Research On The Cultural Settlements,Economic And Social Patterns Of Lower Xianjiadian Culture

Lower Xiajiadian culture is named after the discovery and excavation of the site of Xiajiadian in Chifeng,Inner Mongolia.It is an early Bronze Culture in Northeast China.The critical expansion and development period of lower Xiajiadian culture can date back between BC2,000 to BC1,400,equivalent to the period between the Xia and the Early Shang Period.The second chapter of this research analyzes the grades of lower Xiajiadian culture sites,and divides these settlements into seven grades according to their area.On this basis,the settlements are further divided into social organization units of six stages in combination of the distribution of sites:super-huge central settlements,large-sized central settlements,medium-sized central settlements and small-sized central settlements,large-and small-sized peripheral settlements.From these settlement distributions,basically,lowgrade settlements are distributed around high-grade settlements.Such distribution patterns of settlements show the strata of social structure.Compared with other archaeological culture before the Iron Age in the area West of the Liao River,the settlements,economic and social development level of lower Xiajiadian culture reached an unprecedented height.The main reason is the dramatic increase in population,causing a rapid growth in the number of settlements as well.Among 5,262 sites of the settlements of low Xiajiadian culture,there are many low-grade settlements and only a few high-grade settlements,presenting a pyramidal structure.The distribution of the fifth-,sixth-and seventh-grade settlements is the widest,little restricted by landform.These low-grade settlements are the foundation of the entire society of lower Xiajiadian culture,meanwhile,they present centripetal distribution around high-grade settlements.With the development of production technologies and the increase in surplus production,there also came changes and development in the society of lower Xiajiadian culture.Problems on the distribution of surplus cropped up,and competition formed between settlements,resulting in the appearance of rulers or power-holders who controlled social contradictions.These phenomena thatappeared in the course of social development were necessary conditions for a complex society.Through analysis in this paper,clear distinctions in terms of class and status can be found in the settlements and burials of lower Xiajiadian culture,there were also division of labor in many aspects,and females and males even had different social statuses.The power-holders of its society controlled the residents,distributed surplus products and there was a certain bond between the power-holders of different regions,making the society of lower Xiajiadian culture an organizational entity with vertical hierarchical differences.On the basis of inheriting the local cultural elements,lower Xiajiadian culture integrated external elements such as stone buildings and tripod pottery in forming a culture with unique characteristics.External elements played a relatively major role in these processes.The author believes that,during the time when newly introduced cultural elements reached Xiajiadian,populations from the outside had a relatively high social status in the society of lower Xiajiadian culture,or rulers in the society put them in an important position.As a result,it was relatively easy for the newly introduced cultural elements to the spread in the entire society of lower Xiajiadian culture.In terms of the formation of the country of lower Xiajiadian culture,although metropolises with diversified functional areas haven't been excavated within the scope of the distribution of Lower Culture in Xiajiadian,the distribution of these city sites is very dense,forming a settlement group with systematic network.When settlements with different functional areas communicate,exchange and interact with each other closely,they can play the role next to a metropolis.At that time,a large number of labors were needed to build city walls made of stone or clay.Such construction projects could only be completed with enforced power.Buildings similar in form appeared in the area of lower Xiajiadian culture widely,showing the influence of enforced power on various places.These labors were just like the replicated shells discovered in Dadianzi Cemetery,providing indirect evidence of the existence of original tax system in the society of this culture.It has been equipped with the basic condition of forming countries in their early stage.Lower Xiajiadian culture was an early-stage Bronze culture formed by absorbing the elements of archaeological culture in the surrounding area on thebasis of the traditional cultural elements of the area west of Liao River.In the archaeological cultures of Northeastern region during the same period,the culture of Xiajiadian was not only the first to enter the Bronze Age,but also a branch with the highest development level.Lower Xiajiadian culture played an outstanding leading role in the formation and development of early Bronze culture in Northeastern Region and had a strong impact on Central Plains and the area east to Yiwulv Mountain.