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Abstract
Northeastern China is one of the centers of early development of agriculture and sedentary life, as well as of the subsequent development of social complexity and distinct cultural attributes. While the outlines of this trajectory are clear, its important details are still elusive. Like all other regions of northern China, there is little data on the all-important transition from nomad hunter-gatherers to sedentary agriculturalists. The Fuxin Regional Survey was designed as the first step in accumulating new data and addressing the geographic and ecological contexts of these socioeconomic processes. Among the most remarkable results of this survey is the identification of early ceramics, which possibly predate the transition to agriculture. The systematic collection and analysis of stone tools was done in a way never before done in this region. Analysis of our findings, using GIS and other methods, sheds new light on the local trajectory of human adaptation in this area.
Acknowledgments
This research was funded with grants from the National Geographic Society (grant no. 8614–09) and the Israel Science Foundation (grant no. 502\11). We are grateful to all the archaeologists and students who participated in the survey: Cai Yan, Mei Shuwen, Wang Tao, Wu Xia, Zhang Bo, and Zhao Yuchao, Cao Jun, Song Song, Wang Zhen, Yu Huanjin, and Zhang Liang from Jilin University; Xin Yan, Guo Ming and Su Junqiang from the Liaoning Archaeological Institute; Uri Davidovich, Michal Lee Gaulan, Tikvah Lee Steiner, Nir Horovitz, Micka Ullman, Noa Nahmias, and Yochanan Storch from the Hebrew University; Yitzchak Jaffe from Harvard University; Cui Song and Wang Yi from the Fuxin Cultural relics management office, and Li Jingyan from the Chahai site museum. All the ceramic plates were prepared by Ahiad Ovadia. We are grateful to Leore Grosman and Avshalom Karasik for their help in preparing the 3D scanner in the field for use and processing the 3D files. The authors also express their gratitude to Patrice Kaminski for preparing the stone tool figures for publication and to Micka Ullman for photographing some of the stone tools.
ORCiD
Gideon Shelach-Lavi http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1576-1844
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Gideon Shelach-Lavi
Gideon Shelach-Lavi (Ph.D. 1996, University of Pittsburgh) is Professor of Asian Studies, at Hebrew University, Israel. His research interests include the Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology of Northeast China, the transition to agriculture and sedentary way of life, regional survey methods, and the archaeology of inter-regional contacts.
Mingyu Teng
Teng Mingyu (Ph.D. 2001, Jilin University, China) is Professor at the Center for Frontier Archaeology, Jilin University, China. Her research interests include the Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology of China, regional survey methods, and GIS analysis.
Yonatan Goldsmith
Yonatan Goldsmith is a Ph.D. candidate at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University. His main research interests include developing geochemical proxies for terrestrial paleoclimate reconstructions in China, the western United States and the Levant.
Ido Wachtel
Ido Wachtel is a Ph.D. candidate at Hebrew University, Israel. His research interests include Bronze and Iron Age archaeology of North Israel, regional survey methods and GIS analysis.
Ahiad Ovadia
Ahiad Ovadia is a graduate student Hebrew University, Israel. His research interests include the Natufian and Neolithic archaeology of Israel, and 3D documentation and analysis of archaeological artifacts.
Xiongfei Wan
Wan Xiongfei (M.A. 2007, Jilin University, China) is Vice Director of the Liaoning Province Institute of Archaeology, China. His research interests include the archaeology of Liaoning Province and Historical Archaeology.
Ofer Marder
Ofer Marder (Ph.D. 2003, Hebrew University, Israel) is Associate Professor at Ben-Gurion University. His research interests include lithic analysis, the Upper and Epi-Palaeolithic of the Levant and the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural society.