Archaeological sequence and genealogy

The Neolithic Age in China was a historical stage in which the clan commune system in primitive society went from its peak to its decline. It takes the emergence of agriculture and animal husbandry as an epoch-making symbol, which marks its leap from relying on nature's gathering and fishing economy to transforming nature's production economy. The appearance of grinding stone tools, ceramics and textiles is also the basic feature of this era (see prehistoric archaeology). Therefore, the Neolithic Age is a new starting point for the development of ancient economy and culture in the history of China. As far as we know, the Neolithic culture in China began around 6000 BC, and actually started even earlier. Generally, it lasted until around 2000, and it ended relatively late in some areas outside the Central Plains. There are Neolithic relics all over China, and their distribution range, cultural connotation, origin and age are different, and some of them also show great differences in production economy. Several Neolithic cultures produced one after another in a certain area often form their own development sequence. The Neolithic culture in China is constantly communicating, merging and dividing. At the same time, with the development of production, private ownership and class appeared in primitive society, and the history of China finally entered the class society. Neolithic culture in China is the source of ancient civilization in China. In particular, the Neolithic culture, with the Central Plains as the core, closely linked with the Shang and Zhou cultures in the late Bronze Age and closely interacting with the surrounding areas, is a concrete example of the continuous development of China's history.

A brief history of discovery and research

In ancient Chinese literature, there are legends that Xuanyuan, Shennong and Xushi He made tools with stones, and there are also records that Su Shen used stone crossbows and found "thunder axe" in past dynasties. But these fragments do not belong to the category of scientific archaeology. Since the 1920s, with the rise of modern archaeology in China, archaeological research in the Neolithic Age began to develop. However, until the founding of the People's Republic of China, only 200 or 300 Neolithic sites were found in China, and few were officially excavated.

192 1 year, An Tesheng, a Swedish geologist and archaeologist, excavated in Yangshao village, Mianchi, Henan Province, and found Yangshao culture, which was characterized by painted pottery and coexisted with ground stone tools, and was once called "painted pottery culture". Later, similar relics were found in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, which led to the investigation and study of Neolithic culture in the Yellow River basin. In 1925 archaeological records in Gansu, An Tesheng put forward a "six-level" staging system for Neolithic age and other primitive cultures discovered in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River at that time, including Qijia period, Yangshao period, Machang period, Xindian period, Siwa period and Shajing period from morning till night. 1926, Li Ji excavated Yangshao Cultural Site in Yin Xi Village, Xia County, Shaanxi Province, which was the first Neolithic site officially excavated by China scholars. On this basis, the prehistoric remains of Yin Xi Village (1927) and Neolithic pottery of Yin Xi Village in Shaanxi Province (1932) are representative works of this period.

Another important archaeological achievement in the Yellow River Basin is the Longshan cultural site discovered in Chengziya, Zhangqiu, Shandong Province in 1928. Characterized by thin black and shiny black pottery, it coexists with ground stone tools and was once called "black pottery culture". The Excavation Report of Chengziya (1934) is the first large-scale archaeological report published in China. 1936 the excavation of the ruins in Rizhao, Shandong province has deepened the understanding of Longshan culture. In addition to Shandong, some similar relics have been found in Henan, Anhui, Zhejiang, Liaoning and other provinces. At that time, Longshan culture and Yangshao culture were thought to be two opposing cultures. 193 1 year, Liang Siyong discovered the "three layers" of Shang Dynasty, Longshan and Yangshao in Hougang, Anyang, Henan Province, and made clear for the first time the two Neolithic cultures in the Central Plains and their relative ages with historical remains, and further proposed that there was an inheritance relationship between Longshan culture and Shang culture such as Hougang.

In addition, in the vast areas from northeast China, Inner Mongolia to Xinjiang, some places characterized by microliths accompanied by labyrinth or other types of pottery fragments have been found, which was once called "microlithic culture". In some sites near the Great Wall, many ground stone tools and painted pottery were also found, indicating that they had exchanges and integration with the Neolithic culture in the Yellow River basin, which was once called "the mixed culture of microliths and painted pottery". /kloc-since 0/932, many sites with the characteristics of geometric imprint pottery have been found in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan Province and other provinces along the southeast coast, often accompanied by ground stone tools such as shoulder stone axes or segmented stones, which were customarily called "geometric imprint pottery culture" at that time and were all regarded as the remains of the late Neolithic age.

On the basis of the above archaeological findings, many scholars in our country have made a comprehensive study, and some of them have begun to revise An Tesheng's "Six Phases" theory with concrete facts. However, due to the limitation of archaeological data, the basic outline of the Neolithic Age in China was not clear at that time, and the nature of some cultures was still very vague. Regional gaps and missing links of the times were everywhere, and the discovery and research were quite weak.

After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), large-scale archaeological investigations and excavations were carried out in an organized and planned way. According to incomplete statistics, more than 7,000 Neolithic sites have been discovered in China, of which about 400 have been excavated. After years of continuous work, some sites have exposed an area of more than 1 10,000 square meters, and some cemeteries have excavated more than a thousand tombs. The Xi Banpo site in Shaanxi and Jiangzhai site in Lintong partially or completely reveal the settlement layout of Yangshao culture, providing vivid and concrete physical evidence for understanding human life and social form at that time. In Banpo, the earliest representative large-scale ruins museum in China was built.