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A Regional Archaeology of the Guan River Valley, Henan, China

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A Regional Archaeology of the Guan River Valley, Henan, China A REGIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE GUAN RIVER VALLEY, HENAN, CHINA by Yanxi Wang (Under the Direction of Stephen A. Kowalewski) ABSTRACT This study examines the history of settlement patterns, land use practices, sociopolitical structure, and the inter-regional integration in the Guan Valley, Henan, China from 4000 B.C. to the modern period (A.D.1911). The Guan Valley is an environmentally diverse region and culturally peripheral to three cultural core areas: the Central Plain, the Yangtze River region, and the Guanzhong Basin. This regional full-coverage survey located 96 sites in 135 km2 in the middle Guan Valley. The earliest occupation dated to the Middle Yangshao period (4000-3500 B.C.). In the Late Yangshao (3500-2900 B.C.), occupations increased rapidly and expanded to the upper reach and tributaries of the Guan River. After an occupational rock bottom during the early states period (1900-771 B.C.), occupations recovered rapidly and reached a new level of organization complexity in the Eastern Zhou (770-221 B.C.). This pattern continued into the Qinhan period (220 B.C.-A.D. 220), when hamlets increased in number and expanded into hilly areas. After Qinhan, settlements decreased in number and hierarchy simplified. A Land use analysis explores several environmental conditions associated with settlement locations. Compared to historic occupations (after 1900 B.C.), prehistoric settlements were more affected by some environmental variables, for example, flood risks. In the historic period, there was a growing trend towards the exploitation of hilly areas. Regional primacy characterized settlement systems of most periods. The formation and maintenance of the primate center went through several changes-ceremonial center during Late Yangshao, gateway community during Longshan (2900-1900 B.C.), and administrative center since the Eastern Zhou. The changing function of the main central place was an adaptive response to inter- regional integration between the valley and the surrounding cultural core areas. The ceremonial focus of the Late Yangshao sociopolitical system of the Guan Valley was shared inter-regionally. In the Longshan period, the “Qujialing Invasion” intensified long-distance trade with the Yangtze River region. In the historic period, the valley was gradually integrated into states and empires through military, administrative, and economic measures. The Guan Valley now provides a case study to comparing the developmental trajectories of culturally peripheral and environmentally diverse regions, enriching our understanding of processual complexity in Chinese civilization. INDEX WORDS: Guan River valley; archaeological survey; regional archaeology; settlement patterns; land use; catchment; regional primacy; integration. A REGIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE GUAN RIVER VALLEY, HENAN, CHINA by Yanxi Wang B.A., Wuhan University, China, 2006 M.A., Wuhan University, China, 2008 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2014 i © 2014 Yanxi Wang All Rights Reserved ii A REGIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE GUAN RIVER VALLEY, HENAN, CHINA by Yanxi Wang Major Professor: Stephen A. Kowalewski Committee: Donald Nelson Susan Tanner Mark Williams Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May, 2014 iii DEDICATION To my family. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The study would not have been possible without the support of many people. In particular, I want to thank my family for being my rock. I also want to thank my major professor and mentor, Dr. Steve Kowalewski, for his generous help, guidance and patience over the last six years of my graduate study. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Don Nelson, Susan Tanner, Mark Williams, and Steve, who served on my committee and profoundly shaped my development as an anthropological archaeologist. Also I will never forget our wonderful staff from the department: Margie, LaBau, Deb, Lisa and Brenda. Thanks to assistance from the Wuhan University and Henan Institute of Culture and Relics, particularly from Professor Ran Wang and Wenquan Fan, for their generous logistic and administrative support, which made the research possible. I greatly appreciate my brilliant crew members chiefly Zhao Cao, Qiushi Zhou, Liang Guo, Xiaofang Shen, Chuanguang Zhao, Libo Zhu, and Ruijun Ruan. They are the best crew one could possibly have. I appreciate Bing She for his unlimited help with ArcGIS and statistics. I am also so grateful to the people of Xixia whose friendship and kindhearted made fieldwork a great experience. There were so many people that helped us that it is impossible to include all of them here, particularly our “Da Saozi” (great sister-in-law) for being not only our best cook, but also a caring aunt for a group of young, restless trouble-makers. Thanks to Xixia Culture Institute for providing survey permit, offering laboratory space and curating collections. v I want to thank all my dearest friends and cohorts. The last few years were a wonderful experience because of them, especially Dan and Cathie Bigman who took me into their family. Finally I want to thank Sarabjeet Singh for helping and supporting me through my difficult time. Funding for my research was provided by the National Science Foundation. vi CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...........................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................xiv CHAPTER 1 ...............................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 1.1 Sociocultural Evolutionary Sequence ............................................................................2 1.2 From Evolutionary Sequences to Evolutionary Processes ..............................................6 1.3 Insufficient Coverage in Regional Settlement Pattern Surveys: What Don’t We Know? 15 1.4 The Research Framework ............................................................................................ 17 CHAPTER 2 ............................................................................................................................. 24 THE STUDY AREA—THE GUAN RIVER VALLEY............................................................. 24 2.1 The Qinling Mountain Range ...................................................................................... 26 2.2 The Guan River System .............................................................................................. 27 2.3 The Study Area ........................................................................................................... 28 2.4 Archaeology of the Study Area ................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER 3 ............................................................................................................................. 39 METHODS ............................................................................................................................... 39 3.1 Preparation: Methodology and Operation .................................................................... 39 vii 3.2 Systematic Full-Coverage Regional Survey ................................................................. 42 CHAPTER 4 ............................................................................................................................. 55 SITES AND ARTIFACTS ........................................................................................................ 55 4.1 Sites ............................................................................................................................ 55 4.2 Artifacts ...................................................................................................................... 66 CHAPTER 5 ............................................................................................................................. 97 REGIONAL SETTLEMENT PATTERN .................................................................................. 97 5.1 Middle Yangshao Period (MYS): 4000-3500 B.C. .................................................... 101 5.2 Late Yangshao Period (LYS): 3500-2900 B.C. .......................................................... 102 5.3 Longshan Period (LS): 2900-1900 B.C. .................................................................... 107 5.4 Shang to Western Zhou (SZ): 1900-771 B.C. ............................................................ 114 5.5 Eastern Zhou (EZ): 770-221 B.C. .............................................................................. 115 5.6 Qinhan Period (QH): 220 B.C. to A.D. 220 ............................................................... 122 5.7 Tangsong and Post-Tangsong Period (TS and PTS): A.D. 221-1911 ......................... 125 5.8 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 126 CHAPTER 6 ........................................................................................................................... 176 REGIONAL POPULATION
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