Hongshan culture
(1000-600 BCE) |
The Hongshan culture (simplified Chinese: 红山文化; traditional Chinese: 紅山文化; pinyin: Hóngshān wénhuà) was a Neolithic culture in the West Liao river basin in northeast China. Hongshan sites have been found in an area stretching from Inner Mongolia to Liaoning, and dated from about 4700 to 2900 BC.[1]
The culture is named after Hongshanhou (simplified Chinese: 红山后; traditional Chinese: 紅山後; pinyin: Hóngshān hòu), a site in Hongshan District, Chifeng. The Hongshanhou site was discovered by the Japanese archaeologist Torii Ryūzō in 1908 and extensively excavated in 1935 by Kōsaku Hamada and Mizuno Seiichi.[2]
Historical context
In northeast China, Hongshan culture was preceded by Xinglongwa culture (6200–5400 BC), Xinle culture (5300–4800 BC), and Zhaobaogou culture, which may be contemporary with Xinle and a little later.
The Yangshao culture of the Yellow River existed contemporaneously with the Hongshan culture (see map). These two cultures interacted with each other.
Hongshan culture was succeeded by the
Genetics and linguistic identity
A genetic study by Yinqiu Cui et al. from 2013 analyzed the Y-chromosome DNA
Nelson et al. 2020 attempts to link the Hongshan culture to a "Transeurasian" (
A 2020 study discovered substantial genetic changes in the West Liao River region over time. An increase in the reliance on millet farming between the Middle-to-Late Neolithic is associated with higher genetic affinity to the Yellow River basin (generally associated with speakers of the Sino-Tibetan languages), while a partial switch to pastoralism in the Bronze Age Upper Xiajiadian culture is associated with a decrease in this genetic affinity. After the Late Neolithic, there was a sharp transition from Yellow River to Amur River-related genetic profiles (associated with speakers of Tungusic languages) around the West Liao River. This increase in Amur River affinity corresponds with the transition to a pastoral economy during the Bronze Age.[8][9]
A 2021 study found that Yellow River millet farmers from the modern-day provinces of Henan and Shandong had played an important role in the formation of Hongshan people or their descendants via both inland and coastal northward migration routes.[10]
Agriculture
Similarly to the Yangshao culture, the Hongshan culture cultivated millet. Isotope analyses revealed that millet contributed up to 70% of the human diet in the Early Hongshan and up to 80% in the Late Hongshan.[9]
Artifacts
The Hongshan culture is known for its carved jade.[11] Hongshan burial artifacts include some of the earliest known examples of jade working. The Hongshan culture is known for its jade pig dragons and embryo dragons. Clay figurines, including figurines of pregnant women, are also found throughout Hongshan sites. Small copper rings were also excavated.[citation needed][12]
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The C-shaped jade dragon of Hongshan Culture
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Jade Ornament
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Jade Beast
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Pottery pregnant woman, Hongshan Culture, Liaoning
Religion
The archaeological site at Niuheliang is a unique ritual complex associated with the Hongshan culture.
Excavators have discovered an underground temple complex—which included an altar—and also cairns in Niuheliang. The temple was constructed of stone platforms, with painted walls. Archaeologists have given it the name "Goddess Temple" (Chinese: 女神庙; pinyin: nüshenmiao) due to the discovery of a clay female head with jade inlaid eyes.[13] It was an underground structure, 1m deep.[14] Included on its walls are mural paintings. Housed inside the Goddess Temple are clay figurines as large as three times the size of real-life humans.[13] The exceedingly large figurines are possibly deities, but for a religion not reflective in any other Chinese culture.[15]
The existence of complex trading networks and monumental architecture (such as
Painted pottery was also discovered within the temple.[14] Over 60 nearby tombs have been unearthed, all constructed of stone and covered by stone mounds, frequently including jade artifacts.[17]
Cairns were discovered atop two nearby hills, with either round or square stepped tombs, made of piled limestone. Entombed inside were sculptures of dragons and tortoises.[14]
It has been suggested that religious sacrifice might have been performed within the Hongshan culture.[14]
Feng shui
Just as suggested by evidence found at early Yangshao culture sites, Hongshan culture sites also provide the earliest evidence for feng shui. The presence of both round and square shapes at Hongshan culture ceremonial centres suggests an early presence of the gaitian cosmography ("round heaven, square earth").[18]
Early feng shui relied on astronomy to find correlations between humans and the universe.[19]
Development of Chinese civilization
The Hongshan culture region was thought to have been
Some Chinese archaeologists such as Guo Da-shun see the Hongshan culture as an important stage of early Chinese civilization.[30][31] Whatever the linguistic affinity of the ancient denizens, Hongshan culture is believed to have exerted an influence on the development of early Chinese civilization.[32]
The culture may have also contributed to the development of settlements in ancient Korea.[33] However, the Hongshan culture is also commonly employed in Korean pseudohistory by some Korean scholars, who seek to contest any connections between the Hongshan culture with Chinese civilization and assert that the Hongshan culture is only related to Korean civilization.[11]
See also
References
- ^ "Exhibition Brochure Timeline of cultures, dynasties, and archaeological sites represented in the exhibition". www.nga.gov. Archived from the original on 2014-04-08. Retrieved 2014-02-01. Timeline posted by National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
- ^ Hamada, Kosaku and Mizuno Seiichi. "Chifeng Hongshanhou," Archaeologia Orientalis, ser. A, No. 6. Far-Eastern Archaeology Society of Japan, (1938).
- ^ PMID 24079706.
- ISBN 978-1-317-81716-1.
- ^ "Aurora Museum page 上海震旦博物馆". www.auroramuseum.cn.
- ^ Nelson, Sarah. "Tracing population movements in ancient East Asia through the linguistics and archaeology of textile production" (PDF). Cambridge University. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
- PMID 33618348.
- ^ Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (1 June 2020). "Ancient genomes link subsistence change and human migration in northern China". Science Daily. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
- ^ PMID 32483115.
- PMID 34650596.
- ^ S2CID 231624654.
- ^ "Iindustries include ... copper." Encyclopedia of Prehistory: Volume 3: East Asia and Oceania, Ed.: Peter N. Peregrine, Melvin Ember, Springer Science & Business Media, 2001, p. 79
- ^ a b Please refer to Niuheliang.
- ^ a b c d Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Sites of Hongshan Culture: The Niuheliang Archaeological Site, the Hongshanhou Archaeological Site, and Weijiawopu Archaeological Site". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ "Teaching Chinese Archaeology, object 1 - NGA". Archived from the original on 2008-02-11. Retrieved 2017-02-05. Article by National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
- ^ [1] University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Regional Lifeways and Cultural Remains in the Northern Corridor: Chifeng International Collaborative Archaeological Research Project. Cited references: Drennan 1995; and Earle 1987, 1997.
- ^ "Late Prehistoric China". www.nga.gov. Archived from the original on 2008-02-02. Retrieved 2007-12-14. Exhibition Brochure, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
- ^ [2] Sarah M. Nelson, Rachel A. Matson, Rachel M. Roberts, Chris Rock and Robert E. Stencel: Archaeoastronomical Evidence for Wuism at the Hongshan Site of Niuheliang, 2006.
- ^ Sun, X. (2000) Crossing the Boundaries between Heaven and Man: Astronomy in Ancient China. In H. Selin (ed.), Astronomy Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Astronomy. 423–454. Kluwer Academic.
- ^ Drennan, Robert D. "Settlement and Social Dynamics in the Upper Daling and Chifeng Regions of Northeastern China".
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(help) - PMID 25561539.
- ^ New Thoughts on the Impact of Climate Change in Neolithic China Archaeology誌解説記事
- S2CID 135377757.
- S2CID 129946000.
- ^ Bradley, David (27–28 October 2018). "Subgrouping of the Sino-Tibetan languages". 10th International Conference on Evolutionary Linguistics, Nanjing University.
- PMID 31036967.
- PMID 31061123.
- ^ "Analysis on the mutual movement relation between Xiaoheyan Culture and other archaeology culture--《Research of China's Frontier Archaeology》2009年00期". en.cnki.com.cn. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
- PMID 24079706.
- ^ Guo, Da-Shun 1995. Hongshan and related cultures. In: The archaeology of Northeast China: beyond the Great Wall. Nelson, Sarah M. ed. 21–64. London and New York: Routledge.
- ^ [3] Archived 2013-09-21 at the Wayback Machine Roger Blench(2004), Stratification in the peopling of China: how far does the linguistic evidence match genetics and archaeology? p.9
- ^ Kwang-chih Chang and Sarah Allan, The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An Archaeological Perspective, p. 65
- ^ [4] Keith Pratt(2006), Everlasting Flower, p.30.
- Allan, Sarah (ed), The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An Archaeological Perspective, ISBN 0-300-09382-9
- ISBN 0-300-03784-8
- Nelson, Sarah Milledge (ed), The Archaeology of Northeast China: Beyond the Great Wall, ISBN 0-415-11755-0