Kayue culture () was a
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
culture in
Northwest China
Northwest China () is a statistical region of China which includes the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Ningxia and the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai. It has an area of 3,107,900 km2.
The region is characterized by a (semi-)arid con ...
in the area of the upper reaches of the
Yellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Ha ...
and its tributary
Huang Shui (Tib. ''Tsong Chu''). It was discovered in 1923 in the villages Kayue () and Xiaxihe () of Yunguchuan Huangzhong in China's
Qinghai Province
Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest pop ...
and is named after the village of Kayue. The former name of the Kayue culture was Kayao culture (), it was previously assigned to the
Siwa culture. It is dated to the period of approximately 900 to 600 BCE.
Geography
The Kayue culture was mainly distributed in the territory of the contemporary
Minhe,
Ledu,
Ping'an,
Xining
Xining (; ), alternatively known as Sining, is the capital of Qinghai province in western China and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau.
The city was a commercial hub along the Northern Silk Road's Hexi Corridor for over 2000 years, and w ...
,
Huzhu,
Datong,
Haiyan,
Gangca (''Gangcha''),
Tongren
Tongren () is a prefecture-level city in eastern Guizhou province, People's Republic of China, located within a tobacco planting and crop agricultural area. Tongren was known as Tongren Prefecture () until November 2011, when it was converted into ...
and
Huangzhong counties, where more than 200 sites and over 1,000 graves were found. Among them was the Bronze Age necropolis Suzhi (Suzhi mudi 苏志墓地) in
Xunhua Salar Autonomous County
Xunhua Salar Autonomous County ( zh, s=循化撒拉族自治县, p=Xúnhuà Sǎlázú Zìzhìxiàn; slr, Gökhdengiz Velayat Yisyr Salyr Özbashdak Yurt) is a Salar autonomous county in the southeast of Haidong Prefecture of Qinghai Province, C ...
.
Context
Kayue culture is believed to have developed from the western part of the
Qijia culture
The Qijia culture (2200 BC – 1600 BC) was an early Bronze Age culture distributed around the upper Yellow River region of Gansu (centered in Lanzhou) and eastern Qinghai, China. It is regarded as one of the earliest bronze cultures in China.
T ...
.
Among the cultural relics discovered were gold artifacts considered particularly valuable because they reveal facts about gold smelting, production, and use at an early time. They reflect the cultural uniqueness of the ancient
Qiang () people, who lived in the northeastern region of
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the Tib ...
.
See also
*
Dadiwan culture
The Dadiwan culture (c. 7900–7200 BP) was a Neolithic culture located primarily in the eastern portion of Gansu and Shaanxi provinces in modern China. The culture takes its name from the deepest cultural layer found during the original excavat ...
*
Majiayao culture
The Majiayao culture was a group of neolithic communities who lived primarily in the upper Yellow River region in eastern Gansu, eastern Qinghai and northern Sichuan, China. The culture existed from 3300 to 2000 BC. The Majiayao culture represen ...
*
Qijia culture
The Qijia culture (2200 BC – 1600 BC) was an early Bronze Age culture distributed around the upper Yellow River region of Gansu (centered in Lanzhou) and eastern Qinghai, China. It is regarded as one of the earliest bronze cultures in China.
T ...
*
Siwa culture
References
* ''
Zhongguo da baike quanshu
The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, begin ...
: Kaoguxue'' (Great Chinese Encyclopedia: Volume Archaeology). Beijing: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe, 1986
Online-Text
Literature
*"Report on the Excavation of the Cemetery of Kayue Culture at Dahuazhongzhuang, Huangyuan County, Qinghai Province by The Qinghai Team of Cultural Relics and Archaeology." ''Kaogu yu wenwu'' 1985.05, Shaanxi, 1985 – ''in Chinese''
*"Excavation of Tombs of the Kayue Culture at Banzhuwa, Hualong County, Qinghai by Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeological and Others." ''Kaogu'' 1996.08 – ''in Chinese''
*"Secondary excavation of the Kayue Culture cemetery at Shangbanzhuwa, Hualong county, Qinghai by Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology." ''Kaogu'' 1998.01, Beijing, 1998 – ''in Chinese''
*"On the Racial Type of the Lijishan People of Kayue Culture in the Light of the Nomeasured Morphological Features of Their Skulls by Zhang Jun." ''Kaogu'' 2001.05, Beijing, 2001 – ''in Chinese''
External links
– ''in Chinese''
Kayue wenhua yizhi– ''in Chinese''
– ''in Chinese''
Unearthed Gold Objects of the Kayue Culture of Qinghai
{{Neolithic cultures of China
Archaeological cultures of China
Bronze Age in China
History of Gansu
History of Qinghai
1923 archaeological discoveries
9th-century BC establishments in China