The Pengtoushan culture was a Neolithic culture located around the central Yangtze River region in northwestern Hunan province, China. It dates to around 7500–6100 BC,[1] and was roughly contemporaneous with the Peiligang culture to the north. It is named after the type site at Pengtoushan.
 | |||
| Geographical range | China | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Neolithic China | ||
| Dates | 7500–6100 BC | ||
| Type site | Pengtoushan | ||
| Major sites | Bashidang | ||
| Chinese name | |||
| Traditional Chinese | 彭頭山文化 | ||
| Simplified Chinese | 彭头山文化 | ||
| |||
Sites
editPengtoushan, located in Li County, Hunan, is the type site for the Pengtoushan culture. Excavated in 1988, Pengtoushan has been difficult to date accurately, with a large variability in dates ranging from 9000 BC to 5500 BC.[2] Cord-marked pottery was discovered among the burial goods.[2]
Another important site is Bashidang, also in Li County, belonging to the late stage of the Pengtoushan culture. It features a wall and a ditch, as well as a star-shaped platform.
Rice cultivation
editRice residues at Pengtoushan have been carbon dated to 8200–7800 BC, showing that rice had been domesticated by this time.[3] At later stages, pots containing grains of rice were also dated to approximately 5800 BC.[4] By 4000 BC, evidence of rice domestication in the region is abundant in the form of bone and wooden spades, as well as pottery.[4] The rice grains at Pengtoushan are larger than naturally occurring wild rice. Large amounts of rice grains have also been found at Bashidang.
Gallery
edit-
Remains of a bone spade from the Bashidang site -
Reconstructed vessel -
Reconstructed leg of a vessel
See also
editFootnotes
edit- ^ Crawford 2006, p. 84.
- ^ a b Higham 1996, p. 63.
- ^ Chang 2005, p. 298.
- ^ a b Harris 2005, p. 17.
References
edit- Chang, Kwang-chih (2005). "Epilogue, Part II". In Chang, Kwang-chih; Xu, Pingfang; Allan, Sarah; Lu, Liancheng (eds.). The Formation of Chinese Civilization. Yale University Press. pp. 289–294. ISBN 0-300-09382-9.
- Crawford, Gary W. (2006). "East Asian Plant Domestication". In Stark, Miriam T. (ed.). Archaeology of Asia. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 77–95. ISBN 1-4051-0212-8.
- Harris, David R. (2005). "Origins and Spread of Agriculture". In Prance, Ghillean; Nesbitt, Mark (eds.). The Cultural History of Plants. Routledge. pp. 13–26. ISBN 0-415-92746-3.
- Higham, Charles (1996). The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56505-7.