The Baodun culture (2700 BC – 1700 BC) 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 pa ...

culture centered on the

Chengdu Plain The Chengdu Plain (Chinese: 成都平原; Pinyin: Chéngdū Píngyuán), known as Cuanxi Bazi (Chinese: 川西坝子; Sichuanese Pinyin: Cuan1xi1 Ba4zi3) in Sichuanese, is an alluvial plain located in the western part of the Sichuan Basin in so ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of t ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

Dates

Archaeologists have divided the culture into four phases (I-IV). The only radiocarbon dates for the Baodun Culture come from Bianduishan. Two dates were calibrated using CalPal software to 2467 ± 347 BC and 1993 ± 335 BC.

Sites

Ten settlements from the culture have been found. The first six sites discovered were: the type site at Baodun in Xinjin County, the site at Mangcheng in

Dujiangyan City Dujiangyan () is a county-level city of Sichuan Province, Southwest China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Chengdu. Its north-west region forms a border with southern Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. ...

, the site at Yufu in Wenjiang County, the site at Zizhu in

Chongzhou Chongzhou ( zh, c=崇州, p=Chóngzhōu), known as Chongqing County ( zh, t=崇慶縣, s=崇庆县) until 1994, is a county-level city of Sichuan Province, Southwest China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Chengdu ...

, the site at Shuanghe in Chongzhou, and the site at Gucheng in

Pi County Pidu District formerly known as Pi County or Pixian is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, Southwest China. It was approved from the former Pi County by the State Council on Nov ...

. Yufucun is the second largest site associated with the Baodun culture. All of the settlements straddle the Min River. The settlement walls were covered with pebbles, a feature unique to the Baodun culture. The pottery from the culture share some similarities with

Sanxingdui Sanxingdui () is an archaeological site and a major Bronze Age culture in modern Guanghan, Sichuan, China. Largely discovered in 1986, following a preliminary finding in 1927, archaeologists excavated artifacts that radiocarbon dating placed in ...

. The inhabitants lived in

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

houses. The earliest evidence for rice and

foxtail millet Foxtail millet, scientific name ''Setaria italica'' (synonym ''Panicum italicum'' L.), is an annual grass grown for human food. It is the second-most widely planted species of millet, and the most grown millet species in Asia. The oldest eviden ...

agriculture in southwest China was discovered at the type site at Baodun. The site at Yufu is also surrounded by two walls: The inner wall covers and area of around , while the outer wall covers and area of around . The site at Mangcheng is also surrounded by two, pounded earth walls: the inner wall covers an area of around , while the outer wall covers an area of around . The majority of buildings were made from

technology. The site at Gucheng is surrounded by a wall enclosing an area of around . The sites at Zizhu and Shuanghe are also surrounded by double walls.

Baodun

The Baodun type site was discovered in 1950. The type site is the oldest and largest site associated with the Baodun culture. This culture has the largest walled Neolithic area in China. Baodun is surrounded by two walls: the inner wall covers an area of around , while the outer wall covers an area of around . Estimates of the labour required to build both walls suggest that they would have taken 100 people over 5 years to build. It is unclear whether the area between the two walls was

residential A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family resi ...

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

, or used for different purposes.

Agriculture

Rice and foxtail millet were both grown at Baodun, with rice dominating. Many weeds associated with paddy rice cultivation were also discovered at Baodun. The remains of

Job's tears Job's tears (''Coix lacryma-jobi)'', also known as Adlay or Adlay millet, is a tall grain-bearing perennial tropical plant of the family Poaceae (grass family). It is native to Southeast Asia and introduced to Northern China and India in remote ...

, ''

Vicia ''Vicia'' is a genus of over 240 species of flowering plants that are part of the legume family (Fabaceae), and which are commonly known as vetches. Member species are native to Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa. Some other ...

'', two types of ''

Vigna ''Vigna'' is a genus of plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, with a pantropical distribution.Aitawade, M. M., et al. (2012)Section ''Ceratotropis'' of subgenus ''Ceratotropis'' of ''Vigna'' (Leguminosae–Papilionoideae) in India with a new ...

'',

beefsteak plant ''Perilla'' is a genus consisting of one major Asiatic crop species ''Perilla frutescens'' and a few wild species in nature belonging to the mint family, Lamiaceae. The genus encompasses several distinct varieties of Asian herb, seed, and veget ...

, and ''

Crataegus ''Crataegus'' (), commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, Voss, E. G. 1985. ''Michigan Flora: A guide to the identification and occurrence of the native and naturalized seed-plants of the state. Part II: Dicots (Saururaceae–Cornacea ...

'' were also discovered at Baodun. Rice has also been found at Mangcheng.

Notes

References