Papers by Andrew Womack
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2024
Over the last century archaeologists have investigated late Neolithic and Bronze Age interaction ... more Over the last century archaeologists have investigated late Neolithic and Bronze Age interaction networks spanning Eurasia, which in the east connected steppe pastoralists with farming communities in what is now northwestern China. While much attention has focused on the adoption and impact of technologies and domesticates from western Asia in eastern Asia, few models have been put forth to explain how these networks formed and functioned and why groups would want to participate in them in the first place. What research has been done on this topic has generally focused on analysis of ceramics and metal objects to suggest long-distance movement between broad geographic regions. Here I suggest that to understand long-distance interactions, we first need to understand the movements of people and goods at the site-specific level, which I theorize using the concept of translocality. I also question the idea that items being moved were primarily seen as commodities whose main purpose was for exchange. By rethinking the origins, function, and stability of networks on the microscale, I suggest that we can better understand participation in longer-distance interactions that eventually played a key role in the formation of state-level societies in eastern Asia.
Antiquity, 2023
During the Neolithic and Bronze Age, goods and ideas moved between Central Asia and the Chinese C... more During the Neolithic and Bronze Age, goods and ideas moved between Central Asia and the Chinese Central Plain via northwestern China. While the crops, animals and technologies exchanged are well documented, the local and social bases of these interactions are poorly known. Here, the authors use petrographic analysis of ceramic sherds from Gansu Province, China, to document the local production of pottery vessels and their circulation between sites. Individual vessel forms are associated with multiple paste recipes indicating the production of similar products by different communities of practice. It is argued the circulation of these vessels forged intercommunity relationships. In aggregate, these local networks underpinned longer-distance exchange between Central and East Asia.
Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 2021
Over the past 100 years since J.G. Andersson first brought the prehistoric pottery of Gansu and Q... more Over the past 100 years since J.G. Andersson first brought the prehistoric pottery of Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, China, to the world stage, significant advances have been made in our understanding of Neolithic and Bronze age pottery from that region. From the first typologies produced by Andersson and colleagues to the refinement of chronologies in the 1940s-1990s to the application of modern analytical techniques in the last 20 years, our understanding of both the pottery itself and the people who produced it has been radically transformed. However, up to this point, the history of this research has been scattered across dozens of publications in multiple languages. Here, for the first time, we present a concise history of this work, paired with recent findings from research on newly excavated materials as well as older collections from the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (MFEA) and various institutions in China. We hope that this will allow scholars to better understand the trajectory of ceramic research in this field, while also illuminating areas of interest for future research projects
Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 2021
Over the past 100 years since J.G. Andersson first brought the prehistoric pottery of Gansu and Q... more Over the past 100 years since J.G. Andersson first brought the prehistoric pottery of Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, China, to the world stage, significant advances have been made in our understanding of Neolithic and Bronze age pottery from that region. From the first typologies produced by Andersson and colleagues to the refinement of chronologies in the 1940s-1990s to the application of modern analytical techniques in the last 20 years, our understanding of both the pottery itself and the people who produced it has been radically transformed. However, up to this point, the history of this research has been scattered across dozens of publications in multiple languages. Here, for the first time, we present a concise history of this work, paired with recent findings from research on newly excavated materials as well as older collections from the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (MFEA) and various institutions in China. We hope that this will allow scholars to better understand the trajectory of ceramic research in this field, while also illuminating areas of interest for future research projects
Archaeological Research in Asia, 2021
Over the last decade, excavations at the late Neolithic to early Bronze Age site of Shimao in nor... more Over the last decade, excavations at the late Neolithic to early Bronze Age site of Shimao in northern Shaanxi Province have transformed our understanding of the archaeology of early China. What was previously seen as an area that was peripheral to the development of early dynastic centers in northern China is now being heralded by some scholars as a precursor of Chinese civilization. However, despite incredible finds of large-scale stone architecture, bronze working, thousands of jade artifacts, and elaborate stone carvings, our overall understanding of the economic and political organization of the inhabitants of Shimao is still very limited. In this study we examine the most common artifact class at the site, pottery, using petrographic analysis, in order to explore production methods as well as potential production organization and exchange. As our results demonstrate, most of the pottery used at Shimao was likely produced locally, potentially by multiple production groups at or near the site, but the ceramics were not particularly standardized in regard to paste recipes. These results likely reflect that ceramic production was not tightly controlled or formalized, but instead took place in local households or workshops, much like ceramic production in many other parts of northern China at the time.
Asian Archaeology, 2021
The transition between the Majiayao (5300-4000 BP) and Qijia (4200-3500 BP) "cultures" in what is... more The transition between the Majiayao (5300-4000 BP) and Qijia (4200-3500 BP) "cultures" in what is now northwestern China's Gansu Province has typically been defined by major technological changes in pottery forms, subsistence practices, and site locations. These changes are thought to have been driven by a combination of climate change induced cooling and drying as well as human migration into the region from areas further east. Based on our review of literature on the topic, as well as recent fieldwork in the northern Tao River Valley, we suggest that the picture is significantly more complex, with some new technologies slowly being experimented with, adopted, or rejected, while many other aspects of production and social organization persisted over hundreds of years. We hypothesize that these changes reflect the active agency of the inhabitants of southern Gansu during the fifth and fourth millennia BP balancing long-standing cultural traditions with influxes of new technologies. Unlike some societies in other regions at this time, however, increasing technological specialization does not appear to have resulted in growing social inequality, but the archaeological material instead reflects increasingly complex heterarchical organization.
Antiquity, 2019
Shifts in ceramic technology are often assumed to reflect wider social changes. Closer attention,... more Shifts in ceramic technology are often assumed to reflect wider social changes. Closer attention, however, needs to be directed to the fundamental issue of production. Shifts in the ceramic record of the Tao River Valley in north-western China (c. 2100 BC) are no exception and the relationships between ceramic form, clay recipes and communities of practice have not been previously investigated for this region. Here, petrographic analysis demonstrates that, despite major shifts in ceramic form and surface treatment, production techniques, raw materials and exchange relationships show surprising continuity through time.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2019
Recent magnetometry survey at the late Neolithic site of Dayatou (大崖头) in the Tao River (洮河) Vall... more Recent magnetometry survey at the late Neolithic site of Dayatou (大崖头) in the Tao River (洮河) Valley of Gansu Province, China, has revealed a complex, multiperiod habitation site made up of several discrete occupation clusters. While this site was previously interpreted as a large (~140,000 m 2), primarily Majiayao (马家窑) period site, our geophysical survey, augering, and targeted excavation results point to the site containing several smaller (~8500 m 2) areas of intense occupation separated by magnetically quieter zones in some areas and ditch features in others. The occupations appear to date to varying Majiayao subphases as well as subsequent periods. These results call into question the usefulness of site size rank hierarchies based on surface scatters of pottery alone, which are commonly used in studies of early complexity in China. This study demonstrates the usefulness of geophysical survey combined with targeted excavation for understanding the complex development processes at work in the formation of late Neolithic and early Bronze Age sites in northern China.
考古与文物, 2019
甘肃省洮河流域的齐家坪遗址是齐家文化的一处大型聚落。此次通过一系列地表调查、地球物理探测、数字测绘、采集遗物分析和针对性的试掘，对这座遗址的结构和内涵有了更加全面的认识，揭露了这座早期青铜时代遗... more 甘肃省洮河流域的齐家坪遗址是齐家文化的一处大型聚落。此次通过一系列地表调查、地球物理探测、数字测绘、采集遗物分析和针对性的试掘，对这座遗址的结构和内涵有了更加全面的认识，揭露了这座早期青铜时代遗址的复杂性。初步结果显示，齐家坪遗址有明显的分区规划，可分为生活居住区、公共墓地和制陶手工业区域。而且在生活居住区的中心也有墓葬的分布。上述结果有助于我们在齐家文化交互作用圈的脉络下深入考察齐家坪的聚落形态，同时也验证我们这个项目采用的方法在洮河流域考古研究中的潜力。
The Qijiaping site is a large-scale settlement of the Qijia culture located in the Tao river valley in Gansu. Our project team conducted a series of field walking survey, geophysical survey, digital mapping, analysis of collected survey artifacts, and targeted excavation at the site. All these methods and techniques were combined together in order to enhance our understanding of the structure and nature of the site and, more importantly, to disclose the complexity of this early Bronze Age settlement. Our preliminary results show that the entire Qijiaping site was internally divided into different functional zones, including the residential zone, public cemetery zone, and ceramic craft-production zone. Also, tombs were sparsely distributed in the residential zone. The latest progress not only facilitates our research on the settlement pattern of the Qijaping site within the interaction network of the Qijia culture but also demonstrates the potential of our multi-component methodology in the archaeological research of the Tao river valley.
NYAME AKUMA, 2017
In May 2017, archaeologists from Yale University and the Mission Culturelle de Kangaba conducted ... more In May 2017, archaeologists from Yale University and the Mission Culturelle de Kangaba conducted a series of magnetometer surveys around the newly identified site of Dakajalan, Sous-Prefecture, Sanankoroba, Mali. Several notable features were located, including areas suitable for future excavations.
Journal of Field Archaeology, 2017
Recent work at the Qijia Culture type-site of Qijiaping in the Tao River Valley of Gansu Province... more Recent work at the Qijia Culture type-site of Qijiaping in the Tao River Valley of Gansu Province, China, has shed light on the complex nature of this early Bronze Age site. Situated at the intersection between mixed pastoralists of eastern central Asia and agriculturalists of China’s northern Central Plain, Qijia peoples absorbed, evolved, and transmitted products and technologies that shaped cultural developments in both directions. The Tao River Archaeological Project (TRAP) used a combination of surface survey, geophysics, digital mapping, and targeted excavation to expand our understanding of the multicomponent nature of Qijiaping. This included identifying potential habitation, mortuary, and production locales; examining site-wide ceramic use; mapping anomalies through geophysics; and further exploring these through targeted excavations. The results have expanded our knowledge of the site structure of Qijiaping and its place in the wider Qijia interaction sphere, while also confirming the usefulness of this methodology.
Thesis Chapters by Andrew Womack
This dissertation addresses questions related to craft production, social identity, and interacti... more This dissertation addresses questions related to craft production, social identity, and interaction through a multifaceted analysis of ceramic production and use during the Majiayao (3200-2000BC) and Qijia (2300-1500BC) periods in the Tao River Valley of northwestern China’s Gansu Province. Situated between the Gobi Desert to the north and the foothills of the Tibetan Plateau to the south, for millennia this area acted as a key conduit for interaction between groups in central China and the Eurasian steppe. Majiayao and Qijia communities played a vital role in adopting, adapting, and retransmitting new domesticates, technologies, and ideas in both directions, helping shape the course of both Chinese and steppe civilization.
Despite these contributions to the development and spread of Chinese civilization, however, this region of northwest China is often pigeonholed into the trope of cultural devolution, with climatic shifts forcing a change from sophisticated Majiayao farmers to the small-scale, possibly pastoral societies of the Qijia. This conclusion is based almost entirely on shifts in pottery form and decoration, with the large, elaborately painted urns of the Majiayao period being replaced by the smaller, mostly undecorated pottery that defines the Qijia period. This dissertation challenges these conclusions by investigating the relationship between craft production, consumer and producer identity, and social interaction in order to provide a more nuanced understanding of the continuities and changes occurring between the two periods.
Taking a communities of practice based approach to ceramic production, this research focuses first on identifying potential groups of producers through assessment of paste recipes and forming techniques. In order to identify these groups, sherds from four Majiayao and Qijia habitation and mortuary contexts were sampled and analyzed using petrographic analysis. This technique provides information not only on the mineralogical makeup of a vessel, but also can provide insight into specific paste recipes and production techniques. This study revealed striking differences between vessels from mortuary and habitation contexts during the Majiayao period, pointing to the potential use of mortuary rituals for the negotiation and construction of relationships with other communities. It also demonstrated surprising continuity in production knowledge and techniques between the two periods, showing that changes in pottery form and decoration are not necessarily accurate reflections of underlying shifts in social identity.
In addition to petrographic analysis, whole vessels from mortuary contexts were also examined in order to assess how they were produced and used. Use-wear analysis was employed in order to understand the use histories of individual vessels, revealing that the majority of pots placed in graves during both periods were well used before interment. Standardization analysis was also carried out in order to explore potential production differences between various vessel types. It was demonstrated that while production does appear to vary between vessel types, there is impressive continuity in degree of vessel uniformity between the Majiayao and Qijia periods.
Combining the results of these three techniques, this research is able to address not only the communities of practice who were making these vessels, but also the potential roles they played in building and mediating relationships between groups. Specifically, for the northern Tao River Valley, it appears that despite significant shifts in pottery form, mortuary rituals, and the relationships that were mediated by these items and events, underlying communities of practice persisted over the course of more than 600 years.
Book Reviews by Andrew Womack
Conference Presentations by Andrew Womack
Society for American Archaeology Annual Conference, 2019
In northwestern China’s Gansu Province, painted pottery from the late Neolithic Majiayao Culture... more In northwestern China’s Gansu Province, painted pottery from the late Neolithic Majiayao Culture has long been admired for its skillful construction and beautiful painted motifs. Since the majority of whole vessels have been recovered from graves, it has generally been assumed that these items were produced primarily for mortuary purposes, including for displaying wealth or projecting the political or religious power of the deceased. This paper reassesses these claims in light of a petrographic analysis of sherds from nearby mortuary and habitation contexts. By examining the production processes embedded in these items, including producer choices in paste recipes and raw material selection, as well as surface treatment, I suggest that vessels from mortuary contexts are not simply displaying wealth or power. Instead, they likely reflect diverse communities of producers and consumers who were directly participating in funerary events. These results highlight the importance of examining production choices alongside vessel style and context when interpreting the role of pottery in mortuary settings.
Society for East Asian Archaeology Annual Conference 2018, 2018
While typological classification of ceramics has long been a mainstay of archaeology in China, in... more While typological classification of ceramics has long been a mainstay of archaeology in China, in recent years other forms of analysis have become increasingly common. Various types of chemical analysis, along with ceramic petrography, have increased our understanding of ceramic production and use in ancient China. With the generation of large amounts of new data, however, has come the issue of how to productively publish and share it. This is particularly important for ceramic petrography, where comparison with ceramic and geological samples from adjacent regions is critical. In order to facilitate the open sharing of geological and ceramic petrographic data, the China Ceramic Petrography Database has been created. This presentation will discuss how this web platform can be used to access and contribute standardized sets of petrographic data from time periods and locations spanning China’s prehistoric periods. A case study of data from the Tao River Archaeology Project will also be presented.
Society for American Archaeology Annual Conference, 2017
Excavated in 1978, the cemetery at the site of Dibaping in southern Gansu Province, China reveale... more Excavated in 1978, the cemetery at the site of Dibaping in southern Gansu Province, China revealed hundreds of Banshan period (2600-2300BC) ceramic vessels. The elaborately painted geometric motifs on many of the vessels led to them quickly being touted as an example of the pinnacle of artistic achievement in Neolithic northwestern China. Aside from typology, however, no other analyses have been done on these objects. The result is that little is known about how these vessels were created, the role that they played in mortuary practices, or even if they were used before being interred. This paper will present the results of recent use-wear and standardization analysis of these vessels and the effect these have on our understanding of their production, use, and deposition. These results will then be framed within our wider understanding of the benefits and limitations of use-wear and standardization analysis, and our current knowledge of Banshan period production and consumption practices.
While Majiayao pottery has long been recognized for the beauty of its forms and painted decoratio... more While Majiayao pottery has long been recognized for the beauty of its forms and painted decoration, up to this point few investigations have considered how it was produced, where it was made, and what it is made of. Even fewer studies have considered these questions for pottery from the later Qijia period. This presentation will combine craft production theory and petrographic analysis of Majiayao and Qijia ceramics in order to shed light on each of these questions. In particular it will focus on similarities and differences between pottery from residential and mortuary contexts, changes in production methods and materials over time, and identifying the origins of inclusions in the paste. The impact that these results have on our understanding of Majiayao and Qijia mortuary practices and social organization will then be discussed.
Excavated in 1975, the cemetery at the Qijia Culture type-site of Qijiaping in southern Gansu pro... more Excavated in 1975, the cemetery at the Qijia Culture type-site of Qijiaping in southern Gansu province, China, provides a wealth of data on life and death in Qijia society. Up to this point however, the production and use of the most common type of burial good, ceramic vessels, has never been fully researched. This paper will explore production organization and methods likely used to produce several classes of vessels though statistical analysis of vessel standardization. Ideas of what constitutes standardization and what that means for our understanding of the Qijia Culture will also be addressed. Possible functions and contents of these vessels will then be discussed based on the initial results of use-wear analysis. This will allow for new insights into production and consumption of vessels and their contents at Qijiaping.
2021 by Andrew Womack
Journal of World Prehistory, 2021
The Xindian culture of northwest China has been seen as a prototypical example of a transition to... more The Xindian culture of northwest China has been seen as a prototypical example of a transition toward pastoralism, resulting in part from environmental changes that started around 4000 years ago. To date, there has been little available residential data to document how and whether subsistence strategies and community organization in northwest China changed following or in association with documented environmental changes. The Tao River Archaeology Project is a collaborative effort aimed at gathering robust archaeological information to solidify our baseline understanding of economic, technological, and social practices in the third through early first millennia BC. Here we present data from two Xindian culture residential sites, and propose that rather than a total transition to nomadic pastoralism-as it is often reconstructed-the Xindian culture reflects a prolonged period of complex transition in cultural traditions and subsistence practices. In fact, communities maintained elements of earlier cultivation and animal-foddering systems, selectively incorporating new plants and animals into their repertoire. These locally-specific strategies were employed to negotiate ever-changing environmental and social conditions in the region of developing 'proto-Silk Road' interregional interactions.
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Papers by Andrew Womack
The Qijiaping site is a large-scale settlement of the Qijia culture located in the Tao river valley in Gansu. Our project team conducted a series of field walking survey, geophysical survey, digital mapping, analysis of collected survey artifacts, and targeted excavation at the site. All these methods and techniques were combined together in order to enhance our understanding of the structure and nature of the site and, more importantly, to disclose the complexity of this early Bronze Age settlement. Our preliminary results show that the entire Qijiaping site was internally divided into different functional zones, including the residential zone, public cemetery zone, and ceramic craft-production zone. Also, tombs were sparsely distributed in the residential zone. The latest progress not only facilitates our research on the settlement pattern of the Qijaping site within the interaction network of the Qijia culture but also demonstrates the potential of our multi-component methodology in the archaeological research of the Tao river valley.
Thesis Chapters by Andrew Womack
Despite these contributions to the development and spread of Chinese civilization, however, this region of northwest China is often pigeonholed into the trope of cultural devolution, with climatic shifts forcing a change from sophisticated Majiayao farmers to the small-scale, possibly pastoral societies of the Qijia. This conclusion is based almost entirely on shifts in pottery form and decoration, with the large, elaborately painted urns of the Majiayao period being replaced by the smaller, mostly undecorated pottery that defines the Qijia period. This dissertation challenges these conclusions by investigating the relationship between craft production, consumer and producer identity, and social interaction in order to provide a more nuanced understanding of the continuities and changes occurring between the two periods.
Taking a communities of practice based approach to ceramic production, this research focuses first on identifying potential groups of producers through assessment of paste recipes and forming techniques. In order to identify these groups, sherds from four Majiayao and Qijia habitation and mortuary contexts were sampled and analyzed using petrographic analysis. This technique provides information not only on the mineralogical makeup of a vessel, but also can provide insight into specific paste recipes and production techniques. This study revealed striking differences between vessels from mortuary and habitation contexts during the Majiayao period, pointing to the potential use of mortuary rituals for the negotiation and construction of relationships with other communities. It also demonstrated surprising continuity in production knowledge and techniques between the two periods, showing that changes in pottery form and decoration are not necessarily accurate reflections of underlying shifts in social identity.
In addition to petrographic analysis, whole vessels from mortuary contexts were also examined in order to assess how they were produced and used. Use-wear analysis was employed in order to understand the use histories of individual vessels, revealing that the majority of pots placed in graves during both periods were well used before interment. Standardization analysis was also carried out in order to explore potential production differences between various vessel types. It was demonstrated that while production does appear to vary between vessel types, there is impressive continuity in degree of vessel uniformity between the Majiayao and Qijia periods.
Combining the results of these three techniques, this research is able to address not only the communities of practice who were making these vessels, but also the potential roles they played in building and mediating relationships between groups. Specifically, for the northern Tao River Valley, it appears that despite significant shifts in pottery form, mortuary rituals, and the relationships that were mediated by these items and events, underlying communities of practice persisted over the course of more than 600 years.
Book Reviews by Andrew Womack
Conference Presentations by Andrew Womack
2021 by Andrew Womack
The Qijiaping site is a large-scale settlement of the Qijia culture located in the Tao river valley in Gansu. Our project team conducted a series of field walking survey, geophysical survey, digital mapping, analysis of collected survey artifacts, and targeted excavation at the site. All these methods and techniques were combined together in order to enhance our understanding of the structure and nature of the site and, more importantly, to disclose the complexity of this early Bronze Age settlement. Our preliminary results show that the entire Qijiaping site was internally divided into different functional zones, including the residential zone, public cemetery zone, and ceramic craft-production zone. Also, tombs were sparsely distributed in the residential zone. The latest progress not only facilitates our research on the settlement pattern of the Qijaping site within the interaction network of the Qijia culture but also demonstrates the potential of our multi-component methodology in the archaeological research of the Tao river valley.
Despite these contributions to the development and spread of Chinese civilization, however, this region of northwest China is often pigeonholed into the trope of cultural devolution, with climatic shifts forcing a change from sophisticated Majiayao farmers to the small-scale, possibly pastoral societies of the Qijia. This conclusion is based almost entirely on shifts in pottery form and decoration, with the large, elaborately painted urns of the Majiayao period being replaced by the smaller, mostly undecorated pottery that defines the Qijia period. This dissertation challenges these conclusions by investigating the relationship between craft production, consumer and producer identity, and social interaction in order to provide a more nuanced understanding of the continuities and changes occurring between the two periods.
Taking a communities of practice based approach to ceramic production, this research focuses first on identifying potential groups of producers through assessment of paste recipes and forming techniques. In order to identify these groups, sherds from four Majiayao and Qijia habitation and mortuary contexts were sampled and analyzed using petrographic analysis. This technique provides information not only on the mineralogical makeup of a vessel, but also can provide insight into specific paste recipes and production techniques. This study revealed striking differences between vessels from mortuary and habitation contexts during the Majiayao period, pointing to the potential use of mortuary rituals for the negotiation and construction of relationships with other communities. It also demonstrated surprising continuity in production knowledge and techniques between the two periods, showing that changes in pottery form and decoration are not necessarily accurate reflections of underlying shifts in social identity.
In addition to petrographic analysis, whole vessels from mortuary contexts were also examined in order to assess how they were produced and used. Use-wear analysis was employed in order to understand the use histories of individual vessels, revealing that the majority of pots placed in graves during both periods were well used before interment. Standardization analysis was also carried out in order to explore potential production differences between various vessel types. It was demonstrated that while production does appear to vary between vessel types, there is impressive continuity in degree of vessel uniformity between the Majiayao and Qijia periods.
Combining the results of these three techniques, this research is able to address not only the communities of practice who were making these vessels, but also the potential roles they played in building and mediating relationships between groups. Specifically, for the northern Tao River Valley, it appears that despite significant shifts in pottery form, mortuary rituals, and the relationships that were mediated by these items and events, underlying communities of practice persisted over the course of more than 600 years.
https://www.barpublishing.com/painted-pottery-production-and-social-complexity-in-neolithic-northwest-china.html