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2 results

  • 1 - The Economy of Late Pre-imperial China

  • from Part I - Before 1000
  • Edited by Debin Ma, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Richard von Glahn, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Economic History of China
    Published online:
    07 February 2022
    Print publication:
    24 February 2022, pp 15-51

  • Summary

    Continental East Asia during the first millennium bce transitioned from a redistributive “gift-giving economy” (or “prestige-good economy”) to a thriving market economy that was at least partly monetized. This transformation – gradual but all-encompassing and irreversible – led to a veritable “economic miracle” during the Warring States period (c. 450–221 bce), which brought unprecedented prosperity to large portions of the population. It will here be discussed through its reflections in the material record, spanning the eight centuries from c. 1000 bce down to approximately the time of the Qin unification in 221 bce.1 During this period, the Zhou kingdom and its constituent polities formed a relatively homogeneous culture area encompassing the middle and lower Yellow River basin and the middle Yangzi basin. Archaeological discoveries attest that, over time, many of the surrounding smaller and sociopolitically less complex regional cultures – defined by archaeologists on the basis of their material remains – were increasingly drawn into the Zhou orbit.

  • Material Genealogies: Bronze Moulds and their Castings in Later Bronze Age Britain

  • Leo Webley, Sophia Adams
  • Journal:
    Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society / Volume 82 / December 2016
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    27 July 2016, pp. 323-340
    Print publication:
    December 2016

  • Bivalve bronze moulds were used for casting bronze and lead objects – mainly axes – during the Middle and Late Bronze Age. These remarkable artefacts, which were sometimes beautifully decorated, have been surprisingly little studied. This paper discusses the bronze moulds from Britain, outlining the range of possibilities that existed for the life courses of these objects during the three broad stages of manufacture, use, and deposition. Two points will be emphasised. First, it will be shown that the biographical pathways available to bronze moulds differed significantly from those of moulds made from stone or clay, which may relate to the differing properties and conceptual associations of these three materials. Secondly, the relationships between the life courses of bronze moulds and the artefacts cast in them will be explored, focusing particularly on cases in which moulds and their castings were deposited together in the same hoard. It will be suggested that the ‘genealogical’ link between a mould and its ‘offspring’ could have formed a significant element of the biography of both objects.