A research of ornaments excavated at Ki-Wu-Lan Site, I-lan
Date Issued
2011
Date
2011
Author(s)
Wang, Li-Ying
Abstract
This thesis focuses on the personal ornaments which decorate the human bodies or clothing from the Ki-Wu-Lan Site in the I-lan Plain. The Ki-Wu-Lan Site provides excellent materials for discussing the role of the ornaments in the local culture. There are two culture layers of the site, the Upper Culture Layer is 600-100 B.P. and the Lower Culture Layer is 1300-800 B.P., all belong to the Iron Age. The ornaments from the Upper Layer Culture are my main research target. According to the ethnography and historical documents, the people of this period are Kavalan.
There were large quantity and various ornaments excavated from this site. Most ornaments were exotic materials, which made of agate, glass and metal. However there are still a small part of bone, wood and shell ornaments which were made by local people. In this thesis, I focus on both temporal and spatial distribution of the ornaments in order to understand how people use them. Firstly, I classify the ornaments by there functions to establish the database, and then compare ornaments from different contexts for discussing the characters and the way of wearing, and the prevalence of decorations. Secondly, I crossly compare the archaeological materials and documents, trying to present the inner perspectives of ornaments from local people.
It is concluded that the Ki-Wu-Lan society had their own cognition and rule of classification of ornaments before the 17th century, when the outside forces such as Spanish and Holland people came to Taiwan with lots of exotic goods. Not just for decorating, most ornaments have their prestige and property meanings. The agate beads and one kind of small bells even associated with women and children for identity, and the other ornaments also have their value meanings in this culture. Through rearranging the exotic ornaments with local materials, local people displayed their own agency.
Finally, the view of the Ki-Wu-Lan society about ornaments can reveal the interaction and trade network in northern Taiwan. Large quantities of ornaments excavated from the site reflect not only the blooming business, which resulted from the outsiders, but also showed the inner exchange requirements among local ethnic groups.
Subjects
Ki-Wu-Lan Site
Kavalan
exotic ornaments
agate beads
17th century
Type
thesis
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
ntu-100-R97125008-1.pdf
Size
23.54 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum
(MD5):c2217ba9cd741c00670e84c8509f49fd