UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Craft Specialization and Animal Products at the Longshan Period Sites of Taosi and Zhoujiazhuang, Shanxi Province, China A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology by Katherine Richards Brunson 2015 ©Copyright by Katherine Richards Brunson 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Craft Specialization and Animal Products at the Longshan Period Sites of Taosi and Zhoujiazhuang, Shanxi Province, China by Katherine Richards Brunson Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Paul Jeffrey Brantingham, Chair The late third millennium BCE was a period of technological and cultural change in China’s Yellow River valley. Domestic cattle and sheep were introduced into China from West Asia during this period, marking a shift in the zooarchaeological record and the arrival of new methods of animal exploitation. Using zooarchaeological evidence for the exploitation of secondary products and bone working at the Late Neolithic Longshan period sites of Taosi and Zhoujiazhuang in Shanxi Province, I examine the relationship between animal products, craft specialization, and increasing social complexity. My research suggests that non-subsistence uses of cattle and sheep were important factors that contributed to the adoption of herding in the Central Plains region, and that the nature of cattle and sheep exploitation varied between sites depending on local environmental and cultural conditions. Additionally, I use ancient DNA analysis to identify bovine oracle bones from Taosi and Zhoujiazhuang. Both domestic cattle and wild aurochs scapulas were used in divination rituals, raising the possibility that people ii experimented with managing native East Asian wild aurochs alongside domestic cattle. The zooarchaeological data presented in this study indicate that greater attention should be paid to the varied non-subsistence uses of animals in ancient China during periods leading up to Bronze Age state formation. iii The dissertation of Katherine Richards Brunson is approved. Min Li Gregson T. Schachner Lothar von Falkenhausen Thomas A. Wake Paul Jeffrey Brantingham, Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES: ...................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF TABLES: ........................................................................................................................ xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... xii VITA ............................................................................................................................................. xv CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................................... 1 The Longshan period and trans-Eurasian exchange networks: ........................................... 3 Key issues in the zooarchaeological record of the Longshan period: ................................... 6 1. How were domestic cattle and sheep introduced into the Yellow River valley region and is there evidence for management of native bovid populations? ................... 7 Domestic animals in China before ca. 3,600 BCE: ............................................................. 8 Dogs: ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Pigs: ....................................................................................................................................... 10 Chickens: ............................................................................................................................... 13 Domestic animals in China After ca. 3,600 BCE: ............................................................. 14 Cattle: .................................................................................................................................... 14 Sheep and goats: .................................................................................................................... 17 Additional animal introduction events during the Bronze Age: ..................................... 20 2. How did the arrival of cattle and sheep change the ways that people used animals for non-subsistence utilitarian products? .......................................................................... 22 v 3. How did the arrival of cattle and sheep change the ways that people used animals in ritual practice?................................................................................................................. 25 Outline of the dissertation: ..................................................................................................... 27 References: ............................................................................................................................... 30 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................. 44 Abstract: ................................................................................................................................... 44 Keywords: ................................................................................................................................ 45 Background: ............................................................................................................................ 48 Methods: ................................................................................................................................... 50 Results: ..................................................................................................................................... 53 Species present: ..................................................................................................................... 53 Pigs: ....................................................................................................................................... 56 Sheep: .................................................................................................................................... 61 Cattle: .................................................................................................................................... 65 Bone working:........................................................................................................................ 67 Oracle bone divination: ......................................................................................................... 69 Discussion:................................................................................................................................ 70 Conclusion: .............................................................................................................................. 74 Acknowledgements: ................................................................................................................ 74 References: ............................................................................................................................... 75 vi CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................. 80 Abstract: ................................................................................................................................... 80 Keywords: ................................................................................................................................ 80 Introduction: ............................................................................................................................ 81 Site Background: ..................................................................................................................... 84 Methods: ................................................................................................................................... 87 Raw material selection: ........................................................................................................... 90 Production methods: ............................................................................................................. 101 Artifact types: ........................................................................................................................ 102 Artifacts in productions step 1: Primary reduction ............................................................. 103 Artifacts in production step 2: Blank and preform production ........................................... 108 Artifacts in production step 3: Shaping and finishing ......................................................... 110 Differences in the artifacts produced at Taosi and Zhoujiazhuang: ................................ 133 Summary and conclusions: ................................................................................................... 137 Acknowledgements: .............................................................................................................. 139 References: ............................................................................................................................. 155 CHAPTER 4 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