The organization of lithic tool production during the Longshan period (ca. 2600--2000 B.C.) in southeastern Shandong Province, China

While the emergence of sociopolitical complexity in North China during the Longshan period (ca. 2600--2000 B.C.) is a recognized phenomenon, the mechanisms by which this occurred are not well understood. Within the context of a Sino-US Project informed by chiefdom theory and using regional survey supplemented by excavation to recover settlement pattern, artifact, and other data, this dissertation uses Longshan period lithic and settlement pattern information to address local processes involved in developments towards complexity in the Liangchengzhen region of Rizhao, Shandong. These include identification and comparison of activities occurring at sites in the Liangchengzhen region; identification of change in regional craft production, exchange and consumption; and examination of ecological and social factors that impacted site location selection.; The settlement pattern and environmental data suggest two considerations guiding settlement in the Longshan period: access to arable land and water in the inland; and access to marine and terrestrial resources as well as protection from high tides at locations situated at 10 m. a.s.l. in the coastal regions. The largest Longshan coastal settlements were located on estuaries. Additionally, Liangchengzhen appears defensively situated, with only three natural access routes, and its intra-site settlement pattern suggests detached centers of activity within a large area. The lithic data suggests these areas were not exclusively focused on agriculture.; The lithic data set, while limited, indicates at least three differing organizations of labor: local production for small settlements, quarrying and initial production in an area of high quality greenstone, and elite-context secondary production at Liangchengzhen. Significant differences in raw materials used and tool types present at sites inside and outside the Liangchengzhen cluster of sites imply that particular tools made of high quality but local materials are objects suggestive of elite activity. One non-local but pervasive raw material, sandstone, stands out as a possible economic link between Liangchengzhen and several settlements 16 km. distant in the greenstone rich region of initial lithic production, near the closest sources of this material.