article
Burials, pigs, and political prestige in neolithic China
Current anthropology • 35 (2) • Published In 1994 • Pages: 119-141
By: Kim, Seung-Og.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this study Kim examines the distribution of pig bones in Chinese neolithic (Dawenkou and Longshan Cultures) burials, and argues its relationship with wealth and status. In the ethnographic literature on chiefdoms and Melanesian tribal socieities, the successful management and control of pig herds was a route to political power. Pigs are a prestige animal which could also be exchanged for more prestigeous goods that formed the basis of political authority. Kim's thesis is that the same material and political processes occurred in the North China Neolithic. He demonstrates it by showing the correlation between pig bones and other high status markers in Neolithic burials of Shandong Province.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Domesticated animals
- Status, role, and prestige
- Burial practices and funerals
- traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Dawenkou
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Asia
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- East Asia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Archaeologist
- NotesAdditional notes
- by Seung-Og Kim
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 139-141)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- a 63000576
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- China--Antiquities