Study On The Dietary Culture Of The Neolithic Age In Western Liaoning

Based on archaeological discoveries and related studies,this paper explores the dietary culture of the Neolithic Age in western Liaoning 9000 to 4000 years ago.On the basis of summarizing some relevant sites’ studies,this paper mainly makes an analysis of the food in four parts,which includes variety and acquisition,processing,consumption,storage and waste,and drinks,and then summarizes the development of dietary culture of different cultural types.For food composition and acquisition,the food variety,and its means and tools for acquisition are discussed;For food processing,it mainly discusses the methods and tools adopted for meat cutting,grinding,mashing and sifting of nuts and grains,means,sites and utensils for cooking;For food consumption,storage and waste,dietary utensils,food storage and waste disposal are discussed;For drinks,fruit wine and grain wine alike,along with wine utensils are discussed.On food acquisition and variety,ancestors of western Liaoning had gradually explored the mode where food collection and grain cultivation are combined,and fishing,hunting and animal domestication are combined,which embodies the food variety including collection of nuts,fruits and vegetables,cultivation of grains,fishing of fish and mussels,hunting of deer,and domestication of pigs.In the period of Xinglongwa culture,the ancestors had began to have a try on grain plantation and pig domestication.In the period of Hongshan culture,the ancestors had mastered the technique for grain cultivation,and made improvement in the tools for harvesting grain.On pig domestication,the Neolithic Age in western Liaoning should be in a exploration stage,therefore complete feeding is not reached.In the food variety,millet dominates the structure of grain,pig and deer dominate in the structure of meat.Besides,according to different but special natural feature,the ancestors in different periods,made supplement by collecting fruit,vegetables and nuts,fishing and hunting animals.On the processing of food,different types of food was processed by using different tools in different methods.For the initial processing of ingredients,meat cutting and grain harvesting mainly relied on a variety of stone knives.Meat cutting had mainly two steps where the first was to make bone-meat seperation and chunk slicing by using stone knife with bone stem and sharp big stone knife,,then the second step was to make further fine slicing by using bone dagger,bone knife,oyster knife or stone knife with bone stem and light small stone knife.Tools,for shelling and grinding of nuts and grains,were stone grinders,stone graphite rods,stone pestle and stone mortar,in which the first two was for processing grain and tuber and the latter two was for processing wild hard shell fruit,branches and so on.A B-type oblique mouth container was for nuts and grain sifting and sorting from their shells,and an anvil for breaking or cutting could be used as a small cutting board.For food cooking,the range which was constant improving was used to barbecue,poach and burn to heat meat,grains,fruits and vegetables,and some sites sucked bone marrow by directly smashing bone.Tools for cooking were mainly cylindrical ceramic cans,also with a pottery pot buried next to or a ash pit dug for storing ash or preserving kindling material.On food consumption,storage and waste,the main food utensils were pottery containers,which has dominated until the Hongshan culture period when it was completely replaced by stone containers.During the Xinglongwa culture period,a set of food containers had gradually come into being,and to the Zhao Baogou culture period,there were not only the containers used by the ancestors in everyday life,but also the special containers used for sacrifice had appeared,such as the combination of venerable containers and high foot plates.In the period of Hongshan culture,the large Tao Weng appeared to meet the needs of containing more food and more attention was paid to the aesthetic of the container by decorating the inside and outside of container with black,red and other color.For the shape of the container,cylinder was the main shape,then a plate,basin,bowl,respect,pan,beans,urn,pot and other rich container types had been made,and as a small container,cups are for wine or other drinks.Covers of containers,from the Zhao Baogou culture period to the Xiaoheyan culture period,gradually becoming widely used,could help with heat preservation and food storage.As for dinning utensils,there were daggers,knives and scoops,in whih the first two were used to cut meat for eating,and pottery scoops were used for having soup,besides there were ceramic mats,seats and case-shaped chopping board for single container.For the ancestors of western Liaoning,dinning seperately,which was based on a unit of a single site,was the most way of food comsuption,and there were also activities of gathering dining and sacrifice.Food,mainly contained by large tanks,bowls,urns and so on,and then stored in the cellar hole,ash pit,hole wall or column in sites.The way of waste disposal,includes throwing away directly and reuse.The A type oblique mouth container could be used for gathering dust or food waste.On drinks,ancestors mainly used cylindrical cans to get river water or mountain spring water for drinking,along with some roots and tubers mashed by stone grinders and stone grinding rods.In the Xinglongwa culture period,ancestors should drink fruit wine,but whether grain wine appeared remains to be discussed.The Hongshan culture period,anceators had drunk fruit wine,and grain wine also existed.At the same time,large painted pottery urns with covers and venerable containers were used for wine storage,funnels served as a wine dispenser and all kinds of cups could be used for drinks.In the period of Xiaoheyan Culture,ancestors could use all kinds of beans for molasses drinks.The comparison among western Liaoning,Wensi River Basin of the downstream of the Yellow River and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River shows that the similarities and differences of the Neolithic culture types both in the northern region or in the north and south regions,and highlights the great production and creation ability of ancestors in western Liaoning under the transitional natural geographical conditions.