Longshan culture

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Neolithic cultures of China
Mesolithic
Neolithic
Shangshan culture 11000-9000 cal BP
Zaoshi culture of the lower class 7500-7000 BC Chr.
Pengtoushan culture 7500-6100 BC Chr.
Gaomiao culture 7400-7100 BC Chr.
Zhaobaogou culture 7000-6400 BC Chr.
Hemudu culture 7000-4500 BC BC / 5000–3300 BC Chr.
Houli culture 6250-5850 BC Chr.
Xinglongwa culture 6200-5400 BC Chr.
Laoguantai culture also Dadiwan-I culture 6000-5000 BC BC / 6000-3000 BC Chr.
Dadiwan culture 5800-3000 BC Chr.
Chengbeixi culture 5800-4700 BC Chr.
Peiligang culture 5600-4900 BC Chr.
Xinle culture 5500-4800 BC Chr.
Cishan culture 5400-5100 BC Chr.
Beixin culture 5400-4400 BC Chr.
Qingliangang culture 5400-4400 BC Chr.
Tangjiagang culture 5050-4450 BC Chr.
Baiyangcun culture 5000-3700 BC Chr.
Yangshao culture also Miaodigou-I culture 5000-2000 BC Chr.
Yingpanshan culture 5000 –... v. Chr.
Caiyuan culture 4800-3900 BC Chr.
Majiabang culture 4750-3700 BC Chr.
Hongshan culture 4700-2900 BC Chr.
Daxi culture 4400-3300 BC Chr.
Dawenkou culture 4100-2600 BC Chr.
Beiyinyangying culture 4000-3000 BC Chr.
Songze culture 3900-3200 BC Chr.
Miaozigou culture 3500-3000 BC Chr.
Liangzhu culture 3400-2000 BC Chr.
Longshan culture also Miaodigou II culture 3200-1850 BC Chr.
Shanbei culture 3050-2550 BC Chr.
Majiayao culture 3000-2000 BC Chr.
Xiaoheyan culture 3000-2000 BC Chr.
Tanshishan culture 3000-2000 BC Chr.
Shixia culture 2900-2700 BC Chr.
Qujialing culture 2750-2650 BC Chr.
Shijiahe culture 2600-2000 BC Chr.
Banshan Machang culture 2500-2000 BC Chr.
Baodun culture 2500-1700 BC Chr.
Keshengzhuang II culture 2300-2000 BC Chr.
Zhukaigou culture ...– 1500 BC Chr.
Qijia culture 2000 –... v. Chr.
Qugong culture v. Chr.
Shangzhai culture v. Chr.
Xinkailiu culture v. Chr.
Youziling culture v. Chr.
Kuahuqiao culture v. Chr.
Lijiacun culture v. Chr.
Pianbaozi culture v. Chr.
Banpo culture v. Chr.
Shijia culture v. Chr.
Miaodigou culture v. Chr.
Xiwangcun culture v. Chr.
Qinwangzhai culture v. Chr.
Hougang culture v. Chr.
Dasikongcun culture v. Chr.
Xiawanggang culture v. Chr.
Changguogou culture v. Chr.
Copper Age
Eggshell ceramic

The Longshan culture ( Chinese  龍山 文化  /  龙山 文化 , Pinyin Lóngshān wénhuà ) was a late Neolithic culture on the middle and lower Yellow River in China . It was named after the Longshan landscape (ie "Dragon Mountains", "Dragon Mountain") in Shandong Province , where the first discoveries of this culture were made in 1929. Depending on the source, it is dated to around 3200 BC. BC to 1850 BC Dated.

The Longshan culture with its black ceramics superimposed the Yangshao culture (that is, the culture of painted pottery, 5000-2000 BC) at least in Henan Province . In other areas, however, both cultures could have coexisted.

Longshan is characterized by a special type of ceramic . It has a glossy black or gray surface, little decoration and is sometimes as thin-walled as an eggshell.

Initially (around 3000 BC), gray goods were used with string, mat or notch decoration, often black paint on a red background. Then this fine, hard, thin-walled and shiny black ceramic spread, for which black, i.e. iron-rich clay was used, the hallmark of Longshan. It is only found frequently in Shandong , which means that elsewhere at the same time a coarser and differently colored ceramic was predominant. The black pottery was followed by the gray pottery very similar to that of Longshan, with thin walls and other decorations, found in Xiaodun ( Shanxi ) and immediately afterwards the Bronze Age.

Longshan ceramics were the first in China to be made using a potter's wheel . There is no reference to pottery wheels in the earlier Yangshao ceramics.

In addition to other shapes, there are also vessels with three legs, the appearance of which was then imitated in the Bronze Age (= ding ).

During the Longshan culture, villages with walls made of rammed earth (hang-t'u) were built as permanent dwellings on heights along the rivers. For this purpose, the clay was tamped in layers in a casing. From such villages several power centers of the Shang period developed . In contrast, the Yangshao village was only temporarily used and unpaved. Pigs, sheep and cattle were kept, but not horses. The cultivation of rice became common at this time.

The Longshan culture was patriarchal . This can be seen from the arrangement of the skeletons in the graves in which the woman was assigned to the man. In contrast, the earlier Yangshao culture (5000–2000 BC) was apparently still matriarchal.

There are also pieces of jewelry made of jade . So there was an upper class that developed during the Longshan period and whose existence is also reflected in the graves.

Another characteristic of the Longshan culture is the appearance of the bone oracle (scapulomancy), for which bones were drilled and glowing pieces of wood stuck into them to reveal the cracks.

The Chinese Neolithic population peaked during the Longshan culture. Towards the end there was then a strong decline, as evidenced by a decrease in high-quality black pottery at ritual funerals.

Chinese archaeologists usually differentiate between the Longshan cultures: Longshan culture from Shandong, Longshan culture of the second period of Miaodigou culture, Longshan culture from Henan, Longshan culture from Shanxi and Longshan culture from Taosi . It is more broadly divided into the Longshan culture in Shandong and a central Chinese Longshan culture.

A series of local migrations brought the Longshan culture to the central reaches of the Yangtze, on the south China coast and early, that is, around 2500 BC. Until Taiwan .

The Longshan culture is a direct ancestor of the Shang culture , the first "Chinese" culture. The beginning of the Bronze Age (approx. 2000 BC in Gansu ) then marked around 1800 BC. Their end.

literature

  • Li Liu: The Chinese Neolithic. Trajectories to early States (= New Studies in Archeology ). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2004, ISBN 0-521-81184-8 .
  • Zhongguo da baike quanshu: Kaoguxue [Great Chinese Encyclopedia, Volume: Archeology], Beijing: Zhongguo da baike quanshu, 1986 ( online text )

See also

Web links