The site of Anyang, the last capital of the Shang dynasty, dated to
around 1200 to 1000 BCE, is one of the most important sources of
knowledge about craft production in Bronze Age China. Excavations of the
settlement demonstrate both the advanced level of Shang craft workers
and the scale and capacity of the craft industries of the time. However,
over the past ninety years, materials unearthed in Anyang by different
expeditions have been stored separately in mainland China and Taiwan and
rarely considered as a single group, making a thorough study of this
important aspect of life in Shang China all but impossible.
Through a systematic analysis of the archaeological materials available
in both mainland China and Taiwan, Kingly Crafts provides a detailed
picture of craft production in Anyang and paves the way for a new
understanding of how the Shang capital functioned as a metropolis.
Kingly Crafts focuses on the craft-producing activities represented
archaeologically in Anyang, including bronze casting, bone working,
shell and marble inlay working, lithic working, and pottery production,
and reviews the material remains, the technology, aspects of operational
sequence, and the production organization of the craft industries. While
the level of Shang craftsmanship can be observed from an examination of
the finished products, Yung-ti Li demonstrates that it is necessary to
study workshop remains and their archaeological context to reconstruct
the social and political contexts of craft production. By synthesizing
and contextualizing the available examples of these remains excavated in
Anyang, Kingly Crafts reveals the relationships between the craft
industries and the political authority of the late Shang period.
