从陶酒器视角探析早期社会复杂化之路

From the Perspective of Pottery Wine Vessels: Exploring the Path to Early Social Complexity

摘要: 社会复杂化是人类文明起源研究中的一个重要议题，而陶酒器作为早期社会的重要物质遗存，由于其不仅与仪式活动更与剩余产品的支配存在密切的关系，使其成为了窥见早期社会权力结构演变的一个重要窗口。因此，本文以陶酒器的演变为线索，探讨其在早期社会复杂化进程中所扮演的重要角色，从而引发关于“竞争性宴饮”与“剩余与仪式”两种理论的讨论。本文尝试将“竞争性宴饮”与“剩余与仪式”两种理论整合为一个嵌套的分析模型，以陶酒器作为载体，揭示经济剩余、仪式权力与竞争策略三者之间是如何共同推动早期社会的复杂化。研究表明，陶酒器的演变经历了一个从功能分化到礼仪化的过程。通过对这两种理论进行比较，也揭示了：器物不仅是社会关系的被动反映，更是社会关系得以形成的主动介质。陶酒器的形态与功能演变，是经济剩余积累、仪式权力运作与竞争性宴饮策略相互作用的结果，是早期社会复杂化的重要物质见证。

Abstract: Social complexity is a key topic in research on the origins of human civilization. As an important material remnant of early societies, pottery wine vessels—due to their close relationship not only with ritual activities but also with the control of surplus production—serve as a crucial window into the evolution of early social power structures. Therefore, this paper takes the evolution of pottery wine vessels as a clue to explore their significant role in the process of early social complexity, thereby initiating a discussion on two theories: “competitive feasting” and “surplus and ritual.” This paper attempts to integrate these two theories into a nested analytical model, using pottery wine vessels as a vehicle to reveal how economic surplus, ritual power, and competitive strategies jointly promoted early social complexity. Research shows that the evolution of pottery wine vessels underwent a process from functional differentiation to ritualization. By comparing these two theories, it also reveals that artifacts are not merely passive reflections of social relations but also active media through which social relations are constituted. The morphological and functional evolution of pottery wine vessels is the result of the interplay between the accumulation of economic surplus, the operation of ritual power, and competitive feasting strategies, serving as an important material testimony to early social complexity.