Notice Board Archive
New Western Language Books on East Asian Archaeology 2005
 Asia General
China
Japan
Adjacent Regions |
STARK, Miriam T. (ed.): Archaeology of Asia. Blackwell Studies in Global Archaeology, Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishers 2005.
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| Part I: Introduction: 1. Contextualizing an Archaeology of Asia: Miriam T. STARK (University of Hawai'i, Manoa) Part II: Contexts of Asian Archaeology: 2. Some National, Regional, and Political Uses of Archaeology in East and Southeast Asia: Ian GLOVER (Institute of Archaeology, University College London) 3. Archaeology in the Two Koreas: Sarah NELSON (University of Denver) 4. Self-identification in the Modern and Post-Modern World and Archaeological Research: A Case Study from Japan: Koji MIZOGUCHI (Kyushu University) Part III: Formative Developments: 5. East Asian Plant Domestication: Gary CRAWFORD (University of Toronto, Mississauga) 6. Asian Farming Diasporas? Agriculture, Languages, and Genes in China and Southeast Asia: Peter BELLWOOD (Australian National University) Part IV: Emergence and Development of Complex Asian Systems: 7. Early Communities in East Asia: Economic and Sociopolitical Organization at the Local and Regional Levels: Anne UNDERHILL and Junko HABU (The Field Museum, University of Illinois, Chicago, and Northwestern University; University of California, Berkeley) 8. Sociopolitical Change from Neolithic and Bronze Age China: Li LIU and Xingcan CHEN (La Trobe University; Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) 9. Marks and Labels: Early Writing in Neolithic and Shang China: David N. KEIGHTLEY (University of California, Berkeley) 10. Secondary State Formation and the Development of Local Identity: Change and Continuity in the State of Qin (770 - 221 BC): Gideon SHELACH and Yuri PINES (both Hebrew University, Jerusalem) Part V: Crossing Boundaries and Ancient Asian States: 11. Frontiers and Boundaries: The Han Empire from its Southern Periphery: Francis ALLARD (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) 12. States on Horseback: The Rise of Inner Asian Confederations and Empires: William HONEYCHURCH and Chunag AMARTUVSHIN (Smithsonian Institution; Institute of Archaeology, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) 13. Historicizing Foraging in Asia: Power, History, and Ecology of Holocene Hunting and Gathering: Kathleen MORRISON (University of Chicago) 14. The Axial Age in Asia: The Archaeology of Buddhism (500 BC - AD 500): Himanshu RAY (Jawaharlal Nehru University) 15. Imperial Landscapes of South Asia: Carla SINOPOLI (University of Michigan) Index 384 pages, 65 illustrations. Paperback (ISBN: 1405102136) US / Canada $34.95, Europe / Rest of World £19.99 , Australia / New Zealand A$65.95 Hardback (ISBN: 1405102128) US / Canada $84.95, Europe / Rest of World £60.00, Australia / New Zealand A$231.00 |
CHANG Kwang-chih , XU Pingfang, LU Liancheng, SHAO Wangping, WANG Youping, YAN Wenming, ZHANG Zhongpei, with XU Hong and WANG Renxiang; Edited and with an introduction by Sarah ALLAN: The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An Archaeological Perspective. (The Culture & Civilization of China) Yale: Yale University Press 2005.
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| Book Description Paleolithic sites from one million years ago, Neolithic sites with extraordinary jade and ceramic artifacts, excavated tombs and palaces of the Shang and Zhou dynasties—all these are part of the archaeological riches of China. This magnificent book surveys China’s archaeological remains and in the process rewrites the early history of the world’s most enduring civilization. Eminent scholars from China and America show how archaeological evidence establishes that Chinese culture did not spread from a single central area, as was long assumed, but emerged out of geographically diverse, interacting Neolithic cultures. Taking us to the great archaeological finds of the past hundred years—tombs, temples, palaces, cities—they shed new light on many aspects of Chinese life. With a wealth of fascinating detail and hundreds of reproductions of archaeological discoveries, including very recent ones, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Chinese antiquity and Chinese views on the formation of their own civilization. (from the website of the publisher) 384 p., 43 maps and plans; 308 color; 51 b/w; 402 total. (ISBN: 0300093829) $65.00 |
ECKFELD Tonia : Imperial Tombs in Tang China, 618-907: The Politics of Paradise. Routledge Studies in the Early History of Asia: Routledge 2005.
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| Book Description Intellectually and visually stimulating, this important landmark book looks at the religious, political, social and artistic significance of the Imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). It traces the evolutionary development of the most elaborately beautiful imperial tombs to examine fundamental issues on death and the afterlife in one of the world's most sophisticated civilizations. Selected tombs are presented in terms of their structure, artistic programs and their purposes. The author sets the tombs in the context of Chinese attitudes towards the afterlife, the politics of mausoleum architecture, and the artistic vocabulary which was becoming the mainstream of Chinese civilization. (from the website of the publisher) 192 pages Hardback (ISBN: 9780415302203) $114.95 |
LIU Cary Y., Michael NYLAN, and Anthony BARBIERI-LOW; With an essay by Michael LOEWE: Recarving China’s Past: Art, Archaeology and Architecture of the "Wu Family Shrines". Yale: Yale University Press 2005.
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| Book Description The "Wu Family Shrines," one of the most important cultural monuments of early China, comprise approximately fifty stone slabs from the so-called Wu cemetery in Shandong province. Depicting emperors and kings, heroic women, filial sons, and mythological subjects, these famous carved and engraved reliefs may have been intended to reflect such basic themes as loyalty to the emperor, filial piety, and wifely devotion; centuries later, they vividly bring to life the art, social conditions, and Confucian ideology of the Eastern Han. This generously illustrated book examines the stone slabs and their rubbings as artifacts with a complex cultural history from the second century to the present, and addresses questions about the traditional identification of the structures as Han dynasty shrines of the Wu family. Written by a team of distinguished scholars in the fields of Chinese art and history, the book includes a novel examination of Han burial items in relation to burial belief, pictorial carvings, and funerary architecture. (from the website of the publisher) 512 p., 200 b/w + 60 color illus. Hardback (ISBN: 0300107978) $75.00 |
LIU Li: The Chinese Neolithic: Trajectories to Early States. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press 2005.
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| Book Description This book studies the formation of complex societies in prehistoric China during the Neolithic and early state periods, ca. 7000-1500 BC. Archaeological materials are interpreted through anthropological perspectives, using systematic analytic methods in settlement and burial patterns. Both agency and process are considered in the development of chiefdoms and in the emergence of early states in the Yellow River region. Interrelationships between factors such as mortuary practice, craft specialization, ritual activities, warfare, exchange of elite goods, climatic fluctuations, and environmental changes are emphasised. This study offers a critical evaluation of current archaeological data from Chinese sources, and argues that, although some general tendencies are noted, social changes were affected by multiple factors in no pre-determined sequence. In this most comprehensive study to date, Li Liu attempts to reconstruct developmental trajectories toward early states in Chinese civilization and discusses theoretical implications of Chinese archaeology for the understanding of social evolution. • Provides a comprehensive examination of social evolution in prehistoric China • Offers detailed archaeological data and theoretical paradigms • Examines the Chinese Neolithic within the global framework of social evolution Contents 1. Setting the scene; 2. The changing environmental contexts of China's first complex societies; 3. Household subsistence and ritual; 4. Spatial organization and social relations in communities; 5. Community burial patterns; 6. Development and decline of complex societies in the central plains; 7. Development and decline of social complexity beyond the central plains; 8. Trajectories toward early states; 9. Reconstructing social processes. (from the website of the publisher) 310 pages Hardback (ISBN: 0521811848) £65.00 |
MA Xiaolin: Emergent Social Complexity in the Yangshao Culture: Analyses of settlement patterns and faunal remains from Lingbao, western Henan, China (c. 4900-3000 BC) BAR International Series 1453, Oxford: Archaeopress 2005.
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| Book Description This work address the question of the emergence of social complexity in the Yangshao culture (ca. 4900-3000 BC) in Central China based on analysis of settlement patterns and faunal remains from Lingbao, western Henan. A total of 31 Neolithic sites have been found along two rivers during a regional survey in 1999. Analyses of regional settlement patterns reveal the emergence of social complexity in the middle Yangshao period (ca. 4000-3500 BC), indicated by dramatic population growth, increases in site number and occupation area, and the appearance of settlement hierarchies. (from the website of the publisher) See also: Dissertations on East Asian Archaeology Abstracts 142 pages (ISBN: 1841718912) £ 28.00 |
SHAUGHNESSY, Edward L. : Ancient China: Life, Myth and Art. London: Duncan Baird 2005.
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Book Description A kaleidoscopic portrait of ancient China in all its glory – from c.2000 BC to the Tang dynasty. Drawing on the latest discoveries by historians and archaeologists, this beautifully illustrated book focuses on the outstanding achievements of ancient China. Spectacular artistic highlights include Buddhist cave paintings showing scenes of daily life, and the Terracotta Army – the extraordinary retinue of clay soldiers fashioned to protect the First Emperor in the afterlife. Tracing the succession of dynasties as far back as c.2000 BC, Ancient China offers fascinating insights into key themes of Chinese life, society and culture, including myth, literature, music, calligraphy, Daoism, Buddhism, medicine, cookery, and the silk trade. (from the website of the publisher) Paperback - 144 pages. (ISBN: 1844831523) £12.99 |
WANG Shejiang: Perspectives on Hominid Behaviour and Settlement Patterns: A study of the Lower Palaeolithic sites in the Luonan Basin, China. BAR International Series 1406, Oxford: Archaeopress 2005.
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This study focuses on the Lower Palaeolithic archaeology of China. It examines early hominid
adaptive behaviour based on the new evidence from the Luonan Basin, northern China. Unlike past
Chinese Palaeolithic studies the study takes a regional approach emphasising the
palaeoenvironmental, palaeoecological, and taphonomic information brought together from studies of
faunal remains, spatial analysis of stone artefacts and bones, and lithic artefact refitting
studies. Detailed analyses consist of lithic typology and technology. This is then compared at a
regional and global scale. The study describes the regional setting, site formation processes,
chronology, lithic assemblage raw materials and provides a typotechnological analysis of stone
artefacts. The database comprises lithic artefacts and bone material excavated from the Longyadong
cave as well as analyses of surface and subsurface archaeology of the 50 open-air sites dated to
over 250 kyr ago. A total of 1,751 lithic artefacts were examined from the open-air sites while at
the Longyadong cave 18,609 items were analysed. They included stone artefacts, fauna as well as
evidence for the use of fire. The data provide a framework for an examination of the lithic
technology and typology, particularly its diversity and variability. The specific analyses reject
the hypothesis of “two Palaeolithic cultural traditions” in North China, and strongly challenge the
notion of the existence of the “Movius line”. The Palaeolithic open-air sites and the Longyadong
cave site, were occupied by hominids co-existing under consistent ecological and environmental
conditions for hundreds of thousands years. The very distinctive lithic assemblages found separately
in the open-air sites and cave site are interpreted as reflecting different site function and varied
subsistence activities rather than different hominid groups living contemporaneously in the valley.
It reflects adaptive behaviours that appear to be the precursor to fully modern human behavioural
organization. (from the website of the publisher) See also: Dissertations on East Asian Archaeology Abstracts 248 pages; 54 figures, maps, plans, drawings and photographs; 54 tables. (ISBN: 1841718491) £ 35.00 |
ARBOUSSE-BASTIDE, Tristan: Les structures d'habitat enclos de la Protohistoire du Japon (période de Yayoi 350BC-300AD) (The structures of protohistorical enclosed settlements in Japan (Yayoi period 350BC - 300AD) [in French with English abstract]), British Archaeological Reports (BAR), International series 1345, Oxford : Archaeopress 2005.
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Abstract: Several hundred enclosed protohistorical settlements have been discovered in Japan since the 1950s. They date mainly from the Yayoi period (350 BC to 300 AD) and the early Kofun period (300 to 700 AD). These sites can be interpreted as the remains of rural settlements. In this volume the author develops a detailed analysis of these sites using his experience of the study of similar sites in south-western England and north-western France. Distribution maps drawn at a general, regional and local scale reveal the keys of territorial development during protohistory. The archaeological evidences found inside the enclosures allows various interpretations of the role of these communities in the society of Yayoi period. In situ architectural reconstitution of protohistorical building architecture suggests structural links with Japanese mediaeval classical architecture. The author also describes other protohistorical enclosed settlements in continental eastern Asia and this enlarges the general research. The work concludes with a detailed comparison of protohistorical enclosed settlements in Japan and north-western France and south-western England. 278 pages, 206 illustrations. Hardback (ISBN: 184171691X) £37.99 (UK) |
ROBERTSON, Jennifer (ed.): A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan. Blackwell Companions to Anthropology, Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishers 2005.
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| Part I: Introduction: 1. Introduction: Putting and Keeping Japan in Anthropology (Jennifer ROBERTSON, University of Michigan) Part II: Cultures, Histories, and Identities: 2. The Imperial Past of Anthropology in Japan: (Katsumi NAKAO, Osaka City University) 3. Japanese Archaeology and Cultural Properties Management: Prewar Ideology and Postwar Legacies: Walter EDWARDS (Tenri University) 4. Feminism, Timelines, and History-Making: Tomoni YAMAGUCHI (University of Chicago) 5. Making Majority Culture: Roger GOODMAN (University of Oxford) 6. Political and Cultural Perspectives on 'Insider' Minorities: Joshua Hotaka ROTH (Mount Holyoke College) 7. Japan's Ethnic Minority: Koreans: Sonia RYANG (Johns Hopkins University) 8. Shifting Contours of Class and Status: Glenda S. ROBERTS (Waseda University) 9. The Anthropology of Japanese Corporate Management: Tomoko HAMADA (College of William and Mary) 10. Fashioning Cultural Identity: Body and Dress: Ofra GOLDSTEIN-GIDONI (Tel Aviv University) 11. Genders and Sexualities: Sabine FRÜHSTÜCK (University of California, Santa Barbara) Part III: Geographies and Boundaries, Spaces and Sentiments: 12. On the 'Nature' of Japanese Culture, or, Is There a Japanese Sense of Nature?: D. P. MARTINEZ (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) 13. The Rural Imaginary: Landscape, Village, Tradition: Scott SCHNELL (University of Iowa) 14. Tokyo's Third Rebuilding: New Twists on Old Patterns: Roman CYBRIWSKY (Temple University, Japan and USA) 15. Japan's Global Village: A View from the World of Leisure: Joy HENDRY (Oxford Brookes University, and St Antony's College, University of Oxford) Part IV: Socialization, Assimilation, and Identification: 16. Formal Caring Alternatives: Kindergartens and Day-Care Centers: Eyal BEN-ARI (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) 17. Post-Compulsory Schooling and the Legacy of Imperialism: Brian MCVEIGH (University of Arizona, Tucson) 18. Theorizing the Cultural Importance of Play: Anthropological Approaches to Sports and Recreation: Elise EDWARDS (Butler University) 19. Popular Entertainment and the Music Industry: Shuhei HOSOKAWA (International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto) 20. There's More Than Manga: Popular Nonfiction Books and Magazines: Laura MILLER (Loyola University, Chicago) Part V: Body, Blood, Self, and Nation: 21. Biopower:Blood, Kinship, and Eugenic Marriage: Jennifer ROBERTSON (University of Michigan) 22. The Ie, the Modern Family, and Beyond: Emiko OCHIAI (Kyoto University) 23. Constrained Person and Creative Agent: A Dying Student's Narrative of Self and Others: Susan Orpett LONG (John Carroll University) 24. Nation, Citizenship, and Cinema: Aaron GEROW (Yale University) 25. Culinary Culture and the Making of a National Cuisine: Katarzyna CWIERTKA (Leiden University) Part VI: Religion and Science, Beliefs and Bioethics: 26. Historical, New, and 'New' New Religions: Ian READER (Lancaster University) 27. Folk Religion and its Contemporary Issues: Noriko KAWAHASHI (Nagoya Institute of Technology) 28. Women Scientists and Gender Ideology: Sumiko OTSUBO (Metropolitan State University) 29. Preserving Moral Order: Responses to Biomedical Technologies: Margaret LOCK (McGill University) 544 pages Hardback (ISBN: 0631229558) US / Canada $131.95, Europe / Rest of World £85.00, Australia / New Zealand A$327.00 |
ZHUSHCHIKHOVSKAYA, Irina S.: Prehistoric Pottery Making of the Russian Far East. BAR International Series 1434 , Oxford: Archaeopress 2005.
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| Book Description Dr. Zhushchikovskaya is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Far Eastern Division, Vladivostok. This is an original work of synthesis, expressly written for an international audience and not previously published in Russian. Before the research of quite recent years, the Incipient Jomon pottery vessels of Japan had clear claim to the distinction of being “first in the world,” with an age of about 13,000 radiocarbon years, or close to 15,000 calendar years ago. Now many comparably early dates have appeared in the Russian Far East as well, and impressive though currently less well-documented dates for early pottery are also appearing in China, Korea, and other countries. The present work shows that it may be quite some time now before any question of “first” can be resolved, as continuing discoveries show quite comparably early pottery appearing over an increasingly broad front in eastern Asia. Obviously there were processes at work that were general in scope, and certainly not accidental. Zhushchikovskaya goes to the heart of this matter with her synthesis of the current evidence from the Russian Far East, which pays close attention to the environmental circumstances in which early pottery appears. Equally, she pays close attention to the properties of raw materials and the mechanics of shaping and firing. Ethnographic observations on aboriginal pottery-making and other craft processes contribute importantly as well. Zhushchikovskaya’s account of the earliest pottery is only the beginning of her work. In later chapters she goes on to trace the development of the early Russian traditions down through additional millennia of environmental and cultural change to the Iron Age, addressing the relations of pottery-making to socio-economic structures, and the range of structures reflected in pottery-making itself. Her concluding discussion sums up the implications of particular Russian evidence for understanding the role that the study of pottery-making plays in archaeologists’ efforts to trace cultural continuities and discontinuities, periodization, tempo of cultural development, cultural contacts, and migrations. This book will be of interest to a broad cross-section of readers: those interested in the history, technology, and functions of pottery; those who will appreciate the attention it pays to ecology, context and process in the innovation and diversification of traditions; those who seek to expand the utility of pottery as a tool in archaeological synthesis and interpretation; and those who pursue specific interests in the cultural history of eastern Asia. It also offers the international community an interesting window on some of the ways in which Russian archaeologists conceptualize their subject matter. (from the website of the publisher) 171 pages (ISBN: 184171870X) £32.00 |
Last modified: 10.01.2009
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