| Abstract: |
This paper is concerned with the variability of the vestiges of power which can be seen in prestate societies and the expansion process of an island polity. From roughly AD 1300 to 1500 the Sakishima Islands, to the south of Okinawa, were gradually incorporated into the Chuzan Kingdom with its capital in southern Okinawa at Shuri. The pattern of political expansion first encompassed the Miyako Islands, which submitted tribute and adopted chiefly burial patterns, In the late 1400's the Yaeyama islands were drawn into the control of Okinawa. The Sumiya Site, Hirara City, Miyako Island, Okinawa Prefecture, has been occupied from the 13th century AD to the present. Despite substantial disturbances, it provides evidence of the life of the inhabitants of Miyako before and after their incorporation into the Ryukyu Kingdom around 1500, in the form of abundant Chinese and Japanese trade ceramics, faunal remains and metal objects. Large ceramic vessels and the remains of large shellfish suggest that some feasting took place both in the early and later periods of the site's occupation. Some of these later structures may have been administrative buildings. In contrast, site excavation in the Yaeyama islands indicate less concentration of power and looser organization. Ethnohistoric sources seem to support the archaeological conclusions, with some divergences. In conclusion, I discuss differences in local leadership and its articulation with the Ryukyu Kingdom.
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