Pottery analysis at Guandimiao: New insights into the rural economy of the anyang period

Abstract

Guandimiao is a uniquely important site as the only extensively excavated Shang village. Twenty one kilns and abundant ceramic production tools and waste suggested that pottery was a major economic focus. We conducted a stratified random sampling of the site and analyzed 10% of the total sherd assemblage. These results compared well to the original diagnostic analysis of the entire assemblage. By comparing the sherds recovered from different unit types we were show that production and consumption assemblages differed. The key difference was the ratio of li-tripod cooking vessels to large storage vessels – higher in domestic and ritual contexts and lower in production contexts. An analysis of misfired sherds showed an even lower ratio of li to large storage vessels, verifying the impression that the major focus of production was large storage vessels and secondarily li-tripod cooking vessels. The economic model that best fit this production pattern was one of local or possibly regional exchange – with Guandimiao villagers specializing in the more technically challenging of the common basic non-elite ceramic repertoire.