Jade Artifacts and Social Dynamics in the Longshan Era: Cross-Regional Interactions and Cultural Integration during Late Neolithic China (2500-1800BCE)
Introduction
Jade objects played important roles in regional interaction during the late Neolithic, Longshan period, an era when there was no formal writing system. It appears that the frequency and extent of social interactions involving particular jade forms were more significant than previously realized. For example, varieties of thin, flat dao knives, cong tubes, and bi discs are found throughout the Yellow River basin. Certain decorative motifs originate from the Xiaojiawuzi culture of the middle Yangtze River region. In this lecture I will discuss similarities in jade forms among regions during the Longshan period to discuss the different kinds of social connections they represent. I suggest that the degree of similarities across long distances reveal unprecedented distances and diversity with respect to the nature of the social interactions that took place. These represent significant cross-regional integration in early China, even before the emergence of bronze technology and the bronze ritual system of the early Bronze Age.
About the Speaker
Dr. Ling Qin is an Associate Professor at the School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University (PKU), and serves as the Vice Director of the Archaeobotany Committee of the Chinese Archaeological Society. She received her PhD from PKU in 2003, with a focus on the Neolithic social complex of the lower Yangtze River.
Dr. Qin’s research expertise encompasses Neolithic archaeology, archaeobotany, field methodology, and prehistoric jade and stone artifacts. She has directed extensive excavations across Zhejiang, Shandong, Shaanxi, Henan, Guangdong and Tibet. As a leading figure in field archaeology education, she has directed PKU's field practice course since 2010 and organizes national field director training programs entrusted by China's State Administration of Cultural Heritage. She also co-authored the 2009 Regulations of Field Archaeology in China.
Internationally recognized for her work, Dr. Qin has been a visiting scholar in the UK and Japan. She currently directs several major national research initiatives, including the sub-project "Research on Subsistence, Resources, and Technology in the Origins of Chinese Civilization" (part of the national Project to Trace the Origins of Chinese Civilization) and the Ministry of Education project "Technology and Civilization: Exploring the Foundations of Prehistoric Chinese Civilization through Jade Craftsmanship." Her comparative research bridges early agricultural development and the formation of early civilizations across East Asia.