Spatial And Settlement Archaeological Research On Small And Medium-Sized Architectural Remains At Yinxu

This thesis focuses on small and medium-sized architectural remains within the Yinxu site,and takes the small and medium-sized buildings published with a general plan of the excavated area as the object of study,using typological analysis,settlement archaeology,and household archaeology to discuss their characteristics,as well as several particular phenomena associating these architectural features to the surrounding remains.The basic structure of this paper is as follows:The first chapter introduces the geographical scope of the Yinxu sites studied in this paper and its chronological framework.It also presents the concepts associated with settlement archaeology,household archaeology,and architectural archaeology involved in this research.Finally,it sums up the previous research on Yinxu’s architecture and settlement organisation.Chapter 2 presents the quantitative and typological analysis of small and mediumsized architectural remains at Yinxu.The quantitative and typological analysis carried on the collected data related to small and medium-sized architectural remains at Yinxu is presented.143 small and medium-sized architectural buildings are classified into several building types(semi-subterrannean,on foundation ditch and surface rammed earth),with a description of their construction processes.Chapter 3 presents the analysis of on settlements and households levels.Using Adobe Illustrator vectorial drawing software,the excavation maps of each architectural site has been redrawn,using the descriptions of the excavation reports,separating the remains into each occupation phases(from the first to the fourth phases of Yinxu)in order to carry out diachronic spatial analysis,and explore the relation between the architectural features,of the buildings and the other remains,as well as the inner structure of the architectural features.Chapter 4 combines the sites with the theory of the Dae Yi Shang clan-eup model,arguing that there may have been exchanges and interactions among the clan-eups,analyzing that the ceramic coffin burials and children’s burials under the architectural remains are not necessarily foundation tombs,citing the phenomenon that buildings and burials are adjacent to each other within the sites,explaining that the uninscribed divination bones found within the sites may be the product of people’s spontaneous divination activities,and speculating on the internal spatial connections of the buildings based on the column network.Chapter 5 is the conclusion,which summarizes the whole paper,explains the limitations of this research,and opens future research questions.