Research On Longshan Culture In Anhui Huai River Basin

As a result of its zone bit, the prehistoric archaeological culture of Huai River basin was often classified into the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, or was regarded as the transitional zone of the two. Following the development of archaeological work and deepening of relevant research, the independence and uniqueness of archaeological culture in Huai River basin has gained more and more attention and recognition. Longshan culture of Anhui Huai River basin is the weakness of the prehistoric archaeological culture of Huai River basin.In longshan period, the geographical condition of Anhui Huai River basin was similar with its current looks. Huaibei plain located on the north side, on the south were hills and mountains. Lakes and lowlands stood between the Honghe Mouth and Zhengyang Gate, which were surrounded by highlands in the south and north. Many tributaries flowed into Huaihe trunk stream from the front and back. Average temperature of longshan period was little higher than today, but climatic fluctuations were pretty frequent. Climatic fluctuations were proved in environmental archaeology studies, which were operated on Yuhuicun and other sites. Rainfall is the most sensitive to climate change. The prehistoric people needed to adjust their way of life in response to the precipitation change. Living high and close to water were two basic principles when longshan residents of Anhui Huai River basin selected their settlements.By studying these sites and referring to the chronological system of Haidai longshan culture, we divided mengcheng, yuhuicun, luchengzi, yuchisi, xigucheng and other sites into different periods. Date of each period was studied as well. Not all these longshan remains belong to a single culture, luchengzi belong to yinjiacheng type, yuchisi can falls into wangyoufang type. Remains in mengcheng and remaining sites are exceedingly rare, they may stand for a new culture type, which can be temporarily called as "wanhuai type". Typical artifacts of "wanhuai type" include ding, fold-rim and flat-rim big bottom pot, shallow belly basin, fold-rim basin, long neck bottle, bowl-shaped cover and cylinder-shaped cover, etc. "Wanhuai type" can be divided into seven periods, the front six correspond to the ones of haidai longshan culture, date of the last may be same as "xinzhai period"Rice was plant as well as millet at this stage in study area. Much wheat was discovered, this may be valuable for determining the origin of itself and its propagation in China. Barley may be exchanged with further place, and broomcorn millet was few here. Pigs were largely-scale raised, so that they can provide considerable protein. Deer were mostly hunted among wild animals, the protein exploited from them took the second-highest proportion. Other terrestrial animals, aquatic animals and birds were also used for food.Two stages of yuhuicun means two settlements there. The first settlement occupied most parts of the second excavation area. Several beautifully built houses may not construct for accommodation but for ceremonial activities. Definite evidence shows that some of the so-called "sacrifice pits" were houses, process of the houses was to keep them from wet and sinking. "Circle remains" should be giant pillar holes that had once suffered great damage. For these reasons, we deduce that the second excavation area should be living quarter. At the second settlement period, the second excavation area had been discarded and the great white soil architecture suddenly appeared. Great flood may be responsible for the decay of the first settlement and the prosperity of the second one. The outburst of flood and the construction of white soil architecture were two important events with great influence. After the two, the social organization of yuhuicun had changed greatly, maybe reorganized.According to their cluster relationship, longshan settlements of Anhui Huai River basin can be classified into five groups. Generally speaking, these settlements suffered certain but not sufficient class divisions. At that time, the social developmental level was relatively low and differed from one group to another. The hypothesis test to the average area of middle and east settlement group shows that the two overall groups may have approximate average area and the difference between the two may be roughly equal as well. So, There is a great possibility that these two overall settlement groups may possess a similar scale and rank.