Ref ID:	37039
Ref Type:	Book Section
Authors:	Chiou-Peng, Tzehuey
Title:	The Dian Culture in Southwest China
Date:	2022
Source:	The Oxford Handbook of Early Southeast Asia
Place of Publication:	New York
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
DOI:	10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199355358.013.31
Abstract:	The excavations of Bronze Age sites in the Central Lake region of Yunnan have resulted in a wealth of burial goods, including bronze kettledrums and cowrie vessels from the Shizhaishan necropolis near Lake Dian. Multidisciplinary analyses of these materials point to the existence of hierarchical societies of the Dian culture that flourished during the first millennium BC; the communities were ruled by an “aristocratic” elite who maintained contact with cultural groups in surrounding regions as well as far-flung areas. Recent archaeological investigations around Lake Dian also revealed occupation sites in association with the Bronze Age cemeteries in the same area. These new sites delineate a complex settlement system composed of nucleated groups with varied degrees of social complexity; among them the largest cluster near Shizhaishan appeared to have represented the heartland of Dian domain. Stratigraphic studies indicate that these settlements stemmed from a local Neolithic base that had existed in the Dian basin and low-lying areas further south, and that the Dian culture emerged independently from direct cultural/technological impacts from the Chinese central plains.
Editors:	Higham, C. F. W. Kim, Nam C.
Page Start:	597
Page End:	624