The Chinese Neolithic by Li Liu

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The Chinese Neolithic by Li Liu

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Summary

This book examines the transformation of chiefdom societies in Neolithic China, giving rise to early states. With its wealth of detailed archaeological data and general theoretical paradigms it is essential reading for the student of prehistoric China and the student of global social evolution.

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The Chinese Neolithic by Li Liu

This book studies the formation of complex societies in prehistoric China during the Neolithic and early state periods, c. 7000–1500 BC. Archaeological materials are interpreted through anthropological perspectives, using systematic analytic methods in settlement and burial patterns. Both agency and process are considered in the development of chiefdoms and in the emergence of early states in the Yellow River region. Interrelationships between factors such as mortuary practice, craft specialization, ritual activities, warfare, exchange of elite goods, climatic fluctuations, and environmental changes are emphasized. This study offers a critical evaluation of current archaeological data from Chinese sources, and argues that, although some general tendencies are noted, social changes were affected by multiple factors in no pre-determined sequence. In this most comprehensive study to date, Li Liu attempts to reconstruct developmental trajectories toward early states in Chinese civilization and discusses theoretical implications of Chinese archaeology for the understanding of social evolution.
"The Chinese Neolithic is a major achievementThe book presents a coherent and methodologically quite sophisticated vision of the late prehistory of the middle and lower Yellow River basin...Liu's compelling investigation into the precursors of the early Chinese dynasties elicits great admiration." - Lothar von Falkenhausen, University of California, Los Angelos Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
Li Liu is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at La Trobe University. She has published various articles on the Chinese Neolithic and is the author of State Formation in Early China (with Xingcan Chen) (Duckworth, 2003).
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780521010641
ISBN 10 0521010640
Title The Chinese Neolithic
Author Li Liu
Series New Studies In Archaeology
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Year published 2007-09-03
Number of pages 332
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note Unavailable