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EAAN activities:

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MEMBER NEWS (in alpha-order):

N.B. New members have their entire addresses and contact numbers listed; news about current members is written in paragraph form.
 

Prof. Mel AIKENS (Univ Oregon) is one of two American "advisors" to the multidisciplinary investigation of the dam construction site at Xiaolangdi, Mianchi County, Henan. The project is viewed as a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the recognition of the Yangshao Neolithic culture, since it was in Mianchi that the Yangshao type-site was first "discovered" by JG Andersson in 1921. A survey in spring 1991 revealed several Miaodigou-phase villages, and the site of Bancun was singled out for study. The ancient environment, subsistence, and settlement patterns focussing on Bancun are targets for analysis. The excavation team is headed by Prof. YU Weichao, National Museum of Chinese History, Beijing.

Francis ALLARD (Univ Pittsburgh) is in China this summer from 29 May-12 Aug. He is visiting Hong Kong and Bill Meacham's airport dig, North Vietnam with Kathy Linduff, Xi'an, Sichuan and Guizhou before conducting a month's fieldwork for his dissertation in Fengkai and Qujiang, Guangdong (his report of last year's fieldwork in EAANnouncements 8).

Dr. Barbara Chapman BANKS (prehistoric-early historic Chinese & Japanese art history)
East Asian Library
University of Chicago
1100 East 57th Street
Chicago, IL 60637 USA
(Home) 312-643-5852
(Work) 312-702-8432
FAX 312-702-0853
Barbara is currently involved in two major projects. The first is co-curating an exhibition on the horse in Chinese art to be held at the China Institute in New York City in October of 1994. Other scholars involved in the exhibition are EAANmember Emmy Bunker, Annette Juliano, and Robert Harris. Her second project is working on the AAS Committee for drafting the questionnaire to survey collections on Asian art and culture in North America. The Chair of this committee is Amy Poster of the Brooklyn Museum (Noteworthies No. 10)
A recent publication of hers is "To have and to hold: Chinese snuff bottles as a record of Chinese subject matter and sensibilities." Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society 1989, spring.

Ms. Gaidagh E. CHAPMAN (prehistoric-early historic Chinese & Japanese archaeology and conservation)
Saltire House
Ripe, near Lewes
East Sussex BN8 6AX, UK
Home 0202-310018; 0323-811576
FAX 0323-811418
Gaidagh is an undergraduate student in the conservation course at Bournemouth University. Interested particularly in Japanese ceramics-glazed and unglazed, modern and ancient, she has previously attended a course on Japanese pottery offered by the JIC Ceramics Studio in Tokyo. This summer she is working on a Japanese dig to study ceramic management and conservation techniques.

Prof. Elizabeth CHILDS-JOHNSON (prehistoric - early historic  archaeology)
Chinese Department of Art History
Hamilton College
Clinton NY 13323 USA
Home 212-628-7852
Work 315-859-4233
FAX 859-4632
Becky's main interests are in pre and protohistoric jade-working cultures of ancient China; Shang ritual and religion; and Han through Tang funerary figurines (mingqi).

Phillipe DALLAIS (Switzerland) will be attending an excavation in Chitose, Hokkaido this summer, from July 26th into October. He also hopes "to go to Sakhalin and continue my ethnological work with my Ainu informants started in 1991. Besides I discovered a funny connexion between Neuschatel and the Ainu: a novel!"

Lothar von FALKENHAUSEN catches us up on two years' worth of news: In 1991, he had a Getty Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship to research Chinese Bronze Age archaeology; he was a guest at the CASS Institute of Archaeology in Beijing, using the library there for 6 months and travelling to various sites and museums all over the country the other half a year. Recent conference papers of his include "Chinese musical theory in the time before Marquis Yi of Zeng" (in Chinese, published in Kaogu 1992.9: 854-58); "The regionalist paradigm in Chinese archaeology" (AAA Chicago, 1990); and "A new look at the Shang and Zhou 'peripheries' (College Art Association, Chicago 1992).
From this September, he will be taking up an Associate Professor in the Art History Department, University of California in Los Angeles.

Prof. William Wayne FARRIS (Korean & Japanese archaeology and history)
Department of History
University of Tennessee
720 Noragate Road
Knoxville, TN 37919 USA
 (Home) 615-693-7410
(Work) 615-974-5421
FAX 615-974-3915
Wayne is currently writing a book on historical archaeology from AD 100 to 900 which covers Yamatai, early Japan-Korea relations, ancient capitals and wooden tablets (mokkan). He says, "It's really four essays on why I believe archaeology is invaluable for understanding ancient Japan (maybe more so than history!)."
His current book, on the development of the military in Japan from AD 500, is just out: RUNNING BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Dr. Clare FAWCETT (St. Francis Xavier Univ) has been on leave this past year in Montreal and "ended up teaching Japanese Studies courses at Bishop's University." She is presently editing a book with Philip Kohl on archaeology and nationalism and will be returning to Nova Scotia in September.

Mr. Magnus FISKESJÖ (prehistoric-early historic East Asian archaeology & religion)
Dept of East Asian Languages
and Civilizations
301 Wieboldt Hall
University of Chicago
1050 E. 59th St.
Chicago, IL 60637 USA
(Home) 312-955-6040
FAX 312-7029861 ATTN M. Fiskesjö
Email: [...]
Magnus is a Swedish student studying jointly in Anthropology and the East Asian Department at Chicago. Though his major interest is in China, he has spent time in Japan and is looking forward to participating in fieldwork there possibly this summer.

Dr. Yasushi KOJO (pre- & proto-historic East Asian archaeology)
3-16-7 Miyasaka
Setagaya-ku
Tokyo 156 Japan
(Home) 03-3428-8722
Yasushi has recently completed his doctorate at the University of Arizona. He says "though I am currently on unemployment, I am determining the construction date of the Makimuku Ishizuka tomb (Sakurai City, Nara, Japan) by high-precision wiggle matching and multiple thermoluminescence dating-simply for satisfying my curiosity."

Dr. In Sook LEE reports two of her Korean-language publications:
"Personal ornaments of Silla and Kaya." Hankuk Godaisa Nonchong 3(May), 1992.
"Glass beads from King Muryong Tomb." Paekche Muryongwang-reung. Kongju: Paekche Munwha Yeonguso, 1991(Dec).

Prof. Richard PEARSON sends note of his collaborative research project published in Japanese:
"Kumejima to Iriomotejima ni okeru iseki no hakkutsu" [Excavations on Kumejima and Iriomote], by R. Pearson, S. Asato, G. Monks and D. Pokotylo. Okinawa-ken Kyoiku-cho Bunka-ka Kiyo 6, Special Number; pp. 79-94.

Prof. Richard SHUTLER, Jr. informs us of his writings on Southeast Asia:
"Kota Tampan Malaysia: a reinterpretation." Proceedings, 12th International Symposium on Asian Studies, Hong Kong, 1990.
"Colonization, expansion and successful adaptation in Southeast Asia, New Guinea and Australia, 40,000-10,000 BP." Asian Profile 19.2. Hong Kong.
"Rotuma: a case of archaeology documenting the Rotuman oral tradition of the first Tongan landing." Man and Culture in Oceania 7: 133-37, with J.S. Everard.
"N.W.G. Macintosh: scientist, scholar, mentor and friend." Archaeology in Oceania 27.3(Oct).

Prof. Bill SOLHEIM, recently retired from the University of Hawaii, is cooperating with HANIHARA Kazuro and Paul Benedict in preparing a book on The Origin of the Japanese for translation into Japanese and publication in Japan. Hanihara has published several reports on the source of the Jomon population being Southeast Asia, and Benedict has published on Japanese being an Austro-Tai language. As Bill wrote to ACRO Update, "Japanese archaeologists for sometime now have been looking for the origins of the Yayoi around the mouth of the Yangtze, which, according to my definition is Southeast Asian. The one element in our book that is new is my proposal that the Nusantao Trading Network explains how the elements of Southeast Asian culture came to Japan, with a Japanese (Yayoi) homeland between the mouth of the Yangtze and the Shandong peninsula, the area I also consider the source of Southeast Asian culture to become a part of the foundation of Chinese culture. A friend in Japan and one of my students here who reads Japanese and Chinese have been coming up with considerable ethnohistoric information about water people along the China coast and in Korea, Japan, and the Ryukyus with numerous southeast Asian cultural elements distinctive of the land-based peoples surrounding them. What is needed is present-day studies of the languages of these peoples and much more ethnographic information about them, as there is very little known in recent studies."
Solheim also alerts us to his publication: "Thoughts on land and sea peoples in Southeast Asia and their possible relationships to initial settlement of Micronesia." Micronesia, Supplement No. 2: 241-46, 1990; Agana, Guam.

Prof. Hiroshi TSUDE (Osaka Univ) has been elected an Honorary Member of The Prehistoric Society, London. Our congratulations are extended to him for this great honour bestowed on him.

Anne UNDERHILL (McGill Univ) will be conducting fieldwork in Guizhou from early July through mid-August this summer.

Prof. J. Marshall UNGER
Dept of Hebrew and East Asian Languages & Literatures
2106 Juan Ramon Jimenez Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-4831 USA
(Work) 301-405-4244
FAX 301-314-9841
 Email: [...]

Alex C.H. YIP (prehistoric Chinese archaeology & art history)
Antiquities & Monuments Office
136 Nathan Road,
Tsimshatsui, Kowloon
Hong Kong
Home 651893
Work 7216752
FAX 7216216
Mr. Yip is Executive Secretary as well as Chief Curator in the A&M office. His remit includes overseeing rescue projects of archaeological/historical sites affected by the New Airport development; and conservation and restoration of 19th-century historical buildings in Hong Kong.
 

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REVIEWS & 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!!
 

Postscript on the Prehistoric Mongoloid Dispersals Conference

Held in Tokyo last November (PAPERS READ in EAANnouncements 9), the conference saw some retrenching on the mtDNA side with Rebecca Cann, geneticist at Univ of California, "noting criticisms of human mtDNA analysis" but contending that "new findings on anatomical traits are consistent with the African-origins model." Merrit Ruhlen, a linguist, argued that the 'Out of Africa' model would imply a common origin for the world's languages which, in fact, is suggested by recent linguistic research-though "there is at present no linguistic evidence that the homeland of this original language was in Africa."
As for the peopling of the Americas, Emöke Szathmary, Univ Western Ontario, reported the results of genetic testing that "show indisputably that the roots of aboriginal peoples of North America lie in Asia" and that the groups migrated before the last glacial maximum. This was bolstered by HORAI Satoshi's report, from the National Institute of Genetics in Japan, that "four ancestral populations gave rise to different waves of migration to the New World," the first of which occurred around 21-14,000 years ago.

(quotes from the Mammoth Trumpet 8.2: 5, 8; Mar 93)
 

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Early ceramics and aquatic subsistence? The Jomon is not alone
  by Kevin C. MacDonald

As an Africanist research always much enamoured of the Jōmon, I have found it surprising that my colleagues working in the Orient are unaware of a parallel phenomenon in the early Holocene of Africa. Recently, J-P. Roset of ORSTON-Paris obtained the earliest date yet on ceramics in the Central Sahara from the site of Tagalagal in Niger (9370±130bp). Tagalagal is not alone; at least six other sites from the Sahara have been shown to possess ceramics by or before 9000bp [non-calibrated]. Initially, such occurrences were thought to be the trappings of either precocious food-producers, or all part and parcel of a monolithic aquatic-based subsistence tradition which swept the whole of Saharan Africa (then a lacustrine zone) around 8-9000bp. Presently, however, evidence seems to indicate that whilst many similarities exist across this vast area in the early Holocene, many local adaptations played an important part in the economies of this time period, including differeng emphases on hunting, mollusc gathering, fishing and the gathering of wild grains. Additionally, the exploitation of marine, instead of freshwater resources has been demonstrated on the Atlantic littoral, and early pastoralism remains a possibility in northeastern Africa. The early Saharan ceramics (ca. 9000-4000bp) were primarily decorated by stamped or rocker comb impressions, styluses and occasionally impressed cord-wrapped stick decor. Twisted cord and cord-wrapped cord roulette decorations do, however, become extremely common on Saharan and Sub-Saharan ceramics dating to after 4000bp.
As you may see, there is much in common between the Saharan phenomenon and that of the Jōmon: early ceramics, aquatic-based subsistence with consequent semi-sedentism and (after 4000bp in Africa) cord-rouletted pottery. Specialists in both geographic areas, I'm sure, would benefit from more frequent and detailed communication.

Clare Hall, Univ Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 9AL, UK

Close, Angela (ed.) (1987) Prehistory of arid North Africa: essays in honor of Fred Wendorf. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.
Klees, F. and Kuper, R. (eds) (1992) New light on the northeast African past: current prehistoric research. Africa Praehistorica No. 5. Köln: Heinrich Barth Institut.
McIntosh, S.K. and McIntosh, R.J. (1988) From stone to metal: new perspectives on the later prehistory of West Africa. Journal of world prehistory 2: 89-133.
Soper, Robert (1985) Roulette decoration on African pottery: technical considerations, dating and distributions. The African archaeological review 3: 29-51.
 

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Archaeobotany in Japan
  by Aoi HOSOYA

Nowadays, archaeobotanical techniques are an indispensable part of field research on Jomon and Yayoi sites, especially in Eastern Japan. Almost every report and book on these periods has a chapter about botanical remains. However, it seems there are few archaeologists who really think about the meaning of the archaeobotanical techniques, namely, for what purpose and how they should be used. I suggest that two main problems exist.
Firstly, in Japan botanical remains tend not to be considered as a part of the 'archaeological' record, although actually they are. In reports, botanical remains are mostly shown in pictures which are taken in laboratories. The plants are divided into species and set out in lines on a table. So we rarely see how and from what kind of context they are discovered on sites.
This practice reveals that the archaeologists' predominant idea is to recognise botanical remains as a kind of 'absolute' evidence. For them, the matter is whether botanical remains are found or not, and which species they are. The economic mode oateach site, gathering or cultivation, is determined based on just the existence of some species, and no further interpretation is made. It seems that most Japanese archaeologists think interpretation is not needed for botanical remains because they are definite 'facts'. However, this idea is obviously a misunderstanding and causes some danger.
This danger is the second problem; namely, that although Japanese archaeologists do not notice it, archaeobotanical techniques and the data have wholly been affected by their background ideas about the 'Jomon' and 'Yayoi' economies. Therefore botanical remains are analysed not 'objectively' but intentionally, based on some pre-supposed idea. Not realising this point can result in heavily biased research.
The sequence of controversy about the "Jomon Agriculture Theory" is a good example of the first problem. Until the 1960s, "Jomon Agriculture" was a minor theory partly because a respected authority, Sugao YAMANOUCHI, was against the theory but mainly because those who insisted on "Jomon Agriculture" could not obtain those botanical remains which were supposed to be 'absolute' evidence of agriculture.
Then Eiichi FUJIMORI, who was a representative "Jomon Agriculture" supporter, tried to approach the issue as a cultural matter, namely suggesting that Middle Jomon society was very 'agriculturistic', mentioning artefacts and settlement pattern. However, his approach was not considered persuasive by contemporary archaeologists.
In the 1960s, Sasuke NAKAO presented his "Shōyō-jūrin Theory" (broad-leaf evergreen biope theory), which suggested that Jomon Japan was a part of the tuber-cultivation complex spreading through Southeastern Asia [in the broad-leaf evergreen forest zone]. This theory freed archaeologists from the fixed idea that 'agriculture equals crops' and subsequently changed the style of "Jomon Agriculture" research.
Suddenly, broader categories of vegetation became accepted as evidence of agriculture. At the same time, improved archaeobotanical techniques made it possible to find many kinds of botanical remains. As a result, "Jomon Agriculture" was dramatically converted into a powerful theory. Sometimes the research trend went so far that if only some botanical remains were found, they were immediately supposed to be 'cultivated' without any other supporting evidence (Matsui 1986).
It seems two things were overlooked through this epochal change. Firstly, after the "Shōyō-jūrin Theory" emerged, the concept of "Jomon Agriculture" became completely different from the former one, namely shifting from crop agriculture to tuber cultivation; but this fact is masked under the same name 'agriculture' and the significance is rarely noticed. Secondly, at the same time "Jomon Agriculture" became a matter merely of the existence of botanical remains, not of the nature of Jomon society or culture; but little attention is paid to what was lost.
Still now, conferences about "Jomon Agriculture" tend to consist of introductions to the different kinds of botanical remains found. It is very dangerous if these changes in concept are considered progressive or if we are able to obtain more evidence thanks to improved archaeobotanical techniques, whilst neglecting other aspects of culture and society.
Archaeobotanical research into Yayoi agriculture is an example of the second problem; 'unnoticed' intentional gathering of botanical 'absolute' data. As Terasawa & Terasawa (1981) pointed out, there is a strong fixed idea that 'Yayoi agriculture equals rice agriculture'; and many archaeologists are eager to find only rice remains. The possibility of cultivation of other vegetation tends to be ignored.
Botanical remains still have a tendency to be considered supplementary evidence and be used to support particular theories. In other words, they are not synthetically analysed as independent archaeological data. It means their existence is accepted with a bias from the beginning, in spite of which they are supposed to be undoubted, independent 'fact'.
By and large, it is Japanese archaeologists' character to treat archaeological data as objective facts and not care about interpretation or theory. This tendency seems to be more conspicuous in archaeobotany, partly because it entails a 'scientific' method, and partly because not many archaeologists can evaluate its methods. However, it is clear that we cannot help 'interpreting' every piece of data in some way, and some theory is always behind the data.
To solve these problems, there are some possiblities we can explore. Concerning theoretical aspects, we should scrutinize on what basis Japanese archaeobotany is standing, and from which kind of theory it originated. Also it must be reconsidered which kind of interpretation is made on botanical remains in each case and which sources of bias can be found through these cases. For practical aspects, we can try a more synthetic analysis of botanical remains, considering the contexts they are found in and their relationships to other archaeological data such as artefacts, settlement pattern, etc.
Eiichi FUJIMORI once said, "Finding botanical remains is a botanist's job; we archaeologists should approach the past in terms of culture and society." 'Finding botanical remains' is no longer only a botanist's job, and we should make a point of considering all botanical data recovered from archaeological sites as 'a part of culture'

Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge

Matsui, Akira (1986) Hyōtan kara Koma. Kōkogaku Kenkyū 129: 70-80.
Terasawa, Kaoru & Terasawa, Tomoko (1981) Yayoi jidai shokubutsu-shitsu shokuryō no kiso-teki kenkyū-shoki nōkō shakai kenkyū no zentai to shite. Kōkogaku Ronkō 5: 1-129.
 

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Getting World Connected
  by Simon Holledge

So far, very few archaeologists living in Japan have taken advantage of the many international communications services offered by Internet and Bitnet. (I don't think I have ever seen an email address on a Japanese meishi [business name card]!). So, presumably equally few archaeologists abroad have used these services to maintain contacts with Japanese colleagues. However, the services exist, they are developing, and they are usually free. Many universities and network service-providing companies have access to Bitnet and Internet connections and can provide users with the necessary email addresses in order to participate in the systems.
One of the most exciting developments on the global Internet is network news or USENET. This is a reciprocal system, whereby computer conferences are exchanged on a daily basis between systems in different centres and in different countries. I recently asked TWICS, which is my own 'network services provider', to put ARCH-L, a world-wide computer network of archaeologists organized for the purpose of "discussing archaeological problems", on USENET in Tokyo. Its local name here is twics.list.arch.
I can now send and receive messages to and from individual ARCH-L members, take part in group discussions, access archives of old messages and discussions, obtain a list of members and their email addresses, and delve into libraries of free and shareware software programmes. ARCH-L is one of hundreds, if not thousands, of conferences that are available on USENET, and it is by no means the only archaeology group. ARCH-L is (technically-speaking) an educationsl Bitnet listserv and therefore free. All I have to pay is the cost of a local telephone call to a VAX/VMS computer at TWICS in central Tokyo, and my monthly subscription to their service.
It is possible for anyone to subscribe direct to ARCH-L by sending a command:

SUBSCRIBE ARCH-L <your name> to: LISTSERV@TAMVM1.BITNET

If you have a system operator, s/he will be able to explain how to do this, but if anyone wants to talk to me about getting connected, please call me in Tokyo at 03-3985-6317 or FAX 03-3232-5278. Better still, send me an email message! My addres is scholledge@twics.co.jp. The "Administrative Coordinator" is SASAKI Emiko. The sysop (system operator) is Tim Burress. The monthly subscription is an initial 5,000¥ and 3,000¥ thereafter. Outside Tokyo, TWICS can be accessed for about 10¥ /minute via NIS/Tymnet Q details available from TWICS.
The AEGIS Society in Nagaokakyo-shi, Kyoto offers a similar service in the Kansai region of Japan. Their telephone number is 075-951-1168 and FAX 075-957-1087. The sysop is Dave McLane and his email address is [...]

1-8-3 Takada, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 171 Japan

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ABSTRACTS

Ph.D. dissertations since 1990
 

Origin and Differentiation of Domesticated Rice in Asia
AHN Sung-Mo, Ph.D., Institute of Archaeology, London, 1993

The aim of this thesis is to review, on the basis of botanical, genetic and archaeological evidence, previous works on the origin and differentiation of domesticated rice in Asian origin, Oryza sativa L.
Botanical and genetic studies of the evolution and differentiation of rice such as the identification of the wild progenitor, its nomenclature, distribution and ecology, classification of rice varieties and theories on the origin and process of differentiation are firstly reviewed. Then, various methods of identifying the status of archaeological specimens, especially charred grains and husks, are reviewed to distinguish wild and domesticated forms on the one hand, and between the principal domesticated races, indica and japonica or javanica on the other.
The hilly zones of mainland Southeast Asia, including Assam and Yunnan, have been proposed as the place of the origin of domestication and differentiation of rice, mainly based on the genetic diversity and the existence of intermediate and undifferentiated rice varieties in this area. Archaeological and paleobotanical evidences of early rice domestication in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China are reviewed in order to see whether these can be reconciled with the above botanical postulation.
The hypotheses that early rice domestication in mainland Southeast Asia arose among the indigenous Hoabinhian hunter-gatherers, or from the expansion of coastal settlement into the marginal habitats, still lacks convincing evidence, hence alternative factors are suggested.

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A Regional Analysis of the Kaya Polities in Korea: chronology, economy, and sociopolitical interactions in systemic perspective
KWON Hack-Soo, Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1991

Recent excavations in the Kaya region, Korea have yielded a large body of new data that requires a synthetic approach to a new chronology and reconstruction of the Kaya societies in economic and socio-political aspects. Based on the systemic concept and polythetic nature of archaeological culture, whole ceramic assemblages from Kaya graves were analyzed in multi-dimensional scaling, resulting in five Kaya phases and one post-Kaya phase. Comparisons of the similarity in ceramic assemblages on a regional scale presented a new perspective of socio-political interactions among Kaya polities. Physical environment, agricultural productivity, and the exchange system were examined to explain the development of multiple peer polities in the riverine area. These implications were incorporated in an evolutionary model in a regional perspective which emphasizes systemic relationships among spatial units.
 

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A Study of the Socio-Political Context of Japanese Archaeology
Clare P. FAWCETT, Ph.D., McGill University, Montreal, 1990

This thesis uses a study of the relationship between Japanese archaeology and its social, political and economic context to explore the issue of relativism versus positivism in archaeological interpretation. This is done through (1) a historical analysis of the growth of Japanese archaeological work and buried cultural properties administration prior to and after 1945, (2) a description of how Japanese political and business elites have used archaeological sites and information from the Asuka area to create a symbol of the Japanese people's national identity and (3) a presentation of opinions of archaeologists working in the buried cultural properties administrative system, during the mid-1980s, about the role of archaeology in contemporary Japan. This analysis of the history of Japanese archaeology shows that archaeological data have been used to rewrite a new Japanese history from 1945, but that archaeologists, while retaining control of the organization of archaeological research, may not control how archaeological information is used by the society as a whole. The study concludes that neither an extreme positivist nor an extreme relativist position is valid when discussing the relationship between archaeology and its social context.
 

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Ploughshares into Swords: the iron industry and social development in protohistoric Korea and Japan
Sarah J. TAYLOR, Ph.D., University of Cambridge, 1990

In this dissertation I examine the origins and development of iron use and production in southern Korea and two areas of Japan (Nara and Kyushu) from ca. 300 BC to AD 500. Working from a re-evaluation of the concepts of innovation and diffusion, and from an ethnographically-based model of industrial structure, I show that while the technological origins of ancient Japanese and Korean iron production are Chinese, their industrial structures evolve independently.
The Korean and Japanese iron industries, in contrast to the Chinese, are small-scale and based on smithing and bloomery production. At least two modes of production, part-time specialisation within general craft production and part-time specialisation, or casual production by agriculturalists, co-exist.
Industrial organisation is also regionally variable. In Korea, localised, technollogically innovative smithing and smelting were probably tied into a wide-spread market for finished goods through traders. In Japan initially there seems to have been a technologically conservative, smithing-only industry based in Kyushu and dependent on imported raw material. Latterly more wide-spread local production, including smelting, arises. The industry supplying Nara is highly specialised and possibly administered by members of the elite; in Kyushu local production apparently co-exist with continued import from the continent.
Regional variability in industrial structure is reflected in the socio-economic impact of iron use and production. The appearance of new types of iron weaponry and horse-trappings in elite burials in Korea and then in Japan after 300 AD played an important role in elite-group identification, solidarity and competition across regions. Large-scale burial assemblages of this kind are particularly common in the areas of Korea associated with the states of Silla and Kaya, and the Yamato state in the Nara basin.
In the latter two areas this trend represented a departure from a previous largely economic role for iron, and was tempered by the influence of Chinese political traditions. In Nara, in contrast, elite use of iron weaponry continued pre-existing Japanese traditions of iron use, and was an important element in the rise of the Yamato state. This political importance is echoed by the horizontally and vertically specialised mode of iron production. Thus within a similar technological tradition, iron use and production played very different roles in the political evolution of regions of southern Korea and Japan.
 

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Changing Patterns of Pottery Production During the Longshan Period of Northern China, ca. 2500-2000 BC
Anne P. UNDERHILL, Ph.D., University of British Columbia, 1990

This study investigates how systems of pottery production change in relation to increasing cultural complexity. A revised version of the important model outlined by Rice (1981) is presented and tested with ceramic data from the Longshan Period of northern China. At the end of the period, at least one state evolved in the Huanghe (Yellow River) valley region.
The model describes social factors that may cause ceramic change in chiefdoms. It describes three alternative strategies of producers: diversification, simplification, and conservatism. Consumer demand for labor-intensive vessels used in displays of status may also cause changes in production. After Rice (1981), the model predicts that variety of ceramic categories should increase and that vessels should become increasingly standardized. Further, there should be a change in mode of production as sociopolitical complexity increases.
The model is tested with ceramic data from three sites in Henan (Hougang, Baiying, Meishan) and one in Shandong (Lujiakou). During a period of six months in 1987, I examined reconstructed vessels from these sites in museums and archaeological work stations located in Henan and Shandong provinces. The following analyses are described: analysis of shape classes defined in site reports (Chapter 4), diversity of shape classes, dimensional standardization, within-class standardization, and assessment of labor-intensive vessels per phase (Chapter 5). In addition, evidence for pottery production at sites and techniques of pottery production are discussed (Chapter 6). Two chapters examine published data on differentiation with respect to nonceramic goods at sites as well.
Since sample size is small for each analysis, the conclusions made here sould be regarded as hypotheses that can guide future research. In brief, the model is partially supported. A pattern of diversification results in some phases and regions. However, there is no indication of increasing standardization or change in mode of production. Ceramic production in west-central Henan as exemplified by the site of Meishan may have been impacted by a developing bronze industry.
 

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Auspicious Metals and Southern Spirits: an anlaysis of the Chu bronze inscriptions
Constance Anne COOK, Ph.D., University of California, 1990

This dissertation demonstrates that-contrary to popular and scholarly tradition-the elite of the Eastern Zhou state of Chu were not a southern barbarian people with religious customs different from the civilized northern states in the Yellow River valley and Central Plains areas. Nor was there a pervasive "Chu culture" that spread its influence over its neighbors; instead, the "Chu" represented a political entity that assimilated the traditions of those peoples (particularly those to the east) with whom they came into contact.
My approach is to analyze the rhetoric of the Chu bronze inscriptions. The bronze inscriptions of the Chu elite represent a relatively unexplored source of information regarding the nature of early Chu ideology-a source that can complement the knowledge gained from later Eastern Zhou textual sources as well as the work of archaeologists and art historians.
I break all the Chu inscriptions down into four basic components: dating and vessel-making formulas, statements of purpose (i.e. prayers and blessings), and a type of liturgy used for invoking the power or de of the ancestors. I then compare these components diachronically to examples in the Shang and Western Zhou inscriptions and synchronically to examples in Eastern Zhou inscriptions of different regional areas, with particular attention to those of the south.
I show that the rhetoric of the Chu inscriptions of the Chunqiu period directly derived from the Western Zhou bronze inscriptional tradition. Disruptions in this tradition, particularly during the Warring States period, were the result of political changes universal to ancient China and were not special to Chu.
 

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MA or MPhil theses
 

The Japanese state formation process: a case of peer polity interactions?
by Thomas M.F. Kompier, M.A., Department of Japanese and Korean Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands, 1993

Two basic questions are tackled in this thesis: 1) How do we classify the different evolutionary stages in pre-ritsuryō Japan? and, 2) Was the interaction of peer polities the driving force behind the development of the early Japanese state? The latter entails two further questions: a) Did the situation that existed in the 4th and early 5th centuries in Japan fit the peer polity concept? If so, b) Is the increase in societal complexity that led to the early Japanese state to be explained as the result of the interaction of equal political entities?
Part I of the thesis identifies and describes the evolutionary stages of the early state with reference to general state formation theory. In Part II, firstly the societal and political changes between the 3rd-6th c. are outlined. Then the evolutionary stages identified in Part I are applied to the different stages and periods recognisable in the Japanese archaeological record: simple/minimal chiefdoms in the Middle Yayoi; typical chiefdoms during the Late Yayoi; typical/complex chiefdoms from the late 3rd-early 4th c.; maximal chiefdoms during the first half of the 5th c.; and from the late 5th c. onwards, the early state.
Analysis of the socio-political situation in Japan alone affirmed that a peer polity interaction (PPI) situation existed; however, it was concluded that PPI was not the driving force of state formation but rather served to protect the status quo. The driving force behind change was hypothesised to be continental influence in the form of immigration. Thus, it is clear that instead of promoting socio-political change, PPI was instrumental in resisting socio-political change. It is concluded that Japanese state formation damages the peer polity interaction model.

 

 

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JOBS & GRANTS

BROOKLYN MUSEUM
The Museum has initiated a search for an Asistant Curator of East Asian Art. Applicants should have a strong scholarly background and language skills, with experience in museum work. The Asst Curator will be responsible for the day-to-day administration of the Far Eastern collections, as well as research-related, long-term projects such as the Chinese Gallery reinstallation. For a full job description and application details, contact Personnel Dept, The Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn NY 11239 USA; FAX 718-638-3731.

KOREA FOUNDATION
Fellowships for any aspect of Korean Studies (including Korean archaeology) are open to university professors, doctoral candidates and other qualified professionals outside Korea who wish to carry out in-depth research in Korea. Grants are also provided for Korean language training at one of the universities in Korea. Application forms are available from the Korea Foundation, CPO Box 2147, Seoul, Korea; FAX 757-2049.

ASIAN CULTURAL COUNCIL
The ACC supports cultural exchange between Asia and the United States by providing research and travel grants to Asians and American citizens for study in opposite countries. Asian Archaeology is included in the fields supported. Application deadlines are August 1st and February 1st. Contact: Asian Cultural Council, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York NY 10104.

CSCC
The Committee on Scholarly Communication with China has several grant categories, for work including Chinese archaeology, with applications forms available now:
Graduate Program: Coursework or research for 11 months at a Chinese University or research institute from Sept 94; Deadline: 16 Oct 93
Research Program: post-doc research on China, individual or collaborative, two to twelve months between 1 July 94 and 41 Dec 95; Deadline 16 Oct 93.
Travel Grants: Partial support for presenting research results on Chinese topics at a conference in the PRC. Applications reviewed constantly; apply 2-4 months prior to the conference.
Chinese Fellowships: For post-graduate research in the social sciences or humanities by PRC nationals at a US institution; for 5 months between 1 Aug 94 and 31 Dec 95. American scholars must nominate Chinese candidates to the program; Chinese scholars cannot apply directly. Scholars already enrolled in US degree programs not eligible. Nomination deadline: 13 Nov 93.

LSB Leakey Foundation
Beginning fall 1993, the Foundation will change its grant proposal review schedule. New deadlines:
General grants: Aug 15th and Jan 2nd
Fellowship for the Study of Foraging Peoples: Oct 15th
Paleoanthropology Large Grant: Oct 15th
Franklin Mosher Baldwin Fellowship: Jan 2nd
For new applications forms and guidlines, contact: The LSB Leakey Foundation, 77 Jack London Square, Suite M, Oakland CA 94607 USA. 510-834-3636, FAX 834-3640

Several EAANmembers expressed interest in more grants information. Details about European (and American) grants can be found in the Grants Register, an bi-annual publication by Macmillan, London, last issued in Autumn 1992. Other publications giving extensive information are Funding for Anthropological Research, edited by K. Cantrell & D. Wallen, Oryx Press, Phoenix, 1986; and Foundation Grants to Individuals, edited by S.W. Haile, The Foundation Center, New York NY, 1991 (7th ed.).
 

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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 Ethnographic Museum in Antwerp, Belgium, is hosting an exhibition "Korea: nature, religion and ceramics"-including 25 pre-Koryo pieces, 25 Koryo celadons, 10 punch'ong pieces, and 10 white porcelains-between March 26 and June 6, 1993. With these 74 objects selected from the most important Korean museums, this exhibition presents a survey of the rich historical patrimony of Korean ceramics for the first time in Belgium and prominent within a European perspective.

An exhibition entitled "Silk Road Coins-the Hirayama Collection" ran at the British Museum in London 1 april - 31 May 1993. The coins on display dated between the 4th c BC and the 6th c AD and represent the results of 15 years' numismatic study and research by Professor Ikuo HIRAYAMA and his wife Michiko. At the opening of the exhibition, the Museum Director, Dr. Robert Anderson, presented Prof. Hirayama with a silver medal on which is depicted Sir Marc Aurel Stein, "one of the Hirayamas' heroes".

"Appeasing the Spirits: Sui and Early Tang Dynasty tomb sculpture from the Scholoss Collection." 14 Feb - 5 May 93. Hofstra Museum, Emily Lowe Gallery, 112 Hofstra University, Hempstead NY 11550-1090 USA.

"Ten Dynasties of Chinese Ceramics from the Chang Foundation." 26 Mar - 5 May 93. Taipei Gallery, McGraw-Hill Bldg., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York City NY 10021 USA; 212-373-1854.

From 17 Nov 92-17 Jan 93, a showing of three terracotta army figures formed part of a major cultural exchange between the Shaanxi provincial government and the University of Michigan.

The Denver Art Museum re-opened its Asian art galleries in February 1993. It claims to be "the only center, world-wide that will display such a depth and breadth of Chinese Neolithic material".

The Cleveland Museum of Art celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1992, adding many notable gifts to the collections, including: a Sué jar dating to the 5th-6th century; a Korean earthenware, dating to around 300 BC; a Chinese ritual jade ax more than 4000 years old.

A new museum of Chinese prehistoric agriculture has opened in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, near the site of Hemudu. It celebrates the southern rice-growing cultures, as opposed to the northern millet cultures which tend to be taken as typical of early Chinese farming. (from China Today 42.3: 45-47)

The Institute of Silk Road Studies in Kamakura, headed by Prof. Hirayama is funding a scheme to support an annual trainee curatorship in the British Museum's Department of Coins and Medals. The first Hirayama Trainee Curator, Ms. Chandrika Jayasinghe from Sri Lanka, spent October 1992 to May 1993 participating in the traineeship. Prof. Hirayama has also donated half a million pounds to the British Museum towards the cost of a new studio for the conservation of Japanese and Far Eastern paintings. (from Japan 549, 20 April 93)

The Korea Foundation has established a Korean Department Endowment fund to provide for a permanent curatorship for the Department of Korean Art at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. It will also help fund a new Korean gallery in the Volunteer Park facility of the Seattle Art Museum.

An exhibition "In the Steppes of Genghis Khan: art & artefacts from Mongolia" showed at The October Gallery, 24 Old Glouster St, London, 6 May - 19 June 93.

"Luxury arts of the Silk Route empires" is a showing of metalwork and ceramics from the collections of the Sackler and Freer Galleries at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, which will continue indefinitely. The exhibition space was created in the newly constructed underground passageway between the two galleries. (Newsletter, EAAA 43/May: 8, 1993)

"Photographs of Chinese Buddhist sculpture in the Xianxi Province" were on display at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii, 6 May - 6 June 93.

The National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, had a "Special exhibition of Shang Dynasty bronze inscriptions" from April through June 1993.

Perhaps the most disturbing piece of museum news is that the new President of South Korea, Kim Young-sam, has acceded to demands that the building used for the National Museum of Korea in Seoul be moved out of the Kyongbok Palace grounds. Built by the Japanese for their colonial government headquarters, its siting was intentionally provocative, obscuring the view of and access to the traditional Yi Dynasty palace. Korea Newsreview has followed the controversy over the building during the last couple of years (issues on 2 Feb 91; 27 Jul 91), entailing several pros as well as cons for its removal. Among the cons were sensible people who recognized it as now part of Korea's history and as a superior example of contemporaneous German architecture. The building itself is formed around two inner courtyards, and the plan takes the shape of the Chinese character for 'sun', lying sideways. This has been interpreted as the first element in 'Nihon', adding insult to the injury of the building's siting. What has been ignored in this debate is that the plan was drawn up by a German architect without reference to oblique references to Chinese characters, and the floor plan is common to its type and period.
It is as yet undecided whether the building will be destroyed or moved. If the latter, the current site of the Yongsan US military base has been suggested as one place to put it after the base is moved outside of Seoul as agreed. But either way, the "relocation may be delayed for a few years because of the estimated 2 trillion won (approximately $2.5 billion) the Korean government has to bear in moving the US military facilities." (quotes from Korea Newsreview May 8, 1993: 32).

 

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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.

 

  1. BONN ARCHAEOLOGICAL STATISTICS PACKAGE (BASP)
    BASP is a non-profit software project for and by archaeologists. It includes programs for seriation, clustering, correspondance analysis, Harris Matrix analysis and other tools for archaeologists working with PCs. For further information, contact: Prof. Irwin Scollar, The Unkelbach Valley Software Works, In der Au 9, D-5480 Remagen 4, Germany.
    Email: a1001@rsl.rrz.uni-koeln.de
     
  2. JAPANESE EXCAVATIONS
    Five-moated site: At the Hiratsuka Kawazoe site in Amagi City, Fukuoka, a settlement surrounded by five moats was discovered late last year. It dates to the late 2nd c. AD in the Late Yayoi period and is thought to "provide archaeological corroboration of the intensity of the 'Great Disturbance of Wa', a civil war recorded in the Weizhi" preceding the formation of Yamatai. The innermost moat, 15 m wide x 1.8 m deep, encloses an oval area 300 m NS x 150 m EW. (Mainichi Shimbun 15 Dec 92)
    Largest moated graves: At Toshima Banba site in Kita-ku Tokyo, more than 40 moated graves dating to the 4th-5th c. were excavated. The local Board of Education presumes that the graves "indicate powerful leaders who controlled the gateway to the Arakawa and Tonegawa waterways".
    (Asahi Shimbun 17 Dec 92)
     
  3. KOREA FOUNDATION FILMS
    In cooperation with the Korean Overseas Information Service, the Foundation has sponsored the making and dubbing of 20 award-winning cultural films, including "Jade," "Punchong stoneware," "Kaya: the ancient kingdom," "The ancient Korean art of printing," and "Koryo celadon masterpieces." Produced as boty 35 mm films and video tapes, these have been dubbed into Chinese and Russian to be shown at theaters and on TV.
    (from Korea Foundation Newsletter 1.2: 14, 16 1993)
     
  4. GRANTS AWARDED

    Korea Foundation
    Ms. Irina A. Eliseeva (Curator, State Museum of Oriental Art, Russia) "Korean porcelain and ceramics of Choson"
    Prof. Jolanta Tubielewics (Warsaw Univ, Poland) "Early Korean-Japanese relations with special emphasis on the Kibi state"
    Dr. Alexander L. Ivliev (Researcher, Institute of History, Archaeology & Ethnography of Peoples of the Far East, Russia) "Comparative study of archaeological cultures of the Soviet Far East and Korea (8th-13th c.)"

    CJS, Univ of Michigan
    Prof. Marshall Wu (Art History Dept, Univ Michigan) "The relics housed in the Shosoin at Todaiji, Nara."

    Japan Foundation
    Dr. Hitomi Tonomura (Dept History, Univ Michigan) "Japan's early literary representations of sexuality and gender relations in the Kojiki."
    Kinley, Wangchu (Ministry of Home Affairs, Bhutan) "Training in renovation conservation of historical monuments"
    Chuch, Proeurn (Univ Fine Arts, Phnom-Penh) "Comparative study on the technical methodology of excavation in Japan and on the training in conservation of historical monuments"
    Prasartset, Chompunut (Silpakorn Univ) "Comparative study on the pigments of ancient Japanese and Thai wall paintings"
     
  5. ACRO UPDATE
    The April '93 issue of this quarterly newsletter (see NEWSLETTER EXCHANGES above) contained notes on: Korean ceramics in Korea and in America; Chinese ceramics in the Philippines; Early ceramic finds in Indonesia; Technical analysis of ceramic finds in Thailand; Chinese ceramics found in Jordan; Middle Eastern ceramics in China; New yixing studies; Recent books on ceramics; Thefts from museums; Ceramic conferences; Zhejiang ceramic study tours; Exhibitions of Asian ceramics; and Kiln excavations in China. The last topic is excerpted here:
    Hongzhou ware kilns in Jiangxi: discovered in 1979 at Fengcheng; excavated again in autumn 1992 by the Archaeology Dept of Beijing Univ with YU Jiadong, Jiangxi Institute of Archaeology, as one of the site directors. Hongzhou ware is green-glazed with geometric floral designs and irregular brown spots, produced in 4th-9th c. AD.
    Jian ware kilns in Fujian: excavated at Jianyang since 1989, one of the directors of the project is LI Dejin of the CASS Institute of Archaeology in Beijing. The 1992 season revealed perhaps the highest concentration of the longest (ca. 118m, 138m) climbing kilns ever found in China. The kilns produced Qingbai wares, light green-glazed and brown-glazed ceramics, as well as its famous temmoku wares.
    Qingbai ware kilns in Hubei: new kilns have been discovered over the last five years at 100 localities around Liangzi-hu in Wuchang. Active in the 10th-14th c., they produced Longquan-type green-glazed wares and qingbai wares-the latter more commonly found at Jingdezhen. One site report is currently being finalized by CHEN Wenxue, Hubei Institute of Archaeology.
     
  6. PUBLISHING OPPORTUNITIES
    The Edwin Mellen Press is currently accepting manuscripts for publication in the area of Chinese Studies, including archaeology, and other areas. Send in an outline, table of contents or sample chapter of the work and a manuscript proposal form. The forms are available from Barbara Jones, Editor, The Edwin Mellen Press, PO Box 450, Lewiston NY 14092 USA; FAX 716-754-4056.

    Rodwell Books Limited a newly-established publishing company specialising in business, finance and East Asian affairs.

    The Publisher, EAANmember Sally Rodwell, a Cambridge graduate in East Asian Archaeology, plans to include East Asian archaeology titles aimed at a non-academic audience worldwide. Prospective authors please contact:

    Ms. Sally Rodwell, Publisher, Rodwell Books Limited, 46 Duxford Road, Whittlesford Cambridge CB2 4NQ England/FAX +44-223-836752
     
  7. EARLY WOODWORKING TECHNOLOGY COURSE
    A 5-day course (19-23 July 1993) will be held in conjunction with the Institute of Archaeology (University College London) Summer Schools, focussing on the practical aspects of woodworking from 0-1200 AD, primarily using recently excavated archaeological material as its source. Participants will study the recognition and recording of features of woodworking technology, such as timber conversion types and methods, features of tool marks and their dating, evidence for the life history of artefacts or structures, and ancient woodwork as a resource for reconstructing ancient woodland and cultural landscapes. Fieldtrips are organized to ancient "tree-lands" and experimental woodworking will be done. Contact: D.M. Goodburn, Ancient Woodworking Specialist, c/o Museum of London Archaeological Service, No. 1 London Wall, London EC2Y 5HN England.
     
  8. LOST CITIES OF THE CHINESE SILK ROUTE TOUR
    The Dayton Art Institute is sponsoring an education tour of Beijing, Kashgar, Kalakuki Lake, Urumqi, the Grasslands, Turpan, Dunhuang, Lanzhou, Binglingsi, Xi'an, Luoyang, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong 20 Sept - 14 Oct 93 for a price of only US$5,975. Booking forms are available from The Dayton Art Institute, Arttrek, PO Box 941, Dayton OH 45401-0941 USA. Further information about the tour contents can be had from Peter Gilmartin, China Educational Tours, 1-800-225-4262; or from Chris Saunders at the Dayton Art Institute 513-223-5277.
     
  9. UK SUMMER SCHOOLS
    The woodworking course mentioned above (NOTEWORTHIES NO. 7) is only one of scores of intensive specialised courses in archaeology, conservation of antiquities, and museum studies available in the Summer School programme at London's Institute of Archaeology. Correspondence courses are also offered for "Chemistry for Conservators". For further information, contact: James Black, Co-ordinator, Summer Schools, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, England. 071-387-9651; FAX 071-383-2572.
     
  10. ASIAN ART AND ETHNOGRAPHY COLLECTIONS IN NORTH AMERICAN MUSEUMS
    The Museum Committee for Asian Art and Culture of the Association for Asian Studies will soon be distributing a Questionnaire to museums holding collections of Asian materials. Responses will be collated for publication in a guide of the above title. If any North American museum holding Asian objects has not received a copy of the Questionnaire, please contact Ms. Amy G. Poster, Curator of Asian Art, The Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238 USA.
     
  11. TAIWAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE
    An email message addressed to ARCH-L from Mr. Joseph Wen reads:
    "On behalf of the Council for Cultural Planning and Development, the highest government agent dealing with cultural affairs in Taiwan, I am very pleased to find the information about your group. We would be very willing to build up a communication channel between your members and the Council.
    "Currently, the Council is working on a project with the intention to set up a research institute for cultural heritage, including the aspects of archaeology, preservation of historical sites and so on. We are urgently in need of information relating to the aforementioned topics. You are more than welcome to make any comments on those issues. Your opinion will be highly appreciated." Reply to: joseph wen<GOVEO14 BITNET.twnmoe10@de.gwdg.ibm
     
  12. LITHIC STUDIES SOCIETY
    The Lithic Studies Society was established in 1980 in order to further the study of flint and stone artefacts of all periods, both in Britain and abroad. The scope of its interests embraces all aspects of lithic artefacts including typology, technology, chronology, experiment functional analysis, procurement and production, and all kinds of analysis.
    To celebrate over 10 years of interest and activity the Society held a conference on 2-4 April 1993 at St. Hilda's College, Oxford. Sessions covered aspects of dating and scientific techniques; raw materials and petrology; resource management; functional analysis and technology and typology. For further details contact Nick Ashton, Lithic Studies Society, British Museum, Frank's House, 38 Osman Road, London N1 5QJ.
    The Lithic Studies Society has an annual subscription of just £5, for which members receive an annual newsletter (Lithics), as well as invitations to lectures, day conferences and excursions. For an application form, contact Nick Ashton. (from Past 14: 12 '92)
     
  13. CULTURAL RELICS PROTECTION & RESTORATION CENTER, XI'AN
    The Chinese and Italian governments have signed a plan for construction of a Cultural Relics Protection and Restoration Center in Xi'an City, to have begun in January 1993. The Center will be jointly set up by Shaanxi Province and the Italian government, and it will be involved in protection and restoration of cultural relics and training of professionals in the field. (from China Exchange News 20.3/4: 36'92)
     
  14. CULTURAL PROPERTIES PRESERVATION IN JAPAN
    Newly designated 'Historic sites':
    Shiraishi Inariyama tomb, Gunma
    Old embankment along the Midai River, Yamanashi
    Akatsuchiyama tomb, Nara
    Tomita Chausuyama tomb, Kagawa
    Garandoya tomb, Oita
    Chiran castle remains, Kagoshima
    Newly designated 'Important Cultural Properties':
    Hikobe House, Gunma
    Daio-hoden (main sanctuary) at Zuishoji, Tokyo
    Sasaki House, Shimane
    Main Hall, Tsuden Hall and Oratory at Takuhi Shrine, Shimane
    In addition, Suzakumon, the main gate to the ancient Heijo Palace in Nara has been allocated funds for re-creation. Begun in April 1993, reconstruction will be completed in 3 years. It is also planned to restore the boulevard leading up to the gate.
    (Asahi Shimbun 25 Jan 93)
     
  15. DATING HAIR FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
    Now being used in the debate over the peopling of the New World are the AMS dating of hair and its potential genetic analysis to determine Old World-New World relationships. Rob Bonnichsen, Oregon State University, has developed a "new methodology for floating ancient hair from clay-rich archaeological deposits." He has recovered hair from humans and other large and small mammals at his Mammoth Meadow site in Montana. For info about this new technology, contact him at the Center for the Study of the First Americans, Oregon State University, Corvallis OR 97331 USA. (quotes from Mammoth Trumpet 8.2: 8; Mar 93)
     
  16. TOP 10 EXCAVATIONS IN CHINA FOR 1992
    LI Jianguo has written a synopses of the ten most important excavations out of the 500 conducted in 1992, appearing in Travel China, April 10-24, 1993:
    1. Paleolithic remains at Jigong Mt in Jiangling, Hubei. Five gravel circles, est. 40-50,000 ya, and the "first discovery in China of human activity during the Palaeolithic Age on a plain."
    2. Moated settlement at Xinglongwa, Inner Mongolia: 6000-5000 BC; earlier pit-buildings were laid out in rows, later ones were spaced more haphazardly; some existed outside the moat. Most burials were within the moated area, some containing pig skeletons and jades.
    3. City remains at Qujialing, Hunan: est. 4600-4700 ya. The moated, walled city with interior building foundations covered ca. 820,000 sq. ft.
    4. Liangzhu earthen platform in Kunshan county, Jiangsu: est. 2200-5000 ya, it is 4 m high and 3000 m2 in size, surrounded by burials of "young human sacrifices".
    5. Tombs of Marquis of the state of Jin in Beizhao village, Shanxi: 11th c BC, 7 tombs belonging to the successive Marquis and their wives were accompanied by pits containing horses & chariots.
    6. Tombs of the state of Chu at the site of Danjiangkou reservoir, Xichuan county, Henan: 50+ tombs from Middle and Late Zhou periods yielding over 1000 artifacts.
    7. Han tombs in Tianchang county, Zhujian village, Anhui: One Late Zhou tomb and 24 Early Han tombs yielded 750 artifacts including good quality and abundant lacquerware, and a "rare complete set of 28 carpentry tools, including an ax, saw, drawknife, drill, chisel, file and leveling instrument."
    8. Han tombs at Lijia Mt in Jiangchuan county, Yunnan: 58 Dian tombs, including "six tombs of slave owners hav[ing] a unique burial style and contain[ing] many burial objects." Artefacts included bronzeware (drums, containers, tomb figures, chime bells), gold articles (sheaths, belts and buttons in animal shapes).
    9. Tomb of Yelü Yuzhi, Zhaokutu Mt near Hansumusumu, Ar Horqin Banner, Inner Mongolia: Tomb of a Qidan (Khitan) nobel of the early Liao Dynasty (907-1125), who died in 941.
    10. Northern Song-dynasty garden remains in Luoyang: Pavilions, paths and ponds.
     
  17. SILK ROAD VIDEOS
    In p NOTEWORTHIES 8-17, the production of a series of six videos on the Silk Road was announced. Six more are now available: Khotan-oasis of silk and jade, A heat wave called Turfan, Through the Tian Shan Mountains by rail, Journey into music-south through the Tian Shan mountains, Where horses fly like the wind, and Two roads to the Pamirs. Two of the twelve videos in this series were shown at the AAS meetings in Los Angeles in March:
    "The art gallery in the desert" 55 min. Tour of the world-famous Magao Caves-over 500 of them, more than 30 miles in length, with 3000 murals and statues-in the middle of the Gobi Desert. These date from 366 BC, an art scholar's dream. Soundtrack music is by world famous composer/performer Kitaro.
    "Khotan: oasis of silk and jade" 55 min. Here the view climbs the Kunlun Mountains, where jade has been mined for over 2000 years. Then they prospect for precious jewels on the riverbeds below the mountains and join a search to rediscover the great Buddhist temple city of Dandan Oilik. The Silk Dance of the Xinyu Song and Dance Troup is part of the trip, as is watching master rug weavers at work.
    (Asian Studies Newsletter 38.2 Apr/May: 10, 1993)
     
  18. WORLD HISTORY ASSOCIATION
    The WHA works to provide a much needed network of support and encouragement to teachers struggling to design courses offering more than regional studies. It published two biannual publications, a journal and a bulletin. WHA has a membership of 1500 scholars and teachers of world history, sponsors regional and national conferences yearly, and meets with the American Historical Association. Membership is US$25. For further information, contact: Richard Rosen, Executive Director, World History Association, Dept of History and Politics, Drexel Univ, Philadelphia PA 19104 USA.

 

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CONFERENCES:

CONFERENCE CALENDAR

N.B. Titles new to this issue are emboldened and those dealing specifically with East Asia are starred*

 

Jul 6-9 '93: The Human Use of Caves International Conference, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Regional summaries and thematic sessions covering Occupation Sites; Waste Disposal Sites; Ossuaries; Theatres of Ritual; Art Galleries; Storage Facilities. Contact: Christopher Smith, Dept of Archaeology, Univ of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU UK.

Jul 25-29 '93: UISPP Commission IV Meeting & Excursions 1993, Sydney/Canberra, Australia. The conference will include general sessons covering the broad themes of "Recording & management of archaeological data," "Quantitative & statistical methods in archaeology," and "Computing applications in Archaeology" plus special sessions on "Using images," "GIS & Computer mapping," "Shape analysis," "Computer applications" and practical workshops. Visits are arranged to ERIN, Australian Heritage Commission, Museum of Australia, Centre for Remote Sensins (U. NSW), Archaeological Computing Lab (U. Sydney), the Australian Museum and Powerhouse Museum. Contact: Trish Pemberton, USIPP93 Conference Sec'y, Prehistoric & Historical Archaeology C/- Anthropology A14, Univ. Sydney NSW 2006 Australia, or E-mail: Ian.Johnson@Antiquity.Su.Edu.Au

Jul 28-5 Aug'93: 13th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Mexico City. Main theme: "The cultural and biological dimensions of global change." Contact: Congresos 2000, Viajes Kuoni de México, Aptdo. Postal 6/856, Hamburgo No. 66, Col. Juárez 06600 México, D.F. Mexico 5-533-6337/39, 5-533-6276/79 FAX 5-511-0971, 5-207-0957.

*Aug 2-7 '93: 7th International Conference on the History of East Asian Science, Osaka. Contact: Prof. Hashimoto, 39-2 Tange, Momoyama-cho, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto 612 Japan.

Aug 9-14'93: UISPP Commission IV Conference: Data management, mathematical methods & computing, Blue Mountains, Australia. Contact: Ian Johnson, Prehistoric & Historical Archaeology, Univ. of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia.

*Aug 12-16 '93: International Conference on the Shang City at Zhengzhou and Yin-Shang Culture, Zhengzhou, Henan. Contact: Wang, Yuxin, Institute of History CASS, No. 6 Ritan Road Jianguomen Wai Da Jie, Beijing 100020 China.

Aug 17-23 '93: 7th International Conference on Hunting & Gathering Societies, Moscow. Contact: Linda Ellana, Dept of Anthropology, Univ Alaska, Fairbanks, AK 99775 USA 907-474-6751, FAX 907-474-5817

*Aug 19-23 '93: International Conference on Southern Chinese Bronzes and Yin-Shang Culture, Nanchang, Jiangxi. Contact PENG Shifan, Jiangxi Provincial Museum, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330003, China 0791-227200

*Aug 22-28 '93: 34th International Congress of Asian and North African Studies (ICANAS), University of Hong Kong. Call for papers and panel proposals! Contact: Secretary-General, ICANAS Office, c/o Dept of History, Univ of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. FAX 852-517-0052 or 858-9755; E-mail: ICANAS@HKUCC.BITNET

*Aug 23-31 '93: International Symposium on the Origins and Evolution of Ethnocultural Processes in Asia, Novosibirsk. Field trips to open-air and cave sites in Altai Mts. Contact: Anatoly P. Derevyanko, Institute of Archaeology & Ethnography SD RAS, Acad. Lavrent'yev Ave. 17, Novosibirsk-90, 630090 Russia. FAX 007-383-235-7791.

Sep 8-10 '93: Science and Site: evaluation and conservation, Bornemouth, UK. A conference on archaeological sciences. Contact: Katherine Barker, The Joint Centre, Dept of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB UK; 0202-595273; FAX 0202-595255.

*Sep '93: Annual Conference of the Japan Society for the Study of Oriental Trade Ceramics. Contact: Masatoshi ONO, National Museum of Japanese History, Sakura City, Chiba Pref., Japan.

*Sep 20-24 '93: Stirrup, Sail and Plough: continental and maritime influences on Japanese identity, ANU. Contact: Donald Denoon, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, GPOBox 4, Canberra ACT, 2601 Australia. 06-249-5111, FAX 06-257-1893.

Sep 24-26 '93: The Prehistoric Society 1993 Conference: The Origins and Spread of Agriculture and Pastoralism in Eurasia, London. Contact: Judith Harris, Admin. Asst., The Prehistoric Society, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, England.

*Oct '93: Annual Conference of the Chinese National Ceramic Society, Fujian. Contact: YE Wencheng, Dept of Anthropology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, PRC. This conference is timed to coincide with the opening of the Dehua Ceramic Museum.

Nov 12-15 '93: 25th Chacmool Conference: Cultural Complexity in Archaeology, Calgary. Contact: 1993 Conf. Committee, Dept. of Archaeology, Univ. of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4 CANADA; 403-220-5227; FAX 403-282-9567.

*Nov 17-24 '93: 92nd Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Washington DC. Dr. Kathleen Morrison, Univ of Hawaii, is organizing a panel on "Landscapes of power: regional perspectives on states in Asia."

*Nov '93: "The Grassland Ecosystem of the Mongolian Steppe." The CSCC will sponsor this research conference as part of its Grassland Ecosystem of the Mongolian Steppe (GEMS) Project, a collaborative research project among Chinese, Mongolian and Western scholars to examine the human and natural impacts on the grasslands. Contact: James Reardon-Anderson, Director, CSCC Suite 2013, 1055 Thomas Jefferson Street NW, Washington DC 20007 USA. 202-334-2718; FAX 202-334-1774.

Dec '93: Archaeology Institute of America Annual Meeting, Washington DC. Panel on SEA archaeology organized by EAANmember Dr. Jean James, 1101 Kirkwood Ave., Iowa city IA 52240 USA. Jean will be hosting a panel on Southeast Asian archaeology

Dec 13-16 '93: 15th Annual Conference of the Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG), Durham. Session and paper abstracts due June 1st. Contact: TAG Organising Committee, Dept of Archaeology, 46 Saddler St., Durham DH1 3NU UK.

*Dec 28-3 Jan '93: 60th Anniversary of Hoabinhian Conference. Contact: Dr. Marielle Santoni c/o Musee Guimet, 6 Place d'Iena, 75016 Paris, France. This is scheduled to follow on to the IPPA conference next.

*Jan 5-12 '94: 15th Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association (IPPA) Congress, Note change of location to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Contact: Dr. Peter Bellwood, Dept of Prehistory & Anthropology, ANU CPO Box 4, Canberra ACT 2601 Australia.

*Mar 24-27, '94: AAS annual meeting, Boston at the Boston Marriott Copley Place

Apr 4-8 '94: MRS Spring Meeting: Discussions on Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology, USA.

Apr 11-13 '94: Wetland Archaeology & Nature Conservation: principles, problems & practice, University of Bristol, UK. First call for Papers. Contact Dr. Margaret Cox, Somerset Levels & Moors Archaeologist, Dept. for the Environment, Somerset County Council, County Hall, Taunton, Somerset TA1 4DY, UK. 0823-255426; FAX 0823-334346.

*Apr 17-23 '94: BUMA-3, the 3rd International Conference on the Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys, Sanmenxia. Contact ASAP: Prof. HAN Rubin, Institute of Historical Metallurgy, Univ of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 China. +86-1-201-9944 x 2534, FAX +86-1-201-7283

Apr 18-24 '94: 59th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim, CA.

May 9-14 '94: International Conference on Archaeometry, Ankara.

Jun '94: International Conference on Fresh Water and River Archaeology, College of North Wales, Bangor. Session: lake dwellings and crannogs, lake transport, riverside habitation sites, river transport, estuarine excavations, sink holes, inundated sites, drains and wells, boat finds from land-fill and drainage areas. Contact: Mensun Bound, MARE, Univ of Oxford, 4 Butts Rd, Horspath, Oxford, England.

Dec 4-11 '94: World Archaeological Congress, New Delhi. Contact: Dr. Makkhan Lal, WAC, PO Box 112 H.P.O., Aligarh 2020001 INDIA. 571-29143 or 25546.

Aug '94: 15th International Radiocarbon Conference, Glasgow, Scotland.

 

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PAPERS READ

For copies of the papers listed here, please contact either the symposium or panel organizer if the author is unknown to you
 

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CULTURES OF NORTHERN CHINESE ANCIENT NATIONS,
11-18 Aug 92, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia
Speakers' addresses can be found in Early China News 5 (Fall 1992).

Panel: General research on northern archaeological cultures
Varyonov, A.V.: Archeological relics of small peoples of the northern part of China in Shang~Early Western Zhou period-problems of dating, distribution and cultural interrelation
Shi, Peijun: Environmental conditions in the early period
Tian, Guanjin: Reciprocal influence between archaeological cultures along the Great Wall in Inner Mongolia and the neighboring cultures of the same period
Tu, Ching-sheng: On inspecting animal motifs and northern Chinese nations
Bunker, Emma: Unprovenanced artifacts belonging to the pastoral tribes of Inner Mongolia and North China during the 8th-1st c. BC
Hollman, T.O.: Social structure and political order as reflected in the Maoqinggou burials-a few preliminary remarks
Guo, Dashun: The discovery and research of northern-shaped bronzes in the Liao River valley
So, Jenny: Ordos and Qin-a northwestern connection

Panel: The archaeological cultures of the Shang-Zhou period (16th-8th c. BC) and before the northern nations
Lang, Shude: Research on the prehistoric bone artifacts with stone cutting-edges in Gansu province
Huber, L.G.F.: The question of contact with distant cultures
Kovalev, A.A.: The problem of isolating the culture of northern Chinese nomads of the Yin-Chou period
Neuman, R.W.: Structural evidence of the pastoral nomad habitations, northwest Xinjiang province
Novgorodova, E.A.: New chronology of deer stones and petroglyphs from Mongolia
Chiou-Peng, T.H.: The bronze culture of western Yunnan-an extension of the steppe cultural zone
Linduff, K.M.: Cultural exchanges in the northern corridor-aspects of culture change at Ahukaigou

Panel: Spring and Autumn and Warring States (8th c. B.C.-3rd c. A.D.)
Wu, En: A preliminary study of the art of the Upper Xiajiadian culture
Qi, Xiaoguang: Hollow-headed axes in Upper Xiajiadian culture and related problems
Li, Chenqi: A study of the cultural types of the Bronze Age and the embryonic
form of the early phase of the Iron Age in the Song Huajiang-Nenjiang Plains
Lou, Feng: The recent discovery and research on the bronze culture of the northern complex between the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods along Long Mountain, the central part of the Ganning region
Wiao, Xiaoqin: The symbolic meaning of Ordos bronze decor
Csorba, Mrea: Cultural coherence among early grassland populations of China's northern zone
Shi, Yongshi: A synopsis of the concise edition on the Yan culture
Han, Rubin: Preliminary results on testing of bronzes from Zhukaigou
Guo, Suxin: Review of the origin of Ordos style bronzes

Panel: Xiongnu Culture
Bardi, Laszlo: An overview of Xiongnu research from the early 1930's to the present
Lin, Yun: The archaeological study of Xiongnu (Hun) origins in China
Psarras, Sophia-Karen: Redating Xiongnu culture
Minyaev, S.S.: On the origin of the Xiongnu
Sun, Shoudao: Cultural distinction between the ancient tombs of Xiongnu and Xishagou ciultures
Komissarov, S.A.: The Roman Legionairies in the armed forces of the Xiongnu
Erdy, N.Z.: Xiongnu type cauldrons throughout central Eurasia and their occurrence on petroglyphs

Panel: Grassland culture during the 2nd -14th C. AD
Chen, Tangdong: The origin of Tuoba and the creation of the myth reflected by the animal ornamentation of Xianbei
Bu, Yangwu: The discoveries and study of bronze and iron cooker fu
Dien, Albert: Weapons in the Six Dynasties period with special notice of crossbow mechanisms
Tao, Zhenggand: The tomb of Lourui King Dongan of Northern Qi
Dluzhnevskaya, G.V.: Empire of Liao and Yenisei Kirghizes-contact and mutual influences
Rubinson, K.S.: Tillya-tepe and the Yuezhi (Rouzhi)-a look at the evidence
Horvath, Izabella: The role of the griffin in the art and society of the steppe-dwelling peoples of Eurasia
Dittrich, Edith: The spread of the lion motif in ancient Asia
Adams, Noel: Lost wax casting with textiles: a survey of the process with special reference to Ordos and Late Avar period belt fittings
Chase, W.T.: Corrosion problems with steppe bronzes

Panel: Korean/Russian cultures and cultural exchange
Nelson, S.M.: A new understanding of Korean bronzes in light of northern Chinese bronzes
Rhee, Song Nai: Socio-cultural developments in the Korean peninsula during 2300-1700 BP and their northern Chinese connections
Li, Henggui: Discussion about the theory that ancient Korean culture derived from Siberia
Shen, Fengjin: Archaeological excavation of the golden bird tomb of the Jiaye period
Khavrin, S.V.: Component analysis of Karasuk culture bronzes
Semyonov, V.A.: The culture of the early nomads in Tuva
Lubo-Lesnitchenko, E.: Kirghiz route, 4th c BC-AD 10th c.
Kamarovsky, M.G.: New findings of the Golden Horde silver from Ob valley, north Chinese and Islamic features in the 13th-14th centuries

Panel: Liao culture
Steinhardt, N.S.: Symbolism in Liao architecture
Gridley, M.: Historical implications of the colossal sculpture of Guanjin at Liao Shanqing
Ma, Wenkuan: Islamic glass unearthed from Liao tombs and pagodas-also on relations of the Liao with the Islamic world
Li, Yiyou: The subjects and contents of Liao tomb wall paintings
Cahill, Hsingyuan Tsao: On the authorship of the Tartar horses
 

THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARCHAEOLOGY AROUND THE BOHAI SEA,
22-26 Aug 1992, Shijiazhuang, Hebei. Selected papers were:

An, Zhimin: On the prehistoric cultures around the Bohai Sea
Okamura, Hidemori: Prehistoric cultural exchanges between the Liaodong and Shandong peninsulas
Komoto, Masayuki: Prehistoric fishing around the Yellow Sea
Yang, Hu: Liaoxi region Neolithic to bronze sequences
Xu, Guanghui: Types of stone graves in eastern Liaoning and their relationships
Lin, Yun: An archaeological study of Donghu and Shanrong
 

THE SILK ROAD: ARCHAEOLOGICAL THEMES FROM CENTRAL ASIA,
 Feb-Mar 1993, Institute of Archaeology, London. Organized by Dr. A.J. Legge, Birkbeck College, University of London.

Lieu, S.: Western religions on the Silk Road-Manichaeism and Nestorianism
Herrman, G.: The Early Sasanian Kings-their art and architecture
Errington, E.: The Kushans and the art of Gandhara
Rogers, J.M.: The Mongols
Ball, W.: The Silk Road-routes and commodities
Simpson, StJ: Excavations and survey at Merv: the study of a Central Asian city
 

FIRST UNDER HEAVEN: THE HENDERSON COLLECTION OF KOREAN CERAMICS,
2 Mar 93, Arthur Sackler Museum, Harvard University.

Nelson, Sarah: Gifts for the royal spirits-early Korean ceramics
Mowry, Robert: A change in taste-celedons and other ceramics of the Koryo Dynasty (918-1392)
Best, Jonathan: Of time and clay-history and ceramics in Choson Dynasty Korea (1392-1920)
Sayers, Robert: Forgotten earth-Korean food jar (onggi) potters of the late Choson period
 

45TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR ASIAN STUDIES,
25-28 March '93, Los Angeles

Panel: Correlations in Early Chinese thinking, organized by Dr. Sarah Allan, SOAS, University of London
Wang, Tao: Dark heaven and yellow earth-colour symbolism in Shang dynasty oracle bone inscriptions and the development of five phases theory
Allan, Sarah: Sprouts of virtue and the nature of nature in early Chinese philosophical thought

Panel: Defining Chu-image and reality in ancient China, organized by Dr. C.A. Cook, Lehigh University
Blakeley, Barry B.: Space and time in the evolution of the Chu sphere
Cook, Constance A.: Chu ritual and the move east
Major, John S.: The Chu legacy in Early Han cosmology and religion
Sukhu, Gopal: The shaman calling-Chu under the Han

Panel: Workshops, factories and art production in pre-modern China, organized by J. Keith Wilson, Cleveland Museum of Art
Wilson, J. Keith: Early Chinese foundry operations: evidence from Shang bronze inscriptions
Rawson, Jessica: Iron technology in China-the workshop and the factory
Little, Stephen: Economic change in 17th-century China and innovations at the Jingdezhen kilns

Panel: Hair-fashions and resistance, organized by Alf Hiltebeitel, George Washington University
Nelson, Sarah M.: Hair styles as reflections of status in ancient Korea

Panel: Asian collections in North America, organized by A.M. Stinchecum, Hosei University
Kotani, Yoshinobu: Ainu collections in North American museums

Roundtable: Korean excavations of iron armour, organized by G.L. Barnes, St. John's College Cambridge
Shin, Kyong-ch'ol: Iron armour excavated from the Yeongnam region
Yoshimura, Kazuaki: Protohistoric Japanese armour
Wagner, Donald B.: Early iron in China, Korea and Japan
Dien, Albert E.: Chinese armour through the ages
 

58TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY FOR AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY,
14-18 April 93, St. Louis

Van Dyke, Ruth: Ideology and the Ancient Chinese state
Miller-Antonio, Sari: Lithic variability in Upper Pleistocene northern China
Pickering, Robert: Interpreting Aztec and Taiwanese culture in a multicultural environment


Panel: Studies of subsistence and settlements during the Jomon period (10,000-300 BC) in Japan, organized by Prof. Fumiko Ikawa-Smith, McGill University
Ikawa-Smith, Fumiko: Settlement studies in Japanese archaeology-a review
Kaner, Simon: Jadeite, snow and ritual-Jomon residential shift practices along the Sea of Japan
Habu, Junko: Subsistence-settlement systems in the Moroiso phase, Early Jomon period
Matsui, Akira: Awazu Lake bottom site-a study of subsistence-settlement systems in western Honshu
Chisholm, Brian: Inland/coastal links as seen from isotopic analysis of Japanese prehistoric human burials
Kobayashi, Tatsuo: Dual organization of Jomon communities
Tanaka, Yoshiyuki: Tooth measurements as indicators of kinship distance and post-marital residence patterns in the Final Jomon of western Japan
Bleed, Peter and Weymouth, John: A nice place to live and work-community structure at Yagi
Crawford, Gary and D'Andrea Catherine: Zoku-Jomon (Epi-Jomon) settlement patterns inferred from archaeobotanical studies

Panel: Social perspectives on East and Southeast Asian prehistory, organized by Elisabeth Bacus, University Museum, University of Michigan
Lee, Yun: Spatial expression of social organization-a case study of a Yangshao village community
Kim: Seung-og: Burials, pigs and political prestige
Li, Liu: Development of ritual activities in Neolithic north China
Underhill, Anne: The role of pottery vessels in mortuary ritual during the Late Neolithic period of China
Nelson, Sarah: Hongshan, an early complex society in China
 

WAC CONFERENCE ON URBANISM,
Mombasa, Kenya, Spring 1993
Niiro, Izumi: The formation of complex society in Japan and surrounding area
 

SACKLER MUSEUM OPENING CONFERENCE,
Beijing, 28-29 May 93

Panel: New proposals for method & theory in Chinese archaeology and training archaeologists & museologists for the 21st century, organized by YU Weichao (Beijing Museum of History) and IIJIMA Taketsugu
Thorp, Robert: The goals and methods of archaeology and art history
Kessler, Adam: Chinese archaeology past and future
Yang, Jianfang: General issues on the research of ancient jade
Li, Yangsong: Some issues on Chinese ethno-archaeology
Poor, Robert: Rule of thumb-measure in ancient China
Hakari, Hiromitsu: A discussion of rock fissure burials
Welinder, Stig: Women in archaeology
Chen, Guoning: Museum marketing and personnel training for Chinese museums in the 21st century
Wu, Zhaoxi: On the development of an intensive training program for Chinese exhibition designers

Panel: Recent discoveries and research on Chinese archaeology-the Palaeolithic and Neolithic, organized by ZHANG Zhongpei and SHAO Wangping
Zhang, Senshui: The use of the bipolar technique in China's Paleolithic industry
Zhang, Xuehai: Putting the concept of the culture area into practice for the archaeology of the Haidai region
Zhao, Chaohong: Research and investigation of issues related to discoveries of the early Chinese Neolithic
Mu, Yongkang: An archaeological opinion on prehistoric sunworship in the East
Zhang, Xuqiu: Recent developments in the prehistory of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River
Ceng, Qi: A new investigation of the prehistoric remains along the Pear River estuary
Li, Shuicheng: A discussion of the Dongjiatai type culture and related issues

Panel: Recent discoveries and research on Chinese archaeology-the Bronze Age, organized by K.C. Chang (Harvard University) and Thomas Lawton (Smithsonian)
Chang, K.C.: City Shang and the origin and early cultural characteristics of the Shang dynasty
Lawton, Thomas: Western catalogues of Chinese ritual bronzes
Rawson, Jessica: Human figures and faces on early Chinese bronzes and jades
So, Jenny: Eastern Zhou bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections and recent finds in Shanxi province
Bagley, Robert: Technical studies of Jin bronzes
Yang, Baocheng: A discussion of the large-scale tomb excavated at Xin'gan
Falkenhausen, Lothar von: Studies on the Sackler bells
Yang, Yubin: Recent discoveries and studies in Henan archaeology
Chen, Zhenyu: Survey on lacquerwares dating to the Warring States, and Qin and Han periods unearthed in China
Wang, Xun: Three Shang-Zhou vessels taken from the Sackler Museum exhibit and the pre-Qin silk industry
Allan, Sarah: The tiger motif in the south and the Central Plains
Childs-Johnson, Elizabeth: The demon who devours but cannot swallow
Sin, Xiang: Ancient Shu civilization
Sun, Hua: The Bronze Age of the Sichuan basin

Panel: Recent discoveries and research on Chinese archaeology, post-Han, organized by XU Pingfang, (CASS Institute of Archaeology) and SUN Ji
Jiang, Zanchu: New developments on the research of proto-porcelains and early porcelains in southern China
Quan, Kuishan: A discussion of the shifting of Chinese traditional kiln centers
Mino, Yutaka: Cizhou type wares decorated with enamel overglaze painting
Qin, Dashu: A discussion of the rise and fall of the Cizhou Guantai kilns
Sun, Ji: A discussion of Tujue and Tujue-style gold and silver wares recently excavated in Inner Mongolia
Han, Wei: Textual criticism of inscriptions on Tang dyansty gold and silver wares from the crypt of Famen temple
Wang, Zhengyong: A study of ancient bronze drums from the Guangdong-Guangxi region
Bai, Rongjin: Researches on the reconstruction of Han dynasty armour
Fan, Jinshi: Dunhuang paintings
Lin, Yun: Two studies of mural paintings in Liao dynasty tombs
Ledderose, Lothar: Archaeology and calligraphy in the Qing dynasty
Geng, Jiren: An analysis and restoration of the wooden-framed grotto eaves recorded in the Dunhuang documents collected by Kyushu University, Japan

Panel: The application of science and technology to archaeology, organized by Tom Chase (Smithsonian) and QIU Shihua
Jin, Zhengyao; Mabuchi, Hisao and Chase, Tom: A study on lead isotope ratios of the bronze objects from Sanxingdui, Sichuan province
Mabuchi, Hisao: A lead isotope study of 39 bronze mirrors excavated from the Hirabaru site
Bunker, Emma: "Silvery" colored surfaces on ancient Chinese bronzes
Jiang, Tingyu: The application of modern science and technology to the study of bronze drums
Chen, Tiemei et al.: A provence study of Jiangnanshi pottery using neutron activation analysis
Wen, Guang: A geoarchaeological sudy of ancient Chinese jade
Pingel, Volker: Aerial archaeology and monument protection
Song, Baoquan: Investigations for using aerial archaeology in China
Hua, Jueming and You, Zhanghong: Traditional coin-minting technology-one of the subjects of studies on the Da Ye Fu
Wang, Dajun: A study investigating scientific properties of some Chinese antiquities

Panel: Connections between China and the rest of the world in ancient times
Pirazzoli-T'serstevens: Cultural contributions of the outside world to China
Pearson, Richard: Chinese trade and the development of the Chuzan Kingdom, Okinawa, AD 1200-1600
Wang, Kelin: Warrior figurines and bronze jars travel east to Japan
Lee, Hyeong Koo: Reconsidering the origin of animal motifs found on the articles of Bronze culture in Korea
Hoan, Xaan Chin: Cultural relationships between Vietnam and China based upon the archaeological data found in Vietnam
Diep, Junk Hoa: Sceptres in the Phung Nguyen cultures
 

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BOOK REVIEWS

 

Archaeological Studies in Japan, edited by TSUBOI Kiyotari. Acta Asiatica 63. Tokyo: The Tōhō Gakkai, 1992. (in English)
This 63rd volume of the journal, Acta Asiatica, is a special issue devoted to "Archaeo-logical Studies in Japan". Five papers are presented, including an editorial introduction and chapters on Palaeolithic, Yayoi, Kofun, and Nara-period archaeology. The Jōmon is notable in its absence, though some aspects of that period are discussed in SAHARA Makoto's Yayoi article on "Rice cultivation and the Japanese."
Sahara provides a smorgasbord of topics excerpted from his recent book in Japanese, Kometsukuri to Nihonjin (Mainichi, 1990), such as the research at Hyakkengawa revealing that rice was transplanted into a field by seven people working in rows; this is behavioral archaeology at its Japanese best. Research on wet- and dry-field weeds is mentioned, and new opinions are aired that both pig and boar existed in Yayoi and Kofun--period Japan but then disappeared until the 17th or 18th century. The sources of rice cultivation and the Yayoi people are examined through skeletal remains and tooth-size analyses; two populations (an indigenous, Jōmon type and a continental type) have been documented, but most Yayoi sites contain only the remains of one or the other. These populations can be identified with later ethnic groups, giving rise to Japanese ethnic archaeology. Warfare and state formation are considered from an agricultural surplus point of view. This paper entails much raw data supporting these discussions.
TSUDE Hiroshi's paper on "The Kofun period and state formation" primarily traces the origins of the shapes and sizes of the mounded tombs, briefly considering changes in burial rituals and belief systems that must have accompanied shifts in mound morphology. 0f particular interest are the suspected influences of the Chinese Daoist use of vermillion in the burial chambers as an elixir of life, the Confucian prescription for the "dead facing north" on tomb orientation, and the 2- or 3-step construction of Han tombs. Mound morphology is linked with social ranking, and mound cemetery distributions are related to the shifting preeminence of regional chiefly lineages (see also Tsude's article in Antiquity 64.245, 1990.) Finally, the house-stead pattern of elite settlement and the importance of iron to the Kofun-period elite are discussed.
TSUBOI Kiyotari, as editor of the volume, wrote an introductory "Issues in Japanese archaeology" as well as contributing an article on "The excavation of ancient palaces and capitals." In both sections, his personable style concentrating on the personalities that have shaped Japanese archaeological research make the discipline come alive. The charts of statistics for 1990 overwhelm: 26,140 applications to excavate, ¥83.8 billion expended on rescue archaeology, 1263 scheduled National Historical Sites, 4670 public archaeologists! And his description of methodological development is intriguing: geophysical survey, photogrammetry (including underwater), aerial photography, conservation science, chemical sourcing, dating and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. In the final chapter of the book, Tsuboi gives a biographical account of the beginnings of the preservation of the ancient palaces and capitals, then proceeds to summarize the research for each archaic palace site.
Except for the omission of the Jomon period, this volume provides a valuable statement on the 'state of the discipline' in 1990, with much concrete data to chew on. GLB
 

JOSEPH LEVENSON BOOK PRIZE
This year's winner in the pre-20th c. category was Martin J. Powers for his book, Art and political expression in early China, Yale Univ Press, 1991. The Asian Studies Newsletter (38.2: 3, 1993) had this to say:
"...Powers presents us with a brilliant interpretation of the evolution of Chinese art during the Han period. Focusing on architectural and pictorial styles, especially as found in Han tomb art, Powers illuminates the changes in aesthetic standards from the Former to the Latter Han dynasties and offers a superb analysis of the complex manifestations of a classical revival in the Latter Han. His work brings alive in an unprecedented way the artistic development of this formative period of Chinese history.
"Beyhond its merits as art history, this pathbreaking study provides a provocative analysis of the relation of artistic forms and imagery to the social, political, intellectual, and cultural history of the Han. Powers' keen appreciation of the critical and rhetorical dimensions of aesthetic forms as well as written texts makes his work exciting, provocative, and methodologically challenging. This book will invite lively discussion as well as fruitful debate. It is certain to be recognized as a stunning contribution to Sinological studies." (name of author of this review not stated)
 

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