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Contents List of Figures vii List of Tables xi Acknowledgments xiii 1 Introduction: The Archaeology of Ryukyu Islanders 1 2 The Active Environment of the Ryukyus 17 3 Pleistocene Inhabitants 36 4 Arriving and Settling: Island Hunter-Gatherer Colonization and Interaction 47 5 Surviving in the Archipelago: Island Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence 82 6 Exchange Networks and the Lure of Tropical Shells 126 7 The Gusuku Period (AD 1050 to 1429): A New Order 145 8 Ryukyu Trade in the Gusuku and Early Ryukyu Kingdom Periods 194 9 The Early Ryukyu Kingdom (AD 1429 to 1609) 234 10 Discussion and Conclusions 273 Appendix 1: Building a Chronology of Trade Ceramics 293 Appendix 2: The Successive Rulers of the Chūzan or Ryukyu Kingdom 323 Glossary of Japanese and Chinese Characters 325 References Cited 335 Index 389 ...

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