Metallurgy in Ancient Eastern Asia: Retrospect and Prospects

Linduff, Katheryn M.; Mei, Jianjun

doi:10.1007/s10963-009-9023-5

Cited by 56 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…1). It is important to our understanding of crop exchange, as well as the spread of metallurgy (Linduff and Mei 2009;Mei 2003), chariot technology (Levine et al 1999) and domesticated animals (Yuan et al 2007).…”

Section: Recent Evidence From Gansu Provincementioning

confidence: 99%

From necessity to choice: dietary revolutions in west China in the second millennium BC

Liu¹,

Lightfoot

O’Connell

et al. 2014

World Archaeology

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This article explores the context of the long-distance translocation of crops in prehistory. We draw upon contrasts in the isotopic signatures of Southwest Asian crops, including wheat and barley -C 3 plants, compared to Asian millets -C 4 plants, to investigate a key region of trans-Eurasian exchange, the Chinese province of Gansu. The isotopic results demonstrate that in Gansu province prior to 2000 cal. BC, the staples were millets. Between 2000 and 1800 cal. BC, there was a significant shift in staple foods towards the Southwest Asian crops. In the broader regional context, however, it would seem that these novel crops were not consumed in large quantities in many parts of China during the second millennium BC. This suggests that, while the Southwest Asian crops were adopted and became a staple food source in Gansu province in the second millennium BC, they were disregarded as staple foods elsewhere in the same millennium.

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Section: Recent Evidence From Gansu Provincementioning

confidence: 99%

From necessity to choice: dietary revolutions in west China in the second millennium BC

Liu¹,

Lightfoot

O’Connell

et al. 2014

World Archaeology

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“…Two recent developments have forced a rethinking of this position. The first is a torrent of new archaeometallurgical data from western and northern China, which shows that both the types of artifacts and the alloys used in these regions differ markedly from those in the Central Plain (Linduff & Mei 2009, Mei 2009). The second was the end of the Cold War, which made it possible for Chinese, Russian, and Western archaeometallurgists to collaborate freely.…”

Section: Origins and Dispersal Of Metallurgical Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lead isotope ratios are not available for these artifacts, so it is not yet possible to determine where the metals originated; on typological grounds alone, however, it appears increasingly likely that copper and gold metallurgy passed across the steppes from Central Asia to China. The Central Plain has been recast as a metallurgical anomaly whose origins cannot yet be determined (Linduff & Mei 2009, Mei 2009). Metallurgy seems to appear there slightly later than in surrounding areas, but the techniques, alloys, and uses of metals were so different from those of surrounding regions that an independent invention of metallurgy remains a possibility (Linduff & Mei 2009, Mei 2009).…”

Section: Origins and Dispersal Of Metallurgical Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Central Plain has been recast as a metallurgical anomaly whose origins cannot yet be determined (Linduff & Mei 2009, Mei 2009). Metallurgy seems to appear there slightly later than in surrounding areas, but the techniques, alloys, and uses of metals were so different from those of surrounding regions that an independent invention of metallurgy remains a possibility (Linduff & Mei 2009, Mei 2009). …”

Section: Origins and Dispersal Of Metallurgical Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Eurasian obsession with gold and silver began in the Balkans around 5000 BCE (Chernykh 1992, Renfrew 1986 and was gradually adopted across the whole www.annualreviews.org • Archaeometallurgy continent, except in the Central Plain of China, where these metals were ignored in favor of tin bronze (Linduff & Mei 2009). Gold and silver were also highly valued in Egypt, Nubia, and Carthage.…”

Section: Metallurgy Ways Of Seeing and Valuementioning

confidence: 99%

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Archaeometallurgy: The Study of Preindustrial Mining and Metallurgy

Killick

Fenn

2012

Annu. Rev. Anthropol.

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Archaeometallurgy is an interdisciplinary and international field of study that examines all aspects of the production, use, and consumption of metals from ∼8000 BCE to the present, although this review is restricted to mining and metallurgy in preindustrial societies. Most of this literature was not written with an anthropological readership in mind, but many of its central themes are relevant to some current debates in anthropology. Since the 1970s, archaeometallurgists have been concerned explicitly with the materiality of metals and also with the highly variable value of precious metals across time and space. Exacting criteria have been developed for distinguishing past technology transfers from independent inventions. Archaeometallurgists have also done important work on the social construction of technology in precapitalist economies. In short, archaeometallurgy offers much that is of interest to anthropologists who study the growth and spread of knowledge, and of systems of value, before the capitalist era.

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What is Special about Specialization?

Underhill

2015

Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences

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This essay argues that several key issues regarding craft specialization deserve to be further investigated. These include how specialization develops, variation in strategies to achieve intensification of production, causal factors for technological innovation versus technological conservatism, and how specialization changes in relation to the development of urbanism. Recent studies moving us forward in productive directions with respect to methodology examine the value of goods in specific social contexts, consider the impact of ritual life on craft production, and more thoroughly assess the sources of variation in finished products.

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Metallurgy in Ancient Eastern Asia: Retrospect and Prospects

Cited by 56 publications

References 18 publications

From necessity to choice: dietary revolutions in west China in the second millennium BC

From necessity to choice: dietary revolutions in west China in the second millennium BC

Archaeometallurgy: The Study of Preindustrial Mining and Metallurgy

What is Special about Specialization?

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