A Study Of Wucheng Culture

Wucheng Culture (吴城文化) is a regional bronze culture distributed in the north, northwest and central area of Jiangxi Province, located to the west of Poyang Lake in the middle and lower reaches of Ganjiang River in Shang period, which displays the features of Shang culture as well as the regional one. The excavation of Wucheng site in Zhangshu (樟树) county, where Shang (商) civilization of Jiangxi (江西) was discovered, established a chronological gauge for Shang archaeology in the south of Yangtze River. The exploration ofa Shang-Zhou (商周) mining and smelting site at Tongling (铜岭) Village in Ruichang(瑞昌) County and the Shang remains at Dayangzhou (大洋洲) in Xingan (新干) County open up a new page for the study of Shang civilization in Jiangxi. Lacking ancient documents before Han (汉) Dynasty, the rebuilding of Jiangxi history necessarily relies on archaeological data Wucheng Culture is a significant problem in the study of ancient Jiangxi civilization, and plays an important role in explorating the birth of this civilization. In addition, Wucheng Culture is the earliest-named archaeological culture in the middle reaches of Yangtze River and the only Shang civilization center in the north of China, the study on which could also deepen the research on the theory of Region, System and Typology of Shang bronze culture in this area Base on the study of past 30 years, according to the fundamental theories of stratigraphy and typology, the paper arranges more than 200 sites carefully, and makes a systematical study on periods and dates, types and connotations, and cultural natures of typical sites. Base on the typological study of 8 typical potteries such as Li (鬲),Dou(豆), Pen(盆), Zhe Jian Guan(折肩罐), Zhe Jian Wong(折肩瓮),Zhe Jian Zun (折肩尊) , pottery lid and Yan XingQi (甗形器) , and the analysis to cultural elements of every group, the author sums up their characteristics, and then through the survey of evolution traces of every kind of objects, searches the law and stage of the archaeological culture, the author amends the original threeperiods to four periods and five phases, and sets apart Wucheng Type and Shihuishan Type from that.As the main resources of residents' living, agriculture was the dominating economy in Wucheng Culture, and played a crucial part in the social structure. The agriculture technique in Wucheng Culture was quite advanced, especially in tool-making. Wucheng people invented a series of bronze tools such as Li, Lei, Si, Zhi and so on, which were adapted to paddy field working in the South. The earliest usage of bronze tools contributes a lot to the development of agriculture productivity, which provided adequate resources for poultry and livestock breeding, and made it an important supplement for agriculture.The development of agriculture and the accumulation of social fortune accelerated the work division and growth of handicraft industry. There appeared manifold industry branches such as ceramic industry, bronze industry, jade industry, bamboo and wood industry and textile industry. Especially, the bronze mining, smelting and casting techniques were most advanced and also the mainstay in industry field, and this was the mark of development to social productivity. Even in the early Shang period, Wucheng people discovered and began to mining the bronze mine at Tangling, RuichangCounty. They mastered advanced mining and smelting techniques. In that time, the stone model was used to make tools and weapons, while the pottery model was used to make containers and musical instruments. Their products had special formula, superb technique, delicate modeling and magnificent decorations, which could parallel Shang bronze wares. Advances were achieved in every ceramics, and the invention of stamped hard ware and proto-porcelain became the distinct mark of ceramics in that time, which enabled it possess the best artisans, techniques and most exquisite pottery. Their techniques and products were exported to neighbor areas and impacted on their development and progress constantly. The adva...