The Study On Burials Of Dawenkou Culture

This paper takes Dawenkou Culture burials as the research object.It is expected that through systematic and comprehensive analysis,the characteristics of various aspects of burial materials will be clarified,the social content reflected by burials will be revealed,and a number of research paths from burials to social cognition will be explored.The paper firstly investigates the geographical background and the period of burials.The period of the Dawenkou Culture existing could be divided into four phases which been severally addressed as phase I,phase II,phase III and phase IV in the paper.Each phase could be divided into two stages which been addressed as the first stage and the last stage.After establishing the time frame of burials,this paper made a detailed analysis of the age and gender of the deceased,burial style,tomb chamber,burial tools,burial goods and cemetery layout,and makes a detailed study on the social conditions reflected by these information.In the research of the age structure and life span of the adult,two objective types of the age structure of adults are found.One type called "high type" presents as that the proportion of the middle-aged in adults is heaviest,the proportion of the matures is secondary and the elderly appeared frequently;the other type called "low type" presents as that the proportion of the matures in adults is heaviest,the proportion of the middle-aged is secondary and the elderly appeared barely.The "high type" is found generally in the phase I-II,The "low type" is found generally in the phase III.The direct cause leading to the "low type" was the diachronic decline,which appeared generally in the phase I-II,of the adults' life span.In the phase IV,owing to the diachronic rising of the adults' life span occurring in the phase III-IV,"high type" is found again in a number of settlements.In the observation of the gender structure,the imbalance in the number of males and females is found in almost every group of burials.The differences of the bones preserved condition between male and female and the division between males and females in the cemetery,were two causes leading to the imbalance.In the analysis of the distribution of the male and female in the cemetery,the division between males and females in the cemetery has been further confirmed.Through the research of burial style,I hold the opinion that the burial-without migrating was the mainstream manner,the burial-with migrating happened only referring to a few specific people or in a few specific scenarios.Wanting to get rid of the disaster and migration were the main ways leading to burial-with migrating.In a few scenarios,the burial-with migrating happened In order to get the kinsfolk who died different times together.Through the research of multi-burials,I hold the opinion that multi-burials have the function reflecting the forms of the kinships and Production units,and it is reasonable to explain the relationship between the deceased of one multi-burial with the framework of kinship.The characteristics of the deceased of the multi-burials indicate that the common form of the kinships and Production units included at least two couples of the same generation in the societies located in the center of the Shandong province of the phase I and in the north of the Shandong province of the phase I-II,and the common form of the kinships and Production units included only one couple of the same generation in the societies located in the south of the Shandong provinces and the north of the Jiangsu province of the phase I-IV,and the societies located in the center of the Shandong province of the phase II-IV and in the north of the Shandong province of the phase III-IV.In the analysis of funerary materials,I found there was a difference of the funerary condition of production tools relating to the Fishing and hunting economy between the society located in the center of the Shandong province of the phase I and the society located in the north of the Jiangsu province of the phase I-II,and a change between the phase I and phase II in the society located in the center of the Shandong province.About these phenomena,this paper argues that in the society located in the center of the Shandong province of the phase I,the proportion of the Fishing and hunting in Living economy was heavier than which in the society located in the north of the Jiangsu province of the phase I-II and the society located in the center of the Shandong province of the phase II.The heavier proportion of the Fishing and hunting in Living economy brought about the larger scale of production units in the society located in the center of the Shandong province of the phase I.The decline of the proportion of the Fishing and hunting in Living economy impelled the miniaturization of the production units in the center of the Shandong province.