Lower Xiajiadian culture

Transition from Neolithic to Bronze Age in China and to the northwest: Lower Xiajiadian culture is marked as #1

The Lower Xiajiadian culture (simplified Chinese: 夏家店下层文化; traditional Chinese: 夏家店下層文化; pinyin: Xiàjiādiàn xiàcéng wénhuà; 2200–1600 BC[1]) is an archaeological culture in Northeast China, found mainly in southeastern Inner Mongolia, northern Hebei and western Liaoning, China. Subsistence was based on millet farming supplemented with animal husbandry and hunting. Archaeological sites have yielded the remains of pigs, dogs, sheep and cattle. The culture built permanent settlements and achieved relatively high population densities. The population levels reached by the Lower Xiajiadian culture in the Chifeng region would not be matched until the Liao Dynasty.[2] The culture was preceded by the Hongshan culture, through the transitional Xiaoheyan culture. The type site is represented by the lower layer at Xiajiadian, Chifeng, Inner Mongolia.

Stone, bone and pottery artefacts were discovered at Lower Xiajiadian sites, while gold, lead, lacquer, jade, copper and bronze artefacts are also found. The most commonly found copper and bronze artefacts are earrings.

People of the Lower Xiajiadian practiced oracle bone divination. The culture prepared its oracle bones by drilling and polishing the bones before heating them. Inscriptions are generally not found on examples of oracle bones of the Lower Xiajiadian.

People had good access to local sources of stone, primarily basalt, which were often used in construction and tool-making. Lower Xiajiadian houses were typically round, made from mud and stone, and were built with stone walls. Lower Xiajiadian settlements were built near and were protected by cliffs or steep slopes. Stone walls were sometimes erected around the non-sloped perimeter of its settlement. Walls were not thick. Walls with watchtowers and were built by sandwiching a rammed earth core with two sides of stone walls.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Leadership Strategies, Economic Activity, and Interregional Interaction: Social Complexity in Northeast China, pp. 89
  2. ↑ Leadership Strategies, Economic Activity, and Interregional Interaction: Social Complexity in Northeast China, pp. 120

References

  • Shelach, Gideon, Leadership Strategies, Economic Activity, and Interregional Interaction: Social Complexity in Northeast China, ISBN 0-306-46090-4
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