Understanding Hongshan Period Social Dynamics

Peterson, Christian E.; Xueming, Lu

doi:10.1002/9781118325698.ch4

Cited by 8 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…4500-3000 BCE) provides an opportunity to approach such a transition from the perspective of relationships between households in local communities. Hongshan villages are known from several excavated sites (summarized by Peterson and Lu [2013] and Peterson et al [2014a:39-41]). The most completely exposed is Baiyinchanghan (Figure 1).…”

Section: Hongshan Villages and Supra-local Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hongshan households and communities in Neolithic northeastern China

Drennan

Peterson

Xueming

et al. 2017

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

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Analysis of a large sample of household artifact assemblages from residential zones dating to the Hongshan period (4500-3000 BCE) in northeastern China complements regional-scale settlement study and excavation of house structures, platforms, and tombs. Prestige differentiation between household units is recognizable but modest. Productive differentiation is also present, indicating a very small degree of economic interdependence between households involving the utilitarian goods of daily life. Exchange did transcend both local and regional-scale communities, but movement of goods seldom exceeded a few kilometers. Standards of living were similar across households, with no sign of wealth differentiation. Confirming what has previously been suggested about the role of belief systems in Hongshan social integration, the strongest differentiation detectable in the household evidence involved religious roles and ritual activities. The elaboration of ceremonial architecture and funerary ritual of the Hongshan core zone is thus seen not to correspond to larger regional-scale communities, greater projection of political power, a more specialized economy, larger-scale exchange of goods, or accumulation of wealth. These commonly imagined aspects of early complex society were strikingly underdeveloped in Hongshan society, given its complex ceremonial architecture, elaborate burial treatment of presumed ritual specialists, and famous jade carvings.

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Section: Hongshan Villages and Supra-local Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hongshan households and communities in Neolithic northeastern China

Drennan

Peterson

Xueming

et al. 2017

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

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“…5400-4500 B.C.E) and Hongshan (红山 ca. 4500-3000 B.C.E), known for the development of village life, unique ritual centers, and an evolved jade industry (Peterson and Lu 2013;Peterson et al 2014;Shelach 2006;Zhao 2003). Following a period of about a thousand years during which the region was probably sparsely populated (the so-called Xiaoheyan 小河沿 period), the early Bronze Age societies of this region comprising the Lower Xiajiadian culture (夏家店下层 ca.…”

Section: Archaeological Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 97%

Human adaptation and socioeonomic change in northeast China: Results of the Fuxin Regional Survey

Shelach-Lavi

Teng

Goldsmith

et al. 2016

Journal of Field Archaeology

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Northeastern China is one of the centers of early development of agriculture and sedentary life, as well as of the subsequent development of social complexity and distinct cultural attributes. While the outlines of this trajectory are clear, its important details are still elusive. Like all other regions of northern China, there is little data on the all-important transition from nomad hunter-gatherers to sedentary agriculturalists. The Fuxin Regional Survey was designed as the first step in accumulating new data and addressing the geographic and ecological contexts of these socioeconomic processes. Among the most remarkable results of this survey is the identification of early ceramics, which possibly predate the transition to agriculture. The systematic collection and analysis of stone tools was done in a way never before done in this region. Analysis of our findings, using GIS and other methods, sheds new light on the local trajectory of human adaptation in this area.

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“…El aspecto de las dimensiones demográficas mínimas consideradas necesarias para el desarrollo de un sistema de jefatura ha sido revisado significativamente a la baja de manera reciente, al haber sido posible validar la existencia de jefaturas simples formadas por grupos de pocos centenares de personas (DRENNAN & PETERSON, 2006: 3963;PETERSON et al, 2010: 5757 y 5759, fig. 7;PETERSON & LU, 2013).…”

Section: -El Surgimiento De Las Sociedades Complejas: De Big Men Y unclassified

“…Con todo, existen alrededor del mundo múltiples ejemplos de jefaturas en las cuales no están presentes ni la iconografía de la guerra ni las armas, y en las que tampoco se documentan estructuras defensivas o fortificaciones asociadas a los asentamientos, porqué las fuentes de poder son otras y se localizan en otros contextos. Un buen ejemplo de ello son las pequeñas jefaturas de la fase Hongshan de la región china de Chifeng (DRENNAN & PE-TERSON, 2006: 3965;PETERSON y LU, 2013), entre muchos otros. Numerosas aproximaciones antropológicas muestran, incluso, que, a veces, la importancia de estas armas -cuando efectivamente existen-es más que relativa por lo que se refiere a su relación con la estructura sociopolítica de la comunidad que las utiliza.…”

Section: -Conflictounclassified

Jefes del Sénia. Sobre la emergencia de jefaturas durante la primera Edad del Hierro en el nordeste de la península Ibérica

Garcia-Rubert¹

2015

Munibe, Antropol-Arkeol.

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Jefes del Sénia. Sobre la emergencia de jefaturas durante la primera Edad del Hierro en el nordeste de la Península IbéricaChiefs of the Senia River. On the emergence of chiefdoms during the Early Iron Age in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula RESUMENEn los últimos años se está desarrollando un interesante y profundo debate sobre los modelos de organización política de las sociedades que habitaron en el nordeste de la Península Ibérica durante la Protohistoria. En nuestra opinión, el surgimiento de las primeras sociedades complejas en esta zona se produciría con anterioridad al desarrollo de la Cultura Ibérica. Con el objetivo de contrastarlo, presentamos un caso de estudio datado durante la primera Edad del Hierro (siglos VII-VI anE, aprox.). LABURPENAAzken urteotan Protohistorian Iberiar Penintsularen ipar-ekialdian bizi izan ziren gizarteen antolaketa politikoaren ereduei buruzko eztabaida interesgarri eta sakona garatzen ari da. Gure iritziz, eremu horretan lehen gizarte konplexuak Iberiar Kultura garatu aurretik sortu izango ziren. Hori kontrastatu ahal izateko, lehen Burdina Aroan datatutako (VII-VI. mendeak K.a. gutxi gorabehera) azterketa-kasu bat aurkeztu dugu. ABSTRACTA discussion is being developed in recent years about the political system of the communities that inhabited the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula during the Protohistory. In this paper, we propose that the first complex societies arise in this area before the Iberian Culture. In order to contrast it, we present a case study dated in the Early Iron Age (VII-VI century BC) formed by a set of five sites located closed to each other, that we have named, as a whole, as Sant Jaume Complex. That Complex was formed by the settlements of Sant Jaume -a big and fortified house-, la Moleta del Remei -a village-, la Ferradura, el Castell -two points strategically located for the control of local communication paths-and la Cogula -perhaps a watchtower-. We follow a contextual approach, following the perspective proposed by R. D. Drennan and C. E. Peterson for the analysis and definition of the early complex societies. From this perspective, we attempt a reconstruction of Complex Sant Jaume sociopolitical organization from the specific study of a number of lines of evidence, which are interpreted in combination. The elements explored are Local Community Structure, Supra-local Community Scale, Supra-local Community Centralization, Demographic Density, Public Works Investment, Tax Rate, Conflict, Wealth and Prestige Differentiation, as well as other points as long distance Exchange or Storability of staple foods, among others. We also explore which were the sources of power that allowed the elites to control the system establishing, first, the dependency relationships and secondly, stabilizing the system. We conclude that it is possible to consider that the Sant Jaume Complex was a simple chiefdom, with a low level of development.

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Understanding Hongshan Period Social Dynamics

Cited by 8 publications

References 37 publications

Hongshan households and communities in Neolithic northeastern China

Hongshan households and communities in Neolithic northeastern China

Human adaptation and socioeonomic change in northeast China: Results of the Fuxin Regional Survey

Jefes del Sénia. Sobre la emergencia de jefaturas durante la primera Edad del Hierro en el nordeste de la península Ibérica

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