A Study On The Neolithic Cultures In South Hunan And North Guangxi Area

Southern Hunan refers to the south of Hunan Province; northern Guangxi refers to the north of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. These two areas are closely linked and located in the central zone of the Nanling Mountains.It formed a unique area in the prehistoric culture. Among the mountains there are canyons, plains and slopes, and this unique geogrophic system has just become the natural channel between the south and north of Nanling Mountains. The region now is the important channel for the south and north of Nanling Mountains. Especially in the Neolithic Period when communication was very inconvenient the region was the significant tunnel to connect the north to south of Nanling Mountains, and the important way to spread the prehistoric culture of the Yangtze River basin to the Pearl River Delta. This paper takes use of the archaeological investigations of recent years and study achievements of other scholars to make systemic research on the Neolithic culture of this region.The paper is divided into six parts as follows:The first section:introduction. In this part, the region in question (the south of Hunan and north of Guangxi) is defined and study cause, significance, research method and review of the topic are also stated. In the second section geographic and ecological environment of the region are briefly introduced. According to different geologic landforms, the region is divided into south and north parts to be discussed farther below. In the third section the Neolithic cultures and periodization of the region are explained. Typical sites and the developmental sequence are disentangled. The relations between the Neolithic cultures in this region and their origin are discussed in forth section. It is found that the culture in the south part of the region in the paleolithic period was continued to the Neolithic period and that in the north part the culture was continued from later Neolithic period to Shang and Zhou periods after comparing the Neolithic culture to the paleolithic culture, the Neolithic culture to Shang and Zhou cultures. The fifth section:the relation to the Neolithic cultures of the surrounding regions, such as the north of Hunan, the middle and south parts of Guangxi and the Pearl River Delta. The relations and similarities are presented and the route of spreading human culture in the Neolithic period is discussed. In the sixth section it comes to the conclusion that the south of Hunan and north of Guangxi plays an important role in spreading the Neolithic culture in Dongting Lake to the south. Although the Neolithic culture of this region has its own feature, it plays an important role in connecting the culture of the Yangtze River basin to the Pearl River Delta in and after middle and later Neolithic period.