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Sacharuk, Jasmine

University of British Columbia

This dissertation explores the connection between identity transformation and ceramic technology in the Erligang Period (~1600-1300 BCE), focusing on differences in microstructure between the sites of Zhengzhou in Henan and Panlongcheng in Hubei, China. Using digital image analysis to determine grain- and void-size morphology and firing temperature, I explore how Panlongcheng settlers changed their ceramic practices and developed new formal and technological styles despite maintaining some typological similarities to the Central Plains. A methodology for extracting particle and firing temperature data from SEM-BSE images is developed and presented. This provides quantitative and qualitative comparisons in raw material acquisition, processing and firing temperature, and consideration of changes in the production process and functional aspects of ceramics at Panlongcheng. This dissertation also analyzes a rare Panlongcheng bronze-casting mold sample found in the interior of a bronze handle and presents evidence that mold-making may have also differed at Panlongcheng. I argue that Panlongcheng ceramic microstructure, in conjunction with additional evidence from recent excavations at the site, indicate a population reminiscent of a diaspora who maintain components of a homeland while adapting to the environmental and social contexts of their new settlement. I also contend that the analysis of ceramic technology is a crucial dimension in understanding the internal dynamics of sites across the landscape during the Erligang Period, whose identities – reflected in their ways of doing – were likely also shaped by ongoing and embodied connections with the Central Plains while adapting to new social and environmental contexts in unique and localized ways.

Text

2025-01-23

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90193

Anthropology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/