TY - BOOK ID - 2993442 TI - The Chinese neolithic PY - 2004 VL - *28 SN - 0521811848 0521010640 1107132711 0511170653 0511080565 0511331266 0511489625 1280419598 0511206593 051107980X 9780511080562 9780511489624 9780511079801 9781280419591 9786610419593 6610419590 9780521811842 9780521010641 PB - Cambridge Cambridge University Press DB - UniCat KW - Antiquities, Prehistoric KW - Neolithic period KW - Prehistoric antiquities KW - Prehistoric archaeology KW - Prehistory KW - Prehistoric peoples KW - China KW - Antiquities. KW - Antiquities [Prehistoric ] KW - Antiquities KW - Social Sciences KW - Archeology UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:2993442 AB - 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. ER -