Chapter 4 The third quarter is in the north and south of the river

The prehistoric archaeological work in the Yangtze River Basin was carried out relatively late, and the systematic research was not very in-depth at first, so many people thought in the 1950s and 1960s that it was a region that was developed very late and that there would be no early farming culture.In the past 30 to 40 years, many important achievements have been made in the middle and lower reaches of the country. Some of the main residents and their cultures in the Neolithic Age have been basically clarified. It shows that the Yangtze River, like the Yellow River, has the same long history of development and the same splendid ancient history. culture.

According to the latest archaeological discoveries, the earliest Neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is the Pengtoushan culture, named after the Pengtoushan site in Li County, Hunan Province, dating to about 9,000 years ago or earlier.The Pengtoushan people had hand-made rough pottery, and rice husk marks were mixed in the pottery pieces, indicating that rice cultivation had begun and buffaloes were raised; stone tools were mainly made, and polishers were rare. The relatively developed Neolithic cultures found in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River are the Daxi Culture and the Qujialing Culture.The Daxi culture is named after the Daxi site in Wushan County, eastern Sichuan, but its main distribution area is still in Jianghan and its surrounding areas, dating from about 6,400 to 5,500 years ago.The economic life of Daxi people is mainly based on rice farming, and they raise pigs, dogs, cows, sheep, chickens and other livestock; pottery is regular in shape and pays attention to appearance decoration, including black painted pottery; they live in red-fired earthen buildings with a certain scale. In public cemeteries, the bent-limb burial style is popular.The Qujialing culture is named after the excavation of the Qujialing site in Jingshan, Hubei. Its geographical distribution and economic life are roughly the same as those of the Daxi culture. It is a little later, about 5500-4500 years ago.The pottery craftsmanship of Qujialing people is slightly higher than that of Daxi people. There are suites and multi-room residential sites, and there is also the phenomenon of smearing white and gray surfaces.

The Shijiahe culture, which developed after Qujialing culture, was named after the Shijiahe site in Tianmen, Hubei. This culture was once called "Hubei Longshan culture", dating back about 4400 years ago.The Shijiahe people had relatively developed rice farming and raised livestock; they began to use adobe as building materials, using the earliest molded bricks, and built large-scale castle buildings. In the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the earliest known Neolithic remains are the Wannian Xianren Cave site in Jiangxi, which was roughly 9,000 years ago (the age is still disputed). People lived in caves and used ground stone tools and a small amount of ground stone tools. They can make pottery with primitive shape and rough texture. It seems that there is no agricultural planting and livestock breeding, and they mainly live on fishing, hunting and gathering. A large number of wild animal bones and bones left by people at that time were found beside the remains of several fires. Snail shell.

In the Yangtze River Delta and the adjacent Ningshao Plain, many prehistoric sites have also been discovered, the most famous is the Hemudu site in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province. The Hemudu culture was named after it. Its age is about 7,000-5,400 years ago, which is similar to the Yangshao culture in the Yellow River Basin. quite.The Hemudu people have relatively high agricultural cultivation techniques, planting rice, raising pigs, dogs and buffaloes; the pottery is not high-fired, and there are charcoal chips in the pottery clay, and the types of pottery are relatively rich; they live in elevated stilted houses and dig shallow wells , with high woodworking skills; more practical carving art utensils, including ivory carvings, bone carvings, wood carvings, pottery sculptures, etc., as well as many finely processed jade ornaments.

Cultural relics roughly equivalent to the Hemudu culture era have also been found in the Yangtze River Delta region slightly north, represented by the Luojiajiao site in Tongxiang County, Zhejiang Province, which can also be as early as 7,000 years ago.The Luojiajiao site is generally considered to belong to the early Majiabang culture. The Majiabang culture was named after the Majiabang site in Jiaxing, Zhejiang, and continued to develop for about 1,000 years.The economic life of the Majiabang people is the same as that of the Hemudu people. They have more refined polished stone tools, and their pottery is also rough and soft.Most of the dead were buried in the bent over style, with a small number of pottery for daily use and few stone tools.

The Songze culture developed from the Majiabang culture both centered on the Taihu Lake area.The Songze Culture is named after the Songze Site in Qingpu, Shanghai, and it dates from 6,000 to 5,200 years ago.The economic life of Songze people is also dominated by rice farming, using finely ground stone tools; pottery is relatively high-fired, with wheel-making technology; there are large public cemeteries, and joint burials of men and women appeared.The further development is the Liangzhu culture, which has expanded its distribution and spread all over the delta area. It is named after the Liangzhu site in Yuhang County, Hangzhou discovered in the 1930s. Quite or slightly earlier.In addition to rice cultivation, Liangzhu people also planted peanuts, sesame seeds, broad beans, melons, gourds, etc., and began to raise silkworms and weave silk; they made beautiful polished black pottery; Jade wares; living in stilt-style buildings, building large tombs, and burying a large number of jade wares and pottery.

In the Nanjing area, there is also a Beiyinyangying culture roughly equivalent to the Songze culture. It is named after the Beiyinyangying site in Nanjing City, and its age is about 6000-5000 years ago.The crops of the people in Beiyinyangying are also rice, and they have domestic animals such as dogs and pigs; they use exquisite polished stone tools and a certain amount of painted pottery, which is rare in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River; they wear various jade ornaments; there are large-scale public cemetery.In Anhui, there is also a Xuejiagang Culture that developed in parallel with the Northern Yinyangying Culture. It was named after the excavation of the Xuejiagang site in Qianshan Mountain, and its age is estimated to be around 5500-5000 years ago.The Xuejiagang people lived between the Jianghuai River and the Huaihe River. They also made a living by planting rice. They used refined stone tools, including a distinctive long porous stone knife.There is a large public cemetery, in addition to funerary pottery, there are many jade decorations.