Communities and Social Dynamics: A Comparative Analysis of Settlement Systems in the Yuxi Valley and Northeastern China

Abstract

Comparative studies of the development of larger-scale social formation often promote our understanding of the internal dynamics of social change. Hongshan societies in northeastern China and Lingjiatan societies in the Yuxi valley of the lower reaches of Yangzi River represent the scopes and various forms that can be taken by early hierarchical societies. Similarities in the shape, function, and symbolic meaning of jade artifacts of Lingjiatan and Hongshan have long been discussed in comparative studies, but the communities and social dynamics of the two archaeological cultures within the larger regional areas they occupied have yet to be compared. The research reported here conducted comparative exploration of social trajectories across four regions—Yuxi in the lower reaches of the Yangzi River and Chifeng, Upper Daling, and Niuheliang in northeastern China—from the Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age. Our comparison reveals the similarities and differences in patterns of settlement and demographies across the four regions and provides some insights into research questions that need to be answered in future.