Chapter 5 The fourth quarter is in the corner of the world

In the southeast coastal areas, southwest plateau areas and the vast northern areas, even in the remote foothills and isolated islands, although they are far away from the central area where the Neolithic culture was developed, there are also prehistoric residents living there, leaving behind many distinctive cultures. cultural relics.Many tribes among these residents are the ancestors of some modern ethnic minorities. In the lower reaches of the Minjiang River in Fujian, there is the Tanshishan culture named after the Minhou Tanshishan site, and the age is estimated to be as early as 4,000-3,500 years ago.Although Tanshishan people have farming and animal husbandry, fishing and hunting still play an important role in economic life, and marine shellfish is one of the main foods.Taiwan Island, Penghu, and Lanyu Islands, which are across the sea from Fujian, also have relics of the lives of Neolithic residents.The Dadikeng culture, named after the site of the Dadi (ben Ben) pit in Taipei County, has simple stone tools and rough pottery, and the fishing economy may be dominant. There is no evidence of farming and livestock. It can be dated as early as 6400 years ago today.Later, there was the Yuanshan Culture, named after the Yuanshan site in Taipei City, with some advanced stone tools and pottery, dating from 4400-3000 years ago or later.

In the Guangdong and Guangxi regions of South China, many cave sites and shell mound sites have been discovered.There are far fewer polished stone tools than ground stone tools found in some cave sites, and there are no pottery. There are very rich animal bones and snail shells in the cultural deposits. The age can be as early as 10,000 years ago, which should belong to the Neolithic Age Early remains.In some shell mound sites, there are more stone tools than ground stone tools, but rough pottery and a large number of shells have been found, indicating that fishing was mainly used at that time, and farming activities were not sure.The later ruins not only have farming relics, but also pottery technology has improved significantly.

The most representative prehistoric farming culture discovered in South China is the Shixia Culture, named after the Shixia Site in Qujiang County, Guangdong Province, dating from 5,000 to 4,000 years ago.The people of Shixia grow rice and have finely processed stoneware and jadeware; pottery adopts wheel-making technology, and the shape of the pottery is varied; the custom of secondary relocation is popular, paying attention to the use of production tools for burial, and there are more than 100 pieces of pottery, stoneware and jade in large-scale burial. Many Neolithic sites have also been discovered in Southwest China, but not many systematic excavations have been done. The more important ones are the Baiyang Village site in Binchuan County, Yunnan Province, and the Karuo site in Qamdo, Tibet.The site of Baiyang Village is located in the Erhai Lake area in western Yunnan. People in Baiyang Village lived as early as 4,200 years ago. They grew rice, raised livestock, and used polished stone tools and simple handmade pottery. There are single burials and joint burials, but almost no burial objects.

The Karuo site is located on the banks of the Lancang River near Qamdo at an altitude of 3,100 meters. It was later named the Karuo culture, and its age is 5,300-4,000 years ago.The Karuo people have crops similar to those in the Yellow River Basin, and they also raise pigs and cattle. They use a lot of stone tools, and there are a certain number of polished stone tools and fine stone tools. The pottery is relatively rough and the shape is also very simple. Type and ground type houses, with stones as building materials. In the northern region where the three northeastern provinces, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang are located, many archaeological investigations and excavations have also been carried out, and some relatively important cultural relics have been discovered.The earliest Neolithic culture in Northeast China is the Xinglongwa culture, named after the Xinglongwa site in Aohan Banner, Inner Mongolia, dating from 8,000 to 7,500 years ago.The Xinglongwa people have hand-made sand-infused pottery, and the stone tools they use include hammered, polished and fine stone tools, and they built semi-cave dwelling sites.The later Xinle culture was named after the Xinle site in Shenyang, about 7300-6800 years ago.The Xinle people had certain farming activities, and the types of stone tools and pottery are similar to those of the Xinglongwa culture.

In Mishan County, Heilongjiang, the Xinkailiu site was excavated in the 1970s, so it was named the Xinkailiu Culture, dating back 6,000 years ago.People in Xinkailiu mainly engaged in fishing economy, and found a large number of fishing gear and many pits for hiding fish. There is no evidence of farming and livestock; stone tools include polished axes, chisels, and fine stone tools; pottery is hand There are not many types of utensils; there are public cemeteries, and secondary burials are popular, and the burial objects are mainly production tools. The Xiaozhushan site unearthed in Guanglu Island, Changhai, Liaoning, is a very characteristic prehistoric remains of the island, which can be dated as early as 6,500 years ago and lasted for about 2,000 years.The people in Xiaozhushan cultivated millet crops, raised pigs and dogs, and lived on marine shellfish. They lived in semi-crypt houses. No tombs were found during the excavations.

In Chifeng, north of the Great Wall, the Hongshanhou site was excavated in the 1930s, and was later named the Hongshan Culture, which was about 6,000 years ago, roughly the same age as the Yangshao Culture.Hongshan people have farming and livestock breeding; they build altars and temples with stones, and mold statues with clay; tombs include cairns and sarcophagi, and the burial objects in large tombs are relatively rich; decorations and artworks are made of jade, There is a dragon-shaped jade carving. In many archaeological surveys in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, many cultural sites containing microlithic tools have been discovered, but few sites have been excavated on a certain scale, and it is still difficult to fully understand their cultural features.In the past, people regarded microlithic tools as an important feature of northern grassland culture, and believed that North China was the center of the origin of microlithic tools.In recent years, many microlithic sites have also been discovered in the southern region. Whether it originated from a single place or from multiple centers remains to be further studied.