Chapter 10 Part 1 Farewell to the Cave

The earliest shelters of human beings were natural caves. Since the main activities were confined to the mountains and forests, living in caves may not feel much inconvenience.Many human fossils and stone tools of the Paleolithic Age were found in caves, indicating that this primitive way of living was widely adopted at that time. For example, Peking Man and Cave Man lived in caves. There are many stone tools, bone tools, decorations and a large number of abandoned animal bones, as well as burnt earth ashes.Some other famous prehistoric cave sites include Jinniu Mountain in Yingkou, Liaoning, Guanyin Cave in Qianxi, Guizhou, and Xiaonanhai in Anyang, Henan, all of which have important discoveries.In the early Neolithic period, there were still many cave dwellers in the south, as evidenced by the discovery of cave sites such as Wannian Xianren Cave in Jiangxi and Zengpiyan in Guilin, Guangxi.

After the invention of farming, human beings began to bid farewell to the ready-made caves where they lived for a long time, and gradually migrated to the plains far away from the mountains and forests, seeking fertile fields that were more suitable for farming.No ready-made dwellings could be found in the open fields, so people had to build simple shelters by hand, and house building technology began to appear.The earliest buildings were nothing more than shacks, tree nests, and cave dwellings. The excavation of cave dwellings was obviously inspired by the earlier tradition of cave dwelling.

After bidding farewell to the cave, human beings have experienced severe tests. The invasion of wind, rain, severe cold and scorching heat has tempered people's will, and forced the construction technology to develop to a higher level step by step and mature step by step. Prehistoric ancestors obviously had a lot of experience in choosing their residences, and they were not arbitrary.They generally choose places with water on the back slope, at the edge of river valley terraces and swamps, mainly because of the convenience of water intake.Some larger villages are often built on the terraces at the confluence of two rivers. This experience has been used to this day, and many modern cities are built near the confluence of large rivers.In order to avoid the hazards of floods and to live at a certain height, there are many mound-type ruins in the southern region, which is evidence that people at that time had fully considered water hazards.After mastering the selection rules of these residential sites, archaeologists can easily find prehistoric sites in the wild, and they are often sure.

Most of the earlier Neolithic cultural sites excavated today have house foundations at that time, and until the end of the Neolithic Age, the number of house sites excavated has been considerable.Among them, the prehistoric settlements in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River Basin are best preserved and have the largest number.The vast and rich loess layer is suitable for living in caves, semi-caves and ground dwellers.On the cliffs of the loess terraces, it is an ideal place to dig cave dwellings. At the Shilou Chagou site in Shanxi, cave dwelling sites from the Yangshao and Longshan periods were found. niche (Figure 4).The semi-cave dwelling technology developed on the basis of cave dwellings made the semi-cave dwelling the most common construction method in the Neolithic period in the Central Plains and northern regions, and even examples of semi-cave dwellings were seen in the south and southwest regions.The earliest semi-tavern buildings were found in Cishan, Peiligang, Baijiacun and Xinglongwa cultures. They are all circular pit-shaped vertical caves with an area of ​​only a few square meters, and a very simple roof of vegetation may be supported on them. Only the Xinglongwa culture The area of ​​the house is relatively large, ranging from more than 10 square meters to more than 100 square meters.Later on, the pits were dug shallower and shallower, low walls were built on the ground, and slightly higher roofs were erected.For the sake of stability, the technology of supporting beams with pillars was invented.The maturity of these building technologies made it possible to build houses with larger areas, and also made it possible for the semi-cave dwellings to live on the ground.

In the late Neolithic Age, due to the development of social economy, suites and large houses built in a row appeared.More than 100 Yangshao culture houses were discovered at the Dadiwan site in Qin’an, Gansu. In the early period, most of them were semi-crypt, with a small area and simple construction methods; , the largest of which is a multi-room building covering an area of ​​420 square meters. It has a main room, a back room, and left and right side rooms. The living surface is carefully laid, and its effect is similar to that of modern concrete. It has multiple functions of moisture resistance, heat preservation, and compression resistance. After thousands of years of preservation, the living surface is still very well preserved, as plain as new.During the Qujialing culture period in Xiawanggang, Xichuan, Henan, there were even 80-meter-long longhouses divided into 17 units and 29 rooms.Similar buildings have also been found in the ruins of Yuchi Temple in Mengcheng, Anhui, and the layout is strict, which is obviously planned in advance and then built.In the Donghaiyu site in Rizhao County of the Longshan culture in Shandong, ground building foundations with rammed platform foundations were also found; in the Longshan cultural site in Wangyoufang, Shuicheng, Henan, adobe remnants were found, and in the Shijiahe site in Tianmen, Hubei, molded earth bricks were found. Indicates that specialized building materials have been manufactured.All of these prove that prehistoric construction technology has reached a very high level.

In the south, the form of elevated living developed from nesting is called "dry fence".This kind of bamboo-wood structure house has good ventilation and moisture-proof performance, and is suitable for living in areas with hot and humid climate and low tide on the ground. People live on the upper floor, and livestock can be raised on the bottom floor.At the Hemudu site, the remains of dry-column longhouses were found, showing a relatively high level of woodworking technology.In many parts of the modern south, dry column buildings are still popular, which shows how old this living tradition is.

Due to the development of society, the improvement of economic capacity, and the continuous increase of population, large-scale villages appeared.In the Yangshao culture period, a considerable scale of villages had been formed, not only gathering a considerable number of large and small houses, but also having a relatively strict layout, forming a highly independent social organization unit, or a clan commune.Such settlement sites have been found in Beishouling, Baoji, Shaanxi, Banpo, Xi'an, Jiangzhai, Lintong County, and Wangwan, Luoyang, Henan. The site is clearly divided into three parts: residential area, pottery workshop area, and cemetery.For example, the Banpo site in Xi'an has an area of ​​50,000 square meters, and the residential area occupies 30,000 square meters. There are dozens of houses built, cellars were dug around the houses, and the remains of corrals were also seen.All the housing was organized around a central square, including a large communal house of 160 square meters that was probably used for gatherings of clan members.Lintong Jiangzhai site also covers an area of ​​50,000 square meters, with a residential area of ​​20,000 square meters, a central square and a big house.It can be seen that the small houses are divided into five groups, which are also distributed around the square.Both Banpo and Jiangzhai settlements have moats dug outside, which is an earlier defensive facility.Cemeteries are generally set outside the trenches and isolated from residential areas.In the late Yangshao period, the settlement pattern changed from the centripetal pattern in the early stage to a row distribution, similar to modern villages.This is true for the Xiawanggang site in Xichuan, the Baligang site in Dengzhou, and the Yuchi Temple site in Mengcheng that have been discovered so far.

During the Longshan culture period, the settlement tradition has undergone some changes. So far, no large settlement site has been seen. There is no special pottery workshop area in the settlement, and the kilns are scattered around the house site, clearly belonging to a certain family unit; The cellars were all dug indoors, indicating the importance attached to private property; no central square was found, but the houses were distributed in groups, which may indicate that they were large family units; there were no deep ditches around the village, but Thick rammed walls were built, and such walls have been found in Chengziya, Zhangqiu, Shandong, and the Hougang site, Anyang, Henan.

The construction technology of prehistoric residences has generally experienced several progresses: the houses have evolved from small rooms to large rooms, from single rooms to suites and connected rooms; Walls; pillars from scratch, from few to many, from deep burial to application of foundation stone; living surface from no trimming to barbecue, and then to smearing lime surface and ramming mixed soil, etc.The architectural form has changed from semi-underground and overhead to the ground, and then rammed high foundations; the residential form has changed from scattered to concentrated, and then to urban dwellings.All these not only laid the foundation for the architecture of ancient Chinese dwellings, but also laid the foundation for the architecture of imperial palaces and palaces.

The formation of magnificent palaces, majestic mansions and superb architectural technology was accumulated after human beings bid farewell to cave dwellings, and was accumulated in the practice of building the Maoci Terrace.If human beings stayed in the caves, there would not be today's tens of thousands of mansions.