The Maoqinggou culture ( zh, 毛庆沟文化, 800-200 BCE) is an archaeological culture of

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

(Liangcheng County, Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia, China, 013764), to the east of the

Ordos culture The Ordos culture () was a material culture occupying a region centered on the Ordos Loop (corresponding to the region of Suiyuan, including Baotou to the north, all located in modern Inner Mongolia, China) during the Bronze Age, Bronze and ea ...

area, centered around the Maoqinggou cemetery. It is an important site for the understanding of China's northern grasslands in the early Iron Age. The site has four phases, from the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period () was a period in History of China, Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou (256 BCE), characterized by the gradual erosion of royal power as local lords nominally subject t ...

to the late

Warring States The Warring States period in Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and struggles for gre ...

period, including a period of early

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...

occupation. The site is noted for its

Scythian The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC fr ...

(

Saka The Saka, Old Chinese, old , Pinyin, mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit (Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples, Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian ...

) style artifacts and weapons, which are of a similar type to those the Saka Chandman culture of western

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

, in the

Animal style Animal style art is an approach to decoration found from Ordos culture to Northern Europe in the early Iron Age, and the barbarian art of the Migration Period, characterized by its emphasis on animal motifs. The zoomorphic style of decoration ...

. The dagger especially have typical ornithomorphic styles, and are dated to the 6th century BCE. The Maoqinggou culture is sometimes considered as a "Scythian culture". This Scythian culture disappeared in the 3rd-2nd centuries BCE with the onset of the

. It is thought that the early people of Maoqinggou were directly related to the nomadic cultures of the Northern Zone. Their culture expanded tremendously, and in the northeast replaced earlier cultures such as the

Upper Xiajiadian The Upper Xiajiadian culture () ( 1000–600 BCE) was a Bronze Age archaeological culture in Northeast China derived from the Eurasian steppe bronze tradition. It is associated with the Donghu (loosly translated as "Eastern Barbarians") of Ch ...

References

{{Neolithic cultures of China Bronze Age Asia Archaeology of Mongolia Archaeological cultures of China