Archaeology of East Asia: The Rise of Civilization in China, Korea and Japan

Gina L. Barnes

Oct 2015 · Oxbow Books

About this ebook

Archaeology of East Asia constitutes an introduction to social and political development from the Palaeolithic to 8th-century early historic times. It takes a regional view across China, Korea, Japan and their peripheries that is unbounded by modern state lines. This viewpoint emphasizes how the region drew on indigenous developments and exterior stimuli to produce agricultural technologies, craft production, political systems, religious outlooks and philosophies that characterize the civilization of historic and even modern East Asia.
This book is a complete rewrite and update of The Rise of Civilization in East Asia, first published in 1993. It incorporates the many theoretical, technical and factual advances of the last two decades, including DNA, gender, and isotope studies, AMS radiocarbon dating and extensive excavation results. Readers of that first edition will find the same structure and topic progression. While many line drawings have been retained, new color illustrations abound. Boxes and Appendices clarify and add to the understanding of unfamiliar technologies. For those seeking more detail, the Appendices also provide case studies that take intimate looks at particular data and current research.
The book is suitable for general readers, East Asian historians and students, archaeology students and professionals.

Praise for The Rise of Civilization in East Asia:

“… the best English introduction to the archaeology of East Asia … brilliantly integrates the three areas into a broad regional context.” Prof. Mark Hudson

About the author

Gina L. BARNES: Professor Emeritus, Durham University, Barnes earned her PhD in Anthropology at the University of Michigan, followed by a career teaching East Asian Archaeology at Cambridge and Durham Universities. In addition to her cultural studies (State Formation in Korea, State Formation in Japan, Routledge 2001, 2007), she has always been involved in landscape archaeology and geoarchaeology. After taking a late BSc in Geology with the Open University, she formulated the subdiscipline of Tectonic Archaeology with her publications on Japanese Island geology, earthquake archaeology, tsunami archaeology, and now tephroarchaeology. She is a Professorial Research Associate at SOAS University of London, and an Affiliate of the Earth Sciences Department at Durham University. Her major publication, Archaeology of East Asia (Oxbow, 2015) is widely used as a textbook, and the Society for East Asian Archaeology (SEAA), which she founded in 1996, is the major professional venue for archaeologists of China, Korea and Japan.