The Comprehensive Research Of Majiabang Culture

Majiabang Culture,the archaeological culture which was named for the excavation of Majiabang site in Jiaxing,Zhejiang in1959,is the primary Neolithic cultures that have been known in the surrounding area of Tai Lake.Specialists praise it as the “the source of Jiangnan Culture ”.The continuous line which is comprised of Majiabang Culture,Songze Culture and Liangzhu Culture is a superb case about the exploration of prehistory society in the lower Yangtze Valley and the explication of origination,formation and development of civilization.With the increasing accumulation of archaeological materials and deep-going research,our understanding about Majiabang Culture also have been expanded and improved constantly.Basing on a large number of excavated materials of archaeological sites and research findings from previous students,I try to comprehensively study Majiabang Culture on the perspective of chronology of stage and distribution of typical implements,climatic features and geographical conditions,mode of existence and economic pattern,settlement pattern and the way of life,burial system and religious faith through the center on a series of archaeological sites of Majiabang Culture in the area of surroundings of Tai Lake.On the part of chronology of stage and distribution of typical implement.Study on the division of the stages of Majiabang Culture has not been reached an agreement until now.With the help of analysis of typical sites and evolution of typical potteries,I divide the sites of Majiabang Culture into two stage(early stage and later stage)and six phases,and observe other sites through the standard which I provide.In relative chronology,the vanish of these typical potteries such as Fu(an ancient cooking vessel)with raised or flat bottom and middle edge,conical Ding(an ancient cooking vessel)legs with two-eyes ornamentation,bovine nose-shaped vessel ears,rectangular grate and heteromorphous Gui(an ancient cooking vessel)with two pouch-like legs which are hollow can be considered to the end year of Majiabang Culture;For the absolute chronology,referring to the radiocarbon dating andthermohtminescence dating information,the time frame of Majiabang Culture is about 7000-5800 from now on.On spatial distribution,centering on the area of Tai Lake,it reflects on a large region which the east edge is to seaside,the west edge is nearly Central Anhui Plain and Ningzhen mountain range,the south edge is to Hangzhou Bay and Ningshao Plain,the north edge is to the area between Yangtze River and Huai River.On the typical division,Majiabang Culture can be divided into two types,Luojiajiao-Caoxieshan type and Luotuodun-qitoushan type,through comparing the regional difference between raised-bottom Fu and plat-bottom Fu.On the part of climatic feature and geographical condition.In the period of Majiabang Culture,the stage of warm and wet in the middle of Holocene warm period when it is the most habitable phase,this is subtropical warm humid climate.At that time,the environment is scattered with rivers,lakes,marsh,plain.Its precipitation is abundant and the water table is high;there are hills nearby which are large-acreage covered by mixed forests of deciduous broad-leaved forest,evergreen broad-leaved forest and coniferous which are of good condition of vegetation and abundant fruits;there are varies animal species,including hydrocole animals and terrestrial animals,large-seize animals and small-seize animals.The features of climate and environment above provide human favorable conditions to subsist and settle down,and are benefit of the birth of prehistorical civilization and the improvement of agricultural economics.The ancestors of Majiabang Culture partly get rid of controlling from the environment and are able to subjectively reform their living environment through adjusting behavior.On the mode of existence and economic pattern.The mode of social production can be divided into two sections:one is handicraft production,including making stone implements,potteries,bone implements,jades,wood implements,lacquerwares and basketwork;the other mode mainly includes gathering,fishing and hunting,raising livestock,rice agriculture.Some handicrafts which are used to satisfied their living needs,including double-sided drilling technology in making stone implements,mudstrip fabrication in making potteries,various kinds of bone implements,the progressiveness of wood implements and lacquerwares,the chic of jades,rib fabric which are decorate with zonal pattern,is all embodied in the mode of existence of Majiabang ancestors.At the very beginning of settlement,human life can not be satisfied with the previous mode,deponding on gathering,fishing and hunting economy.As a result,the economy of raising livestock and agriculture arises at the historic moment.Rice is the paramount crops which are planted by Majiabang ancestors.A series of sites and remains at that time,such as a amount of carbonated rice,the remains of wet rice fields,the planting structure with the co-existence of round-grained non-glutinous rice and non-glutinous rice and the system of irrigation serving wet rice fields,express that they have been settled and entered the phase of original agriculture which use Si(a bone implement)as the main tools.On the settlement pattern and the way of life.Majiabang culture have not been found large-scale and almost complete archaeological settlement sites.They always do not have the complete independence position.The earlier archaeological accumulation may be covered by later one,even including Songze Culture,Liangzhu Culture and other later culture that followed.Some sites themselves sometimes also have more than one stable settled phases.On the structure of settlement,these sites exist the phenomenon that one site is divided into different zone by function.At that time,the dwellings,both including stilt-style architectures which are adapt to high water level and surface structures which are built on the ridge and mound,are adaptable to the local condition.In terms of the living area,facilities and internal structures,the human living in Majiabang would have the average scales of families which would be not very large,public facilities and live a social life in groups.On the burial system and religious faith.The burials of Majiabang hold the burial system which combine with covering by soil on the ground or caving rectangle vertical grave in high esteem;It adopts the burial way in lean-down lyingand facing the north;Some burials containing same gender which are linked by blood can be found;They always put several burial objects which women's often more than men's in order within wooden coffin.There are many phenomenon can be seen like clan public cemetery,original altar,and custom of pulling tooth and putting potteries on face,even putting turtle deck in several buries.The polarization between the rich or the poor in these buries was not obvious,but with the emergence of distributing social production in unfair means,the sign of hierarchy can be found in the latter part of the Majiabang Culture.Religious faith is hidden in the artifacts such as pottery sculptures with the meaning of delight and norm of etiquette and carvings expressing the idea of simple esthetics of the ancients.On other sides of Majiabang Culture.It is still unknown that where is the source of Majiabang culture.From the cultural features and development level,however,Majiabang Culture shows the greatest abundance and pluralism which is enormous affected by the culture from north to south and extensively absorb outer culture,including Hemudu Culture,Daxi Culture,Beixin Culture,Beiyinyangying Culture,Yangshao Culture and other surrounding culture.At present,the culture,represented by flat-bottom Fu,locating in the northwest of Tai lake is much different with the culture which use surround-bottom Fu in the southeast but they belong to different types of Majiabang.Focusing on the period of transition from Majiabang to Songze,we can find that the early Songze culture has obviously transitional character.Look closely at the progress of civilization in the area of the Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River,we can discover a number of features of Majiabang,such as the inheritance of producing potteries,the materialization of making stone tools,the continuity of advocating jades,the innovation of farming technology,the increasing maturity of the system of offering sacrifaces to the ancients or gods and so on.Majiabang Culture,overall,provides a new coordinate for the fomation of the concept,culture as a whole,in the period of Neolithic in the Lower Reaches ofYangtzi River.The research is still a subject which is far from new.What the paper comprehensively research will provide some reference to whom plan to further explore Majiabang Culture,even the social form in the late Neolithic,...