Research On The Archaeological Remains Of Longshan Period In Jinzhong Area

Jinzhong area in this paper which is not an administrative district, mainly refers to the central part of Shanxi Province which lies between the east of the Yellow River and the west of the Taihang Mountains, including Taiyuan Basin, Xinzhou Basin, Jindong Highlands and parts of Jinxi Plateau. No matter considering from the local perspective or from the cultural system of Li vessels with double handles in the district of north Shanxi, Shaanxi and Hebei province and mid-south of Inner Mongolia, archaeological remains of the Longshan period in Jinzhong area are regarded as a whole cultural features in academic research. Besides, it is thought a single and unified archaeological culture exists in this area during the Longshan period. However, the archaeological cultural features are not unified. Based on the current discoveries and previous researches, this paper carries out thorough discussion on the above issue after analyzing periodization of the remains of Longshan period, the pottery types and the culture characteristics in Jinzhong area.The paper is divided into five parts as follows:Chapter 1: PrefaceThis section defines the research subject of this paper. It also summarizes the current situations, existing problems and research purpose on the archaeological remains of the Longshan period in Jinzhong area.Chapter 2:Analysis of the archaeological remains of the Longshan period in Jinzhong areaAccording to its geographical features, Jinzhong area is divided into four sub-areas, Xinzhou Basin, Luliang Highlands, east and west Fenhe River in Taiyuan Basin. Stages studies have been done on the Longshan remains in those sub-areas by the way of typological study on typical artifacts, which clarify the cultural features of each sort of remains and their time corresponding relationship.Chapter 3: Discussion of the cultural nature of the Longshan remains in JinzhongFirstly, through the analysis of the remains yielded Li vessels with double handles represented by Xinghuacun StageⅣremains, this paper reached the point of view that the remains above mainly composed of Li, Jia, Yan, Zun and Weng. The remains are characterized by the Li vessels with side-attached double handles. Li vessels with single handle and with no handle are in a certain proportion. These remains have a strong style and characteristics of its own, which forms an independent archaeological culture——Xinghua Culture. By analyzing the remains yielded Li vessels with double handles represented by Youyao Site, it comes to the conclusion that leading factors of these remains are from Xinghua Culture, though many artifacts are from mid-south Inner Mongolia, for they have the same cultural natural.Then this section analyzes Baiyan stageⅢremains in Jinzhong Area. The pottery group can be divided into 5 groups. Group A: pot with small mouth and basket pattern, lid and Dou vessels, which is the inheritance and development of the local traditional culture. Group B: Composed of the lapelled pot, the tube-shaped pot, the mouth-weakened Weng, vat with plastic designs on the rim, the big-orifice Zun and the double-belly basin, all of which are the typical ceramics of Laohushan Culture. Group C: Fuzao and Jia,both of them are very common in MiaodigouⅡCulture and Taosi Culture, it shows the communication between Jinzhong and Jinnan. Group D:Li vessels with two handles. This ceramics proves the communication of Xinghua Culture and Baiyan stageⅢremains. Group D: Utensil Base. This is the new factor of Baiyan site. Group B and Group E hold a dominant position in Baiyan stageⅢremains, and they constitute Baiyan stageⅢremains'unique cultural features with the group A, group C and group D. Considering vast majority of Baiyan stageⅢremains are from Laohushan Culture, which has the same cultural nature with these remains, this paper recognizes Baiyan stageⅢremains as a local type of Laohushan Culture lacated in Jinzhong area. Chapter 4: ConclusionThis section summarizes the main points of this article, outlines the author's understanding on the archaeological remains of Longshan period in Jinzhong Area.