1. Bone-artefact production in late Neolithic central China: evidence from Pingliangtai
- Author
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Pei, Xiaochen, Cao, Yanpeng, Yang, Yidi, Liew, Chun Mun, Zhang, Chi, Qin, Ling, Deng, Zhenhua, Zhu, Shuzheng, Chen, Yan, Zhao, Hao, Ning, Chao, Hudson, Mark J., Zhang, Ying, and Zhang, Hai
- Subjects
Anthropological research ,Agriculture, Prehistoric -- Research ,Beef cattle -- Usage - Abstract
As an important component of prehistoric subsistence, an understanding of bone-working is essential for interpreting the evolution of early complex societies, yet worked bones are rarely systematically collected in China. Here, the authors apply multiple analytical methods to worked bones from the Longshan site of Pingliangtai, in central China, showing that Neolithic bone-working in this area, with cervid as the main raw material, was mature but localised, household-based and self-sufficient. The introduction of cattle in the Late Neolithic precipitated a shift in bone-working traditions but it was only later, in the Bronze Age, that cattle bones were utilised in a specialised fashion and dedicated boneworking industries emerged in urban centres. Keywords: Central China, Late Neolithic, Longshan period, craft production, bone-working, cattle, Introduction The study of craft production is fundamental to archaeological investigations of the role of material culture in day-to-day, social and ritual life and is central to the explication of […]
- Published
- 2024
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