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- Title
The Birth of Yamatogoto Culture: Stringed Instruments and the Formation of Complex Society in Pre- and Protohistoric Japan.
- Authors
STROMBERG, Kirie
- Abstract
Excavated Japanese zithers are likely the oldest surviving stringed instruments in East Asia. This article reviews diachronic changes that occurred in the forms of wood zithers in pre- and protohistoric Japan over approximately two millennia (ca. 1500 B.C.-A.D. 600). It highlights developments such as the addition of resonator boxes, average size increase, and inclusion of figural ornamentation. Results indicate that these formal developments, in addition to the adoption of a seated playing posture as portrayed in Kofun haniwa musician figurines, were driven by the needs of growing communities and their leaders. This analysis suggests that examining changes in musical instruments can be used alongside traditional lines of evidence to research the origins of social complexity and thereby carves out space for a humanistic approach to the study of prehistory.
- Subjects
PREHISTORIC peoples; PREHISTORIC figurines; SOCIAL norms; POSTURE; STRINGED instruments
- Publication
Asian Perspectives: Journal of Archeology for Asia & the Pacific, 2024, Vol 63, Issue 1, p98
- ISSN
0066-8435
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/asi.2024.a923665