Regional exchange, long-distance trade, and local imitations: Liuwan cemetery in the context of the cultural transformation from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age (cca 2000 BC) in the Chinese Northwest
2018
Abstract
In my article, I analyze development of the large cemetery at Liuwan (Qinghai province, NW China) in the 2nd half of the 3rd millenium and in the 1st half of the 2nd millenium BC and put it into the broader context of the cultural transformation in the Chinese Northwest which took place from the Machang (ca 2300-2000 BC) to the Qijia (ca 2200-1500 BC) Period. It is pointed out that this transformation was mainly due to the change in the character of contacts in the Chinese Northwest, reflecting opening of the regional Late Neolithic interaction network to the long-distance contacts in the Early Bronze Age, which was stimulated by local social development.