1. The geographic and environmental background; 2. Before cultivation: human origins and the incipient development of human culture in China; 3. The transition to food production: variability and processes; 4. The development of agriculture and sedentary life in north China; 5. The shift to agriculture and sedentism in central and south China; 6. The emergence and development of sociopolitical complexity; 7. Stepping into history; 8. The Shang dynasty: the emergence of the state in China; 9. Regional variation and interregional interactions during the Bronze Age: 'center and periphery' or 'interaction spheres'?; 10. The societies and cultures of the Zhou period: processes of globalization and the genesis of local identities; 11. The son of heaven and the creation of a bureaucratic empire.
This book covers Chinese archaeology from the first people to the unification of the empire, emphasizing cultural variations and interregional contact.
Gideon Shelach-Lavi is the Louis Freiberg Professor of East Asian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has conducted archaeological fieldwork in northeast China since 1995. He is currently heading the Fuxin Regional Archaeological Project. Shelach-Lavi has published many articles in leading academic journals. His most recent books include Prehistoric Societies on the Northern Frontiers of China: Archaeological Perspectives on Identity Formation and Economic Change during the First Millennium BCE (2009); Chifeng International Collaborative Archaeological Project (co-author, 2011); and The Birth of Empire: The State of Qin Revisited (co-editor, 2013).
'The Archaeology of Early China is the most up-to-date synthesis of
major developments in China from human origins to the early
Imperial period. Readable and concise, it emphasizes mobility and
interaction in different eras and eloquently sets a new standard
for critical evaluation of the interpretation of archaeological
data.' Rowan Flad, Harvard University, Massachusetts
'Gideon Shelach's book is an enormously important publication on
archaeology of early China. It is well illustrated and very well
documented. All of those who study East Asian archaeology and
ancient history, from undergraduates to seasoned researchers, will
benefit from reading it.' Xingcan Chen, Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences
'Gideon Shelach's book offers thought-provoking interpretations
about trajectories of social change by highlighting regional
variation and interregional interaction. The broad geographic and
temporal coverage includes generous descriptions of data that will
enable students to evaluate issues relevant to the development of
complex societies in diverse regions.' Anne P. Underhill, Yale
University, Connecticut
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