Core And Periphery:Research On The Late Shang Culture Based On Ceramic Analysis

This dissertation focuses on the potteries the Yin-Shang period in the Central Plain.Using typological and cultural elements analysis on ceramics,this study establishes the chronological frame in this region,exposes the cultural formation and economic exchanges situation,thus discovering that the Yin-Shang culture was going towards collapse.Investigations on pottery diachronical and spatial distribution's changes,bronze vessel's clan inscriptions,all further confirm this thesis.This dissertation is divided into seven chapters.In the first chapter,after setting the spatiotemporal frame and summarizing the previous research,the research method and expected results are laid out.The second and third chapters expose a meticulous typological analysis of the potteries from the Yinxu site and the surrounding regions.During this step,the author uses a two-steps methodology.First,during the typological sorting,the independence of the typological method itself is respected.Then,after arranging all the potteries,the stratigraphic information is used for each vessel to test the validity of the typological sequencing.Secondly,as far as possible,all the vessels have been attributed to types and sub-types.Finally,using the contemporary relations,each vessel is placed as much as possible in its spatiotemporal context.The fourth chapter clarifies the different elements structuring the ceramic culture of each region and their origins,and analyses the diachronic and general distribution of each pottery group regionally,discovering that the Yin-Shang culture was moving toward decline.Building on the basis of chapter four,the fifth chapter compares the Yin-Shang pottery types of each region against other types of objects,thereby confirming the above-mentioned discovery.Thereupon first investigating each pottery sub-type by type,then analysing each pottery type by period,the thesis' main hypothesis is ultimately verified: the Late Shang culture of the Central Plain was going toward decline.In the sixth chapter,in order to further clarify the development context of the human groups in each region,the author analysis the excavated textual materials.In general,the analyses of the excavated texts and of the pottery arrive to similar conclusions about the social situation.The relations between the various clans and the Shang court are similar to the ones between the pottery of the different regions and the pottery of the Yinxu site,and the distribution of these two relations groups coincides.But this coincidence phenomenon is not absolutely integrated,for example the neighbouring regions of Jing and Yin had alternating conflicting and peaceful relations.In the last chapter,the author summarizes the main findings and limitations of this research.