The Loess Highland in a Trading Network (1300-1050 BC)

Abstract

Abstract

This dissertation aims to explain the presence of elaborate bronze vessels in the Loess Highland of central China and concludes that the primary mechanism responsible for their presence is a trading network that involves Anyang, Guanzhong, Mongolian Steppe, and the Loess Highland. By serving as middlemen between the Central Plain civilizations and the Northern Steppe, the societies on the Loess Highland thrived and became increasingly complex in the early Anyang period. When Anyang shifted its attention to the Northeast the network declined; and with the rise of the Guanzhong Basin in late Anyang period it finally collapsed.

The argument is based on several lines of evidence: stylistic and scientific study of the bronzes themselves, analysis of relevant textual sources including oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, and received texts, consideration of site distributions based on the pottery data from Shanxi and Shaanxi as well as systematic data that were collected during a survey of Shilou County in Shanxi by the author.