Hemudu culture
The Neolithic Hemudu culture ( Chinese 河姆渡 文化 ) existed from around 7000 BC. And had its heyday from about 5200 to 4500 BC. Other sources date the Hemudu culture to the period from around 5050 to 3350 BC. Chr.
Remains of this culture were found in 1973 in the eponymous village of Hemudu. A museum has existed there since May 1993, showing the most important finds from the excavations and dealing with the Hemudu culture. The museum also has an open-air area with replicas of characteristic buildings from the Hemudu culture. The site and the museum ( 29 ° 57 ′ 51.1 ″ N , 121 ° 20 ′ 39.8 ″ E ) are located in Yuyao County in the north of the Chinese province of Zhèjiāng , south of the Hangzhou Bay and 120 km south of today's Shanghai . Other sites are Fujiashan in the Jiangbei District of Ningbo City , as well as in Tianluoshan and on the Zhoushan Islands. The Zhejiang Provincial Museum is also home to essential holdings of the Hemudu culture .
The Hemudu culture was among other things one of the first cultures to cultivate wet rice , extract and process lacquer and raise silkworms . In addition, one of the oldest finds of cooked rice comes from there. Besides the cultivation of rice cultivation, the economy of the people of the Hemudu culture was based on the breeding of water buffalo, pigs and dogs. Fishing, hunting and gathering completed the menu.
Many objects were made from bones - e.g. B. from the shoulder blades of animals. Bird bone flutes found in Hemudu resemble today's Dizi bamboo flutes. In addition, they produced polished ceramics decorated with geometric patterns and made lacquered bowls and wooden bowls. In addition, ivory was processed and decorated with representations of phoenixes. In contrast to the brown vessels of the Majiabang culture (4750–3700 BC), the clay vessels were typically colored black. The Hemudu culture coexisted with this for around 1000 years, during which a cultural exchange took place. However, both cultures remained different from each other.
Wooden houses were planned and built on piles by the water. Rectangular wells lined with wood were also known. Oars and remains of mud ships were also discovered. Probably due to floods and changes in the bed of the Yaojiang River, possibly also due to salinisation of the soil, the bearers of the Hemudu culture migrated.
The Hemudu site has been on the list of monuments of the People's Republic of China since 1982 .
See also
literature
- Kwang-chih Chang: The Archeology of Ancient China. 4th, edition, revised and enlarged. Yale University Press, New Haven CT et al. 1986, ISBN 0-300-03784-8 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Sun Guoping: A companion to Chinese archeology . Ed .: Anne P. Underhill. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, West Sussex; Malden (Mass.) 2013, ISBN 978-1-4443-3529-3 , pp. 640 p .