PeiligangCulture-RedPotWithTwoEars-ShanghaiMuseum-May27-08

The Peiligang culture was a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

culture in the Yi-Luo river basin (in modern

Henan Province Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Luo ...

, China) that existed from about 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,

Zhengzhou Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan, China. Located in northern Henan, it is one of the nine National central city, national central cities in China, and serves as the political, economic, technological, and educational center of the province. Th ...

, north-central Henan province. Archaeologists believe that the Peiligang culture was

egalitarian Egalitarianism (; also equalitarianism) is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds on the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all h ...

, with little political organization. The culture practiced agriculture in the form of cultivating

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

and animal husbandry in the form of raising

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

s and possibly poultry. The people hunted

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

and wild boar, and fished for

carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...

in the nearby river, using nets made from

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...

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 raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

. 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 Jiahu () was the site of a Neolithic settlement based in the central plain of ancient China, near the Yellow River. It is located between the floodplains of the Ni River to the north, and the Sha River to the south, north of modern Wuyang in ...

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 a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

, 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

References

Bibliography

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

Peiligang culture

Jiahu

Gallery

See also

References

Bibliography