Neolithic China
Where and when did civilization arise in China? Earlier this century, archaeologists theorized that the Central Plains area around the Yellow River valley was the single birthplace of Chinese civilization. But with later finds, first of a group of cultures on the east coast, and then of more and more regional groups, the theory of a single birthplace became untenable. Scholars today speak of several "interaction spheres" that were responsible for the development of what is now called China.
A continuous sequence of socioeconomic development, increasing specialization and increasing complexity, began during the Early Neolithic in the Huanghe [Yellow River] drainage basin. Agriculture facilitated these developments. Early Neolithic cultures in North China include Xinglongwa in the north, Peiligang in the central Huanghe basin, Laoguantai in the west (6000-5000 B.C.), and Houli-Beixin (6000?-4300 BC) to the east in Shandong province. Technology in all of these cultures includes pottery and a variety of stone tools, including manos and metates. The first records of millets and domesticated animals in North China are from these cultures.
Archaeologists have recorded the material remains of a number of distinct regional cultures from c. 6000-5000 BC. These Neolithic cultures developed following the introduction of agriculture, the earliest traces of which date as far back as 8000 BC. Agriculture -- the cultivation of certain plants and the domestication of animals -- meant a shift from hunting and gathering to a more settled lifestyle. These changes brought new kinds of social organization, which, in turn, influenced material culture. Settlements were capable of accumulating surpluses that had to be stored and allocated. Labor was divided, first at the household level, then more broadly within the community. The resultant specialization led to the development of new or improved methods in pottery production, stone working, and other technologies.
By c. 4000 BC, the archaeological record shows more indications of cross-cultural contacts and influences. Knowledge was shared -- but, with increased contact, defense also became more important, and eventually many communities were walled for protection. Building these defenses required greater coordination of resources and labor, which, in turn, contributed to social stratification. Toward the end of this period, there is clear evidence of a hierarchy in the marked contrast between the lavish burials of a few individuals and the majority of graves at any given site. A ruling group had emerged, and with it came the beginnings of dynasties. Initially this ruling group appears to have been a theocracy; by the Bronze Age it would give way to a military elite, headed by a series of kings whose right to rule was based on ancestral lineage.
The Middle Neolithic of the Huanghe basin is represented by the Yangshao culture (5000-2800 B.C.), perhaps best known from the excavations at the Banpo site in the late 1950s. Its contemporaries include the Dawenkou culture (4300-2600 BC) in Shandong province. Middle Neolithic people in the region raised domesticated animals and grew crops such as foxtail millet, broomcorn millet, and possibly hemp (Cannabis sativa) and canola (rapeseed, Brassica rapa). Sites appear to have been occupied for centuries if not longer, although there is some debate regarding whether sites were moved regularly as a result of a shifting agriculture system.
The Late Prehistoric times (at the end of the Neolithic period in China) saw encampments or ancient villages of the Hongshan, Yangshao, Liangzhu, and Taosi Longshan cultures. The vast majority of finds at these sites are pottery vessels and, to a lesser extent, tools and other objects made of jade, bone, and stone. No texts, and only a few undecipherable -- and tantalizing -- marks on some objects, survive from the Late Prehistoric period. It is not possible to be sure exactly how any of these objects functioned outside the funerary context and can only speculate about the marks' meaning.
The Late Neolithic in the region is synonymous with the Longshan culture, with its seven regional variants. Longshan is important because of the nascent characteristics that link it to the subsequent dynastic eras of the Xia, Shang, and Western Zhou. The complexity evident in the Late Longshan continues to develop in subsequent periods.
Population density, intensified intergroup conflict, and social stratification all increased during the Longshan in the Huanghe basin. The Late Longshan marked a significant increase in the number of sites compared with the preceding Early Longshan, when there was a significant drop in settlement numbers, perhaps representing a local depopulation. Hierarchically organized societies were well established by this time. Agricultural intensification evidenced by expansion of anthropogenic habitats and higher densities of crops correlates with these developments. Broad interregional interaction such as trade in the Yiluo region is evidenced for the first time.
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