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A place of pilgrimage? Niuheliang and its role in Hongshan society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert D. Drennan ,
Xueming Lu  and
Christian E. Peterson
Robert D. Drennan*
Affiliation:
Center for Comparative Archaeology, 3302 Wesley W. Posvar Hall, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
Xueming Lu
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Museum Studies, Renmin University of China, Zhongguancun Avenue, Haidian District, Beijing100872, PR China
Christian E. Peterson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 2424 Maile Way, 346 Saunders Hall, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822-2223, USA
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: drennan@pitt.edu)
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Abstract

The complex of Niuheliang, in north-eastern China, with its concentration of ceremonial architecture and unusual art, has been considered the most highly developed polity of the Hongshan period, representing the integration of a large territory. In contrast, the supposed absence of residential remains has been advanced to suggest that it was a vacant ceremonial centre. Systematic survey of the area is now helping to clarify relationships between ceremonial sites and occupation patterns. Densities of utilitarian pottery sherds were used to map settlement and estimate population levels in relation to the locations of ceremonial architecture and concentrations of ritual pottery. This reveals that despite unproductive soils, the area had a relatively high, although scattered, population, focused in part on ritual locations. The results support a role for Niuheliang as a place of pilgrimage, but within a nexus of settled communities that sustained its ceremonial activities.

Keywords

ChinaHongshan periodsettlementritualmonumentsurvey
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 91 , Issue 355 , February 2017 , pp. 43 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2017 

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