Rank and gender in bone art at the Late Shang Center at Anyang (China)

This dissertation investigates the function of excavated carved bone artifacts (excluding oracle bones) found at Anyang, the royal center of the late Shang Dynasty (1300–1046 BCE) in China. The exclusive discovery of them there and their placement in patterned mortuary contexts suggests that they were essential to Shang rituals and ceremonies. They were not merely utilitarian objects. Anyang was designed in three sectors—the core city, outer city and suburbs—and each area was accorded activities that reinforced a hierarchy from Shang religious, political and social systems. Bone artifacts were found in all three districts.; This study argues that the distribution of find spots of the carved bones as well as patterns of décor, choice of bone type, and the manner of carving all echo and reinforce well-established Shang social and political hierarchies and religious practices. Use of the bones is related to ranking of elites, with the king at the top, as well as to gender. Study of hunting and weaving rituals, for instance, was especially relevant to understanding the function and significance of the carved bone artifacts as markers of gender and rank. Moreover, the particular uses of bone artifacts and their décor were found to have an ancestry in areas far afield in place and time from Anyang. These observations point out the diverse sources of Shang society and ritual practices.; This dissertation brings to light a set of artifacts not previously studied in context with interest in their function. Attention to these carved bones has hopefully offered insight into Shang lifestyle and more particularly into the role played by their ritual use in confirming Shang social and political structures. Rather than concentrating primarily on developing stylistic lineages of shapes and styles of artifacts from Bronze Age China as has been done in the past, this study considers the purpose of the artifact itself, of the motifs and designs as well as the techniques used to carve them. Seen in this way, this investigation not only contributes to our knowledge of Shang period ritual use of artifacts, but also to art historical methodology in general.