| This thesis first discusses various Bronze Age cultures in the Northern Zone of China during the second and first millennia scB. scC., with particular attention to their spatial and temporal distributions. subsistence economies, and cultural relations to one another. This study proposes the term "Northern Zone" to identify the unique cultural area on the northern frontiers of China during the Bronze Age. characterized by its distinctive cultural. economic, and ethnic attributes. The thesis surveys archaeological complexes located in northeast, north-central, and northwestern China, and traces their cultural changes and developments over two thousand years. Through diachronic and synchronic comparisons, such issues as the development of bronze metallurgy, the emergence of pastoral nomadism, and the interaction between people of the Northern Zone and their neighbors are discussed. As a case study, archaeological data from the Yuhuangmiao cemetery are analyzed to investigate the mortuary symbolism and social organization of a bronze age society that existed in northern Beijing in the first millennium scB. scC. In this analysis of the Yuhuangmiao society, several quantitative methods are used to illustrate that this society had at least three tiers of social hierarchy and that it was characterized by achieved social status and social differentiation based on age and gender. The analysis of diverse Bronze Age cultures in the Northern Zone, combined with the case study of the Yuhuangmiao cemetery, provides an opportunity for a fresh understanding of the nature of these so-called "peripheral" societies, their subsistence economies, and their dynamic interactions with neighboring societies. |
