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The Peiligang culture was a
Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
culture in the Yi-Luo river basin (in modern
Henan Province Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...
, China) that existed from 7000 to 5000 BC. Over 100 sites have been identified with the Peiligang culture, nearly all of them in a fairly compact area of about 100 square kilometers in the area just south of the river and along its banks.


Peiligang culture

The culture is named after the site discovered in 1977 at Peiligang, a village in Xinzheng County. Archaeologists believe that the Peiligang culture was
egalitarian Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hu ...
, with little political organization. The culture practiced agriculture in the form of cultivating millet and animal husbandry in the form of raising pigs and possibly poultry. The people hunted
deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...
and wild boar, and fished for carp in the nearby river, using nets made from hemp fibers. The culture is also one of the oldest in ancient China to make
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
. This culture typically had separate residential and burial areas, or cemeteries, like most Neolithic cultures. Common artifacts include stone arrowheads, spearheads and axe heads; stone tools such as chisels, awls and sickles for harvesting grain; and a broad assortment of pottery items for such purposes as cooking and storing grain.


Jiahu

The site at Jiahu is the earliest site associated with Peiligang culture. There are many similarities between the main group of Peiligang settlements and the Jiahu culture, which was isolated several days' travel to the south of the main group. Archaeologists are divided about the relationship between Jiahu and the main group. Most agree that Jiahu was part of the Peiligang culture, pointing to the many similarities. A few archaeologists are pointing to the differences, as well as the distance, believing that Jiahu was a neighbor that shared many cultural characteristics with Peiligang, but was a separate culture. The cultivation of
rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...
, for example, was unique to Jiahu and was not practiced among the villages of the main Peiligang group in the north. Also, Jiahu existed for several hundred years before any of the settlements of the main group.


Gallery

File:PeiligangStoneRollerAndQuern.JPG, Stone roller and quern from the Peiligang site Ding, Peiligang Xinzheng.Henan provincial museum.jpg, Ding, Peiligang. Henan provincial museum Neolithic pottery jar, Peiligang Culture, Xinzheng, Henan, 1978.JPG, Neolithic pottery jar, Peiligang Culture, Xinzheng, Henan Neolithic stone sickle, Peiligang Culture, Jiaxian, Henan, 1976.JPG, Neolithic stone sickle, Peiligang Culture, Jiaxian, Henan Peiligang Culture bone arrowheads & teeth scrapers.JPG, Peiligang Culture bone arrowheads & teeth scrapers Red Pottery Jar with a Deep Belley.jpg, Red Pottery Jar with a Deep Belley, Peiligang culture


See also

* Jiahu symbols * Prehistoric Beifudi site


References


Bibliography

* * {{Neolithic cultures of China Neolithic cultures of China History of Henan 7th-millennium BC establishments