EAANnouncements 2
Oct 1990
Contents
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EAAN activities:
• The CHANG (Chinese History and Archaeology Networking Group) newsletter of May 1990 was circulated to EAAN registrants in July. If anyone would like to (continue to) receive it, please contact Prof. Al Dien, Asian Languages Dept., Stanford University, Stanford CA 94305 USA.
• Computer bibliographies of Western-language works on East Asian archeology were circulated to EAAN registrants in August.
• EAAN was granted £360 by St. John's College Cambridge for bibliographic development.
• David Brown, owner of Oxbow Books kindly agreed to publish the four Western-language bibliographic reviews on behalf of EAAN that were originally scheduled to go into the BAR series. Please note that the publisher is now different from that first advertised in the initial EAAN circular for the Chicago AAS meetings. Pre-publication offers were made to EAAN registrants, and a normal order form for the volume is enclosed.
CALL FOR PAPERS:
eurEAAN (EAAN in Europe) will be holding a Seminar on Korean Archaeology in conjunction with the annual conference of the British Association for Korean Studies (BAKS) to be held in Cambridge March 26-28, 1991. Anyone interested in attending and/or presenting a paper should contact Gina Barnes at St. John's College, Cambridge, England as soon as possible. Please at that time enclose an abstract of a 20-minute paper (if a presenter). Further literature will be sent in return. Accommodation can be booked now with a cheque made out to 'BAKS Conference': £23 for one night only to attend the Korean Archaeology Seminar or £69 for three nights inclusive of BAKS Conference as well; but later arrangements may be made individually at probobably less expense.
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION:
amEAAN (EAAN in North America) will be holding an EAAN Meeting in Conjunction with the AAS meetings in New Orleans next spring (April 11-14, 1991). Nancy Price has agreed to chair the meeting, and she will be developing an agenda during the autumn. This meeting may also include an informal Discussion, similar to the Roundtable held at the Chicago AAS 1990, the proposed topic being "Archaeology and History of the Early Chinese State: a review and future prospects" in celebration of the 50th Anniversary year of the AAS. Informal research reports are also invited. Please contact Nancy with your ideas and suggestions; other topics for discussion may be proposed for consideration. Let her know sooner rather than later if you are planning on going to New Orleans and would like to participate (until 31 December 1990 at 1223 Sequoia Place, Davis CA 95616 (tel. 916-758-0726); or after 1 January 1991 at the Fine Arts Department, Indiana University, Bloomington IN 47401 (tel. 812-855-7766).
MEMBER NEWS (in alpha-order):
Prof. C. Melvin AIKENS (East Asian, esp. Japanese, prehistoric & protohistoric Department of Anthropology archaeology)
University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403 USA
Home 503-343-2874
Work 503-346-5102
FAX 503-346-3660
EMAIL: [...]
Mel is currently editing, with Song Nai Rhee, a volume of papers from the 1989 Seattle Circum-Pacific Prehistory Conference, to be titled "Pacific Northeast Asia in Prehistory: recent research into the emergence of hunter-fisher gatherers, farmers and sociopolitical elites."
Dr. Sarah ALLAN (Chinese prehistoric to early historic archaeology & Far East Dept. SOAS history)
Thornhaugh St., Russell Sq.
London WC1H 0XG England
Home 0379-75765
Work 071-323-6197
Sarah has one book, The Shape of the Turtle: myth, art and cosmos in early China, in press with SUNY and is currently writing another book on early Chinese bronzes with LI Xueqin.
Francis ALLARD (Chinese prehistoric archaeology)
Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh
Department of Anthropology
Forbes Quad From Jan'91:
Pittsburgh PA 15260 206 St. George, Apt 510
Home 412-521-1633 (Pittsburgh) Toronto, Ontario
Work 412-648-7510 Canada M5R 2N6
Home 416-927-0217
Francis is presently in his second year of the Ph.D. program at the University of Pittsburgh [please note correction from EAANnouncements 1 where he was stated to be at the University of Pennsylvania)] where he holds a President's Fellowship in Chinese Studies. He has recently returned from a short visit to Zhongshan University in Guangzhou where he set up fieldwork to begin in the autumn of 1991. His research will focus on aspects of the Neolithic in Guangdong Province and will include some participation on the excavation of an early Neolithic rockshelter, led by the Department of Anthropology at Zhongshan University, as well as visits to other sites and museums.
Miss Deogim AN (East Asian prehistoric archaeology)
Institute of Archaeology
21-34 Gordon Square
London WC1 UK
Deogim is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. programme at the University of London, doing research on prehistoric coastal ecology of Korea with a detailed study of the shell middens of Anmyun Island, South Korea. Back in Korea, she is employed at the Seoul National Museum.
Mr. David BALL (Chinese early historic and medieval archaeology and
14 Hawker St. history)
Bowden, S.A. 5700 AUSTRALIA
Home 08-460919
David is involved on a part-time basis with the Research Centre for South East Asian Ceramics, University of Adelaide, particularly for up-coming research on maritime archaeological sites in Fujian Province, China. He is taking up a one-year government scholarship to study Chinese in China commencing September 1990. During that time, he can be reached c/o Foreign Students' Building, Fudan University, Shanghai, PRC.
Prof. Peter BLEED (Japanese prehistoric archaeology)
Department of Anthropology
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska 68503 USA
Home 402-466-6805
Work 402-472-2439
FAX 402-472-1123
Peter will be a Japan Foundation Fellow at Tohoku University in Sendai from Jan to Aug 1991. His special interest is technological analysis, and while in Japan this time, he expects to be examining production patterns and especially success and failure rates of Late Paleolithic materials. He will be using techniques from the engineering field of operations research to consider these topics.
Mr. Youn-sik CHOO (East Asian prehistoric archaeology)
St. Edmund's College
Mount Pleasant
Cambridge CB3 0BN England
Home 0223-329684
Youn-sik is a Curator at the Changwon University Museum in southern Korea who is currently enrolled in the M.Phil. programme in the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge. His research topic is "On the Change of Subsistence Patterns in Prehistoric Korea."
Dr. Martina DEUCHLER (Korean early and medieval history)
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG UK
Home 081-463-0857
Work 071-637-2388x2265
FAX 071-436-3844
Martina recently came from Zurich to take up a lectureship in the Department of History at SOAS. She is now Director of the Centre for Korean Studies there, and her own research concentrates on the Yi Dynasty.
Dr. Walter EDWARDS (Japanese prehistoric archaeology and cultural
3248-6 Imai Koen Nishi anthropology)
Matsumoto, Nagano 390-11 JAPAN
Home 0263-50-3753
Walter previously taught Japanese anthropology at the University of Michigan and has since participated in archaeological excavations in Shizuoka Prefecture. He is currently teaching in Matsumoto.
Dr. James H. GRAYSON (Korean protohistory and early history, religious
Centre for Korean Studies studies)
University of Sheffield
Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN UK
Home 0742-30-5171
Work 0742-76-8555x4911
FAX 0742-72-9479
James came to Britain from Korea in 1988 and is now President of BAKS (the British Association for Korean Studies) and Newsletter editor of AKSE (the Association for Korean Studies in Europe). His current research is focussed on a study of the foundation myths of Korea, Manchuria and Northeast Asia.
Dr. Chumei HO (Chinese and Japanese early historic and medieval Research Associate archaeology and history)
Field Museum of Natural History
Roosevelt Roat at Lake Shore Drive
Chicago IL 60605 USA
Work 312-922-9410 x 308
Chumei received her doctorate from the University of London in 1984 on The Pottery of Kok Charoen and its Further Context. In 1986, she organised and chaired the international symposium "Ancient Ceramic Industry in South and East China and Neighboring Regions" at the University of Hong Kong. Since 1988, she has conducted two field projects, one for Song and Tang kiln excavavations in Guangdong and the other in Thailand funded by the National Geographic Society.
Mr. Simon HOLLEDGE (Chinese and Japanese archaeology from
1-8-3 Takada prehistoric to early historic times)
Toshima-ku, Tokyo 171 Japan
Home 03-985-6317
FAX 03-232-5278
NIFTYSERVE NAE 00721 (c/o Yamada)
Simon came from a career in publishing to complete an M.A. at the Institute of Archaeology, University of London in 1989, with a dissertation on "Liuwan: a first look at a large neolithic cemetery in China". He is currently working as an investigator (chosain) on the Tokyo Metropolitan Schools Archaeological Investigation Team, headed by ODA Shizuo (see the note under JOBS below).
Mr. Mark J. HUDSON (East Asian archaeology, esp. Jomon and Yayoi Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Letters Japan)
University of Tokyo
Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku
Tokyo 113 Japan
Having completed his M.Phil in East Asian Archaeology at the University of Cambridge in 1988, Mark is currently a Monbusho research student at the University of Tokyo doing research for his Ph.D. dissertation on the Jomon-Yayoi transition in the Kanto region.
Mr. Simon KANER (East Asian prehistoric archaeology)
Department of Archaeology, Cambridge University
Downing St., Cambridge CB2 3DZ UK
Work 0223-333320
Simon is a 3rd-year Ph.D. student currently finishing his dissertation on Jomon settlements.
Ms. Rose KERR (East Asian protohistoric-medieval history, archaeology Curator, Far Eastern Collection and material culture)
Victoria and Albert Museum
South Kensington, London SW7 2RL England
Work 071-938-8263
FAX 071-938-8341
Rose is currently involved in overhauling the Chinese collections at the V&A for a major redisplay to open in 1991 in the T.T. Tsui Gallery of Chinese Art.
Dr. Helen LOVEDAY (Early historic Chinese archaeology)
5 Avenue Weber
1208 Geneva
Switzerland
Helen has recently finished her Ph.D. Dissertation for Oxford University on A Study of the Regional Styles Present in the Material Culture of the State of Chu in the Warring States Period (1989).
Mr. Akira MATSUI (Japanese Pre- & Proto-historic and Medieval Nara National Cultural Properties Research Institute archaeology)
2-9-1 Nijo-cho
Nara 630 JAPAN
Home 0742-48-3220
Work 0742-34-3930
FAX 0742-34-4041
NIFTYSERVE PEB00352
Matsui-san is a specialist in faunal analysis and is building up one of Japan's major faunal reference collections of archaeological species at Nabunken.
Prof. John OLSEN (see EAANnouncements 1) of the Dept. of Anthropology, University of Arizona, has accepted a one-year appointment as Director of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences China Office beginning 1 Oct 90. He can be contacted at the following address until October 1991 when he will return to Tucson: U.S. National Academy of Sciences/CSCPRC China Office
Youyi Binguan (Friendship Hotel)
Building 4, Room 40522 Tel. 861-849-888
3 Baishiqiao Lu, Haidian Qu FAX 861-831-4661
Beijing 100873, China-PRC TELEX 222362 (FHBJ CN)
Dr. Hyung Il PAI (Protohistoric and Early historic Korean archaeology)
History Department, University of California
Santa Barbara CA 93106 USA
Home 805-893-2245
Work 805-562-5787
Hyung Il completed her Ph.D. Dissertation on Lelang and the Interaction Sphere in Korean Prehistory for Harvard University in 1989 and has just taken up an Assistant Professorship at UC Santa Barbara. She will be teaching Korean studies in the Asian Studies program and the History Department.
Mr. Kenneth R. ROBINSON (Korean and Japanese early historic & Department of History, University of Hawaii medieval history)
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Sakamaki Hall A203
2530 Dole Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822-2383 USA
Home 213-432-8999 (Long Beach, CA)
Work 808-956-4224
Ken is studying 13-16th century Japanese-Korean relations, focusing on roles of Tsushima and the Hakata shonin in trade and political relations. He has recently given a paper on Mimana Nihon-fu as a symbol of Japanese colonialism and of Japanese scholarship (see Conference Announcements below), and is now working toward a Ph.D. in History at the University of Hawaii.
Mr. Alan SAVILLE (Japanese prehistoric archaeology)
Department of Archaeology
Royal Museum of Scotland
Queen Street, Edingurgh EH2 1JD UK
Home 031-332-7016
Work 031-225-7534 x 335
FAX: 031-220-4819
Alan is a British archaeologist who is a close acquaintance of Prof. Yoshiro Kondo in Japan. He has toured sites and excavations in Japan, and has published articles on Japanese rescue archaeology. As a member of the Prehistoric Society Council, he is interested in increasing British-Japanese archaeological contacts. Furthermore, in his new position in the Artefact Research Unit in the Royal Museum of Scotland, he forsees the possibility of cooperative work on Japanese materials.
Prof. Song Nai RHEE (East Asian archaeology and history from pre- to Northwest Christian College early-historic times)
828 East 11th Ave
Eugene OR 97401 USA
Home 503-344-5528
Work 503-343-1641
FAX 503-343-9159
Song Nai's research concerns cover Tagar burials in Siberia, Neolithic cultural remains in Manchuria, the formation of the Koguryo and Paekche states, and the origins of the Bronze Age cultures of Inner Mongolia and southwestern Manchuria.
Dr. Donald B. WAGNER (Chinese archaeology, history, and history of technology from from Protohistoric to Medieval times)
East Asian Institute
University of Copenhagen
Njalsgade 80
DK-2300 Copenhagen V
Denmark
Home 31 31 25 81
Work 31 54 22 11
Donald has just finished a book entitled Iron and Steel in Ancient China . He will be spending one year from September 1990 in Cambridge, England at the Needham Research Institute, having obtained a grant for research from the Julie von Mullen Foundation. He is also designated as Carlsberg Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge.
JOBS!!
University of Michigan has an opening pending administration approval for an East Asia/Oceania archaeologist, beginning September 1991 in the Museum of Anthropology/Department of Anthropology. A Ph.D. is required. The appointment will be tenure-track at the Assistant Professor level (Dept.) and Assistant Curator level (Museum). The position involves curation/research with existing Chinese and Southeast Asian collections, conducting an active field program, and teaching two courses per year. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Send resume, publications and names of three referees by 1 December 1990 to: Prof. Henry T. Wright, Director, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI 48109 USA.
The Bishop Museum in Honolulu is seeking professional archaeologists to work on Hawaiian contract archaeological survey and excavation projects. Work is available immediately and pay is commensurate with education and experience; advancement in responsibility and salary is possible. Interested persons should send resumes and letter of interest to: Applied Research Group, Bishop Museum PO Box 19,000-A, Honolulu, HI 96817 USA. (From SAA Bulletin 8.3:15, 6/90).
The Macmillan Dictionary of Art editors in London are assigning the final entries to be published in 1994. If anyone wishes to contribute articles, please write to Ms. Sian Jay, Macmillan Publishers Limited, 4 Little Essex Street, London WC2R 3LF England, giving your full names, address, and telephone numbers together with your area(s) of speciality.
The Hong Kong Airport Archaeological Project (see project description below) is signing on staff for various phases of survey and excavation. Short-term work is available for remuneration in kind or salary depending on negotiations. Please send your area of expertise and salary requirements to Bill Meacham with at the Hong Kong Archaeological Society, c/o The Hong Kong Museum of History, Block 58 Kowloon Park, Haiphong Road, Kowloon Hong Kong.
Asian Perspectives has a new Book Review Editor, Dr. P. Bion Griffin, who is actively seeking people to review new books for the journal. If you are interested, write him the subjects you would like to cover at the Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii, 2424 Maile Way, Honolulu HA 96822 USA. Remuneration is, of course, the book reviewed.
Important note to JOBS:
A precedent has recently been set in Japan for archaeologists to be given working visas as professionals to work on Japanese teams. (This probably does not apply to short-term excavators). Simon Holledge, after much grief with the bureaucracy, has been given a one-year working visa on the basis of his contract for employment as a chosain in the Tokyo Metropolitan Unit (see above). Whether or not this will be extended is not yet known, but Simon hopes to reside permanently in Japan. His visa status will be well-worth watching so that perhaps others can follow in his footsteps.
RESEARCH NOTES:
Korean Earthwatch Project by Sarah Nelson, Univ of Denver
My earthwatch project in June, 1989 on
"The Origins of Agriculture in Korea"
was designed to accomplish two tasks. The first was the detailed recording of previously excavated
artifacts from neolithic sites in Korea with exact proveniences recorded, in order to look for
subtle changes through time of the artifact frequencies, dimensions, material, etc. The second was
the collection of site catchment data on the same sites. Problems arose with access to some of the
collections, ostensibly because they had not been published, although I had been allowed access to
some of these collections on prior trips to Korea. There may be no way to avoid such bureaucratic
decisions, but anyone planning a project using curated materials should be aware of the possibility
of difficulties and prepare a fall-back plan. The "Origins of Agriculture in Korea Project" did
produce some useful data.
The Use of Animals in Medieval Japan by Akira MATSUI, Nabunken
Hide-processing methods:
Several techniques for processing hides have been used in East Asia from very old times even up to
today. One is sometimes called the 'Paleo-Asiatic' technique: raw animal skin is soaked in urine to
remove the fat and some other properties; later it is washed clean. Another method is used in
eastern Siberia, northeastern China and among the Ainu people in northern Japan. This is the
application of animal brain or fish roe to remove undesirable fat and other protein contents from
the skin. This method was widespread not only in East Asia but also among native North Americans for
processing bison hides, as ethnographic records indicate.
Among the archaeological materials from the Joyama site in Osaka Prefecture, dating to the 7th c.
AD, there is one horse cranium which was carefully cut from frontal to occipital in order to remove
the brain. This possibly can be taken as an indication that the brain matter was used as a hide
processing accelerator. The written records for the 7th to 10th c. AD contain several descriptions
of this method. The first description occurs in the oldest laws of Japan, the Ritsuryo: If a
government horse or cow died, its meat, skin, horns, brain and kidneys were required to be removed.
Unfortunately, there is no indication of their usage, and no historian has speculated on the purpose
of removing the brain. However, in a later record, the Engi-shiki, written in the 9th c. AD, it says
that in order to process deer hide, the following procedure should be undertaken: first, coat it
with brain matter; after drying, remove the brain matter and then wash and dry the hide several
times. Despite the fact that there are no actual archaeological remains of animal hides from these
periods in Japan, the method of processing hides can be hypothesized from excavated faunal remains
in conjunction with the written records.
Meat consumption in Medieval Japan:
It has been said that the Japanese refrained from eating land mammals after the introduction of
Buddhism in the 6th c. AD. There are many admonitions in government laws from the 7th c. AD onwards
not to kill or eat animals. The archaeological record indicates that the amount of animal bones
recovered from sites of those ages indeed decreased in number in comparison with those from the
Jomon and Yayoi periods (ca. 10,000 BC-AD 300).
Nevertheless, the analysis of materials recovered from the Medieval town of Kusadosengen in Hiroshima Prefecture revealed that the townspeople ate a wide range of mammals, birds, reptiles and, of course, fish. The most striking fact revealed by archaeological investigation is that their principle protein was obtained from dog meat. More than 80 of the recovered mammal bones came from dogs, and these bones were buried in garbage or refuse pits. It is clear that the dogs were used as food resources because many of the bones had butchering marks on them and some bore indications of being charred. As these food habits are not seen in any written records because meat consumption was officially prohibited, only archaeozoology can reveal the actual life style of that period.
Origins of Rice Agriculture
Work on the origins of rice agriculture is continuing in collaboration with the Royal Thai Fine Arts
Department and the University of Otago, New Zealand. Joint applications for funding have been made
to National Geographic and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. Collaboration with the University of Sydney
on the past environments of North Central Thailand together with research on Sumatra will hopefully
lead to the production of a book on the subject.
Registration of Significant Earth Structures
One of the Joint Chairmen of the Earth Structures Committee, John Warren, of the International
Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) based in Paris was in Japan Sept 5-10 to begin cooperative
registration of 'earth structures' there. These are defined as "works of man made primarily of
unbaked earth." Mr. Makoto SAHARA at Nabunken is coordinating the data collection for registration
of these sites.
Archaeological/Historical Study of Chek Lap Kok Island, by Bill Meacham
In conjunction with the building of the new Hong Kong airport, the Hong Kong Archaeological Society
is organising an intensive research project to examine all aspects of the history of Chek Lap Kok
island, from the evolution of its environment in the Late Pleistocene and its early human occupation
at ca. 4000 BC through the early historical periods and into the 20th century. An integrated series
of island-wide investigations is envisaged, with a multi-disciplinary approach involving various
specialists. Intensive archaeological survey and excavation would be augmented by documentary
research, anthropological and environmental studies. A budget of HK$1.5 million (£100,000) has been
requested for the project.
An initial oral history survey is now being conducted by historical geography students at the University of Hong Kong. This research concentrates on 19th-20th century land use, settlement patterns and subsistence activities. For the early historical period, a documentary search will be commissioned to include English and Chinese sources; relevant genealogies would be examined and survey carried out of all graves, structures and human-made features.
The principal focus of the project will be archaeological survey, testing and assessment of all areas, followed by full-scale excavation of important sites. A field team consisting of a director, three deputy directors and three site assistants would be engaged full-time to carry out this work. Specialist studies in relevant areas of research will be commissioned. The project began in July 1990 and will continue for 12-16 months, to end before August 1, 1991 when major the major construction work on the airport is slated to begin. (See job listings above)
A complete archaeological survey of the island's coastline, valleys and uplands will be conducted,
with a view to recording rock carvings, surface outcrops of archaeological deposits, and potential
sites to be tested. The important sand bar site at Sham Wan Tsuen will be completely excavated and
documented. Experts in engineering, architecture and ceramic history will be engaged for detailed
examination of the lime kilns and the ceramics from the site, including those previously excavated.
A testing programme of several weeks would be devoted to clarifying the potential of the sites at Fu
Dei Wan, Kwo Lo Wan, and others revealed by the surveys. Full-scale excavation would then be
undertaken of any areas deemed to have valuable information to be salvaged before the destruction of
the sites.
As the Tang lime industry at Sham Wan Tsuen was entirely dependent on marine transport, artefacts
and ship remains may be preserved in the shallow bay fronting the site. Divers would be engaged for
a visual survey of the seabed floor at Sham Wan. Dredging of selected areas of the seabed would be
carried out. Also, a geological/archaeological excavation would be undertaken in the valley floor at
Sham Wan Tsuen to collect pollen, shells, organic materials and other information pertaining to the
development of the environment before and during the human occupation of the sand bar and valley
itself. The results of this research would be correlated with data already obtained from offshore
engineering studies. An attempt will be organised to remove from Sham Wan Tsuen a complete Tang lime
kiln structure, to be conserved at the HK Museum of History or other suitable site.
Schedule:
Jul-Aug'90 Oral history research; documentary research; preparations for survey and excavation.
Sept'90 Structures/features survey; coastline, sand bar and seabed survey; survey of headlands east
and west of Sham Wan; mobilisation on site for Sham Wan Tsuen excavation.
Oct-Dec'90 Excavation at Sham Wan Tsuen.
Jan'91 Valley and upland survey; mobilisation for testing at Fu Dei Wan, Kwo Lo Wan, and any newly
discovered sites.
Feb-Mar'91 Testing programme.
Apr-Jul'91 Option: Excavation of important sites. This four-month option is to be taken up in whole
or in part if results of the testing programme justify.
late'91 Processing of material, collation of data, preparation of final report. All excavated
materials and field documentation to be submitted before the end of 1991.
end'91-early'92 Type-setting, proof-reading and publication of final report.
Palaeolithic Cave Excavations in Viet Nam
A joint Vietnamese-American Project, co-directed by John Olsen of the University of Arizona,
discovered and excavated a series of four hominid cave sites in the limestone karst region of
northern Vietnam near Lang Trang during the 1989 season. At the recent IPPA congress in Yogyakarta,
Russell Ciochon of the University of Iowa reported the first ESR date on tooth enamel from the site
as determined by Henry Schwarcz of Macmaster University, Ontario: 480,000±40,000ybp. This places the
Lang Trang Caves in the Middle Pleistocene, and the five hominid specimens have been identified as
Homo erectus. The research is funded by the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, the National Geographic
Society, and the MUCIA program at the University of Iowa.
Chinese Palaeolithic Investigations
The Sino-American Expedition of 1990 to the Nihewan Basin in north China, co-directed by Geoffery
Pope reports in situ palaeolithic assemblages dating to 0.97 mya on the basis of paleomagnetic and
faunal evidence. At the recent IPPA congress in Yogyakarta, Susan Keates of Oxford University
presented the results of her analysis of the materials which show a "suprisingly high degree of
standardization for such an early date." She concludes that "these preliminary results do not
support the hypotheses which view Early Pleistocene hominids as less than sentient beings with
limited cultural capacities."
Other Gleanings from the IPPA Congress
- Excavations on Manus Island, New Britain, have revealed 200 km ocean crossings in the Pleistocene.
- The fossil hominid calvaria discovered in 1982 near Hathnora, India, has been reassigned from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens.
- Volcanic ash from the Toba volcano in Sumatra has been identified in Maharashtra, west India and dated to 1.4 myr (K-Ar).
- Prof. Baba of the Tokyo National Science Museum has re-examined the Karako site skeletal remains from Nara and determined that they exhibit the long, thin face of north Kyushuan people. He has also re-examined the Akashi innominate bone cast and determined the original to have been Holocene in date.
- Prof. Yan Wenming of the Beijing Archaeology Department announced early radiocarbon dates obtained from the Pengdoushan culture site(s) in Lixian, Nunan. The most important site in this complex is a 3-4 m high mound one hectare in area belonging to the early rice-growing regime of the Yangtze basin. C14 dates on charcoal of 8200±120 and 7015±100 place Pengdoushan significantly earlier than Hemudu. C14 dates on peat carbon inclusions in sherds (9100±120) and carbonised bamboo (7945±170) are viewed as too old and too young respectively. [The first series of accelerator dates for Pengdoushan from the Oxford Radiocarbon Lab has been published (Archaeometry 30.2:301-2, 1988); the second series, from Hujiawochan, are now being readied for publication and reputedly confirm the dates given above with new dates in the 6-7000 ybp range.]
ASIAN SCHOLARS ABROAD (excluding students and conferencers)
Assoc. Prof. Masao ANBIRU of Meiji University is spending 9 months from March to December 1990 at Cambridge University researching stone tool technology and the way archaeology is taught at Cambridge.
Mr. M. KISHIMOTO, Chief Investigator of the Center for Buried Cultural Properties in Toyama Prefecture, visited England in August.
Prof. LIU Xinru of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, has been apointed a Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars for the academic year 1990-91. He will spend the year researching "Silk Trade and Religious Movements in the Ancient World".
Mr. Nobuyuki WATANABE, Asst. Manager of the Cultural Properties Section, City of Kobe, is visiting France and England 19 Sept - 19 Oct.
Mr. WU Jiaan, an Assistant Researcher at the Institute of Archaeology in Beijing is a British Academy Exchange Fellow in England this autumn for two months between 22 Sept and 25 Nov. He is studying excavation technology through site visits and library study.
Assoc. Prof. Ichiro YAMANAKA, palaeolithic archaeologist at Kyoto University, is spending a year's research leave at the Museum National D'Historie Naturelle, Laboratoire de Prehistoire Institut de Palaeontology Humaine in Paris. He will be a Visiting Scholar to the Department of Archaeology, Cambridge University from January to March 1991.
Mr. K. YOSHIMURA of the Nara Kashiwara Archaeological Institute will make a three-week tour of England 17 Nov - 10 Dec. He will deliver a lecture at Cambridge University on his particular research on Japanese armor and weapons of the Kofun period.
CALL FOR PAPERS
There will be a conference on Mawangdui in Changsha in either1991 or 1992. Persons interested should write for details to GAO Zhixi, Hunan Provincial Museum, Changsha, Hunan Province, PRC China.
From 20-30 August, 1991, the 1st International Academic Conference on the Agricultural Archaeology will take place in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, PRC China. Attendance will be entirely self-financed. Contributor forms can be obtained from Mr. Chen Wenhua, Jiangxi Academy of Social Sciences, 69 West Nanjing Road, 330006, PRC China. These should be returned by 10 Dec '90 in order to receive the second circular.
The next IPPA Congress will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand in January 1994.
The International Union for Quaternary Research is meeting in Beijing, Aug. 2-9, 1991. First circulars went out last year. If you are interested in attending (and possibly there is time to have a paper or poster session accepted), contact the Secretariat, XIII INQUA Congress, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 52 Sanlihe, Beijing 100864 CHINA.
See first section above for EAAN meetings.
CONFERENCE/EXHIBITION ANNOUNCEMENTS:
(all correspondence should be directed to the organisers or paper-givers as listed)
International Symposium on Archaeometry, 2-6 April 1990, Heidelberg
Nishimura, Y.: Poster Session-A study in the application of geophysical prospection.
35th International Conference of Orientalists in Japan, 11 May 1990, Tokyo
Hudson, M.: Sea people, rice people: the dual nature of Yayoi society.
6th International Conference of the International Council for Archaeozoology
Washington D.C. 21-25 May 1990
Held at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, this conference included
the following papers on East Asia:
Chen, Xingbin: An analysis of a bone assemblage from Antu Hyena Den, Northeast China
Chow (Zhou), Ben Shun: Domestic chicken remains in Neolithic China
Qi, Guoqin: Neolithic human environment in North China
Hongo, Hitomi: Faunal remains from the Torihama shell mound, Japan-an anlysis of butchery
patterns in the Early Jomon period
Koike, Hiroko: Marine food intakes by C13-N15 paleodiet analysis for prehistoric people in
Japan
Li, Youheng: The development of archaeozoology in China
Minagawa, Masao and Akazawa, T: Dietary reconstruction of Japanese Jomon
hunter-fisher-gatherers from carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis
Olsen, Stanley J.: Fossil ancestry and domestication of the Yak on the Qinghai-Tibetan
Plateau
Shigehara, Nobuo: Ancient Japanese dogs and their relation to the ancient East Asian dogs
Pan, Yuerong: Distribution of Quaternary non-human primates in China and their implications
on human behavior
IPPA Congress (Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association) 25 Aug - 2 Sept, 90
Further papers (see EAANnouncements 1) on East Asian archaeology given at the 14th IPPA
Congress held in Yogyakara, Indonesia were:
Han, Chang-gyun; Park, Young-chu and Sohn Pokee: Yonggul Cave: palaeontological evidence and
cultural behavior
Huang, Weiwen: The blade industry from Xiqiaoshan, Guangdong Province
Langrick-Lyman, H.: The role of Chinese trade ceramics in prehistoric Pila, Laguna
(Philippines)
Shin, Sook-chong and Sohn, Pokee: The neolithic shell midden site at Sangnodae-do, Korea
Sohn, Pokee: A summary report on Pleistocene research in Korea
Zhang, Yinyun: Human fossils from Anhui, Southeast China: coexistence of Homo erectus and
Homo sapiens
Percival David Foundation Colloquy on Art and Archaeology in Asia 15
& Early China Seminar 10, 25-26 June, 90
The title for this Colloquy, organised by Roderick Whitfield and Sarah Allan and held at the
School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, was: "Problems of Meaning in
Chinese Bronze Decoration". The provisional programme was listed in the June'90 EAANnouncements 1;
the final programme in addition included:
Falkenhausen, Lothar von: Chinese Bronze Bells
Girmond, Sybille: The owl motif and its degeneration
Loveday, Helen: Chu bronze decoration in the late Eastern Zhou, decadence or rebirth?
SIONG Chuanxin: Zoomorphic bronzes of the Shang and Zhou dynasties and animal worship in the
East.
WANG Tao: Textual investigation of the taotie
Wilson, Keith: Style and technique in bronze vessel calligraphy
Ph.D. Kenkyukai Conference, International House of Japan, Tokyo, July 14, 1990.
Robinson, Kenneth R.: The struggle over history in Japan-Korea relations
3rd International Conference on L'Homme et L'Animal, 8-11 Nov 90
Organised by the Department for External Studies, University of Oxford, Rewley House, 1
Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JA UK. The one paper on East Asia is:
Beavitt, Paul: Exotic animal products and early Chinese trade
The Evolution and Dispersal of Modern Humans in Asia, 14-17 November 90
This is a University of Tokyo Symposium organised on a grand international scale by Takeru
AKAZAWA of the University Museum. Among the many papers being presented, those dealing directly with
East Asia were given in EAANouncements 1; one addition is:
Brace, Loring C.: Craniofacial change and continuity: a metric comparison of Late Pleistocene
of recent Europe and Asia.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
The AAS Newsletter (Summer 1990) carried an announcement of the permanent installation of
the Charlotte and John C. Webber Galleries at the Met. It stated that this is "One of the largest
and finest colections of ancient Chinese art in the Western world, the display covers the late
Neolithic period through the Bronze Age, Han and Tang dynasties, and ends with later Buddhist
sculpture."
Japan Society, New York
There will be a one-day public symposium on Japanese archaeology, 12 Jan 1991, held in
conjunction with the Society's concurrent exhibition of Japanese Archaeological Ceramics at the IBM
Gallery from 11 Dec 90 to 3 Feb 91. Contact Erica Weeder, Japan Society Gallery, 333 E. 47th St. New
York 10017 (tel. 212-288-2241).
**Note to Conference Announcements: Japanese archaeologists employed by the National
government (meaning mostly Nabunken) are eligible to apply for travel funds to attend conferences 3
times a year. If you are planning a conference and would like to invite one, it is possible for them
to finance themselves. To do so, you must invite them before the deadline for their travel fund
application. The deadlines are: Nov 30 for conferences between 1 Apr-31 Jul; Mar 29 for conferences
between 1 Aug-30 Nov; Aug 30 for conferences between 1 Dec-31 Mar.
STOP PRESS
The Fall 1990 AAS Newsletter carries these announcements:
- Xian Jiaotong University, with the Fudan Museum Foundation, offers summer (1991) excavation practicums and two weeks tour in China. For information contact: Alfonz Lengyel, 1522 Schoolhouse Road, Ambler PA 19002 USA. Tel 215-699-6448.
- Postdoctoral Fellowships are offered by the Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan for research leading to the publication of a book in any field of Chinese Studies. PhD required in hand before 1 June 1991. Stipend of up to $22,000 and office. Send Curriculum Vitae, research proposal (including why Michigan is best place to study), samples of written work and 3 letters of recommendation (forms are available upon request) to Trudy Bulkley, CCS, Lane Hall, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI 48109 USA by 15 February '91.