Introduction

One goal of A Companion to Chinese Archaeology is to reveal the diverse methodological and theoretical approaches to understanding prehistoric and early historic era societies that characterize current research efforts in Chinese archaeology. The second major goal is to provide English readers with new data about ancient China that are significant for understanding regional variation in social, economic, and political organization over time. The archaeological record of East Asia is extremely important for global comparative research on the development and nature of ancient complex societies. Complex societies of varying forms developed in several regions and during several periods. There are discussions about relatively early, small-scale societies and about large-scale societies, variously defined, for each major geographic area. Key themes in the chapters include investigation of internal settlement organization, household subsistence production, regional settlement patterns, the nature of early urbanism, craft specialization, political economy, and the ideological basis of social hierarchy.

Archaeology · China · Geography · Chinese history and philosophy · History

• The spread of agriculture in eastern Asia

  Craig Stevens, Chris J Stevens et al.•Language Dynamics and Change•2017

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