Papers by Lothar von Falkenhausen
Lothar von Falkenhausen UCLA O ne cannot help feeling envious of Esther Jacobson-Tepfer. Many tim... more Lothar von Falkenhausen UCLA O ne cannot help feeling envious of Esther Jacobson-Tepfer. Many times since the late 1980s she has explored some of the most magnificently beautiful-and, for ordinary travelers, largely inaccessible-landscapes on earth: the Altai and Sayan mountain ranges with their surrounding woodlands and steppes. This part of Inner Asia, which includes the upper watersheds of several of the great Siberian rivers, is now divided among Russia, Mongolia, and China. 1 Under Jacobson-Tepfer's leadership, high-powered international teams of scholars and technicians-notably including her husband, Gary Tepfer, an accomplished photographer-have investigated a considerable portion of this area and recorded vast stores of rock art, stone monuments (carved and uncarved), as well as other above-ground features, dating from the late Pleistocene all the way to medieval times. Their painstaking efforts, sustained over almost three decades, have greatly enriched the body of materials available for study and constitute a tremendous contribution to scholarship. Particularly important was a multiyear survey conducted by Jacobson-Tepfer and her team in the northwestern corner of the Mongolian Republic, an area hitherto virtually unknown to archaeology. Thanks to the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the full photographic record of that project has been made accessible in the form of an online database. 2 It has also been usefully condensed into a handsome and wellconceived atlas and formally published in a two-volume report. 3 Gratifyingly, this project 1 Throughout the book, Jacobson-Tepfer speaks of her study area as being part of "Central Asia." On the
A Successful Case of Repatriation: The Story of Lloyd Cotsen’s Chinese Bronze Mirrors, 2021
sociocultural, political, and religious realities. His mastery of the material-the vast body of a... more sociocultural, political, and religious realities. His mastery of the material-the vast body of archaeological finds, the notoriously difficult Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and the secondary literature in all relevant languages-is truly impressive. Equally admirable is his sophisticated handling of social and anthropological theories. Integrating textual and archaeological evidence is potentially risky, but Campbell maintains an excellent sense of balance, assuring that proper justice is done to the idiosyncrasies of each body of material. Campbell's "Preface" briefly characterizes the source materials and explains the aims and structure of the book. In chapter 1, "Being, Society and World: Toward an Inter-Ontic Approach," the author engages critically with the major Western authorities on the Shang. He emphasizes the need for an understanding of the Shang that is conscious of the researcher's own limitations while making a serious attempt to penetrate into the conceptual world of his/her Shang counterparts. Campbell sets his philosophical bar very high, mentioning the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Bruno Latour as his main sources of inspiration. To characterize his approach, Campbell coins the Latin-Greek barbarism "inter-ontic." I think I understand what he means by this, and I applaud the underlying intellectual priorities; but the use of such a term (which never reappears later on in the book) diminishes the book's suitability for undergraduate reading assignments and thus stands to lessen its impact. Chapter 2, "Cities, States, and Civilizations," reflects on the fundamental concepts that Western scholars have used in their attempts to integrate the Shang into worldwide comparative schemes. Highly critical of the previous literature, Campbell trenchantly exposes its hidden assumptions, arguing that previous theories of urbanism and state formation are all inadequate for understanding the Shang. Instead, he calls for analytical models that explain how the Shang sociopolitical and economic order actually worked-models developed out of the material itself that, without being narrowly particularistic, will account for the Shang in their historical trajectory and geographical setting. In particular, Campbell questions the distinction between "city states" and "territorial states" that has framed much of the previous discussion of the Shang. Chapter 3, "Central Plains Civilization from Erlitou to Anyang," begins with Campbell's own period-by-period archaeological account of what he calls the "Central Plains Metropolitan Tradition" during the Early to Middle Bronze Age. Disregarding traditional historiography, Campbell does not assume dynastic continuity, insisting on the prehistoric nature of all periods under discussion except for the Late Shang, when the presence of writing is first attested. He starts with Erlitou, still widely regarded as pre-Shang, although AMS datings have pushed its chronological position-ca. 1800-1600 bcE according to Campbell-ever closer to the range traditionally assigned to the Shang. The largest Early Bronze Age settlement in the Central Plains, Erlitou is considered by Campbell to have been, primarily, a magnet of population influx from surrounding areas. Consistent with abundant recent evidence, Campbell places the "Erlitou culture" within a Eurasia-wide context, and he emphasizes "multiple overlapping cultural spheres of influence" (p. 60) in North China during this period. Recently it has become conventional to regard the Erligang period (ca. 1600-1400 bcE) as the apogee of the power and territorial extent of the Shang state. Campbell unceremoniously dismisses this narrative. Actually, he argues, material-culture traits derived from the Central Plains were most widespread during the transitional phase between Erligang and Anyang, the Xiaoshuangqiao-Huanbei Period (ca. 1400-1250 bcE)-a time when, as far as we know, no dominant center existed in the Central Plains. Moreover, with due respect to the unprecedented size of the Erligang capital's double enclosure and the technological sophistication of its bronze industry, Campbell is surely correct in stating that Erligang pales in comparison to Yinxu (Anyang), the dominant center during the Late Shang period (ca. 1250-1046 bcE). He rightly deemphasizes the degree to which either Erligang or Anyang could have been the nucleus of a strongly integrated political structure (or "empire"): "political relationships even within the Shang cultural sphere were likely indirect, mutable, and based on ritually reinforced kinship hierarchy, alliance and sporadic rather than routine mechanisms of coercion" (p. 64). Campbell acerbically notes that "without the blanks filled in by neo-evolutionary state theory or anachronistic projections from later China, the particulars of Erligang period institutions and interactions are all but
The study of recently discovered wooden-and bamboo-strip manuscripts is currently invigorating Ch... more The study of recently discovered wooden-and bamboo-strip manuscripts is currently invigorating Chinese historiography. In this book, Pines demonstrates their usefulness by concentrating on one brief text from among a cache of Warring States-period (c. 450-221 b.c.) manuscripts acquired by Tsinghua University on the Hong Kong antiques market in 2008. That text-named Xinian (Linked years) by its modern editors-provides an abridged narrative of political crises and realignments from the time of the Zhou conquest of Shang (c. 1046 b.c.) down to the early fourth century b.c. Pines considers, as one must with any unprovenienced materials, the possibility that the Xinian may be a forgery, but he marshals convincing linguistic evidence that this cannot be the case (pp. 45-48). The text was likely compiled about 370 b.c. (pp. 42-43); radiocarbon dating of the bamboo strips suggests that the extant manuscript version was produced c. 305 b.c. At c. 5,000 characters, the Xinian is comparable in length to the Laozi. It is subdivided into 23 sections (zhang), written on 138 bamboo strips, two of which are fragmentary. In Part II (pp. 151-241), Pines transcribes and translates the text section by section. As a raw rendering would make little sense on its own, he adds introductions and notes providing historical context and relating the Xinian to other sources. Through a careful weighing of similarities, inconsistencies, and previously unknown bits of information, and by pinpointing scribal errors and instances of confusion, Pines is able to assess the historical accuracy of the Xinian, which varies somewhat from section to section. The Xinian raises few philological problems; in handling them, Pines very appropriately relies on previous works by Chinese and Japanese scholars. His concern is, after all, mainly with historiography. Even though the text was published only in 2011, a vast secondary scholarship has grown around it; Pines's command of it (extending even to proliferating scholarly blogs) is extremely impressive. His translation, while somewhat workmanlike-mirroring the Xinian itself, which shows no sign of literary ambition-is accurate and
Before embarking on his academic career as a Sinologist, Dieter Kuhn completed professional train... more Before embarking on his academic career as a Sinologist, Dieter Kuhn completed professional training as a textile manager (Textilbetriebswirt), thereby acquiring a thorough familiarity with all aspects of textile materials and textile-manufacturing technology. This attracted the attention of the late Joseph Needham, who recruited him, as many others of the best minds of Kuhn's generation, to collaborate on his legendary Science and Civilisation in China project. Kuhn's still-authoritative monograph on Textile Technology: Spinning and Reeling appeared in 1988 as volume 5, pt. 9. Ever since, the academic world has been waiting for his follow-up volume (5, pt. 10), which was to treat looms and weaving technology. Due to changing directions in scholarship on the history of science and technology, the sprawling series inaugurated by Needham now stands as a magnificent torso, and Kuhn's second volume, like several others previously announced, is no longer slated to appear. Instead, Kuhn has given us, in the present work, a summation of his decades-long in-depth research into Chinese textile-making technology. No longer beholden to the straitjacket of Needham's system (which, for reasons that may have made sense in the early 1950s, placed textiles under "Chemistry and Chemical Technology"), the author follows the evidence where it leads him. Richly illustrated and attractively produced under the auspices of the Abegg Foundation-a worldwide leader in the study of historical textiles-the result is an ambitious book that sets new standards for this exceptionally difficult field of research. The title is somewhat misleading as to the true scope of the work. While medieval China-in particular, the innovations of textile technology in the course of the Song (960-1279) economic transformation and their eventual transmission to Europe-may have provided the author with a point of departure in his intellectual quest, the book's coverage actually begins about 5,000 BCe with an indepth consideration of Neolithic finds, continuing at a similar level of thoroughness from period to period all the way through the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties (1644-1911); only the history of China's modern textile industry is left out. Moreover, the book is by no means confined to China; following (and improving upon) the precedent of some of the Needham volumes, Kuhn demonstrates the seminal role of Chinese inventions in transforming textile manufacture in other parts of Eurasia
An oft-mentioned aspect of the comprehensive sociopolitical and economic transformation of contin... more An oft-mentioned aspect of the comprehensive sociopolitical and economic transformation of continental East Asia during the Eastern Zhou period (771-221 BCE) is the rise of a market economy undergirded by extensive trading networks in which urban centers-cities-were the principal nodes. This paper takes a preliminary look at the archaeological evidence presently available that can help us understand this development in a concrete fashion. What were Eastern Zhou-period cities like, and how did they change in response to the economic challenges of the epoch?
Questions about Cai Jixiang, 2021
Kōkogaku kara mita Shin no keizai jōkyō” 考古學から見た秦の經濟狀況 , 2020
Poverty in Late Bronze Age China: Its Archaeological Dimensions, 2020
Poverty and Inequality in Early Civilizations: Introduction The fourth volume of the series "Stud... more Poverty and Inequality in Early Civilizations: Introduction The fourth volume of the series "Studien zur Wirtschaftsarchäologie" presents the proceedings of the conference "Poverty in Early Civilizations: a Comparative View", held at the University of Cologne on 17 and 18 November 2017. The conference was organized on behalf of the Research Training Group 1878 "Archaeology of pre-modern economies", funded by the German Research Council and hosted jointly by the University of Cologne and the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn. The proceedings include papers, given at the conference, and a few additional contributions by other authors. The speakers and the titles of their talks are listed below in the order, in which the papers were delivered during the conference. We would like to thank all speakers and authors for their contribution to this volume and to the stimulating discussions during the conference. We are also grateful to the German Research Council (DFG), the Competence Area IV of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Cologne and the Franz-und-Eva-Rutzen-Stiftung for their financial support of the conference and of the publication of this volume. Many thanks also go to Dr Caitlin Chaves Yate for improving the English wording of contributions by authors whose first language is not English. Pia Evening has kindly helped establising formal consistency across the papers.
Some Reflections on Qin Studies, 2020
The Earliest Chinese Bells in Light of New Archaeological Discoveries, 2018
Metal Agricultural Implements in Early China, 2022
Poverty and Inequality in Early Civilizations, 2020
Bilder der Macht: Das griechische Porträt und seine Verwendung in der antiken Welt, 2017
Reading the Signs: Philology, History, Prognostication. Festschrift für Michael Lackner, 2018
Global and World Art in the Practice of the University Museum, 2017
Uploads
Papers by Lothar von Falkenhausen
This volume closes some of these lacunae by refocusing on two main points Tong Enzheng has raised: the possible connections along this crescent-shaped corridor and their geographic preconditions; and theoretical and methodological issues of discussions on cultures, identity groups, culture contacts, and their reflection in the archaeological record. The volume stems from the session “Reconsidering the Crescent-Shaped Exchange Belt — Methodological, Theoretical and Material Concerns of Long-Distance Interactions in East Asia Thirty Years after Tong Enzheng” held at the Fifth World Conference of the Society for East Asian Archaeology (SEAA) in Fukuoka (Japan) in 2012. The papers collected in the present volume touch on four main topics: 1. Tong Enzheng’s life and research, and his place within the development of modern Chinese archaeology; 2. recent developments in the archaeology of Southwest China; 3. material traces and geographic, cultural, and historical preconditions of possible movements and inter-group contacts along Tong’s crescent-shaped cultural-communication belt; and 4. theoretical and methodological issues in the study of culture contacts and cultural exchange, and of their reflections in the material record.