Mary has worked in IBM development labs in the UK, France, Austria and Germany. When she lived in the south of France, she took part in several excavations. This, and her subsequent personal and professional experience of Japan, led her to decide that "when I retire", she would study Japanese language, archaeology and art. She's now signed up for early retirement in August '97 and is in the process of collecting information on undergraduate/postgraduate courses in Japanese/East Asian Studies.Insook LEE (Seoul Nat Univ) has finished her fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and is now back in Seoul. She attended the International Conference on Glass in China in October. Now she is very busy with the Seoul City Museum planning project.
Yuen Kun LEE (prev. Wayne State Univ) now has a new post at:
Department of Anthropology
California State University, Fullerton
Fullerton, CA 92634, USA
Fax 714-449-5222 Tel 714-773-3807 or -3626 (message)
email: [...]LI Liu (Johns Hopkins Univ), who finished her PhD dissertation under K.C. Chang at Harvard last year, has been appointed a Lecturer at LaTrobe University in Chinese archaeology in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from July 1996.
Richard S. MACNEISH (Chinese pre- & proto-historic archaeology)
Director of Research, Andover Foundation for Archaeological Research
Box 83, Andover MA 01810, USA
Home 508-475-1236 Work 508-470-0840
Prof. MacNeish has just finished a 3-year archaeological joint project with Dr. YAN Wen-ming of Beijing University and PENG Shi Fan of Jiangxi Archaeo-logical Institute in the Dayuan Basin, Wan-Nian County of Jiangxi Province, PRC investigating the origin of rice agriculture with an international inter-disciplinary team (60 people). A preliminary report of their research (p RUNNING BIBLIOGRAPHY) is available for $20 from the Centennial Museum, attn. Dr. J. Peterson, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA. They are now involved in analysis of the 30,000-year Epi-Paleolithic / Neolithic materials and hope to publish them shortly, before they do further investigations in this realm.
OBITUARY
SALLY RODWELL
7 February 1950 -19 April 1995Almost a year has passed since we lost one of our most active and sincere members to cancer. Many of you will know her through her book, A Visitor's Guide to Historic Hong Kong (1991, Hong Kong Tourist Association), and others will remember her attendance at courses and the Wednesday East Asian Archaeology lunches in Cambridge. Her cheerful and considerate manner is sorely missed.
Sally was introduced to East Asian culture through her husband Simon's naval job in Hong Kong in 1974. She gained an O-level in Mandarin in 1976, and in 1977-despite having two small children to care for-she joined Lucy Cavendish College in Cambridge to read Chinese, completing a Part I in Oriental Studies. In 1979, Simon joined British Aerospace and was sent to help set up an office in Beijing. Sally acted as secretary, and the family enjoyed exploring Beijing on bicycles. Upon their return to Britain, Sally enrolled in Archaeology & Anthropology at the University of Cambridge to finish her BA degree, and then she took the East Asian Archaeology option for an MPhil in Archaeology. Her dissertation in 1983 was on "The transition to agricultural societies in early China". Another family stint in Hong Kong found Sally joining the Hong Kong Archaeological Society, and supervising a number of digs on outlying islands. In 1986 she was appointed by the Hong Kong Government to the Antiquities Advisory Board. From there she moved into publishing, working for several companies both in Hong Kong and Britain, authoring the above book, and then setting up her own company, Rodwell Books. It is a great tragedy that her long-term illness cut short her newly chosen career and that she was taken from us so early in life. Sally is survived by her husband Simon and her two children, Claire and Guy, both newly married.Barbara SEYOCK (Kyushu University) has an email address:
[...]Ned SHULTZ's email address is: [...]
Laura SKOSEY (prev. Univ Chicago) has moved to Michigan and is teaching part-time at Michigan State University.
4771 Nakoma Drive
Okemos, MI 48864, USA
Home 517-347-1937 email: [...]SONG Yaoling (Harvard Univ) will be researching from March 1st at the Department of Anthropology, National Museum and Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, for a few months.
Nancy STEINHARDT (Univ Pennsylvania) attended the International Conference on Chinese Architectural History in Hong Kong, 7-10 Aug '95.
Hiroto TAKAMIYA (Sapporo Univ) writes that he gave a paper on "The beginning of agriculture in Okinawa" at the Jomon to Star Carr conference in Sept '95 at Durham University. He also sends his new addresses:
Sapporo University 4-11 6-17 Nishioka
3-7 Nishioka, Toyohira-ku Toyohira-ku
Sapporo, Hokkaido 062, Japan Sapporo, Hokkaido 062, JapanBettina ZORN (Germany) has landed a new job as Curator in the East Asian Department of the Ethnographic Museum in Vienna. She comments she was very lucky to receive this post and will be able to work in her field, less archaeology but still East Asia! Her new numbers are:
Dr. Bettina Zorn
Museum für Völkerkunde Keinergasse 8/15
Neue Hofburg A-1030 Wien, Austria
A-1014 Wien, Austria
Home 1-714-1252
Work 1-53430-516
Fax 1-535-5320
ASIAN SCHOLARS ABROAD:
Prof. Meitoku KAMEI (Senshu Univ) will be on sabbatical at the Japan Research Centre, SOAS, University of London, from February 1996 to study archaeology and Chinese ceramics.
CHAO Huashan (Beijing University) will be hosted at Indiana University by Larry Clark for a project on "The Manichaean cave temples of Turfan: new discoveries in the history of Manichaeism in Central Asia", supported by the CSCC.
Prof. MOU Yongkang (Institute of Archaeology, Zhejiang) has been awarded a National
Academy of Sciences and CSCC Senior Scholar Fellowship to spend the academic year 1995-6 at Hamilton
College collaborating with Prof. Elizabeth Childs-Johnson and K.C. Chang on their project "Jade art
and the emergence of Chinese civilization: a new interpretation of China's origins."
FIELD & RESEARCH REPORTS:
For articles to appear in this section, they should be limited to 500 words and submitted to
the Editor by the issue deadlines stated on the front cover of EAANnouncements: mid-January for the
Winter issue, mid-May for the Summer issue, and mid-September for the Autumn issue. The editor
reserves the right to edit or decline to print. Please report research here!!
Archaeological Remote Sensing in China
by LIU Shu-ren
In 1993, the Laboratory for Urban and Environmental Archaeological Remote-Sensing Studies
(LUEARSS) was established within the Institute of Remote-Sensing Technology and Application at the
East China Normal University, Shanghai. Similar labs are planned for the China Historical Museum and
the CASS Institute of Archaeology in Beijing. Using aerial photographs for identifying
archaeological sites, they state that "the number of ancient relic sites found from airphotos taken
in 1962 is about 20% more than that of the existing sites, but it is less than based on airphotos
taken in 50's" (Liu 1994: 4). Geophysical surveys have been conducted at the ancient Shouchun [city]
site, Anhui province; exploration of the Shanghai Fuquanshan ruins jointly with the Shanghai
Shenda-Tanaka Geologic Co.; and exploration of ancient imoperial tombs in Jiangyin, Jiangsu province
using DIED enhanced Seismic instrument DISON 90. Under the category of environmental archaeology,
the Lab has researched the relationship between the locational distribution of cultural ruins and
paleo-environment in the Yangtse delta, the Hangzhou Bay and North Jiangsu, and Xinjiang.
The Lab has a staff of 6 professors, 9 assoc. prof., 2 senior engineers, 8 lecturer-engineers and 15
post-graduates engaged in remote-sensing archaeology and mapping, analysis of sedimentary
environment and paleo-geographic changes, intact exploration of underground ruins and information
systems. It has equipment for remote-sensing survey and mapping, underground exploration,
environmental analyses, paleo-geographic change studies, imagery processing, information analysis
and information system studies, plate-making and printing, etc. They have already undertaken 383
projects and have won many commendations and awards for their work. International projects have been
undertaken with Germany, Japan and Australia; and major cooperative projects within China are
remote-sensing archaeologic studies of Wu-Yue culture in the lower Yangtse basin, and studies on the
middle section of the Silk Road (south Xinjiang). Major research projects with institutions and
individuals are welcomed and the Lab pursues an open-door policy.
In their study on the Wu culture in the lower Yangtse, the Lab at ECNU has identified from aerial
photographs 184 flat-top earthen platform sites of Neolithic age and 3134 earthen mounded tombs from
the Shang and Zhou dynasties in the Zhengjiang region of Jiangsu Province alone; the GTA thematic
mapping system was used in compiling a distribution density map of these tombs. Another 1700
earth-mounded tombs have been identified at the southern foot of Mt. Mao; 170 platform-like ruins in
Jiangnin county; and over 5000 earth-mounded stone-chamber tombs of Middle Zhou around Lake Tai.
Moreover, 3 mausoleums of the Wu Kingdom have been found; one has over 90 grave chambers dug into
the weathered limestone, the largest chamber having an area of over 40 m2. The Wu Kingdom is now
thought to have been founded in the Ningzhen region and later extended its influence toward Lake Tai
during Middle Zhou. The Hushu bronze culture is now identified with the Wu Kingdom. Remote sensing
of 8 Hushu sites were carried out in Dagang, Jianbi, Qitiandian and Gaozi townships.
References:
Liu, Shu-ren (1994.11) The application of environmental remote sensing in China's archaeology: its
present state and prospect. Shanghai: ECNU, Institute of Remote-sensing Technology and Application.
(in English)
Special Issue on Archaeology Remote Sensing, Huadong Shifan Daxue Xuebao Supplement 2, 1992. (in
Chinese with English summaries)
Remote Sensing Institute,
ECNU, 3663 N. Zhong Shan Road,
Shanghai 200062 PRC
Investigations into Early Shang civilization: a collaborative archaeological field project
between the Peabody Museum and the Chinese Institute of Archaeology
by Robert E. Murowchick
The Peabody Museum (Harvard University) and the Institute of Archaeology (CASS - Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences) are engaged in a multi-year collaborative research project to investigate the
origins and early development of the Shang civilization of the North China Plain. Under the
co-direction of Professor Kwang-chih CHANG (Harvard) and ZHANG Changshou (Institute of Archaeology),
this project since 1991 has surveyed the
Shangqiu District in eastern Henan province in an effort to locate settlements and other sites of
the early and proto-Shang periods. Financial support has come from the National Endowment for the
Humanities, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the Wu Foundation for Cultural and Educational
Development.
A variety of archaeological and textual evidence strongly suggest that the Shangqiu area was the
home of the early Shang people and the site of Great City Shang (Da Yi
Shang) , the political and ritual center of the predynastic Shang period (2000-1700 BC) and the
sacred cult center through the Shang Dynasty (1700-1100 BC). Until now, this part of Henan-critical
to our understanding of the rise of complex society in the North China Plain-has been poorly known
archaeologically because of the extremely thick alluvial blanket that has resulted from centuries of
Yellow River flooding. These deposits range in thickness from one meter to twelve meters or more,
effectively hiding the cultural remains that lie within them.
The project has involved four major aspects of investigation. Dr. JING Zhichun and Professor George
(Rip) Rapp of the University of Minnesota have undertaken widespread geological coring to
reconstruct the Holocene topography of the area. A variety of satellite and aerial imagery,
including Landsat and SPOT satellite images, aerial photos from the 1930s, 1960s, and 1990s, and
military maps from the 1920s and 1930s have been gathered from many diverse sources by Robert
Murowchick (Harvard) and continue to be analyzed for archaeological clues. Geophysical surveys using
Ground-Penetrating Radar and Proton Magnetometry have been conducted for several seasons by the team
of Vincent Murphy (Boston), Robert Regan (Pittsburgh), David Cist (MIT), Murowchick, and WANG
Zenglin (CASS-IA) to locate buried features of potential archaeological interest. To date, this
geological and geophysical work has been concentrated in two areas where local tradition ascribes
early Shang monuments: southwest of Shangqiu Xian, where the Mound of E Bo still stands, and at
Weigudui in Yucheng Xian, where the tomb of YI Yin is believed to be located. In addition to these
specific surveys, the project has involved training CASS-IA personnel in the use and interpretation
of geophysical survey equipment so that they can usefully apply it to other archaeological projects.
At the same time these surveys have been conducted, archaeological excavations at three Neolithic
and early Bronze Age sites near Shangqiu have been carried out. The excavation team has consisted of
ZHANG Changshou, GAO Tianlin, TANG Jigen, and ZHANG Guangshi (all of CASS-IA), LENG Jian (Washington
U.), and David Cohen and LI Yung-ti (Harvard). The site of Mazhuang in Yucheng County yielded a
Yangshao culture cemetery (ca. 4500-3500 BC). More than 20 adult burials were uncovered, all without
grave pits and containing one or two ceramic vessels, including beautifully painted pottery and some
stone tools. This is the first time such burials have been found in eastern Henan, and they show a
definite relationship with early period burials from the Dawenkou culture in Shandong and Jiangsu
provinces, and with the Dahecun culture of central Henan. The site of Panmiao, located about twenty
kilometers south of Shangqiu Xian, consists of a very large Han dynasty cemetery that intrudes into
an Eastern Zhou cemetery. Of concern to our project is the Yueshi cultural layers that were found
beneath the Eastern Zhou remains. Yueshi culture is a bronze-using culture dating between Longshan
culture and Erligang Shang culture, and is contemporaneous with early Shang culture. We are still
investigating the nature of these Yueshi remains compared to the major Yueshi sites of western
Shandong. Excavations at the site of Shantaisi, southwest of Shangqiu in neighboring Zhecheng
County, were carried out in the spring and fall of 1995 and will continue in the spring of 1996.
This site is a Longshan culture site with rich accumulations containing well-preserved house
remains. The walls of the rooms were constructed by first digging a trench for each wall and then
driving wooden poles into the trench to serve as a framework for the walls, which were formed by the
hangtu method pounding fine loess soil within plank frames surrounding the pole framework. Within
the walls, the floors of the rooms were built up by tamping fill, and then the floors and the walls
were covered with a white plaster. Also uncovered were the remains of a round well measuring one
meter in diameter by four meters deep, with post holes suggesting some sort of structure above it.
In terms of architectural technology, the Longshan culture architecture at Shantaisi is already
mature, and it is very worth noting that in its large scale usage of hangtu rammed-earth technology
it compares very closely to the same type of architecture found in the Erlitou culture. The site
produced a large amount of pottery, including some very fine "eggshell" ware, and a pit containing
the remains of nine ritually buried cattle.
The geological and geophysical surveys will continue in areas southeast and west of Shangqiu in the
spring of 1996, and the archaeological excavation of Shantaisi and other sites will proceed
throughout the year. Additionally, lab analyses of excavated material, including soil samples,
faunal remains, pottery, and flotation samples, will be carried out.
In the two years of archaeological excavation, the Sino-American archaeological team has helped to
clarify the sequence of cultural development in eastern Henan and made clear the cultural features
of this area. This will serve as a foundation for further work.
Because searching for and finding the early Shang city and settlement sites is a task that will
require many years and a multidisciplinary approach, archaeologists from both countries are just now
completing the first stage of this work. It is on the basis of this that plans for future work will
be made.
Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University
NEWS FROM JAPANESE ARCHAEOLOGY, 1995
edited by Hideo KONDO & Yoshihiro NISHIAKI, jEAAN
Introduction
by Hideo KONDO, Tokai University
Last spring we had the first meeting of the Japanese branch of EAAN (jEAAN) at Tokai University. At
that meeting, we agreed to collect "hot" information and reports about Japanese archaeology and
submit them to EAANmembers. These are the first series of reports, written by archaeologists who are
living in Japan, and we hope to issue the reports annually. Each archaeologist completes their
report with their own special viewpoint, and the topics here concern the Palaeolithic through Kofun
ages.
Palaeolithic period
by Yoshihiro NISHIAKI, Tokai University
Excavations at the open-air site of Kamitakamori, some 350 km north of Tokyo, carried out between
1993 and 1995, have shed new light upon the earliest human occupations in the Japanese archipelago.
The site, consisting of several localities, has yielded at least seven occupation levels of the
Lower Palaeolithic, dated to ca. 500-300 Kyrs BP with the aid of TL, fission-track and
tephra-chronological dating. What is unusual at this site is its lithic assemblages, being dominated
by quite elaborately made bifaces. The excavators have not hesitated to refer to some of them as
'handaxes' and 'cleavers', and have even suggested a possible origin of the industry from the
Acheulian tradition in the west rather than the flake-tool tradition well documented in the
Palaeolithic East Asia. Most of the tools were made of silicious shale, a new material whose
prominent use had been unknown from this time period even at the sites near its outcrops. In
addition, a small pit of about 20cm diameter containing a collection of two 'handaxes', two
'cleavers' and two flake tools, was found just below a level dated back to ca. 500 Kyrs BP. The
excavators interpret the pit as a cache used by Homo erectus, who might have already developed a
planned residential mobility system (Fujimura et al. 1995; Bunkacho 1995).
There has been a common understanding among Palaeolithic archaeologists that the use of simple cores
and small retouched flake tools characterizes the Lower Palaeolithic of East Asia. Lithic
assemblages reported from the extant Japanese Lower Palaeolithic sites in fact generally exhibit
such features, e.g. the manufacture of small flake tools like points and side-scrapers, and the
common use of agate and chalcedony as raw material. The Kamitakamori finds apparently differ from
those both in the tool component and the raw material use, producing a number of intriguing
questions and interpretations about their position in East Asian prehistory. Do they represent an
independent tradition as the excavators suggest, or a specific functional facet of the
Zhoukoudian-type flake tool tradition? Could they be interpreted, on the other hand, as illustrating
the earliest stage of the latter, for the Kamitakamori occupations are considered earlier than any
of the know Pleistocene archaeological sites in Japan? What relationships might they bear with other
biface-rich industries occasionally reported from China and South Korea? As excavations and careful
artifact analyses are in progress employing the interdisciplinary approach, adequate explanations
for the Kamitakamori industry will appear in the near future.
References:
Bunkacho (eds) 1995. The Japanese archipelago excavated: archaeological discoveries in 1995. Tokyo:
Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese).
Fujimura, S.; T. Kamata and Y. Yokoyama 1995. "The origin of the Japanese Lower Palaeolithic
cultures". The 61st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Archaeological Association, Tokai University,
Hiratsuka, 20-21 May. Abstracts pp. 13-16 (in Japanese).
Jomon period
by Kaoru YAMAMOTO, Univ of Tsukuba
From 1992-5, a remarkable Jomon site was excavated: the Sannai Maruyama site that is the
largest-scale village among Jomon sites. A Neolithic site from the Early Jomon period (ca. 5500 bp)
to the Middle Jomon period (ca. 4000 bp), it is located on a terrace in Aomori prefecture, the
farthest northern part of Honshu Island in Japan.
The Sannai Maruyama site is characterized by four key words: "large", "big", "long", and "numerous".
Firstly, the scale of the site is very large, covering about 35 ha. Although only 5 ha. of the site
have been excavated up to now, evidence of about 100 6-pillar gigantic structures, about 100 burial
pits of the Middle Jomon, and many storage pits were found. Secondly, the size of the pit dwellings
is very big. Twenty oval-plan pit dwellings of the Middle Jomon at this site are greater than 20m in
diameter, although a typical Jomon pit dwelling is 4-8m diameter. The largest dwelling, square in
plan, is ca. 32m x 10m. In addition, the 100 gigantic structures, which are square in plan and date
to Middle Jomon, measure 1.8m x 3.6m in size. Each structure has six very big pillars made of
chestnut trees whose diameters are about 1m. The diameter of the pillar-pits is 2.2m and their depth
is 2.8m. Moreover, the Sannai Maruyama site had been continuously occupied for a long time, i.e.
about 1500 years. Such a long-term Neolithic site has seldom been found in Japan. Finally, it is
very surprising that so many structures and so many artifacts were found. Sherds fill more than
40,000 containers measuring 30cm x 40cm x 30cm. Also recovered were numerous stone tools, many tools
made of wood or horn or bone (such as bone-needles), more than 700 clay figurines, and carbonized
food remains: plant seeds such as walnuts, animal bones, and fish bones from sea bream, etc.
By now, more than 600 archaeologists have investigated and studied the recovered artifacts and the
excavated features. In future, small-scale maps of Sannai Maruyama villages will be made, and we
will get fruitful results for the study of Neolithic villages.
References:
Okada, Y. 1995. "The Sannai Maruyama site in Aomori prefecture". Kikan Kokogaku (Supplement) 6:
10-28 (in Japanese).
Yayoi period
by Koji MIZOGUCHI, Kyushu University
Yayoi period studies in 1995 in western Japan witnessed a rise of interest in the study of 1)
"warfare", and 2) the "proto-urban" nature of regional core settlements.
Amongst other works concerning Yayoi "warfare", Hashiguchi's article examined skeletal remains with
traces of injury inflicted by various weapons made of stone, bronze and iron from the northern
Kyushu region. He investigated their temporal pattern of occurrence with the intention of
understanding the role of conflict over limited cultivable land in the evolutionary process through
which the integration of small-scale agrarian communities into larger polities and the formation of
chiefdom-like regional polities progressed during the Yayoi period. His analytical model draws upon
the Japanese Marxist-evolutionary model which Yoshiro KONDO originally put forward (cf. Kondo 1983),
and his placing particular emphasis upon inter-communal/regional conflict (he described it as
"warfare") over cultivable land for rice agriculture in the formation of complex regional polities
makes his contribution unique.
Excavations of settlements which have been assumed to be "core settlements" in regional settlement
systems have revealed their unexpectedly large scale and the complexity of their character as
central places. The discoveries of very large buildings with sophisticated architectural structures
(e.g. at the Ikegami site, southwestern Osaka) have led to an interpretation that these were
temple-like buildings with politico-ritualistic function. Together with the size of the settlements
in which these large buildings are situated and the existence of "industrial quarters" with traces
of smithing and other sophisticated production activities, there is a growing tendency to interpret
the character of these sites as "proto-urban".
The rise of interest in those two topics in 1995 have no doubt enriched our understanding of
minutiae of the socio-economic processes during the Yayoi period through which chiefdom-like
regional polities were formed and increased their complexity. A characteristic of the discourse
coming out of it is the tendency to locate those regional polities in a very high position in the
ladder of Marxist/Neo-evolutionary thesis of social evolutionary stages. Some scholars have even
started arguing that the Japanese early inchoate state had been formed as early as in the third
century AD.
Concerning the above, I would argue that it is of crucial importance to compare the outcomes of the
works like the above with fruits of anthropological investigations into the processes of
(particularly secondary) state formation. It is also important to refer to proper ethnographic
examples which document the relationship between the formation of complex polities and its material
expressions. By doing so, some fruits of Yayoi studies can be made accessible to the foreign
audience, and some contributions to the study of the formation of complex societies/states can be
made in general terms.
References:
Hashiguchi, T. 1995. "Warfare in the process of social evolution during Yayoi period Japan".
Quarterly of Archaeological Studies 42.1: 54-77 (in Japanese with English summary).
Kondo, Y. 1983. The age of the keyhole-shaped tumuli. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten (in Japanese).
Kofun period
by Kazuaki YOSHIMURA, Kashiwara Archaeological Institute
In his recent very ambitious book, Yoshiyuki TANAKA (1995) has taken an important step toward the
reconstruction of the kinship system in the Kofun period. His argument would be summarized as
follows.
The author discusses the kinhip systems in the Kofun period (the latter half of the 3rd century AD
to the first part of the 7th century AD) through the analysis of tombs with multiple inhumations. In
his analysis, Tanaka uses various aspects of the burials, including: the age and sex of the human
skeletons; the sequence of burial of different individuals within each tomb; and how long was left
between one burial and the next. Tanaka also examines various genetic traits exhibited by the
skeletal remains, especially tooth crown measurements. The assumption that "kinship between any two
individuals buried in one tomb is shown by a high value (above 0.500) for Q-mode correlation
coefficients based on tooth measurements obtained between those two individuals" was used to test
the validity of models of generation structure and kin relations. As a result of the analysis,
Tanaka concluded that the principles determining the form of burial practice in the Kofun period
changed through time as follows:
I. Brothers and sisters of the head of a family could be buried together (c. 4th and 5th centuries
AD).
II. The headman of a family was buried together with his children. His wife and the eldest male
child, who inherited the headmanship from his father, were never buried in the same tomb (later 5th
century to early 6th century AD).
III. The headman of a family and his wife were buried together with their children, except for the
eldest male child (early 6th century AD).
Reference:
Tanaka, Y. 1995. A study of kinship systems in the Kofun period. Tokyo: Kashiwa Shobo (in Japanese).
advertisement: Han-Shang Tang Books
DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS
PhD Degrees
Die Lacke der Westlichen Han-Zeit (206v.Chr.-6 n. Chr.) Bestand und Analyse
by Margarete PRÜCH, PhD thesis, University of Heidelberg, Department of Far Eastern
History, 1995 (in German)
Excavations in the first half of this century brought to light large numbers of late Western
Han-dynasty lacquerwares. Many of these were dated by inscription, thus representing an extremely
valuable basis for research. But this was only the 'drop in the ocean'. Since the 1950s, Chinese
archaeologists discovered many early to late Western Han tombs with large numbers of grave goods,
especially extremely well preserved lacquered objects. These objects, mostly vessels and furniture,
now provide new and rich materials for the study of Han lacquerware. The purpose of the present
study is twofold:
o To set up a comprehensive catalogue of tombs having wooden chambers of the Western Han Dynasty
from selected provinces, i.e. Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangsu and Shandong. Lacquerwares of these
tombs were especially well preserved. The material setup includes a description of the tomb
structure and a translation and classification of the inventory published by Chinese archaeologists.
Such a catalogue is the indispensable basis for further work.
o To set up formal and stylistic criteria for a distinct analysis and classification of Han
lacquerwares. The question is whether a descriptive, analytical and classifying approach-based on
terms of form and style and derived from European art history-can help to develop categories of
classification applicable to the decor of Han lacquerware.
The catalogue of tombs with wooden chambers clearly shows that these became more and more
standardized in the different regions. New alternatives were used, such as joint burials, with one
chamber and two coffins (especially in Jiangsu and Shandong in the middle to late Western Han
Dynasty) or two separated chambers with two coffins placed in one rectangular vertical earthen pit.
Most of the tomb structures made of large wooden boards were surrounded by thick layers of charcoal
or clay, protecting the tombs from being flooded and preventing the decay of the wooden tomb
chamber. There are separate tombs within such a chamber, allowing placement of the coffin and the
different grave goods. Lacquer objects dominate the tomb inventory, with 100 or more objects in one
tomb. Other objects are ceramics, bronzes (here mainly mirrors, weapons and chariot fittings) and
wood and jade objects. Based on the material assembled and described in the catalogue, lacquer
objects are classified according to their use and their development. Considering the predecessors in
the Zhanguo period, it is evident that since early Western Han the number of ritual objects
decreases in favour of vessels for everyday use. Four types of vessels dominate the lacquer
repertoire until Eastern Han. These are earcups erbei, which had been in the repertoire since the
beginning of the early Zhanguo period, plates pan as well as boxes lian and he. Earcups are
sometimes placed on a flat table an, sometimes stored away in oval shaped boxes jubeihe and are
formal in all of the tomb inventories. Plates pan follow in rank, mostly forming sets of up to 20.
Boxes he and lian were part of the tomb inventory. It is, however, important to notice that high
boxes he disappear in the middle Han Dynasty. By the end of the late Western Han, there were only
the three vessel types: earcup, plate and boxes lian left, but these are found in most of the tombs.
Other lacquer vessel types such as the tripod ding or the jars hu were only found in large tombs
until the middle of Western Han. In Jiangsu province especially two objects occurred regularly.
These are the headrest zhen and a facecover mianzhao, the former placed under, the latter placed
over the head of the buried person. It could be shown that these objects were only current for a
short period of about 50 years and geographically limited to the area of former Guanling (today's
Jiangsu).
A formal analysis of the structure of decor on the lacquer objects is based on two given structures,
the band and the field. Including examples of the pre-Han structure of decor, the trend towards a
clearly defined subdivision of the surface in bands and fields is obvious. By the end of the Zhanguo
period, this structure had fully developed and continued to dominate the surface decoration of Han
lacquer wares. Altogether there are six types of fields: round, oval, square, rectangular,
half-moon-shaped, or half-circle-shaped fields. The border patterns may be wide or narrow, thus
either dominating the object or underlining the main field pattern.
A formal analysis of patterns within these structures must take into account the precursors of the
Zhanguo period and the tradition and development of the ornaments and motifs. A morphological study
of the most important ornaments and motifs leads to the conclusion that there are four main groups
of motifs: clouds, zoomorphic, scenic and geometric motifs. Within these groups, clouds are the most
frequent pattern since the beginning of early Western Han. Zhanguo-period cloud-like patterns still
cling to the zoomorphic character. It is not until the beginning of early Western Han that they are
transformed into mere ornaments. These only reveal their zoomorphic origins when they are studied in
the context of formal and stylistic development. Western Han artisans had begun to settle on
specific conventions and manners of representation. The single cloud ornament yunwen is based on a
very complex structure built up of C- or S-forms, which together form the cloud. These single
ornaments slowly disperse in favour of a less restricted treatment of clouds. Their shapes and
organization create a landscape-like impression. No longer confined to the C-and S-structure, they
dominate the whole field, growing like mountains, flowing like water. The gaps inbetween are filled
with animals or wild beasts. Motifs such as the dragon and the phoenix dominate the zoomorphic
pattern group. The dragon seems to conquer the more prominent places on the objects, while the
phoenix loses importance. Stylistic features of the animals may range from representational to
abstract. The cloud-like dragon can be observed to completely convert itself into clouds, but
representational forms still survive. Geometric ornaments and motifs are of minor importance on the
surface of the vessel. Usually they are placed in narrow bands on the rims. However, a chronological
development is evident and regional characteristics exist.
Regional interaction and the development of social complexity: a case of third century western
Japan
by Ken-ichi SASAKI, PhD thesis, Dept of Anthropology, Harvard University, 1995
This dissertation is an approach to the development of social complexity in third-century AD
Japan from the standpoint of regional interaction. At the end of the third century, highly
standardized keyhole-shaped burial mounds appeared in most parts of Japan. This marked a great
change from the preceding time period when mortuary customs were characterized by strong regional
differentiations. Since the earliest type of the keyhole-shaped burial mounds contain
characteristics of mortuary practices in several different regions of Japan, Japanese archaeologists
hypothesized that interaction among those regions resulted in a kind of confederacy. However,
results of my investigation into shifts in pottery in the third century show that the earliest type
of keyhole-shaped burial mounds are sometimes absent in areas where non-local type of pottery
comprise a considerable portion of a local assemblage, and that the earliest type of keyhole-shaped
burial mounds often made their appearance in areas where local pottery tradition is dominant. This
suggests that the network of interaction evidenced by shifts in pottery has little relationship with
the other network of interaction suggested by keyhole-shaped burial mounds. An alternative
hypothesis is the presence of two different types of interaction, one involving pottery, which
suggests commodity exchange and migration of people, and another involving mortuary custom, which
suggests an ideological network.
JOBS & GRANTS
SAINSBURY CENTRE FOR VISUAL ARTS VISITING RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS
Two fellowships are offered for the 1997 calendar year with tenure of each preferred during January
to April and September to December. Holders of a doctorate who are undertaking research for
publication in the field of the arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas are eligible to apply. In
exceptional cases, advanced doctoral candidates may be considered. Deadline: 1 April 1996. Contact:
Admissions Secretary, SRU, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Univ of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk,
NR4 7TJ, UK. Tel. 1603-592498; Fax 1603-259401
Grants Received
American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)
Liu, Li "Development of chiefdom societies in the middle and lower Yellow River valley in
neolithic China: a study of the Longshan culture," Tufts Univ.
Como, Michael I. "Soteriology and the state: sacred kinship in early China and Japan," Stanford
Univ.
Henry Luce Foundation Cooperative Research Programmes:
Yale University with Beijing University, Turfan Museum, Xinjiang Provincial Museum, and the
Xinjiang Archaeological Institute. Topic: "The Silk Road project: reuniting Turfan's scattered
treasures."
EXHIBITIONS & MUSEUM NEWS
This section may include overlaps with Newsletter, EAAA listings; for fuller information about art historical showings, subscribe to Newsletter, East Asian Art & Archaeology, Dept. Art History, Univ. Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mi 48109-1357 USA.
The main galleries and library of the Musée Guimet Paris have closed for major building works in January 1996 for approximately three years. The works will not affect the Annexe where the Japanese and Chinese Buddhist pieces will continue to be exhibited. The Dunhuang paintings from the Pelliot collection will be stored in the Annexe. (CIAAA Newsletter 1, Sept '95)
The Museo Nazionale d'Arte Orientale in Rome has reopened after several years closure for technical repairs and display reorganisation. The galleries include the Near & Middle East, China, Tibet and Nepal, plus two rooms showing Gandharan antiquities derived mainly from IsMEO's Swat excavations and the museum's small collection, and galleries on Japan, Islam, India and Southeast Asia. (CIAAA Newsletter 1, Sept '95)
An Earrings Museum [Mimikazari Kan] has opened in Shinto-mura, Gunma-ken Japan (Tel. 0279-54-1133) with exhibitions of earrings from around the world through all time, beginning with Jomon-period ear plugs. (from circulated brochure)
An exhibition on "Early ceramics from Japan and Korea" was held at the Cleveland Museum of Art,
11150 East Blvd, Cleveland OH 44106, USA, between 19 Sept and 3 Dec '95. (from ACRO Update 1995.4)
"Vessels of a culture: Korean ceramics from the Asian collection" ran from 13 Oct '95 to 19 Feb '96
at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. It was accompanied by a lecture (p LECTURES below). (from
ACRO Update 1995.4)
The Museum of East Asian Art, Köln, Germany reopened on 15 Sept '95 after three years renovation. Exhibited now for the first time are works of Chinese jade from the Klaus Müller Collection; also on display are the Siegel Collection and the Hans Jürgen von Lochow Collection of Chinese bronzes. A museum catalogue is being published by the Prestel Verlag in Munich, entitled Meisterwerke aus China, Korea und Japan. For more information contact: Bettina Clever Fax 221-40 72 90. (condensed from China Review Autumn/Winter 1995: 18)
"Influence of Chinese exports on Southeast Asian ceramics" is a 'visual exhibition' that discussed trade between Southeast Asia and China from ancient times to the present. From 30 Jan '95 - 28 May '96, Museum of East Asian Art, Bath BA1 2QL, England. Tel. 1225-464640. (from China Review Autumn/Winter 1995)
"Traders and raiders on China's northern frontier" is running at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 19 Nov '95 - 2 Sept '96. Most of the objects, drawn almost entirely from private collections, have never been publicly displayed before, including ca. 100 belt plaques, buckles, chariot and harness fittings, weapons, tools, vessels made of gilded, tinned or inlaid bronze, and pieces of cast gold and silver. Organisers Jenny So and Emma Bunker have also produced a catalogue to accompany the exhibit (See RUNNING BIBLIOGRAPHY). (from International Herald Tribune 20-21 Jan '96: 8; Newsletter EAAA 50: 6, Sept '95)
The Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona is currently displaying 8th-century Chinese tomb sculptures from the Robert B. Mayer Memorial Collection and 18th-century Chinese imperial court robes and textiles from the Museum's collection.
For the Arts of China exhibition at the Sackler Gallery in Washington DC, a new selection of objects will replace many currently on view in March 1996.
The exhibition "Imperial Tombs of China" will be showing at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, 1 May - 15 Sept '96, accompanied by a catalogue.
The exhibition "Honoring the soul: ancient Chinese tomb figures", opened at the Denver Art Museum 27 Jan '96. These selections from the extensive Sze Hong Collection of Chinese art focus on funerary figures from the Tang Dynasty. (from press release)
From 19 Oct '95 to 15 Jan '96 at the Musée Guimet in Paris, there was an exhibition on Chine: Des Chevaux et des Hommes, focussing on Han to Tang archaeological objects donated by Jacques Polain and the photographs of Victor Segalen on the imperial tombs of Han.
At the Kunsthaus in Zürich, an exhibition "Das Alte China: Menschen und Götter im Reich der Mitte" will be shown from April to July 1996, accompanied by a detailed catalogue by Roger Goepper.
Selections from the collection of the Art Museum at the Chinese University of Hong Kong went on display in October 1995. They include ceramics, tomb bricks, stone steles, inkstones, rubbings, paintings and calligraphy from the Han through Qing dynasties.
The Royal Ontario Museum has entered into a partnership with Corbis Corporation, making it the first Canadian museum to have works from its collection digitized and added to a comprehensive archive of digital images being built by Corbis. Over 300 images from the ROM's renowned collection of Chinese art will be made available for licensing to publishers of traditional and new media, from books and magazines to CD-ROMs and online products. The Museum will have the opportunity to market the images to Canadian, North American and global audiences. The images will also be used to enhance the Museum's educational programs and interactive displays.
A new suite of permanent galleries was opened at the Royal Ontario Museum, showcasing over 1,000
ancient Chinese artifacts. The new galleries, along with the displays "The Chinese Tomb" and "Later
Imperial China", will be collectively renamed the T.T. Tsui Galleries of Chinese Art at the ROM, in
recognition of a generous donation by Hong Kong businessman and art collector, T.T. Tsui. Included
are a procession of 100 earthenware tomb figures, a group of six 8th-century earthenware beasts, a
4th-century BC bronze stemmed bowl inlaid with gold and turquoise, Tang-dynasty fashion accessories
and magnificent examples of early jades. Some pieces are new and many have not been displayed since
1980, when the Museum closed for renovation. The galleries explore the social, artistic,
technological and historical development of ancient Chinese society in roughly chronological
sequence, providing insights into tombs and burial practices, music and dance, government, warfare
and military might.
LECTURES
East Asian Archaeology Seminar, Harvard
28 Sept '95 "Western Zhou mortuary practice as seen from the cemetery at Zhangjiapo, Shaanxi
Province", by ZHANG Changshou
29 Sept '95 "Excavations at the Taosi site, Shanxi Province", by GAO Tianlin
1996:
February 9, Prof. ZHANG Zhongpei (Palace Museum, China): "On the Formation of Chinese Civilization".
February 16, Prof. MOU Yongkang (Zhejiang Institute of Archaeology, China): "Jade-Making Technology
of the Liangzhu Culture".
February 23, Prof. MOU Yongkang (Zhejiang Institute of Archaeology, China): "The Function of the
Cong-Jade of the Liangzhu Culture".
March 1, Dr. Vincent Piggot (Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania):
"The Archaeology of Production: Excavating A Prehistoric Copper Industry in Central Thailand".
March 8, Dr. Yangjin Pak (Korean Institute, Harvard University): "From Pigs to Horses: The Practice
of Animal Sacrifice in the Northern Zone of Bronze Age China".
March 15, Dr. Nancy Steinhardt (University of Pennsylvania): "Changchuan Tomb No. 1 and Its North
Asia Context".
March 22, Dr. Joyce White (Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania):
"Insights from Thai Prehistory on Theories of Politico-Economic Development".
April 5, Dr. Sarah Allen (Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College): "The Tiger in Early
Chinese Art and Thought".
April 19, Mr. Mokhtar Saidin (Department of Anthropology, Harvard University): "New Data of the
Paleolithic in Malaysia".
April 26, Mr. Stephen Chia (Department of Anthropology, Harvard University): "A Major Neolithic
Pottery Making Site in Southeast Asia".
May 3, Prof. TONG Enzheng (Department of Art History, Wesleyan University, CT), topic will be
arranged.
Circle of Inner Asian Art & Archaeology (CIAAA), SOAS, London
(NOTEWORTHIES No. 6 below)
12 Dec '95 "Recent light on Dunhuang", by Prof. Roderick Whitfield
14 Mar '96 "The Stein Collection at the British Library and the Dunhuang Project", by Dr. Susan
Whitfield
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
6 Nov '95 "Understanding Korean culture through ceramic vessels", by Kumja Paik KIM.
Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
12 Sept '95 "Exploring the evolution of piece-mold casting techniques in the manufacture of
Chinese bronzes", by W.T. Chase
Institute for Asian Studies
9 Jan '96 "Merchants and nomads in 6th century China: the thundering hordes", by Annette L.
Juliano
University of Chicago
26 May '95 First Annual Herrlee G. Creel Memorial Lecture, by Prof. Cho-yun HSU
Center for Korean Studies, Univ of Hawaii
10 July '95 "Ancient to medieval Korea: social change from late Shilla to early Koryŏ", by Prof.
Myong-ho RO
NOTEWORTHIES
Notes in the current issue are referred to as NOTEWORTHIES No. 00, while those in a previous issue will be referred to as NOTEWORTHIES 00-00, with the issue number before the dash and the note number after the dash.
- ASSOCIATION FOR THE CONSERVATION OF NATIONAL TREASURES
Since its establishment in 1959, the ACNT, which comprises a group of seven studios, has contributed to the preservation of Japanese cultural treasures overseas by dispatching restorers to repair Japanese works of art in overseas museums and art galleries and by welcoming trainees from foreign countries and instructing them in the latest restoration techniques. Based on the concept of the "Red Cross of cultural properties", established by Prof. HIRAYAMA Ikuo, president of the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, the Association is now working on the repair and preservation of Japanese works of art in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA. (from The Japan Foundation Newsletter 23.4: 16, Jan '96)
- PHYTOLITH NETWORKING
The Phytolith Research Society is pleased to announce the beginning of PHY-TALK, an Internet discussion group concerning phytoliths (plant opal). To subscribe to the list, send the following message, leaving the subject line blank:
subscribe phy-talk your name
to the listserver: listserv@vm1.spcs.umn.edu
For more information, contact the moderator: Susan J. Pennington, Program for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Studies, 215 Ford Hall, Univ of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55403, USA. Tel. 612-625-1062; email: penn0010@gold.tc.umn.edu
- KOREAN HISTORY IN MUSICALS
In early September 1995, two musical productions by the Hyundai Theater Company were held in Seoul focussing on CHANG Po-go, the 9th-century Silla merchant and warrior, and King Kwanggaeto, the 4th/5th-century Koguryo king who expanded Korean territory to Manchuria. The latter, performed at the National Theatre in Seoul, was accompanied by the exhibition "Ah! Koguryo...Jian tomb paintings from 1,500 years ago."
CHANG Po-go is often called 'The Master of the Yellow Sea.' In his youth, he journeyed to China and enjoyed a successful military career in the services of Tang. He established the Chonghae Garrison on Wando Island, off the South Cholla coast, in 828. With a semi-private force of 10,000 men, he patrolled Silla's coastal waters, putting an end to the exploits of the Chinese pirates and controlling the sea route trade with Japan and China. This musical subsequently toured Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Vancouver, Sydney and Auckland.
- INTERNATIONAL DUNHUANG PROJECT (IDP)
The IDP consists of a small steering group and an active membership of all curators and conservators concerned with Dunhuang and similar materials. It has wide links with those involved in computer development in related fields wand with scientists. The project produces an occasional newsletter and holds a bi-annual conference (1993: Sussex, UK; 1995: Paris, France). The objectives of the IDP are:
o To establish the full extent of the documentary legacy from Dunhuang and other Central Asian sites and to share that information through the development of an international database.
o To develop new techniques for the preservation of the original documents through close collaboration with research chemists and paper technologists.
o To promote common standards of preservation methods and documentation.
o To catalogue the material according to common or compatible standards.
o To store the documents in the best possible environment and reduce handling to a minimum.
o To stimulate research on the material and increase access through the production of surrogate forms, facsimile publication, microfiche, and computer stored images.
For further information, including newsletter subscription, contact: Ms. Susan Whitfield, IDP, The British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections, 197 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8NG, UK. Tel 171-412-7647/7650; Fax -412-7858; email: susan.whitfield@bl.uk
- JOURNAL OF MATERIAL CULTURE
This new journal, ISSN 1359-1835, is concerned with the relationship between artefacts and social relations irrespective of time and place. It will systematically explore the linkage between the construction of social identities and the production and use of material culture. Appearing thrice yearly, the first issue is scheduled for March 1996. Notes for contributors can be had from Dr. Christopher Tilley, Dept of Anthropology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. Fax 171-380-7728. For subscriptions, contact Sage Publications Ltd., 6 Bonhill Street, London EC2A 4PU, UK. Fax 171-374-8741.
- INNER ASIAN ART & ARCHAEOLOGY
A Circle of Inner Asian Art & Archaeology (CIAAA) has been founded at SOAS, Univ of London with its first President being Prof. Roderick Whitfield, Percival David Chair of Chinese and East Asian Art. The Circle is sponsoring a lecture series and publishes a newsletter. Emphasis will be given to art historical and archaeological material of the pre-Islamic period, supported by relevant contributions from the fields of history, literature, religion, philology and anthropology. The longterm goals of the Circle are the organisation of a conference in 1997/8 and the publication of an annual Journal. For more information, including subscription to the free newsletter, contact: CIAAA, Department of Art & Archaeology, SOAS (Univ of London), Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG, England. Fax 171-436-3844 (please state CIAAA); email: russellsmith@cix.compulink.co.uk
- BEIJING TV CREW IN EUROPE
DU Peihua, Prof. LIN Meicun and Roland Simon from Beijing TV arrived in London on September 4th from Sweden. They filmed objects now in the British Museum and the British Library excavated by Aurel Stein at Loulan, Niya, Miran, Lop-nor and other sites. The project, the most ambitious archaeological programme yet undertaken by Beijing TV, will be screened in three one-hour presentations.
- ON-LINE CLASSES
The New School for Social research in New York City is now offering classes on-line through a program called DIAL. There are a number of offerings each term dealing with archaeology, anthropology, history etc. that might be of interest to subscribers and/or their students and friends. This term for example there are courses on myths and on cultural resource issues among others. You can be located anywhere in the world, and because the delivery is asychronous class "hours" are not an issue.
Courses are available on a credit or non-credit basis, and registration can be done over the phone or fax (I'm not sure whether you can do it on-line yet). If you or anyone you know is curious about the offerings, you can look them up together with descriptions of the program etc. by going to:
http://dialnsa.edu/home.html
in some instances you may have to use
http://www.dialnsa.edu
(From Paula K. Lazrus, 212-555-1212; email: palazrus@dialnsa.edu)
- CENTRE FOR RESEARCH ON EAST ASIAN ARCHAEOLOGY (CREAA)
A new research centre was established at the University of Durham, England, with the arrival of Prof. Gina Barnes in the East Asian Studies Department. The Steering Committee consists of Professors Gina Barnes, Keith Pratt, Anthony Harding and Colin Haselgrove. CREAA will serve as an interdisciplinary and interdepartmental focus for research in Chinese, Japanese and Korean archaeology. Fieldwork in East Asia as well as activities in Durham will form the centre's remit. Plans are being made for a seminar series with guest speakers, and the Centre will entertain applications for Visiting Scholar status. Contact: Ms. Christina Bridgwater, DEAS, Elvet Hill House, Durham DH1 3TH, UK. Tel. 191-374-3231, Fax 191-374-3242.
- JAPAN SEA RENAMING EFFORT
Organized by the East Sea Research Institute (President: KIM Jin-hyun), an international conference on standardizing the geographical name of the 'East Sea' was held in Seoul from 24-26 May '95. A number of scholars from Japan, China, Russia, Mongolia and Korea participated in this forum, which was sponsored by the Korea Foundation. During the non-governmental forum, geography-related experts from neighboring countries of the East Sea discussed the need to revise the geographical name of 'Sea of Japan' and come up with an alternative name after reviewing the history of the East Sea.
Efforts for standardizing the geographical name of the East Sea have been carried out by Korean scholars and their government, and as a part of these efforts, a proposal by Korea will be submitted to the meeting of experts on geographical names in 1996, and the Association for Standardization of Geographical Names. Meanwhile, Korea has standardized the use of 'East Sea' as opposed to 'Tong-Hae' or 'Sea of Korea' for local consistency. (Korea Foundation Newsletter 4.2, summer 1995: 11)
- THAI-GUANGZHOU TRADE
Janice Stargardt from the Cambridge Project on Ancient Civilization in Southeast Asia (Dept of Geography, Cambridge Univ) is in the second phase of a two-year project on maritime trade between the Satingpra sites of south Thailand and the Guangzhou complex of south China. Research focussed on the role of each area as collection and re-export centres in the development of economic regions in Southeast and Northeast Asia.
(ASEASUK News 18 (Autumn 1995): 4).
- CULTURE & CIVILIZATION OF CHINA PROJECT
The CCC is an unprecedented joint venture between scholars and publishers from the PRC and the West, a collaboration that is designed to result in the publication of a series of more than 75 books over the next 15 years. The China International Publishing Group in Beijing and Yale Univ Press conceived the project in 1990 under the auspices of the US China Book Publication Project, sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies. The series will be launched in winter 1996-7 with the publication Three thousand years of Chinese painting, followed by The formation of Chinese civilization: an archaeological perspective.
The latter book on an archaeological perspective is being written by a team of scholars from China and the West, headed by K.C. Chang and XU Pingfang. The book will include a text of about 150,000 words and approximately 200 photographs from sites throughout China. The Chinese authors are WANG Youping, YAN Wenming, SHAO Wanping, LU Liancheng and ZHANG Zhongpei; the collaborating Western authors are Lothar von Falkenhausen, Robert Murowchick, John Olsen, Richard Pearson, Heather Peters, Anne Underhill and Robin Yates.
Other titles include The history of Chinese architecture, Chinese sculpture, Chinese ceramics, Chinese calligraphy, Jade and Bronzes.
- TOKYO EXCAVATIONS
Richard L. Wilson (Rice Univ, Houston, Texas) is presently serving as Excavation Team Chief of the Mukogaoka High School Excavation Site in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo. The site includes cultural layers from the Edo, Meiji and 20th-century periods and features, including extensive underground storerooms dug by warrior-class occupants in the 18th and 19th centuries. The excavation report will be published in 1996. (Newsletter EAAA 50: 18, Sept '95)
CONFERENCES:
CONFERENCE CALENDAR
Titles new to this issue are emboldened and those dealing specifically with East Asia are
starred
Nov 15-19 '95: Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC. Theme: "New forms of communication and community.
Nov 22-25 '95: International Association of Computing in Archaeology Symposium, Rome. Contact: Prof. Paolo Moscati, Istituto per l'archeologia etrusco-italica, -CNR, Viale di Villa Massimo 29, 00161 Roma, Italy, Tel. 685- 30 19 34, Fax 644- 23 93 79
Dec 27-30 '95: Archaeological Institute of America, annual meeting. San Diego, CA, USA. Pacific Rim archaeology papers. Contact: AIA, 656 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02215, USA Fax 617-353-6550.
*Jan 12-13 '96: Symposium on the mineralogical studies of archaic jades, Taipei. Contact; Prof. H.H. Tsien, Dept of Geology, National Taiwan University, 245 Choushan Rd., Taipei, Taiwan. Proceedings will be published in English in a special volume in Acta Geologica Taiwanica.
*Feb 13-15 '96: Silk Road Symposium, Paris. Accompanying the Silk Road Exhibition at the Grand Palais. Contact. Mme Roche-Vouri, Service de la Diffusion Culturelle et de la Communication. École du Louvre, Paris 75038, France. Tel. (Paris) 40 20 56 05
Mar 15-17 '96: Ancient Warfare: Archaeological Perspectives, 3rd CITEE Conference. Contact: Prof. A. Harding, Centre for the Archaeology of Central and Eastern Europe, 46 Saddler St., Durham DH1 3NU, UK. Fax 191-374-3619.
*Apr 8-11 '96: EAANETWORK FIRST WORLD CONFERENCE, Honolulu in conjunction with the AAS Meetings. Contact: Yangjin Pak, Dept of Anthropology, Harvard Univ, Fax 617-496-8041; email: ypak@husc8.harvard.edu
*Apr 11 '96: International Symposium on Korea, Honolulu. Six panels (three held concurrently 9am-12pm, three concurrently 2-5pm) will explore: 1) new archaeological discoveries in Korea; 2) new approaches toward unification on the Korean peninsula; and 3) export processing zones in Korea. Registration is free. Contact: Hugh Kang, Center for Korean Studies, University of Hawaii, Fax 808-956-2212, or email Ned Shultz at shultz@hawaii.edu
*Apr 9-11'96: British Association for Japanese Studies, Oxford. Contact: Ms Lynn Baird, Contemporary Japan Centre, Univ of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, England, Fax 1206-873408; email: lynn@essex.ac.uk
Apr 10-14 '96: 61st SAA Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana. There will be a general session on the "Archaeology of Asia" and a symposium on "Production and exchange in Southeast Asian complex societies." Contact: Paul Fish & Suzanne Fish, Arizona State Museum, Univ of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA. Tel 520-621-2556, Fax 520-621-2976; email: archeo@ccit.arizona.edu
*Apr 19-21 '96: Bronze and iron age mummies of eastern Central Asia, Philadelphia. Contact: Jennifer Alabiso, Language Analysis Center, Univ Pennsylvania, 3700 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3147, USA
May 20-24 '96: Archaeometry Symposium, Univ. Illinois. Contact: Sarah Wisseman, ATAM
Program, Univ of Illinois, 116 Observatory, 901 Mathews, Urbana IL 61801, USA email:
wisarc@uxl.cso.uiuc.edu
May 24-26: '96 Asian ceramics: functions and forms, Field Museum, Chicago. Contact: ACRO, PO Box
595, Chicago, ILL 60690-0595, USA. Topics: Food & drink, Ritual & ceremony, Collecting &
connoisseurship.
*May 25-26 '96: Japan Archaeologists' Association Spring Conference, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. Contact: Nihon Kokogaku Kyokai, 4 Fl., Hirai Ekimae Kyodo Bldg., Hirai 5-15-5, Edogawa-ku, Tokyo 132 Japan, Fax 3-3618-6625
*June 14-16 '96: Evidence from the Tombs: changing styles of life and death from Late Warring States to Han, an international symposium accompanying the Imperial Tombs exhibition at the Portland Art Museum. Speakers include WU Hung, Robert Thorp, and Hsingyuan TSAO. Contact: Donald Jenkins, Curator of Asian Art, Portland Art Museum, 1219 S.W. Park Avenue, Portland, OR 97205. Fax 503-226-4842. Application deadline 15 April 1996.
*Jul 8-10 '96: Asian Studies Association of Australia 20th Anniversary Conference, La Trobe Univ, Melbourne. Contact: Robin Jeffrey, La Trobe Univ, Melbourne, Australia. email: polrj@lure.latrobe.edu.au
*Aug 12-16 '96: Xiong-nu Archaeology Session of the World Archaeology Congress, Buryatia [Ulan-Ude], Russia. Themes: Nomadism in the system of ancient civilizations; Regional patterns of nomadism; Ecological problems of nomadism; History and culture of the Xiong-nu; The nomadic mode of life-adapting to the natural environment; Protection and use of the historic and cultural heritage. Excursions: to archaeological monuments of Buyatia and to Lake Baikal. Contact: The Institute of Social Sciences, Siberian Brance, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ulitsa Sakhyanova 6, Ulan-Ude 670042 Russia. % (301 22) 372-16 or 330 42; Fax (301 22) 632 44, Box 057.
*Sept 2-6 '96: 6th International Conference, European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, Leiden, The Netherlands. Contact: Marijke Klokke, IISA, Nonnensteeg 1-3, PO Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands. Fax 71-274162
Sept 13-18 '96: Wetland Archaeology Conference, Copenhagen. Sponsored by WARP. Contact: Mogens Schou Jørgensen, RAS, National Museum of Denmark, Frederiksholms Kanal 12, DK-1220 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Fax 33 93 26 71
Oct 25-6 '96: Western Conference, Association for Asian Studies, Ogden, Utah. Call for papers, panels and poster sessions by July 1st. Contact: Gordon K. Harrington, Program Chair, WCAAS'96, Dept of History, Weber State University, 1205 University Circle, Ogden, UT 84408-1205, USA. email: GHarring@ssnet.weber.edu
Feb 10-11 '97: Sixth Australasian Archaeometry Conference, Sydney. Contact: Sixth Australasian Archaeometry Conference, AINSE, PMB1, Menai, NSW 2234 Australia, or Dr. R. Fullagar, Fax 2-320-6058, email: richardf@amsg.austmus.oz.au. Papers on review of certain fields, as well as case studies, are welcome.
*July 7-12 '97: 35th International Congress of Asian and North African Studies (ICANAS),
Budapest. General subject: "Oriental Studies in the 20th century: state of the art." A special
panel about Aurel Stein and archaeology on the Silk Road is planned, and an exhibition on the Silk
Road is being prepared. Contact: Körösi Csoma Society, Muzeum krt 4/b, H-1088 Budapest, Hungary.
PAPERS READ
For copies of the papers listed here, please contact either the symposium or panel organizer
if the author is unknown to you
BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR CHINESE STUDIES, 7-9 April '95, University of Edinburgh.
Organised by Prof. Bonnie McDougall, Dept of East Asian Studies.
Paludan, Ann: The classic tradition of sculpture under the Han Dynasties
Wei, Chen-hsuan: An unpublished bronze altarpiece from Northern Wei
Wu, Hung: The monumental city Ch'ang-an
Wilkinson, Jane: Introduction to the new East Asian gallery at the Royal Museum of Scotland
Barnes, Gina: Ritual landscapes at Niuheliang, Liaoning
Liu, Jenny: The change from horse chariot to ox cart in the funeral processional in the 2nd century
AD
FIFTH ANNUAL MIDWEST EARLY CHINA SEMINAR, 27-8 May '95, University of Chicago. Contact E.L.
Shaughnessy, EALC, Univ of Chicago, 1050 East 59th St., Chicago, IL 60637, USA for details.
Panels:
Agriculture in early China
Social demography in the Western Zhou
Intellectual history of the Warring States period
Art history of the Han
1995 CHACMOOL CONFERENCE ON PUBLIC ARCHAEOLOGY, 8-12 Nov '95, Univ of Calgary. Panel on
"Archaeology and the Public in Japan" organised by Prof. Fumiko Ikawa-Smith, Dept Anthropology,
McGill Univ. Authors presented in absentia were Prof. Kobayashi, Mr. Matsui and Mr. Okada. Papers
will be published in the Chacmool conference proceedings from the Univ of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Ikawa-Smith, Fumiko: Introduction and overview-rescue archaeology at crossroad
Wilson, Richard L.: Public archaeology in Tokyo-yesterday's consumption and today's consumers
Okamura, Katsuyuki: Presenting archaeology to the public in Japan-a case from Osaka
Inano, Yusuke: Public archaeology in Kitakami, a small city in northern Japan
Okada, Yasuhiro and Habu, Junko: Public presentation and archaeological research-a case study from
the Jomon period Sannai Maruyama site
Ikawa-Smith, Fumiko; Kobayashi, Tatsuo; Matsui, Akira: Public archaeology for the international
audience\Fawcett, Clare and Okamura, Katsuyuki: After the earthquake-an examination of the
implications of the Kobe earthquake for Japanese archaeological heritage management
Erler-Goldsmith, Tracy M. and Goldsmith, A. Sean: Hakubutsukan e ikimasho ka? Japanese archaeology
and public receptions
SAMGUK SAGI CONFERENCE, 15-19 Feb '96, Honolulu. Organised by Prof. Ned Shultz, c/o Korean
Studies Center, Univ of Hawaii.
Lee, Jong-wook: The formation and development of the Silla state structure
Barnes, Gina: Silla and Kaya archaeology
Yi, Kidong: Beliefs and religion of Silla people
Ch'oe, Pyonghon: The adoption and development of Buddhism in ancient Korea
Kim, Chong-son: Silla society and economy
Best, Jonathan: Troubled histories-a study of Silla's relations with Paekche and Kaya
No, T'aedon: An examination of foreign relations with Koguryo as found in the 'Silla Annals' of the
Samguk Sagi
Jamieson, John: Bohai and the Samguk Sagi
Lee, Sungsi: Contacts between Shilla and Japan in the eighth century
Sin, Hyongsik: Silla and China
Chong, Kubok: Samguk Sagi
Kang, Hugh & Schultz, Ned: Wrapup-state of general scholarship
ASSOCIATION FOR ASIAN STUDIES 48TH ANNUAL MEETING, 11-14 April 1996, Honolulu.
Panels:
At the interface between objects and humanistic enquiry-the material culture of Ryukyu, org. by A.M.
Stinchecum, Independent Scholar
Paleographic perspectives on women in early China, org. by A.B. Kinney, Univ. Virginia
Roundtable:
Reconstructing Japanese prehistory-new advances in linguistics and anthropology, org. by A. Vovin,
Univ. Hawaii-Manoa
BOOK REVIEWS
Zhongguo kaogu wenwu zhi mei, Beijing: Wenwu Chubanshe, 1994.12 (ten volumes).
ISBNs: (7-5010-) 0781-0, 0782-9, 0783-7, 0784-5, 0785-3, 0786-1, 0787-X, 0788-8, 0789-6, 0790-X
中國考古文物之美。北京﹕文物出版社
This set records ten of the most important archaeological sites discovered between 1970 and 1989:
| 1. Liaoning Hongshan wenhua tan miao zhong | |
| 2. Henan Anyang Fu Hao mu | |
| 3. Sichuan Guanghan Sanxingdui yizhi | |
| 4. Shanxi Taiyuan Zhao Qing mu | |
| 5. Hubei Sui Xian Zeng Hou Yi mu | |
| 6. Hebei Pingshan Zhongshan Guo Wang mu | |
| 7. Shaanxi Lintong bing ma yong | |
| 8. Hunan Changsha Mawangdui Xi Han mu | |
| 9. Guangzhou Nanyue Wang mu | |
| 10. Shaanxi Fufeng Famen si di gong |
The volumes are of large format (36 x 25 cm), handsomely bound in ribbed cloth, provided with
slip cases and printed on high-quality art paper (about 180 pages in each volume). The volumes all
follow the same format: the first half comprises superb colour plates of excavated artifacts, with
original dimensions indicated, followed by detailed site descriptions, glossary, descriptions of
each plate accompanied by a small monochrome image, and very detailed site location maps. Appended
to Volume 1 are a useful chronological chart of Chinese archaeological work from 1898 to 1993 and a
table of
archaeological sites arranged topographically. Each volume is edited by the local archaeological
body responsible for excavating the respective sites. Many of the artifacts have not been published
previously, and none as exquisitely as they are here. This set is indispensible for anyone
interested in the sites it covers, and will be of interest to all students of Chinese archaeology.
Charles Aylmer, Far Eastern Department, University Library, Cambridge
The Cambridge History of Japan. Volume 1. Ancient Japan
Edited by Delmer M. Brown, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1993. ISBN 0-521-22352-0. £60.
602 pages. Index.
This substantial volume, the first in a series whose title resounds with authority, is an orthodox
text that has been nearly two decades in the mulling. Ancient Japan bears a familiar title, and
after ploughing through its 548 barely illustrated pages of text this reader reached two main
conclusions: first, this book is for dipping into rather than prolonged perusal; second,
archaeologists at least will gain more from its earlier namesakes (Kidder 1977; Pearson 1992).
The ten chapters and editor's introduction fall into four categories. The first four constitute a
survey of the development of the Japanese state, starting with prehistory (J.E. Kidder), the Yamato
kingdom (Brown), the Asuka period (INOUE Mitsusada with Brown), and the Nara period (NAOKI Kojiro).
These are rounded off by an account of relations with the continent (OKAZAKI Takashi) which includes
an interesting account of the role of Okinoshima. The archaeological materials discussed in this
survey at least are better presented elsewhere, and, as is inevitable in a project such as this,
many of the references are old if not out-of-date.
The second category discusses early religion in Japan, a theme that is taken up in Brown's
introduction. Brown is at pains to point out the importance of the role of belief systems in the
historical processes that formed Ancient Japan, an area which he rightly states has been neglected
(or shunned) since (and as a reaction to) the ideological excesses of state Shinto. The two chapters
that deal with early Kami worship (MATSUMAE Takeshi) and early Buddha worship (SONODA Koyu and
Delmer Brown) set out the evolution of these two religious traditions in the early Japanese context.
The integration of these complex histories into the themes presented in Brown's introduction,
however, is a task that exceeds the present volume.
The third category deals with the economic and social institutions of the Nara period (TORAO
Toshiya) and literacy, literature and music in the Asuka and Nara periods (Edwin A. Cranston). These
chapters provide a great deal of fascinating context for the many archaeological results that are
illuminating material life in the early Japanese state. As with most of the earlier chapters,
however, the emphasis is firmly on court culture and government at the expense of the everyday.
The fourth category comprises Brown's introduction and his discussion of the evolution of historical
consciousness in Japan. In dealing with the history of archaeoogy and history in Japan, he proposes
a "holistic approach" and outlines "great waves of change". While his discussion of the development
of historicity is intriguing, many archaeologists will find his dismissal of prehistory as
"relatively stagnant and primitive" as demonstrating a misunderstanding of archaeological processes.
Such misunderstanding is, however, convenient for a discourse concerned with the evolution of a
centralised Japanese state. A truly holistic approach would have taken much more account of the
diversity of regional developments that took place throughout the Japanese archipelago.
The rare illustrations, mainly maps, are hand drawn but do add a degree of clarity to the very dense
text. That the venerable Cambridge University Press allows spelling mistakes of the kind found on
page 154 to get through, however, is an unwelcome surprise.
With the availability of the Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan for dippers into Japan's ancient past
and books such as those mentioned above for more serious archaeology, Ancient Japan seems to look
back to a dusty age of heavy volumes adorning library shelves rather than forward to the
proliferation of accessible up-to-date scholarship.
References:
Kidder, J.E. 1977. Ancient Japan. Oxford, Phaidon.
Pearson, Richard 1992. Ancient Japan. Washington D.C., Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian
Institution.
Simon Kaner, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge
Pacific Northeast Asia in Prehistory: Hunter-Fisher-Gatherers, Famers and
Sociopolitical Elites
Edited by C. Melvin Aikens and Song Nai Rhee. Pullman: Washington State Univ Press, 1992. (In
English). ISBN 0-87422-092-0. 221 pages. No price stated.
This volume results from two sessions held at the Circum-Pacific Prehistory
Conference in Seattle, Washington, in August 1989. One of the many exemplary acts of the conference
was the availablity of comprehensive preprints of papers presented, and the present volume is to be
welcomed as making the information in these papers available to a wider audience.
The 27 chapters are divided into three main parts, with an introduction by the editors and an
epilogue by K.C. Chang. The first substantive section, on hunting-fishing-gathering cultures, is
further divided according to region. The first three papers discuss what is called the Mainland
Coast, with two contributions from Korea and one from the Russian Primorye. The second region is
Japan, whose Jomon period is dealt with in eight papers. The final two papers in the section provide
a broader context for the data discussed in Part One.
Part Two contains six papers on early farming cutures in North China and Korea, four of which deal
with the former and two the latter. Part Three discusses the emergence of sociopolitical elites.
Five out of the six contributions deal with Korea, one with Longshan China. There is no discussion
of the Yayoi or Kofun periods in Japan.
The volume is said to complement Chester S. Chard's 1974 Northeast Asia in Prehistory, and does
indeed present much new data that has accumulated over the last twenty years. What new questions
have arisen, however, is not so clear, and there is not much of a feel of direction for future work,
which is crucial in a region where the amount of data makes our conceptual frameworks bulge at the
seams.
A couple of niggles. First, although extensivley illustrated, the illustrations are of very varied
quality: hand-drawn maps, blobs and arrows and some very wobbly cut-and-pasting of poor-quality
photocopied charts would have been easy to redraw to suit the truly international nature of the
authorship. Secondly, in a region where there is such a diversity of languages and names, it is
essential to be correct. In the same vein, this reviewer wonders about how we can get around the
problem of multiple transliterations and the need to translate items into English which would be
impossible to trace in a Japanese library as the original Japanese references are completely
lacking. Thirdly and more troublesome, there is no index. Anyone interested in the archaeology of
the region is faced with an explosion of data, and the need for indices in works such as this should
be apparent to all.
Despite all this, however, this volume is clearly indispensable for those with a serious interest in
the region, and has been considerately designed to fit right next to Arctic Anthropology on the
bookshelf.
Simon Kaner, Department of Archaeology, Cambridge University
ASIAN-LANGUAGE PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED
Hattori, Kenji (transl.) (1995) Kūkan, jikan, soshite jinrui: jikū ninshiki no jinruishi (translation of Space, Time and man: a prehistorian's view, by Grahame Clark. Originally published in 1992 by Cambridge Univ Press.) Tokyo: Hōsei Daigaku Shuppankyoku. Rec'd from translator.
Tanaka, Yoshiyuki (1995) Kofun jidai shinzoku kōzō no kenkyū: jinkotsu ga monogataru kodai shakai [Research on the structure of Kofun-period kinship: ancient society as revealed by human skeletal remains]. Tokyo: Kashi Shobō. Rec'd from author.
Kim, Byungmo (1994) Kim Suro wangbi hŏhwang'ok: ssang'ŏ ŭi bimil. Seoul: Chŏsŏn Ilbo. Rec'd from author.
National Museum of Korea (1994, 1995) Amsa-dong site. Report of the Research of Antiquities of the National Museum of Korea, Vol. 26 (1,2). In Korean.
ANON (1994) Rŏsia yŏnhaeju palhae yujŏk [Excavation report on the Bohai sites of Primorski territory in Russia]. Seoul: Taeryuk Yŏngusŏ. Rec'd from KIM Jeong Bae. Colour photos, English abstracts on "Excavation of Korsakovskaya Temple site", "Old tombs of Bohai at Kraskino", "Archaeological excavations of the Kraskino burial ground in Primorski territory", "Archaeological researches in Ussuryski district of Primorski territory in 1993". Rec'd from KIM Jŏngbae.
Komatsu, K. (rep.) (1995) Nihon kodai no bosei to shakai kankei no kiso-teki kenkyū [Fundamental
research in relations between society and ancient burial customs in Japan]. Osaka: Osaka Daigaku
Bungakubu. Rec'd from TSUDE Hiroshi.
RUNNING BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bibliography
JOURNAL UPDATES
- ACRO Update, No. 4, October 1995
- Journal of East China Normal University, (Special Issue of Remote Sensing Research on Archaeology Remote Sensing)1992