List of Neolithic cultures of China
This is a list of Neolithic cultures of China that have been unearthed by archaeologists. They are sorted in chronological order from earliest to latest and are followed by a schematic visualization of these cultures.
It would seem that the definition of Neolithic in China is undergoing changes. The discovery in 2012 of pottery about 20,000 years BC indicates that this measure alone can no longer be used to define the period.[1] It will fall to the more difficult task of determining when cereal domestication started.
List
| Dates (BC) | English name | Chinese name | Modern-day name and location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18000–7000 | Xianren Cave culture (Paleolithic) |
仙人洞、吊桶环遗址 | Wannian County, Shangrao, Jiangxi |
| 8500–7700 | Nanzhuangtou culture | 南莊頭遺址 | Yellow River region in southern Hebei |
| 7500–6100 | Pengtoushan culture | 彭頭山文化 | central Yangtze region in northwestern Hunan |
| 7000–5000 | Peiligang culture | 裴李崗文化 | Yi-Luo river basin valley in Henan |
| 6500–5500 | Houli culture | 後李文化 | Shandong |
| 6200–5400 | Xinglongwa culture | 興隆洼文化 | Inner Mongolia-Liaoning border |
| 6000–5000 | Kuahuqiao culture | 跨湖桥文化 | Zhejiang |
| 6000–5500 | Cishan culture | 磁山文化 | southern Hebei |
| 5800–5400 | Dadiwan culture | 大地灣文化 | Gansu and western Shaanxi |
| 5500–4800 | Xinle culture | 新樂文化 | lower Liao River on the Liaodong Peninsula |
| 5400–4500 | Zhaobaogou culture | 趙宝溝文化 | Luan River valley in Inner Mongolia and northern Hebei |
| 5300–4100 | Beixin culture | 北辛文化 | Shandong |
| 5000–4500 | Hemudu culture | 河姆渡文化 | Yuyao and Zhoushan, Zhejiang |
| 5000–3000 | Daxi culture | 大溪文化 | Three Gorges region |
| 5000–3000 | Majiabang culture | 馬家浜文化 | Lake Tai area and north of Hangzhou Bay |
| 5000–3000 | Yangshao culture | 仰韶文化 | Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi |
| 4700–2900 | Hongshan culture | 紅山文化 | Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, and Hebei |
| 4100–2600 | Dawenkou culture | 大汶口文化 | Shandong, Anhui, Henan, and Jiangsu |
| 3800–3300 | Songze culture | 崧澤文化 | Lake Tai area |
| 3400–2250 | Liangzhu culture | 良渚文化 | Yangtze River Delta |
| 3100–2700 | Majiayao culture | 馬家窯文化 | upper Yellow River region in Gansu and Qinghai |
| 3100–2700 | Qujialing culture | 屈家嶺文化 | middle Yangtze region in Hubei and Hunan |
| 3000–2000 | Longshan culture | 龍山文化 | central and lower Yellow River |
| 2800–2000 | Baodun culture | 寶墩文化 | Chengdu Plain |
| 2500–2000 | Shijiahe culture | 石家河文化 | middle Yangtze region in Hubei |
| 1900–1500 | Yueshi culture | 岳石文化 | lower Yellow River region in Shandong |
Schematic outline
Map of the Chinese Neolithic
These cultures are brought together schematically for the period 8500 to 1500 BC. Neolithic cultures remain unmarked and Bronze Age cultures (from 2000 BC) are marked with *. There are many differences in opinion by dating these cultures, so the dates chosen here are tentative:
| Year (BC) |
North- east China (1) |
Upper Yellow River (2) |
Middle Yellow River (3) |
Lower- Yellow River (4) |
Lower- Yangtze (5) |
Middle- Yangtze (6) |
Sichuan (7) | Southeast China (8) |
South- west China (9) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8500 | Nanzhuangtou | ||||||||
| 8500–7700 | |||||||||
| 8000 | |||||||||
| 7500 | |||||||||
| 7000 | Pengtoushan | ||||||||
| (including | |||||||||
| Chengbeixi | |||||||||
| 6500 | Dadiwan | Peiligang | Houli | and Zaoshi) | Zengpiyan | ||||
| Xinglongwa | Laoguantai | Cishan | 6500–5500 | 7000–5800 | 7000–5500 | ||||
| 6200–5400 | = Baijia | Jiahu | |||||||
| 6000 | 6500–5000 | Lijiacun | Kuahuqiao | ||||||
| 6500–5000 | 6000–5000 | ||||||||
| 5500 | |||||||||
| Beixin | |||||||||
| Xinle | 5300–4500 | ||||||||
| 5000 | 5300–4800 | Yangshao | Hemudu | Daxi | Dapenkeng | ||||
| 5000–3000 | 5000–3400 | 5000–3300 | Fuguodun | ||||||
| Majiabang | 5000–3000 | ||||||||
| 4500 | Zhaobaogou | 5000–4000 | |||||||
| 4500–4000 | Dawenkou | Songze | |||||||
| 4300–2600 | 4000–3000 | ||||||||
| 4000 | |||||||||
| 3500 | Qujialing | ||||||||
| Hongshan | 3500–2600 | Yingpanshan | |||||||
| (incl. Fuhe) | Majiayao | Liangzhu | c. 3100? | ||||||
| 3000 | 3400–2300 | 3300–2700 | 3200–1800 | Tanishan | |||||
| Banshan | *Henan- | Shijiahe | Baodun | Shixia | |||||
| 2700–2400 | Longshan | *Shandong- | 2500–2000 | 2800–2000 | Nianyuzhuan | ||||
| 2500 | Machang | 2800–2000 | Longshan | Qinglongquan | Qinglongquan | ||||
| 2400–2000 | 2600–2000 | = (Hubei- | Hedang | Baiyangcun | |||||
| *Qijia | Longshan) | 3000–.... | 2200–2100 | ||||||
| 2000 | *Xiajiadian | 2300–1800 | 2400–2000 | Dalongtan | |||||
| 2000–300 | *Erlitou | *Yueshi | 2100–2000 | ||||||
| *Siba | 1900–1500 | 1900–1500 | *Maqiao | ||||||
| 1500 | 1950–1500 | Xia Dynasty? |
1800–1200 | *Chang Jiang (Sanxingdui) |
from 1500 | ||||
For this schematic outline of its neolithic cultures China has been divided into the following nine parts:
- Northeast China: Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning.
- Northwest China (Upper Yellow River): Gansu, Qinghai and western part of Shaanxi.
- North-central China (Middle Yellow River): Shanxi, Hebei, western part of Henan and eastern part of Shaanxi.
- Eastern China (lower Yellow River): Shandong, Anhui, northern part of Jiangsu and eastern part Henan.
- East-south-eastern China (lower Yangtze): Zhejiang and biggest part of Jiangsu.
- South-central China (middle Yangtze): Hubei and northern part of Hunan.
- Sichuan and upper Yangtze.
- Southeast China: Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, southern part of Hunan, lower Red River in the northern part of Vietnam and the island of Taiwan.
- Southwest China: Yunnan and Guizhou.
See also
- History of China
- List of Bronze Age sites in China
- List of Palaeolithic sites in China
- Neolithic signs in China
- Prehistoric Asia
- Prehistoric Beifudi site
- Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
- Xia dynasty
References
- Xiaohong Wu, Chi Zhang, Paul Goldberg, David Cohen, Yan Pan, Trina Arpin, Ofer Bar-Yosef (2012). Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China. Science, 336, 1696–1700.
Further reading
- Chang, Kwang-chih (1986). The archaeology of ancient China. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03784-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Loewe, Michael (1999). The Cambridge history of ancient China:from the origins of civilization to 221 B.C. Cambridge, UK New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-47030-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Zhonghu, H.; Bonjean, A.P.A. Cereals in China. Cimmyt. ISBN 978-970-648-177-1. Retrieved 2017-07-16.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Higham, Charles (1996). The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Cambridge England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-49660-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Liu, Li (2004). The Chinese neolithic:trajectories to early states. Cambridge, UK New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81184-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Liu, Li; Chen, Xingcan (eds). 2012. The archaeology of China: from the late paleolithic to the early bronze age. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-64310-8
- Underhill, Anne P (ed). 2013. A companion to Chinese archaeology. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4443-3529-3
- Maisels, Charles (1999). Early civilizations of the old world:the formative histories of Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, India, and China. London New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-10976-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Scarre, Christopher (2005). The human past:world prehistory & the development of human societies. New York, N.Y: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-28531-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- chapter 7, Higham, Charles, 'East Asian Agriculture and Its Impact', p.234-264.
- chapter 15, Higham, Charles, 'Complex Societies of East and Southeast Asia', p.552-594
External links
Media related to Neolithic cultures of China at Wikimedia Commons
Prehistoric cultures of China | |
|---|---|
| Northeastern China | |
| Upper Yellow River | |
| Middle Yellow River | |
| Lower Yellow River | |
| Middle and Upper Yangtze |
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| Lower Yangtze and Huai | |
| Southern China |
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| Tibet |
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| Xinjiang | |
| Taiwan |
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