Introduction
The Dian culture describes the remains of a wealthy Bronze Age society (late first millennium BCE) excavated in Yunnan, Southwest China. Tens of thousands of grave goods from hilltop cemeteries show that the material culture was that of Southeast Asia, but there are also signs of early interaction with China in the field of metallurgy. Dian was conquered by China’s Han Empire in 109 BCE, and the distinctiveness of its material culture diminished thereafter.
Definition
The Dian culture consists of Bronze Age sites and artifacts excavated from burials in the high plain south of modern Kunming. In the absence of skeletal material, most studies are based upon the thousands of bronze artifacts. Their distinctive figural decoration gives important information about social hierarchy and gender relations, as well as about interaction between animals and human.
Key Issues/Current Debates
Physical Setting and Resources
Lake Dian is the northernmost and largest of a set of four lakes...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Allard, F. 2015. China’s early impact on eastern Yunnan: Incorporation, acculturation, and the convergence of evidence. Journal of Indo-Pacific Archaeology 35: 26–35. https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/JIPA/index. Accessed 10 Nov 2018.
Barnard, N. 1996–1997. The entry of cire-perdue investment casting and certain other metallurgical techniques (mainly metalworking) into South China and their progress northwards. In Ancient Chinese and southeast Asian Bronze Age cultures, ed. N. Barnard and D. Bulbeck, 1–94. Taiwan: SMC.
Bernet Kempers, A.J. 1986–1987. The kettledrums of Southeast Asia: A Bronze Age world and its aftermath, Modern Quaternary research in Southeast Asia 10. Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema.
Borell, B. 2012. The Han period glass dish from Lao Cai, northern Vietnam. Journal of Indo-Pacific Archaeology 32: 70–77. https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/JIPA/index. Accessed 10 Nov 2018.
Chiou-Peng, T.H. 2008. Dian bronze art: Its source and formation. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 28: 34–43. https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/BIPPA/issue/archive. Accessed 10 Nov 2018.
Cremin, A. 2010. Seeing Dian through barbarian eyes. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 30: 114–121. https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/BIPPA/issue/archive. Accessed 10 Nov 2018.
de Crespigny, R. 1996–1997 [1988]. South China in the Han period. In Ancient Chinese and southeast Asian Bronze Age cultures, ed. N. Barnard and D. Bulbeck, 759–767. Taiwan: SMC.
Dumarçay, J. 1981. La faîtière tendue (histoire d’une technique). Bulletin de l’Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient. 70:231–252.
Heger, F. 1902. Alte Metalltrommeln aus Südost-Asien. Leipzig: Hiersemann. https://archive.org/details/bub_gbiAQNAQAAMAAJ. Accessed 10 Nov 2018.
Jiang, Z. 1999. New excavations at the Bronze Age site of Shizhaishan, Yunnan, and implications for the archaeology of the ancient Dian kingdom. Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin 18: 117–119. https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/BIPPA/issue/archive. Accessed 10 Nov 2018.
Lee, Y.K. 2002. Status, symbol and meaning in the Dian culture. Journal of East Asian Archaeology 3 (1–2): 103–131.
Li, Y.T. 2006. On the function of cowries in Shang and Western Zhou China. Journal of East Asian Archaeology 5 (1): 1–26.
Li, K., and R. Min. 2014. The site of Haimenkou: New research on the chronology of the Early Bronze Age in Yunnan. In The ‘Crescent-shaped cultural-communication belt’: Tong Enzheng’s model in retrospect, BAR international series 2679, ed. A. Hein. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Lustig, T., K. Li, Z. Jiang, and G. Chen. 2011. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 31: 50–63. https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/BIPPA/issue/archive. Accessed 10 Nov 2018.
Murowchick, R.E. 2002. The political and ritual significance of bronze production and use in ancient Yunnan. Journal of East Asian Archaeology 3 (1–2): 133–192.
Rode, P. 2004. Textile production and female status in Bronze Age Yunnan. In Gender and Chinese archaeology, ed. K.M. Linduff and Yan Sun, 315–338. Walnut Creek: Altamira.
Stevens, C.J., C. Murphy, R. Roberts, L. Lucas, F. Silva, and D.Q. Fuller. 2016. Between China and South Asia: A Middle Asian corridor of crop dispersal and agricultural innovation in the Bronze Age. The Holocene 26: 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683616650268.
Watson, B. 1961. Records of the grand historian; Han Dynasty II. By Sima Qian. Translation, rev. ed. New York: Columbia University Press.
Yang, B. 2008. Between winds and clouds: The making of Yunnan (Second century BCE – 20th century CE). Gutenberg-eBook. http://www.gutenberg-e.org/yang/index.html. Accessed 10 Nov 2018.
Yao, A. 2005. Scratching beneath iconographic and textual clues: A reconsideration of the social hierarchy in the Dian culture of southwestern China. Journal of Antropological Archaeology 24: 378–405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2005.05.003. Accessed 10 Nov 2018.
Yao, A., and Z. Jiang. 2012. Rediscovering the settlement system of the ‘Dian’ kingdom in Bronze Age southern China. Antiquity 86: 353–367. https://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/086/ant0860353.htm. Accessed 10 Nov 2018.
Further Reading
Yao, A. 2016. The ancient highlands of southwest China: From the Bronze Age to the Han Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Cremin, A. (2019). Dian Culture of Yunnan. In: Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_3433-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_3433-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51726-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51726-1
eBook Packages: Springer Reference HistoryReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities