A Study On The Dating And Livelihood Of Wang Wan Ⅲ Culture

The absolute dating of Wang Wan Ⅲ Culture is 2400-1700 BC.As the result of radiocarbon dating shows,it originated from the Xuchang and Luohe Areas in the Huaihe Plain,stayed around 2400-1760 BC.It expended northward to the Zhengzhou area in the Yellow River Plain around 2300-1800 BC.Then,it turned west and developed into the basin areas amongst the mountainous western Henan such as Ruzhou,Dengfeng and Luoyang,around 2200-1800 BC.The Wang Wan Ⅲ Culture mainly distributed in the central and western regions of Henan Province,its sites,centered by Songshan,are situated on the platforms by riverbanks,sufficient of water source,flat in terrain,fertile in soil,and warm and humid climate.The people of Wang Wan Ⅲ Culture mainly had kept four livelihood methods,from farming,raising livestock,hunting to fishing.Its agricultural structure is abundant,farming corps such as foxtail millet,broomcorn millet,rice,soybean and wheat.Among them,foxtail millet played a dominant role,though its proportion and unearthing opportunity gradually decreased as it went further south.In contrast,the rice and soybean did so in the opposite direction.As for livestock storage,domesticated animals included dogs,cattle,sheep,and,particularly,pigs,which took the leading percentage.Most of the Wang Wan Ⅲ Culture sites are small settlements of an area less than 100,000 square meters.There are also large or gigantic settlements with walls or moats such as Guchengzhai,WangChenggang and Wadian.Among all of them two types of house foundation are found: the half crypt type,mainly seen in the sites of the Luoyang Basin,and the floor type of Ruzhou Basin,Zhengzhou Area,and Xu-Luo areas.The buildings of the former type have a round or square plane,smaller in size and simpler by construction method.These of the latter type,larger and more complex in according aspects,include three formats: buildings of the largescale rammed earth,the row-roomed and the single-roomed.The most basic living unit of space is room.The tombs of Wang Wan Ⅲ Culture can be divided into four categories: earth-pit tomb,urn burial,ash-pit burial and ground burial.Earth-pit tomb was the most popular.Normally,its plane was rectangular.The remain of the deceased within,buried in solitude without attached funerary objects,keeps likely well-preserved;its body posture is facing up with limbs laying straight.Most of ash-pit burial are tombs in oval shape,at the bottom of which are one or more bodies.It can have several burial customs,and mostly the bodies of the deceased remain complete as well.In the cases of the forth category,the human bones are often found in low-lying terrain;most of them are incomplete for a full body,which highly implies violent mistreatment before death.Most of urn coffins were buried in circular shallow pits,mainly for children,not always with funerary objects.The social stratification during the period of Wang Wan Ⅲ Culture was tangible.Dividing by the difference in dietary structure,the food consumers of Wang Wan Ⅲ culture were of two group: one mainly lived on rice and ingested more meat;the other millet and less meat.The rice consumers might have higher social status.Regarding the architectural layouts from settlement,such as large city sites with walls or moats,buildings of rammed earth and row rooms,a strong convention of social organization was certain,while that rooms as the most basic living unit of space indicates a strong independence in terms of the daily life for individuals or a family.Besides,Wang Wan Ⅲ Cultural had its burial practices divided into three grades.The first-grade tombs were the highest in status,including 70M1,95M1,95M5,and 95M7 of the site Meishan,and 97W1 and 97W2 of the site Wadian.The second-grade were the most common,including the ordinary earth-pit tombs,the urn burials for children,and the ash-pit burials.The third-grade ranked the lowest,namely those ground burials for bones.Synthesizing its geographical features,means of livelihood,grading of settlement,and the categorization of its housing and burial,the research concludes that the Wang Wan Ⅲ Culture,in fact,has two local types(or there were two related but different synchronic cultures)in the central and western Henan Province.The cultural expressions in Luoyang Basin can constitute a local type or culture,also known as Wangwan Type.On the other hand,those expressions in Xu-Luo area,Zhengzhou area,Ruzhou Basin and Dengfeng Basin make another local type or culture,the so-called Meishan Type or Haojiatai Type.Based on the observation on rice cultivation,diet and the burial customs of the first-grade tombs,it is hypothetically potential that some people in the Meishan Type(Haojiatai Type)could originate from the Shi Jia He Culture,or their lifestyle were greatly influenced by it.