This is a list of Neolithic cultures of China that have been unearthed by archaeologists. They are sorted in chronological order from earliest to latest and are followed by a schematic visualization of these cultures.

It would seem that the definition of Neolithic in China is undergoing changes. The discovery in 2012 of pottery about 20,000 years BC indicates that this measure alone can no longer be used to define the period. It will fall to the more difficult task of determining when cereal domestication started.

List

Dates (BCE)English nameChinese nameModern-day name and location
18000–7000Xianren Cave culture (Paleolithic)仙人洞、吊桶环遗址Wannian County, Shangrao, Jiangxi
8500–7700Nanzhuangtou culture南莊頭遺址Yellow River region in southern Hebei
7500–6100Pengtoushan culture彭頭山文化central Yangtze region in northwestern Hunan
7000–5000Peiligang culture裴李崗文化Yi-Luo river basin valley in Henan
6500–5500Houli culture後李文化Shandong
6200–5400Xinglongwa culture興隆洼文化Inner Mongolia-Liaoning border
6000–5000Kuahuqiao culture跨湖桥文化Zhejiang
6000–5500Cishan culture磁山文化southern Hebei
5800–5400Dadiwan culture大地灣文化Gansu and western Shaanxi
5500–4800Xinle culture新樂文化lower Liao River on the Liaodong Peninsula
5500–3500Gaomiao culture高庙文化Yangtze River, Hunan
5400–4500Zhaobaogou culture趙宝溝文化Luan River valley in Inner Mongolia and northern Hebei
5300–4100Beixin culture北辛文化Shandong
5000–4500Hemudu culture河姆渡文化Yuyao and Zhoushan, Zhejiang
5000–3000Daxi culture大溪文化Three Gorges region
5000–3000Majiabang culture馬家浜文化Lake Tai area and north of Hangzhou Bay
5000–3000Yangshao culture仰韶文化Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi
4800–4300Tangjiagang culture汤家岗文化Hunan, Liyang Plain of the Lishui River
4700–2900Hongshan culture紅山文化Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, and Hebei
4100–2600Dawenkou culture大汶口文化Shandong, Anhui, Henan, and Jiangsu
3800–3300Songze culture崧澤文化Lake Tai area
3400–2250Liangzhu culture良渚文化Yangtze River Delta
3100–2700Majiayao culture馬家窯文化upper Yellow River region in Gansu and Qinghai
3100–2700Qujialing culture屈家嶺文化middle Yangtze region in Hubei and Hunan
3000–2000Longshan culture龍山文化central and lower Yellow River
2800–2000Baodun culture寶墩文化Chengdu Plain
2500–2000Shijiahe culture石家河文化middle Yangtze region in Hubei
1900–1500Yueshi culture岳石文化lower Yellow River region in Shandong
1600–1400Erligang culture二里崗文化North China Plain

Schematic outline

Map of the Chinese Neolithic

These cultures existed during the period from 8500 to 1500 BC. Neolithic cultures remain unmarked and Bronze Age cultures (from 2000 BC) are marked with *. There are many differences in opinion on the dating for these cultures, so the dates chosen here are tentative:

Year (BC)North-east China (1)Upper Yellow River (2)Middle Yellow River (3)Lower- Yellow River (4)Lower- Yangtze (5)Middle- Yangtze (6)Sichuan (7)Southeast China (8)South-west China (9)
8500Nanzhuangtou 8500–7700
8000
7500
7000Pengtoushan (including Chengbeixi and Zaoshi) 7000–5800
6500DadiwanPeiligangHouli 6500–5500Zengpiyan 7000–5500
Xinglongwa 6200–5400LaoguantaiCishan
Baijia 6500–5000Jiahu
6000Lijiacun 6500–5000Kuahuqiao 6000–5000
5500
Beixin 5300–4500
Xinle 5300–4800
5000Yangshao 5000–3000Hemudu 5000–3400Daxi 5000–3300Dapenkeng
Fuguodun 5000–3000
Majiabang 5000–4000
4500Zhaobaogou 4500–4000
Dawenkou 4300–2600Songze 4000–3000
4000
3500Qujialing 3500–2600
Hongshan (incl. Fuhe) 3400–2300Yingpanshan 3100–?
Majiayao 3300–2700Liangzhu 3200–1800
3000Tanishan
Banshan 2700–2400Shijiahe 2500–2000Baodun 2800–2000Shixia
Longshan 2800–2000Nianyuzhuan
2500Machang 2400–2000QinglongquanQinglongquan
Longshan 2400–2000Hedang 3000–?Baiyangcun 2200–2100
*Xiaoheyan 3000–2000*Qijia 2300–1800*Shimao 2300–1800
2000*Xiajiadian 2200–300Dalongtan 2100–2000
*Erlitou 1900–1500*Yueshi 1900–1500*Panlongcheng 1900-1400
*Siba 1950–1500*Maqiao 1800–1200Âu Việt 2000-257
1500*Erligang 1600–1400*Sanxingdui 1700–1150*Wucheng 1600-1200
*Wucheng 1400-1200
*Siwa 1350-650*Huanbei 1350-1300*Shi'erqiao 1200-800
1000*Zhou dynasty 1046–256*Dayangzhou 1200-?*Dayangzhou 1200-?
*Ordos 800-150
*Jinsha 800-200

For this schematic outline of its neolithic cultures China has been divided into the following nine parts:

  1. Northeast China: Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning.
  2. Northwest China (Upper Yellow River): Gansu, Qinghai and western part of Shaanxi.
  3. North-central China (Middle Yellow River): Shanxi, Hebei, western part of Henan and eastern part of Shaanxi.
  4. Eastern China (lower Yellow River): Shandong, Anhui, northern part of Jiangsu and eastern part Henan.
  5. East-south-eastern China (lower Yangtze): Zhejiang and biggest part of Jiangsu.
  6. South-central China (middle Yangtze): Hubei and northern part of Hunan.
  7. Sichuan and upper Yangtze.
  8. Southeast China: Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, southern part of Hunan, lower Red River in the northern part of Vietnam and the island of Taiwan.
  9. Southwest China: Yunnan and Guizhou.

See also

Further reading

  • Chang, Kwang-chih (1986). The archaeology of ancient China. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. ISBN0-300-03784-8.
  • Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L., eds. (1999). The Cambridge history of ancient China:from the origins of civilization to 221 B.C. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-47030-7.
  • He, Zhonghu; Bonjean, A.P.A. (2010). . International Maize and Wheat Improvement Organization (CIMMYT). ISBN978-970-648-177-1.
  • Higham, Charles (1996). The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Cambridge England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-49660-8.
  • Liu, Li (2004). The Chinese neolithic:trajectories to early states. Cambridge, UK New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-81184-8.
  • Liu, Li; Chen, Xingcan (eds). 2012. The archaeology of China: from the late paleolithic to the early bronze age. Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-64310-8
  • Underhill, Anne P (ed). 2013. A companion to Chinese archaeology. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN978-1-4443-3529-3
  • Maisels, Charles (1999). Early civilizations of the old world:the formative histories of Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, India, and China. London New York: Routledge. ISBN0-415-10976-0.
  • Scarre, Christopher (2005). . New York, N.Y: Thames & Hudson. ISBN0-500-28531-4.

chapter 7, Higham, Charles, 'East Asian Agriculture and Its Impact', p.234-264. chapter 15, Higham, Charles, 'Complex Societies of East and Southeast Asia', p.552-594

External links

  • Media related toNeolithic cultures of Chinaat Wikimedia Commons