Description
Book SynopsisStudents of the history and archaeology of early civilizations will find China in the Early Bronze Age the most up-to-date and wide-ranging introduction to its topic now in print. Scholars in Chinese studies will use this work as a handbook and research guide. For all readers, this volume makes fascinating reading in the formative stages of Chinese culture accessible.
Trade Review"Thorp has packed a massive amount of information in a concise and easily accessible way into well organized chapters. . . . This book is clearly the result of many years of intensive research but appears to the reader to be an effortless achievement." *
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
A Note on Documentation
Preface
Introduction
—Geographical Setting: Macroregions
—Cultural Setting: The Longshan Age
1. Dawn of the Bronze Age: The Erlitou Culture
—The Erlitou Site
—The Material World: Bronze and Jade
—Contemporary Cultures and Interaction
—The Search for the Xia
2. Foundations of the Bronze Age: The Erligang Culture
—A Network of Sites
—Technologies of Power and Prestige
—Erligang Society: Material Evidence
—Erligang and the Regions
3. The Shang Kings at Anyang
—Exploration of Yinxu
—"Great Settlement Shang"
—Elite Crafts
4. Shang Cult: Divination and Sacrifice
—Oracle-Bone Divination
—Ritual Spaces and Sacrifice Ritual
—Bronze Ritual Vessels
—Inscriptions and Social Relations
5. The Late Shang World
—The View from Yinxu
—Exchange Relations: Resources and Products
—Cause and Effect: Debts to Shang
Afterword: The Invention of Chinese Civilization
Suggested Readings
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
