[Dissertation] Crafting Community: Exploring Identity and Interaction through Ceramics in Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Northwestern China

Author:
Andrew Womack

Publication Year:
2017

School:
Yale

Abstract:

This dissertation addresses questions related to craft production, social identity, and interaction through a multifaceted analysis of ceramic production and use during the Majiayao (3200-2000BC) and Qijia (2300-1500BC) periods in the Tao River Valley of northwestern China’s Gansu Province. Situated between the Gobi Desert to the north and the foothills of the Tibetan Plateau to the south, for millennia this area acted as a key conduit for interaction between groups in central China and the Eurasian steppe. Majiayao and Qijia communities played a vital role in adopting, adapting, and retransmitting new domesticates, technologies, and ideas in both directions, helping shape the course of both Chinese and steppe civilization.

Despite these contributions to the development and spread of Chinese civilization, however, this region of northwest China is often pigeonholed into the trope of cultural devolution, with climatic shifts forcing a change from sophisticated Majiayao farmers to the small-scale, possibly pastoral societies of the Qijia.  This conclusion is based almost entirely on shifts in pottery form and decoration, with the large, elaborately painted urns of the Majiayao period being replaced by the smaller, mostly undecorated pottery that defines the Qijia period. This dissertation challenges these conclusions by investigating the relationship between craft production, consumer and producer identity, and social interaction in order to provide a more nuanced understanding of the continuities and changes occurring between the two periods.

Taking a communities of practice based approach to ceramic production, this research focuses first on identifying potential groups of producers through assessment of paste recipes and forming techniques. In order to identify these groups, sherds from four Majiayao and Qijia habitation and mortuary contexts were sampled and analyzed using petrographic analysis. This technique provides information not only on the mineralogical makeup of a vessel, but also can provide insight into specific paste recipes and production techniques. This study revealed striking differences between vessels from mortuary and habitation contexts during the Majiayao period, pointing to the potential use of mortuary rituals for the negotiation and construction of relationships with other communities. It also demonstrated surprising continuity in production knowledge and techniques between the two periods, showing that changes in pottery form and decoration are not necessarily accurate reflections of underlying shifts in social identity.

In addition to petrographic analysis, whole vessels from mortuary contexts were also examined in order to assess how they were produced and used. Use-wear analysis was employed in order to understand the use histories of individual vessels, revealing that the majority of pots placed in graves during both periods were well used before interment. Standardization analysis was also carried out in order to explore potential production differences between various vessel types. It was demonstrated that while production does appear to vary between vessel types, there is impressive continuity in degree of vessel uniformity between the Majiayao and Qijia periods.

Combining the results of these three techniques, this research is able to address not only the communities of practice who were making these vessels, but also the potential roles they played in building and mediating relationships between groups. Specifically, for the northern Tao River Valley, it appears that despite significant shifts in pottery form, mortuary rituals, and the relationships that were mediated by these items and events, underlying communities of practice persisted over the course of more than 600 years.

[Dissertation] Biological Classification in Early Chinese Dictionaries and Glossaries: from Fish to Invertebrates and Vice Versa

Author:
Federico Valenti

School:
Università degli Studi di Sassari

Defended:
2018

Abstract:
This dissertation problematises the classification of chong 蟲 (invertebrates) and yu 魚 (fish) in Early Chinese texts. The loci classici analysed will range from the Warring States (ca. 453 – 221 BCE) to the Eastern Han period (dong Han 東漢, 25 – 220 CE). The focus is on the lexical ambiguity between these two zoological categories: despite being perceived as different, they include a more or less loose set of “dynamic” words that shift from one category to the other.

The project concentrates on two early Chinese texts: the Erya 爾雅 (III century BCE) and the Shuowen jiezi 説文解字 (100 CE). These works had a pivotal role during the development of Chinese lexicography and gave the lexical basis of later texts. They are also the first texts that deal with the problem of taxonomical classification in Early China.

By systematically applying a philological approach (Coblin 1972, Carr 1979) to a selection of zoological glosses preserved in these sources, this study aims at reformulating the way in which early Chinese “proto-zoological categories” are organised (Needham 1986, Sterckx 2002). Through the analysis of selected case studies, it aims at showing that even if there are fairly well attested categories that constitute a dichotomous system (such as “quadrupeds” versus “winged creatures” or “wild beasts” versus “domestic animals”), Early Chinese taxonomies represent a dynamic and unstable attempt at zoological classification for what we call today “fish” and “invertebrates”.

『華陽国志』の世界：巴、蜀、そして南方へのまなざし

Editors:
竹内洋介 TAKEUCHI Yosuke
大室智人 Omuro Tomohito

Publisher: 
東洋大学アジア文化研究所

Publication date:
2018

Table of Contents:

津田資久   『華陽国志』に見える蜀漢叙述
菊地大   孫呉の南方展開とその影響
飯塚 勝重   『華陽国志』に見る巴郡の世界

「華陽国志訳注稿」人名・地名・官職名索引

Editors:
竹内洋介 Yosuke Takeuchi
大室智人 Ōmuro Tomohito
飯塚勝重 Katsushige Iizuka

Publisher:
東洋大学アジア文化研究所

Publication date:
2017

Table of Contents:

華陽国志訳注稿人名地名官職名索引: p1-92
『華陽国志』関係文献目録稿: p93-118

[Dissertation] Towards a Human Ecology of the North China Plain: Geoarchaeological Perspectives on Holocene Landscape Evolution

Author:
Michael Storozum

School:
Washington University in St. Louis

Defended:
2017

Abstract:
Archaeologists have traditionally called the North China Plain the heartland of Chinese civilization and focused much of their investigations on the progression of archaeological culture groups. However, this focus on culture history has often come at the expense of simplifying the complex interactions societies have had with their environments. In this dissertation, I discuss the ways in which archaeologists can use geological concepts and methods to better understand human-environmental interactions. I support this argument with two case studies of archaeological significance along the course of the Yellow River. One study focuses on a sediment source, the Luoyang Basin in western Henan Province, the other, a sediment sink in Neihuang County, Henan Province. These studies demonstrate that humans played a large role in shaping the hydrology of the Yellow River and smaller tributary streams since the late Bronze Age around three thousand years ago. Human influence on sedimentary and fluvial systems becomes increasingly apparent during China’s Imperial Age (ca. AD 200–1200). By using geological methods and concepts, scientists can understand how humans have shaped the much of the North China Plain.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Geoarchaeology in China
Chapter 3 The Luoyang Basin: A Sediment Source
Chapter 4 Anshang: A Sediment Sink
Chapter 5 Conclusions

The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Early Chinese Ethics and Political Philosophy

Editor: 
Alexus McLeod

Publication date:
21-02-2019

Publisher:
Bloomsbury Academic

Abstract:

Focusing on early Chinese ethical and political thought across multiple schools and thinkers, this book presents a comprehensive overview of the research being done in Chinese comparative ethics and political philosophy. 

In addition to chapters on Chinese comparative and interpretative thought, The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Early Chinese Ethics and Political Philosophy brings early Chinese ethics and political philosophy into conversation with Western and Indian Philosophy, as well as Western Theology. Contributors discuss numerous texts and schools in Pre-Qin and Han Philosophy, including Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, the Xunzi, the Liyun, and the Zhuangzi. The volume also shows how early Chinese ethical and political theories can be used to contextualise contemporary philosophical issues, such as metaethics, human rights, emotions, and the connection between ethics and metaphysics.

Table of Contents:

Introduction (Alexus McLeod, University of Connecticut, USA)

Part I: Historical Approaches

1. Confucian Role Ethics: Issues of Naming, Translation, and Interpretation, Sarah Mattice, University of North Florida, USA

2. From Patterning to Governing: A Constructivist Interpretation of the Xunzi, Kurtis Hagen, SUNY Plattsburgh, USA

3. Some Considerations in Defense of a Radical Reading of the Mohist Jian Ai, Alexus McLeod (University of Connecticut, USA

4. Ritual and Vulnerability of a Prosperous World: A Reading of the Liyun, Michael D. K. Ing, Indiana University, USA

5. Morality Without Moral Reasoning: The Case of Heshanggong, 
Misha Tadd, Peking University, Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, China

6. Nothingness and Selfhood in the Zhuangzi, 
David Chai, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

7. Han Fei's Rule of Law and Its Limits, 
Alejandro Barcenas, Texas State University, USA

Part Two: Comparative Approaches

8. Non-Impositional Rule in Confucius and Aristotle, Matthew D. Walker, Yale-NUS College, Singapore

9. Other People Die and That is the Problem, Amy Olberding, University of Oklahoma, USA

10. The Problem of Anxiety in the Zhuangzi, Indian, and Hellenistic Philosophy, Alexus McLeod, University of Connecticut, USA

11. Son of Heaven: Developing the Theological Aspects of Mengzi's Philosophy of the Ruler, Joshua Brown, University of Dayton, USA

12. Justifying Human Rights in Confucianism, May Sim, College of the Holy Cross, USA

Annotated Bibliography in Early Chinese Ethics and Political Philosophy, Alexus McLeod, University of Connecticut, USA