mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== Emergence of Civilizations / Anthro 341: Class 17 China: Lungshan Horizon to Shang Dynasty ã Copyright Bruce Owen 2002 * Wenke simplifies this part of Chinese prehistory a bit too much * he has "early complex societies" from 3000 BC to 2000 BC * but in fact, the transition to what he calls the "first civilizations" was irregular, with a lot of overlapping and persisting local traditions * and an interesting "horizon" pattern that we will see shortly In various parts of China, during the last centuries of the Regional Neolithic and for several centuries after (roughly 3500 to 2500 BC), long-term trends towards increasing complexity continued and reached new levels * as we saw last time, various cultures in different regions developed high-status elites, elaborate burial mound complexes, special-purpose ceremonial sites, etc. * such as the Dawenkou and Hongshan cultures One of these more complex cultures of the terminal Regional Neolithic was the Liang-chu culture (also written Liangzhu) (3500 - 2200 BC) * Appeared about 500 years before the end of the Regional Neolithic * and lasted until about 2200 BC * Not in the Yellow River area, where we have been focussing, but rather to the south, on the coastal plain around the lower Yangtze river * clearly developed out of the local Regional Neolithic culture there * villages were still small, maybe even smaller than the contemporary Yangshao villages to the northwest the Liang-chu culture is another example of the Regional Neolithic trend towards very elaborate burials for some high-status people * some very rich graves, often spatially segregated from poorer burials in the same cemetery * especially in the later stages of the Liang-chu culture * examples: * a rich burial at Ssu-tun * a young adult male * 4 ceramic vessels, 14 stone and jade implements, 49 jade ornaments * 24 jade rings and 33 jade ts'ung tubes * ts'ung tubes are apparently ritual objects, usually jade, that are rectangular blocks with faces carved on the outside and a large round hole through the center * the rings are also probably ritual, votive, etc.; they are not finger rings or personal ornaments * suggesting that this person was heavily involved in ritual activities, either as a ritual specialist himself or a patron of specialists the jades were very well made in very hard stone, implying a lot of wealth some of the jades and the male's femora (thigh bones) were partially burned, suggesting some kind of burial ritual involving fire burial mound at Sidun, 20 meters high (65 feet!) * burial of a young man * with over 100 jade artifacts * body and jades were partly burned * other burned burials around the mound are thought to be sacrifices square dirt platform at Yaoshan * containing rich burials burials with "extra" crania at Chang-ling-shan * one burial with over 40 items plus three human crania * another with two "extra" crania and numerous "extra" limb bones clearly a powerful, wealthy elite was emerging in this basically rural society plus a new style of pottery * black, highly polished, very finely made * very thin walls, often with bamboo-like ring or ridge designs, cutouts in ring bases * some made on a true, fast potter's wheel * suggests craft specialization This style of black pottery went on to became popular over a wide area of China * indicating an increased amount of interaction and shared ideas over a large area * and serving as a convenient marker for a period of time called the "Lung-shan horizon" The Lung-shan horizon, started around 3500 BC with Liang-chu culture, widespread by 2500 BC; lasted until about 1500 BC * a "horizon" that spread across northern China * a "horizon" is the extension of a style (usually of pottery) over a very wide area * horizons make convenient time markers * because sites that contain objects in the horizon style must be roughly contemporary with each other horizon styles allow us to correlate what was happening in many different places at that same time but since a horizon style may take a while to spread, appearance of the style in different places may not actually happen at the same moment a horizon typically starts somewhere, and gets to its periphery later horizons are also interesting because they imply widely shared ideas, probably beyond the pottery style that marks them the Lung-shan horizon apparently started on the lower Yangtze river, in the Liang-chu culture, as early as 3500 BC * and for whatever reason, spread from there to the rest of an area of interacting cultures called the Neolithic "Chinese interaction sphere" markers of the Lung-shan horizon * wheel-made, thin-walled black ceramics * pedestal vases with cutouts in pedestal (tou) * tripod pots (ting) * certain axe types * jade ts'ung tubes (square outside with faces; large round hole inside) * scapulamancy (oracle bones) this increasing similarity in ceramics and other goods was apparently not due to conquest, but to increasing interaction * because in each region there was a gradual local development towards the shared style * probably like the trend towards Kot Dijian pottery in the Indus * some items, like the ts'ung tubes and oracle bones, probably reflect increasingly widespread, shared ideology or religious ideas the cultures that adopted this style formed the Neolithic "Chinese interaction sphere", which was most pronounced from 2500 - 1500 BC several cultures in different regions were involved * don't worry about keeping track of these subdivisions; I only separate them here because this might help you make sense of the readings * Lung-shan in the coastal Yangtze River area: Liang-chu culture (3500-2200 BC) * already mentioned above; an early development of Lungshan traits Lung-shan in the coastal Yellow River area (Shantung area): Shantung Lung-shan, also written Shandong Lung-shan (2700-1500 BC) * arose out of Ta-wen-k'ou culture, the terminal Regional Neolithic culture in this area Lung-shan in the Middle Yellow River Valley * arose out of Yang-shao culture plus Lung-shan cultures in various other areas... subsistence continued as before, but probably more permanent and intensive: * millet in pits and vessels * lots of pig bone, some cattle and dog * in some areas, cattle, water buffalo, and sheep were domesticated craft specialization apparently increased * pottery making probably required specialists * was made on a fast potter's wheel * kilns were more advanced minor use of bronze for small objects probably implies specialist metalworkers settlements grew larger and many were walled * some houses like Yang-shao, with storage pits, etc. * similar organization, with clusters of houses around a central "long house" * but many sites were larger than Yang-shao villages * possibly more permanent (longer occupations) * may suggest a gradual shift from slash-and-burn towards more intensive, permanent, fallow agriculture numerous settlements had massive rammed-earth walls * at least two in the coastal Shantung area, several in the middle Yellow River area * these are the first major defensive works in Chinese prehistory * in fact, the first "public" works of any kind requiring significant labor to build * prior to this, only some special burials even approached this investment rammed-earth is also called "tamped earth", "stamped earth", "hangtu" * made of 12-14 cm thick layers of loess soil * very regular, selected clean soil with aggregate stones * pounded into wide, shallow molds * each layer 3 cm narrower than the one below, forming a slight taper at Ch'eng tzu-yai (a town in the coastal Shantung area), the wall was 9 m (29 feet) thick, estimated 6 m (20 feet) high * the face was like a wall, but it was as massive as a whole solid building * encloses an area of 450 X 390 m (about 1/4 mile on each side) * about 18 hectares * could contain over 16 football fields * my rough estimate of population within the wall: probably between 500 and 3600 people * based on Yangshao density of 100 houses/5 ha, probably 20 to 100 people/ha, and guessing that Ch'eng tzu-yai could have been up to twice as densely occupied would have been a medium to large town, but probably not really city sized yet an enormous labor investment in the wall * implies control of a lot of workers, agricultural surplus, etc. * extracting a huge amount of labor from the villagers, or maybe also drawing upon people living outside the walls -- implying power over a surrounding hinterland another example of a walled village: Pingliangtai (middle Yellow River area) * rectangular rammed-earth wall 185 m (600 feet) on a side all around the town (illustrated in Barnes reading) * wall is 13 m (42 feet) wide at base, remains still stand 3 m (10 feet) tall * two entrances (north and south), one with gatehouses * underground drains of pottery tubes go under this gate 3.4 hectares (comparable to Jericho) much smaller than Ch'eng tzu-yai; illustrates considerable variation over this large region inside are rectangular buildings of mud brick, up to several rooms, with storage pits some on raised platforms, suggesting special status craft production areas inside the wall (ceramic kilns and manufacture of stone artifacts) there were also much smaller walled compounds * both inside walled towns, and out in the countryside * square, 6 m (18 feet) on a side * on low rammed earth platforms (30 cm high) * although they don't look like much to us, these platforms would represent a lot of labor and would have been recognized as a privilege of wealth * especially since the platforms often contained sacrificial burials, and people would have known that these would be high-status houses, like fortified villas residences of powerful leaders of largely rural people? several towns were around 17 hectares, still pretty small for "cities" in the western sense * but maybe a lot of people lived outside the walled area? warfare and violence escalated dramatically * town walls suggest fear of attack * big increase in spear points and arrow points in the coastal Shantung area * the points make up a much higher percentage of all bone and stone artifacts than in earlier periods * since the people presumably were farming more than before and hunting less, the rise in points may be for weapons rather than hunting Site of Chien-kou (middle Yellow River area) * surrounded by a circular town wall * within a house, six human skulls with signs of blows and scalping * two water wells that were stuffed with five layers of human bodies * male and female, all ages * some decapitated, some without feet KC Chang sees this period as the beginning of "institutionalized violence" * between walled settlements: raids or warfare * within settlements * construction and burial sacrifices indicate ritual "peacetime" violence * carried out for rituals associated with high-status people ritual practices became more elaborate, specialized, and associated with the elite * oracle bones: "scapulamancy" became widespread * deer, ox, sheep scapulae * but without any signs of writing yet (contrary to Wenke) * suggests rise of specialized shamans animal "masks" or faces on pottery and jade artifacts are thought to have ritual significance infant burials under house posts, under walls, or in walls * thought to be sacrifices for house-building rituals some sites have rammed-earth house platforms that contain pits filled with layers of rammed earth and up to 7 burials between the layers * including both adults and children * thought to be ritual sacrifices associated with construction * sacrifice had shifted from animals to people * suggests increased power of elites, literally over life and death burials have much more drastic variation in grave wealth than seen before * burials at Ch'eng-tzu indicate much more marked status and wealth hierarchy than in previous periods * this was the cemetery of the coastal Shantung Lung-shan walled town we looked at earlier, Cheng-tzu-yai * four categories, from poorest to richest: * narrow pit (54, or 62%) * body only, no goods or casket small without ledge (17, or 20%) * no caskets, few goods smaller with ledge (11, or 13%) * some caskets, many grave goods * sometimes including a thin cup on high stem, pig mandible large with ledge (5 of these, or 6%) * wooden caskets, many grave goods * a thin cup on high stem, pig mandible these graves were clustered in three groups, each group had most types of graves * suggests "stratified lineage" structure of historical China * that is, three lineages, each with its own hierarchy * this seems to continue the emphasis on separate lineages that we saw in the Regional Neolithic, especially in Yangshao villages and cemeteries huge cemetery of T'ao-ssu, over 1000 burials excavated, thousands more thought to remain * three categories of graves, from poorest to richest: * small, shallow graves (87%) * over 610 so far * most have no goods medium graves (11%) * about 80 so far * two different pit styles, shallow and wide, or deep and narrow * 2.5 x 1.5 m, "shallow" * 2.2-2.5 x .8-1.0 m, 2-3.5 m deep * segregated in separate areas of the cemetery - different social groups? wooden coffins with red cinnabar powder spread inside goods include headdresses, rings, ornaments, sets of ceramic vessels, axes, jade ts'ung tubes, pig mandibles most of the medium graves seem to cluster around large graves * but they aren't apparently sacrifices * maybe these people were associated with the very high status individuals buried in the big graves large graves (1%) * 9 so far * 3 m X 2-2.75 m pit * all preserved skeletons are male * wooden coffins with red cinnabar powder spread inside * 100-200 items * wooden table, ceramics, jade rings, axes, whole pigs * five of the nine large graves had a "music set": * wooden drum covered with crocodile skin * "musical stone" (chime) * pottery tubes thought to be drums * this set of items symbolizes royalty in later Chinese texts arranged in at least two separate clusters, each with all three types * the same pattern we have seen before, suggesting separate lineages with internal hierarchy overall, a drastic new stratification of wealth and power * implied by the huge, labor-intensive rammed-earth wall projects * indicated by variation in dwellings * on platforms or not * with sacrificed burials under them or in walls, or not especially visible in burials * size and shape of burial pit (plain, ledge, log chamber, etc.) * huge variation in quantity and quality of goods * certain goods restricted to most elite burials (thin cup on high stem, pig mandible, "music set") suggesting a top class with special privileges * division of cemeteries into groups, possibly by descent (clan membership), each with its own internal hierarchy of status increasing use of jade, ivory, turtle shells in ritual associated with elites * implies that they got these exotic goods by long-distance exchange, probably controlling traders, surplus, craft production for exchange, etc. stratification is also implied by the elites' evident power to conduct sacrifices this extreme stratification and widespread pottery style also associated with drastic rise in raids or warfare, as well as internal violence of sacrifices was this civilization? * compared to the other cases, it has an interesting mix of characteristics * lots of social stratification, craft specialization, and warfare * but limited urbanism, and still no writing The Three Dynasties (Hsia, Shang, Chou) 2100-770 BC * in the centuries after 2000 BC, the first evidence of * real cities (urbanism) - although with differences * states * writing the Three Dynasties are known a little from documents written a bit later that describe them as history * but Hsia and Shang were once thought to be mythological * now archaeology has proved that the written records refer to real places and societies a few existing texts from the first millennium BC tell us mostly about Shang and later dynasties * they describe a society that was already up to 1000 years in the past * but they would have been based on written documents no longer available to us, so they may be reasonably accurate these historical documents imply that that: * Shang China was composed of yi, or walled towns * the yi were organized hierarchically into kuo, or states * the kuo were ruled by the head of a clan, whose clan in turn was ranked relative to others in the same kuo * dynasties were simply the families of rulers (clan heads) of unusually successful kuo (states) initially there were several hundred kuo constantly at war, conquering and losing control of each other this description based on texts corresponds well to what we know of the archaeological Lung-shan horizon * since there is evidence of warfare, walled towns, clan-based status and burial, etc. back into the Lung-shan horizon * so it seems fair to think that the situation in Lung-shan and Hsia times was similar to what is documented historically for Shang relationship of the three dynasties * although it is not shown in the dates we use here, there was considerable overlap in time, some in space * the "dynasties" also refer to styles of ceramics and bronzes, probably really ethnic or regional groups as well as just a line of leaders * rather than a simple sequence of rulers, the dynasties represent geographical centers or competing lineages which gained political and military preeminence at different times * the earliest manifestations of the Shang style and culture were contemporary with Erh-li-t'ou (Hsia), but were further downriver * and the "subsequent" western Chou dynasty (1100-770 BC) was contemporary with later Shang, but was upriver * since the Shang dynasty was clearly "civilized", we won't go on to the western Chou here Erh-li-t'ou (site and culture) 2100-1800 BC (shown as Hsia area on the map) * debate about how to connect the archaeological evidence with the historical references * KC Chang: archaeological Erh-li-t'ou = historical Hsia dyanasty? * Barnes: archaeological Erh-li-t'ou = historical Early Shang? there are dozens of Erh-li-t'ou sites The biggest one, Erh-li-t'ou itself, is a huge site, 1.5 x 2.5 km (375 hectares) up to 3 m deep: long, dense occupation in some places no city walls! (at least, not yet found) * this seems unusual for this period; why no defenses? * maybe the "elephant" defense: too big to attack, even without defenses? * or the walls just have not been found yet? * or there was a peaceful interlude? two enormous platforms for "palace" structures * rammed earth platforms, 1-2 m thick * containing burials, possibly sacrificed platforms were built in foundation pits, so they projected only 80 cm above ground the larger one was 100 x 108 m (325 x 350 feet) * that is a square as wide as the two wings and courtyard of Stevenson Hall with an additional 36 x 25 m low platform set on top of the "back" of the main platform with postholes for a rectangular hall 11 x 30 m * wattle and daub, gabled roof? * surrounded by a narrow (50-110 cm) rammed-earth wall at the edge of the platform * forming a veranda facing inside, indicated by rows of postholes * this layout, with the gate to south and the building to north, is typical of later buildings known to be palaces pottery drainpipes subsidiary buildings wide variation in burials * some have nothing * all the way up to others that have evidence of lacquered coffins, even more elaborate than Lung-shan types bronze * a characteristic vessel type: chüeh cup, of which seven have been found * weapons: knives and halberds (dagger or axe on a long shaft) jades, turquoise inlays, lacquered wood, other wealth items oracle bones Shang Dynasty 1700-1100 BC * According to later histories * the Shang dynasty was founded by T'ang, who conquered the last of the Hsia kings * and founded a royal capital at a place the texts called Po. * later Shang kings moved the capital to other cities several times * 29 kings followed T'ang in the Shang dynasty Early or Middle Shang: the site of Cheng-chou and the Cheng-chou phase (Zhengzhou in the reader) (roughly 1700 - 1400 BC) * this is a subdivision of the Shang period; also called the Erligang or Ehr-li-kang phase * Cheng-chou dates to the early part of the Shang period * Possibly very early: the site of Cheng-chou may be the first Shang capital, the historical "Po" * Barnes dates it to the middle of the historical Shang dynasty * she thinks Cheng-chou is one of the later Shang capitals Cheng-chou was the largest of the sites of this time, 3.5 square kilometers (350 hectares) * surrounded by a rammed-earth wall * palace structures on rammed-earth platforms * bronze hairpins found in palace structures suggest high-status people lived there (no surprise) * large bronze, bone, and pottery shops outside the walls * at the bronze workshops, they * cast bronze arrowheads and spearheads, some in molds that formed numerous points at once, which were then sawn apart * forged knives for use and display * cast the elaborate bronze vessels for which the Shang period is famous at the ceramic workshops, they made * fine ceramics for use and display * also "proto-porcelain", or ceramics of a specific composition, fired at a very high temperature that began to develop a glassy texture at the bone workshops, they made * many ordinary bone implements, like combs * using bones from cattle * but at one bone workshop, there was a ditch that contained human crania, many with the tops sawn off * apparently to make bowls or cups that would be obviously from human remains... * indicates that the elite who supported or commissioned this work had an absolute control of life * and wanted to convey that to people that they entertained wall seen as enclosing ritual space, rather than literally for defense? at least three other sites of this period also had walls, suggesting warfare * chariots in burials also suggest the importance of warfare but this period (early to middle Shang) did NOT yet have other Shang traits: * writing * royal mausoleums (yet) Late Shang (the "Yin phase"): An-yang, the Shang capital in last 200-300 years of the dynasty (roughly 1400 - 1100 BC) * excavation at An-yang, starting in 1928, turned the Shang dynasty from legend into history * we can identify this site as the historical An-yang because oracle bones were found there that describe the names and travels of a series of eleven kings * the list of kings that can be reconstructed from these bones closely matches later historical lists of Shang kings An-yang was a huge city * 24 square kilometers (2,400 hectares) * but not walled (as far as we know) * widely scattered sectors with distinct functions * not a single dense urban core * sectors of the site now have names of the different modern villages near them * this suggests how loose the "city's" plan was * and how different it was from the western or Mesopotamian concept of a city Sector with palaces * 1 ha complex, clearly central to the site * 53 high-status rectangular structures on rammed-earth platforms * divided into a residential area, a royal temple area, and a ceremonial area * although the areas may not have all been in use at the same time, meaning that the total size of the complex at any given time could have been somewhat smaller than it looks now lots of human sacrifices associated with construction of platforms wattle-and-daub walls, stone bases for probably wooden pillars, gabled roofs underground water ditches under foundations high-status goods found in this area, like fancy cast bronze vessels lots of oracle bones in the palace sector, also clearly associated with royalty high-status burials nearby, some with chariots and their horses * indicating that warfare and weaponry were associated with the palace and royalty * although the royal burials themselves were in a separate cemetery round semi-subterranean houses surround the rammed-earth foundations, presumably for servants surrounded by other sectors with habitation clusters, workshops, tombs workshops include * pottery kilns * two bone working areas * two large bronze foundries * clay molds for casting bronze vessels and bone-working materials were found in one of the palaces * not finished goods, but production debris; what were they doing at the palace? * they suggest that the palace had a direct connection to the craftspeople making bone and bronze goods * presumably supporting and directing them * that is, they were attached specialists not surprising, since some of the bone artifacts were made from people -- which requires a lot of power to enforce and since bronze was closely associated with royalty in written accounts, residential debris, and burials a separate huge cemetery, with royal burials, burials of nobles, and many hundreds of sacrificial victims * 11 large tombs, presumably of the 11 historical rulers of An-yang * all looted long ago over 1000 small graves large graves * at least 7000 person-days just to dig each pit * cross-shaped, with ramps * wooden chamber built in the center * human sacrifices all around * some in coffins - presumably higher status * some decapitated - presumably not so high status * some just heads or other parts lots of bronze, jade, shell, bone, pottery, etc. Tomb Number 5, of Fu Hao, consort to King Wu Ting * much smaller than the 11 kings' burials, but never looted * over 1,600 items in total, plus 7,000 cowry shells * over 440 bronzes, over 590 jades, over 560 bone objects, over 70 stone objects Anyang was clearly home to fabulously wealthy royalty -- and we don't even have the contents of the really big tombs to judge by Origins and context of writing in China * earliest evidence of Chinese writing dates to the later Shang dynasty, around 1400 BC; well established by 1200 BC * many of the characters can be read, since they are recognizably versions of early Chinese writing, directly ancestral to modern Chinese writing * written on oracle bones and bronze vessels * the early examples, especially on bronzes, are generally just one or two characters, probably the name of the person who had the piece made according to an early surviving text, a lot was written on bamboo strips and silk -- which would not survive in the ground also, the character that looks like and refers to bound "books" of bamboo strips is found in late Shang inscriptions on bronzes and oracle bones, so these bamboo strip books were probably in use then unfortunately, the founding emperor of the Ch'in Dynasty, around 100 BC, had all old books except those on medicine, divination, and agriculture burned * fortunately, a handful of books escaped so there may have been a lot of early development of writing that has just not survived The major early use of writing that we know of was scapulamancy (cattle scapulae) and plastromancy (on turtle plastron (shell)) * continuation of the scapulamancy tradition of the Lung-shan horizon * cracked by applying heat to the back of a hollow bored in the piece * the cracks were numbered, then read in unknown manner * In Shang times, the cracks begin to have notations by them, showing the question and the answer * turtle shells were added in late Shang times over 150,000 oracle bone fragments now known * based on the names and dates mentioned, it looks like we have some 10% of all the bones that were written content * they record prophesies relating to royal entourage, events, etc., so they provide a lot of history * later used for political activities, gifts, mortuary activities, edicts... * question; prophesy; verification * often the king made the prophesy * surprisingly, the verification almost always shows him to have been correct... Shang oracle bone c. 1200 - 1180 BC (from Keightley, in Senner 1989) * "Crack-making on chia-shen (day 21), Ch'ueh divined:" Charge: "Fu Hao's childbearing will be good." Prognostication: "The king, reading the cracks, said: 'If it be a ting day childbearing, it will be good. If it be a keng day childbearing, it will be extremely auspicious.'" * ting and keng are analogous to days of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday) * Verification: "On the 31st day, she gave birth. It was not good. It was a girl." * The baby was born on a chia day, thus the prophesy was correct. * Note: Fu Hao is the name of the "consort" in the unlooted large tomb at An-yang; the dates are right for this to refer to the same person! other royal divinations involved groups of thousands of people for military and economic tasks bureaucratic approach to scapulamancy * regular placement of holes * cracks numbered * divinations paired in positive and negative forms * divinations dated and followed up with verification * certain bones and shells were reserved for repeated use on the same subject, up to 170 days apart, suggesting a filing system of some sort * bones are often found in neat stacks, as if they had been archived in tied bundles or resting on shelves * implying specialist recordkeepers and some bureaucracy NOT associated with business or record-keeping (at least what is preserved is not) nature of the Chinese writing system * some signs relatively pictographic * mostly logographic * similar sounding words could be indicated by the same symbol * ambiguities were resolved by adding determinatives, that is, marks that provided clues to which of several possible words was meant * the earliest oracle bones already have half their symbols marked with a determinative * this suggests that the system was already well developed by that time * so we really may be missing the early part of the development sequence generalizations about the Three Dynasties * subsistence * all were primarily millet farmers * based on textual evidence, Shang and Chou also used soybeans, wheat, some rice all used dogs, pigs, cattle, sheep NO notable functional change in technology from the Lung-shan horizon * no major irrigation projects known * no plows bronze: an exception, or not? * used primarily for ritual (vessels) and war (weapons, chariot parts, and tools to make chariots) * no significant quantity or use of bronze tools for agriculture or other purposes * sophisticated bronze casting mostly for ritual vessels, using piece molds * these vessels were highly decorated versions of otherwise identical ceramic forms * mostly used for holding, heating, and serving alcoholic drinks capitals * not dense urban settlements, but rather networks of high and low status residential areas, administrative and ritual areas, workshop areas, cemeteries, etc. * rammed earth walls at some sites, maybe not at others * high-status buildings on raised rammed-earth platforms, with timber posts on stone foundations * semi-subterranean, wattle-and-daub low-status housing warfare * Earlier Shang capital of Cheng-chou was walled, but An-Yang was apparently not * a fair number of bronze weapons * chariots in Shang and Chou * written evidence of warring kuo continuity of clan organization from Lung-shan horizon and earlier * based on inscriptions, layout of cemeteries, emblems on vessels in graves that say who they were made for * i.e. rank was based on ancestry? * organized as nested hierarchy, with most direct relatives of ancestral leaders closest to the top burial practices: extreme stratification power of the elite * tremendous control of labor and resources * yet no obvious evidence of centralized storage or redistribution * although there must have been some sort of tribute or taxation to support the elite and the state * written accounts of warfare and statecraft suggest that tribute extraction was an important purpose of it apparent control of life and death, as well elites apparently had a monopoly on shaman's paraphernalia * jades with animal faces (like ts'ung tubes) associated with shamanic powers * oracle bones (and turtle shells in Shang and Chou) * in historical documents, the power of rulers was attributed to their control of bronzes * necessary for weapons * but also for ritual * for a ruler in the Chou Dynasty to be legitimate, he had to possess "the nine bronze tripods"; maybe something similar was true in earlier Shang times? this would have given the elite control of supernatural matters, and legitimacy as rulers * elites could have arisen from ritual specialists * or could have employed them When would you first call it "civilization"? * Regional Neolithic? * Lung-shan horizon? * Ehr-li-t'ou / Hsia? * Early Shang? Late Shang? In what ways was complex society in China similar to, and different from, other cases? In what ways might the processes that led to it have been similar to the other cases we have look at, and in what ways different? * roles of urbanism; ritual; warfare * origin and nature of elites * nature and purposes of monumental structures * nature and role of clan (descent group) organization