Collaboration, not competition: A geoarchaeological approach to the social context of the earliest pottery

Ilaria Patania; Yitzchak Jaffe

doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2021.101297

Collaboration, not competition: A geoarchaeological approach to the social context of the earliest pottery

Ilaria Patania, Yitzchak Jaffe

Department of Archaeology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The invention of pottery by Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer groups is often associated with the development or introduction of new social practices. While some studies connect pottery, especially in glacial environments, to broadening of hunter-gatherer subsistence strategies, in Eastern Asia a number of studies suggests that the earliest pottery is connected to the appearance of hierarchy through self-aggrandizement and feasting in trans-egalitarian societies. In this paper, we assess this hypothesis using the early pottery site of Yuchanyan (China) as a case study. Geoarchaeological studies at Yuchanyan have confirmed the hunter-gatherer context of the pottery (18.3 cal ky BP) and also reconstructed the site's stratigraphy and human occupation of the cave. Here we reconstruct the pyrotechnology and cooking practices at Yuchanyan with the goal of better understanding labor commitments. We argue that humans used several techniques to increase cooking efficiency to make bone soup and render grease. This multifaceted activity would have required large-scale efforts and collaboration, and consequently, we argue that the end product could not have been monopolized by a single individual. If feasting did in fact take place, it was probably yet another activity inducing group cohesion.

Original language	English
Article number	101297
Journal	Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
Volume	62
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2021.101297
State	Published - Jun 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was possible thanks to the support of the Zinman Insititute of Archaeology and Haifa University. The excavation was possible thanks to the work and efforts of Ofer Bar-Yosef, Wu Xiaohong, Yuan Jiarong, David Cohen, Paul Goldberg, their students and the local workers. Funding for the excavations and analyses of Yuchanyan was provided through grants from Boston University and the American School for Prehistoric Research (Peabody Museum, Harvard University), as well as from the Hunan Provincial Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics (Changsha, Hunan). We thank Aviva Cormier, Ruth Shahak-Gross, Gideon Shelach, Franco Rossi and Reuven Yeshurun for useful comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. We would also like to thank the editor and the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and edits.

Funding Information:
This work was possible thanks to the support of the Zinman Insititute of Archaeology and Haifa University. The excavation was possible thanks to the work and efforts of Ofer Bar-Yosef, Wu Xiaohong, Yuan Jiarong, David Cohen, Paul Goldberg, their students and the local workers. Funding for the excavations and analyses of Yuchanyan was provided through grants from Boston University and the American School for Prehistoric Research (Peabody Museum, Harvard University), as well as from the Hunan Provincial Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics (Changsha, Hunan). We thank Aviva Cormier, Ruth Shahak-Gross, Gideon Shelach, Franco Rossi and Reuven Yeshurun for useful comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. ?We would also like to thank the editor and the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and edits.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Inc.

Keywords

Chinese palaeolithic
Early pottery
Hunter-gatherer
Social context

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Human Factors and Ergonomics
Archaeology
History
Archaeology

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10.1016/j.jaa.2021.101297

Cite this

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title = "Collaboration, not competition: A geoarchaeological approach to the social context of the earliest pottery",

abstract = "The invention of pottery by Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer groups is often associated with the development or introduction of new social practices. While some studies connect pottery, especially in glacial environments, to broadening of hunter-gatherer subsistence strategies, in Eastern Asia a number of studies suggests that the earliest pottery is connected to the appearance of hierarchy through self-aggrandizement and feasting in trans-egalitarian societies. In this paper, we assess this hypothesis using the early pottery site of Yuchanyan (China) as a case study. Geoarchaeological studies at Yuchanyan have confirmed the hunter-gatherer context of the pottery (18.3 cal ky BP) and also reconstructed the site's stratigraphy and human occupation of the cave. Here we reconstruct the pyrotechnology and cooking practices at Yuchanyan with the goal of better understanding labor commitments. We argue that humans used several techniques to increase cooking efficiency to make bone soup and render grease. This multifaceted activity would have required large-scale efforts and collaboration, and consequently, we argue that the end product could not have been monopolized by a single individual. If feasting did in fact take place, it was probably yet another activity inducing group cohesion.",

keywords = "Chinese palaeolithic, Early pottery, Hunter-gatherer, Social context",

author = "Ilaria Patania and Yitzchak Jaffe",

note = "Funding Information: This work was possible thanks to the support of the Zinman Insititute of Archaeology and Haifa University. The excavation was possible thanks to the work and efforts of Ofer Bar-Yosef, Wu Xiaohong, Yuan Jiarong, David Cohen, Paul Goldberg, their students and the local workers. Funding for the excavations and analyses of Yuchanyan was provided through grants from Boston University and the American School for Prehistoric Research (Peabody Museum, Harvard University), as well as from the Hunan Provincial Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics (Changsha, Hunan). We thank Aviva Cormier, Ruth Shahak-Gross, Gideon Shelach, Franco Rossi and Reuven Yeshurun for useful comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. We would also like to thank the editor and the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and edits. Funding Information: This work was possible thanks to the support of the Zinman Insititute of Archaeology and Haifa University. The excavation was possible thanks to the work and efforts of Ofer Bar-Yosef, Wu Xiaohong, Yuan Jiarong, David Cohen, Paul Goldberg, their students and the local workers. Funding for the excavations and analyses of Yuchanyan was provided through grants from Boston University and the American School for Prehistoric Research (Peabody Museum, Harvard University), as well as from the Hunan Provincial Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics (Changsha, Hunan). We thank Aviva Cormier, Ruth Shahak-Gross, Gideon Shelach, Franco Rossi and Reuven Yeshurun for useful comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. ?We would also like to thank the editor and the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and edits. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier Inc.",

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Collaboration, not competition: A geoarchaeological approach to the social context of the earliest pottery

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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