Changes in the socioeconomic structure of the bronze-age society in the multicultural environment on the South shore of the Bohai Sea

Guicheng is a prominent Bronze-Age city situated in the eastern part of the Shandong peninsula, traditionally known as the heartland of the so-called "Eastern Barbarians." However, Guicheng has yielded a long series of important discoveries of inscribed bronze vessels dating to the early part of the Western Zhou period (1045-957 BC) and a cultural inventory that features both Zhou and the local cultural elements. The project is a multi-year collaboration between Columbia University and the Institute of Archaeology, CASS, to clarify the spatial subdivisions and internal sociopolitical organization of the Guicheng city and its position in the regional socioeconomic system. The project contributes very significantly to our understanding of the Bronze-Age society, especially the process of "Secondary State Formation" in the periphery of the great civilizations. The objective for 2007-2010 is to achieve a thorough understanding of the above- and below-ground conditions of the Guicheng site.