| Archaeological sites in the southern Yuanqu Basin of north-central China provide a continuous record of long-term sociopolitical evolution during the Neolithic and early Bronze Age (ca. 6500–1100 B.C.). This research examined this long-term evolutionary trajectory, using both ceramic and settlement data. Pottery data were used to evaluate the relevance to this case study of theories concerning the relationships between ceramic production and sociopolitical evolution. Utilizing geographic information systems (GIS) software, I analyzed settlement patterns in the study area to assess the dynamic relationships between environmental factors and changing sociopolitical conditions through time. These data were assessed through a theoretical framework that draws on a variety of approaches to social evolution developed over the past several decades.; Analyses of the ceramic data revealed a progressive increase in the numbers of vessel shape classes over, consistent with theoretical models which predict an increased diversity of ceramic forms with increasing sociopolitical complexity. The data, however, revealed little or no evidence of increasing standardization of individual vessel forms, nor increasing specialization of ceramic production, over the course of the time span included in this study. The settlement pattern analysis revealed population growth, increases in the size of the largest settlements, and the emergence of settlement hierarchies and scalar growth in local social integration over the more than 5,000-year time covered by this study. Integration of the Yuanqu Basin into an emerging world-system was also evident.; The results of this study contribute both to the broader, theoretical picture of long-term sociopolitical evolution, and to a clearer understanding of how this process played out on a historically-unique stage in north-central China. Specifically, the results support a growing recognition that human social evolution is driven by the opposing social forces of competition and cooperation, and that, over the long run, selection has favored large groups at the expense of smaller ones. |
