CULTURAL VICISSITUDES AND EDGE EFFECTS -- THE DISCOVERIES AND STUDIES ON SOME NEOLITHIC CULTURES TO THE NORTH OF THE XILIAO RIVER VALLEY

by

Zhu Yonggang
 

For a long time, the area to the north of the watershed of the Xiliao River has been seen as a part of the archaeological cultural zone of western Liaoning; however, some types of the archaeological cultures found in this area, such as the Xiliang, Fuhe, Hamin and Nan Baoligaotu Types, have strong local features and show the diverging trends from the archaeological cultures in the central areas. This paper arranged the Neolithic cultures in the western Liaoning into two sequences: the first is the main cultural sequence represented by the Xinglongwa Culture--Zhaobaogou Culture--Hongshan Culture--Xiaoheyan Culture, the developing process of which can be interpreted as the succeeding of the previous culture by the latter one; the second is the “non-main cultural sequence” represented by the Xiliang Type--Fuhe Culture--Hamin Culture--Nan Baoligaotu Type, the cultural connotations of which are diversified but lacking chronological interrelationships, making them difficult to be assigned into the main cultural sequence. If we see the main cultural sequence as the core of the archaeological cultures in the western Liaoning, then the cultures belonging to the “non-main cultural sequence” are located on the periphery of the area of the main cultural sequence and showing the “centrifugal movement” of diverging from the central area of this cultural system, which is more obvious in the late Neolithic Age. We can see from the diversity of the decorative patterns of the pottery wares that the cultural changes in this zone were related to the infiltration of the cultures belonging to different systems from the north, the process of which might be fluctuant and gradual. Another unignorable reason is the differences of the natural environments and economic patterns; in some sense, the selections of the fisher-hunters and gatherers were also deeply influencing the development processes of the cultures in this area. 
 

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES ON THE PORCELAIN WARES UNEARTHED FROM THE BURIALS OF THE HAN DYNASTY IN THE MIDDLE REACHES OF THE YANGTZE RIVER

by

Wu Xiaoping    Jiang Lu
 

The porcelain wares unearthed from the burials of the Han Dynasty in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River mainly included the types of ding-tripod, pou-urn, pot, jars without lugs, double-lugged jars, four-lugged jars, bowls, ou-bowls, yu-basins, washing basins and double-rimmed jars, which belonged to the cultural elements of the Lingnan region (the area to the south of the Five Ridges), the lower reach of the Yangtze River and the local-style. The categories belonging to the Lingnan cultural system are ding-tripods of Type A, pot of Types Ab, Ad and Bc, jars without lugs, double-lugged jars of Type B, four-lugged jars of Types Ab and Ba, ou-bowls of Type Ab and yu-basins of Types A and B. The diffusion of the porcelain wares of the Lingnan cultural system into the middle reach of the Yangtze River began at the mid Western Han Dynasty and was flourishing in the late Western Han through the early Eastern Han Dynasty and declined in the mid to the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The categories belonging to the lower reach of the Yangtze River cultural system are pou-urns and pots of Type Ba. The diffusion of the porcelain wares of the lower reach of the Yangtze River into the middle reach of the Yangtze River roughly began at the mid Western Han Dynasty and was flourishing in the late Western Han but rapidly declined soon after the early Eastern Han Dynasty. The porcelain wares of the local features are mainly the ding-tripods of Type B, pots of AA, AC, BBb and BBc, double-lugged jars of Type A, four-lugged jars of Types Aa, Ac and Bb, bowls, ou-bowls of Type B, washing basins and double-rimmed jars. They appeared in the mid to the late Western Han Dynasty, but down to the early Eastern Han Dynasty they were still in the simulating stage, until to the mid and late Eastern Han Dynasty when the unique local porcelain assemblage consisting of the egg-shaped jars, washing basins, double-rimmed jars and bowls. These three cultural elements formed the distribution pattern of the porcelain wares of the Han Dynasty in the middle reach of the Yangtze River, but this pattern was not unalterable but had obvious changes: in the mid Western Han, the cultural elements of the Lingnan region and lower reach of the Yangtze River began to enter; in the late Western Han through the early Eastern Han, the cultural elements of the lower reach of the Yangtze River almost ruled the entire middle reach of the Yangtze River and that of the Lingnan region were limited in the southern Hunan adjacent to it; in the mid and late Eastern Han, the cultural elements of the lower reach of the Yangtze River disappeared, that of the Lingnan region were still existing in the corner of southern Hunan and the local cultural elements took the governing position. The development of the porcelains in the middle reach of the Yangtze River changed the old prevailing position of the cultural elements of the Lingnan region and the lower reach of the Yangtze River and laid the foundation for the porcelain industry of Hunan and Jiangxi in the Six-Dynasties and finally formed the tripartite pattern of the porcelain industries of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Lingnan region. 
 

THE EXAMINATIONS ON SOME ISSUES ABOUT THE WHITE CRANE RIDGE INSCRIPTIONS IN FULING

by

Sun Hua
 

The White Crane Ridge Inscriptions is rare cultural heritage with scientific values, but the previous data collection on the basic information of this cultural heritage was not accurate. The extant White Crane Ridge Inscriptions consist of 175 textual inscriptions and 13 sets of stone fish including 18 heads, the characters of all of which are fewer than 12,000; the earliest inscription is dated as the second year of Guangde Era (764 AD) of the Tang Dynasty rather than the first year of that era; the inscription recording the lowest water level was that of the first year if Jiaqing Era (1796) of the Qing Dynasty rather than that of the tenth year of Shaoxing Era (1140) of the Song Dynasty; many dating estimations and content interpretations had errors to be corrected; the past understandings to the data of the low water levels in the historic periods reflected by the White Crane Ridge Inscriptions also had many mistakes, which need to be reconsidered and calculated. 

 

THE EXCAVATION OF THE SITES OF THE SHANG AND ZHOU DYNASTIES AT BOLUO VILLAGE IN PIXIAN COUNTY, CHENGDU

by

Chengdu Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

The Wang-cong Memorial Temple Museum, Pixian County
 

The Boluo Village Site in Pixian County covering areas over 30 ha is an important site of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties in Chengdu Plain. In 2009 through 2012, archaeological excavations have been conducted at four localities of this site in four terms. This report contains the excavation results of the localities of Metallurgical Living Base, Wang-cong Park Settlement and Kuanjin, and the status of the remains of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. The excavations uncovered areas of 3400 sq m in total, from which 290 ash pits, 17 ash ditches, 26 burials and two kilns were recovered and large amounts of pottery wares and some jade and stone implements were unearthed, about 200 pieces of pottery wares of which were restorable. The pottery wares were mainly jars with small flat bottom, jars with flaring mouth, jars with contracted mouth, vats, basins, dou-stemmed bowls, vessel lids and pointed-bottomed vessels; the stone implements were all polished small tools, including adzes, chisels, stone and jade bars, grindstones, etc. belonging to the Shi'erqiao Culture system. By the difference of the artifact assemblages, this report divided the excavated remains into the early and late phases, the early phase of which corresponded to the late Shang Dynasty and the late phase corresponded to the early Western Zhou Dynasty. The site had complete settlement functions, which could be divided into the residential zone, pottery workshop zone and burial zone. The site had large size, rich remains and plentiful artifacts, and, moreover, yielded a set of exquisite non-practical pottery wares, such as deep-bellied jars, basins of Types D and E, pots of Types D and E, lids of Type G, etc.; the burials had jade and stone bars as grave goods. All of these phenomena showed that this site was different from the common sites of the same period and would be a large-sized settlement with some special status. The discovery and excavation of this site are significantly meaningful for the in-depth researches on the periodization, settlement functions and settlement ranks of the Shi'erqiao Culture. 
 

THE EXCAVATION OF THE SITE OF THE ZHOU DYNASTY AT DAIJIAYUAN IN HUOSHAN COUNTY, ANHUI

by

Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

Commission for Preservation of Ancient Monuments, Huoshan County
 

In 2005, Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and other institutions conducted excavation to the Daijiayuan Site of the Zhou Dynasty in Huoshan County, which was located in the northeast of Dabie Mountains. The excavation uncovered areas of 700 sq m in total, from which one sacrificial altar, three house foundations, one red burnt clay remain, one stone heap, five wooden pile remains, four wooden heaps, one rammed-earth site, large amount of postholes and some ash pits were recovered, and earthquake traces were also found. Of these remains, the sacrificial altar is the most important discovery of this excavation; it was in a round plan, 5.6 m long and 4.7 m wide, covering an area of 26.3 sq m at top, 8 m in diameter at bottom, and 1 m in height. The altar body was piled up with earth of various textures and colors in multiple times. F2 was a large-sized row house foundation in an arc-shaped plan, the recovered section of which was 30 m long and 3 m wide containing six bays. The unearthed artifacts were pottery wares, stone implements, bronzes and wooden wares. The pottery wares were mostly sandy, the fine clay pottery wares were few and much fewer stamped hard pottery and proto-porcelain wares were also found. The pottery wares were mainly brown in color, followed by gray and black colors; the decorative patterns of the pottery wares were mostly cord marks, followed by attached repousse designs, chessboard designs, bowstring patterns, fingernail patterns, etc. The main types of the pottery wares were li-cauldrons, jars and basins, followed by dou-stemmed bowls, bowls, yan-steamers, gui-tureens and he-pitchers. The stone implements are few in quantity, the main types of which were knives, sickles, adzes, etc. The bronzes were also very few, the main types of which were adzes, chisels, knives, arrowheads, etc. The date of this site was from the late stage of the mid Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring-and-Autumn Period and could be divided into three phases. Its cultural feature was the aboriginal culture deeply influenced by the Zhou Culture, which might be in the cultural scope of the Shu ethnic group with the influences of the Wu State and the Baiyue (Hundred Yue tribes) to the south. The typological characteristics and the sectioning result of the sacrificial altar showed that this altar might be related to the “Yuanqiu (Circular Mound Altar)” recorded in the pre-Qin historic literatures and this site would be a typical sacrificial remain.