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Jiahu
Jiahu (Chinese: 賈湖) was the site of a Neolithic settlement based in the central plain of ancient China, near the Yellow River. It is located between the floodplains of the Ni River to the north, and the Sha River to the south, 22 km (14 mi) north of modern Wuyang in Henan. Most archaeologists consider the site to be one of the earliest examples of the Peiligang culture. Settled c. 7000 BC, the site was later flooded and abandoned around 5700 BC. The settlement was surrounded by a moat and covered a relatively large area of 55,000 square metres (5.5 ha). At one time, it was "a complex, highly organized Chinese Neolithic society", with a population of between 250 and 800 people.
The important discoveries of the Jiahu archaeological site include the Jiahu symbols, possibly an early example of proto-writing, carved into tortoise shells and bones. The Jiahu flutes are believed to be among the oldest playable musical instruments in the world, comprising 33 pieces carved from the wing bones of cranes. There is also evidence of alcohol production through the fermentation of rice, honey, and hawthorn leaves.[citation needed]
Diverse artifacts are attested at the site, including residences, burial sites, pottery kilns, assorted stone and earthen implements, and a large central structure believed to be a communal workspace. These indicate a fairly advanced settlement for the early Neolithic period. To date, 45 residences have been excavated at Jiahu, with most measuring between four and ten meters. Most of these were partially dug into the earth and featured a single room, though some were later expanded to have multiple rooms. Garbage pits and storage cellars have also been excavated.[citation needed]
Discovered by Zhu Zhi in 1962, extensive excavation of the site did not occur until the 1980s. Most of the site still has not been excavated, although work is slowly progressing. The excavation of Jiahu burial sites and rubbish pits has been productive, yielding abundant evidence about the lives of the Jiahu people. Chinese researchers from the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, led for many years by Zhang Juzhong, a professor from the University of Science and Technology of China, have carried out archaeological research around the site for decades.[citation needed]
Zhang's team conducted excavation of portions of the site in seven stages; each stage took two to three years. A large portion of the Jiahu site was excavated in the first two phases of the project, between 1983 and 1987. Zhang and his assistants published the findings of the first two phases in detail in the journal Antiquity.[citation needed]
Some archaeologists point to cultural distinctions between Jiahu and Peiligang, as well as the distance: Jiahu is isolated, many kilometers south of the larger Peiligang grouping of over 100 archaeological sites in a fairly compact area. The distance would have represented a journey on foot of several days in the Neolithic era. This school of thought suggests that Jiahu and Peiligang represented separate, neighboring cultures that interacted and shared many characteristics. Other early Neolithic settlements in this part of the world were much farther south and east.[citation needed]
Archaeologists have divided Jiahu into three distinct phases. The earliest phase spans from 7000 to 6600 BC, the middle phase spans from 6600 to 6200 BC; and the latest phase spans from 6200 to 5700 BC. The last two phases correspond to the Peiligang culture, while the earliest phase is unique to Jiahu.
Careful examination of the skeletons of over 400 individuals, removed from more than 300 graves, by several scientific teams over the course of the past 30 years illustrates that the Jiahu ethnic group was a part of the Northern Mongoloid group, and identified closely with the Miaodigou and Xiawanggang sub-groups which were also descendants of hunter-gatherers in modern Henan, and the Dawenkou, Xixiahou and Yedian sub-groups that were later found in Shandong Province.
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Jiahu
Jiahu (Chinese: 賈湖) was the site of a Neolithic settlement based in the central plain of ancient China, near the Yellow River. It is located between the floodplains of the Ni River to the north, and the Sha River to the south, 22 km (14 mi) north of modern Wuyang in Henan. Most archaeologists consider the site to be one of the earliest examples of the Peiligang culture. Settled c. 7000 BC, the site was later flooded and abandoned around 5700 BC. The settlement was surrounded by a moat and covered a relatively large area of 55,000 square metres (5.5 ha). At one time, it was "a complex, highly organized Chinese Neolithic society", with a population of between 250 and 800 people.
The important discoveries of the Jiahu archaeological site include the Jiahu symbols, possibly an early example of proto-writing, carved into tortoise shells and bones. The Jiahu flutes are believed to be among the oldest playable musical instruments in the world, comprising 33 pieces carved from the wing bones of cranes. There is also evidence of alcohol production through the fermentation of rice, honey, and hawthorn leaves.[citation needed]
Diverse artifacts are attested at the site, including residences, burial sites, pottery kilns, assorted stone and earthen implements, and a large central structure believed to be a communal workspace. These indicate a fairly advanced settlement for the early Neolithic period. To date, 45 residences have been excavated at Jiahu, with most measuring between four and ten meters. Most of these were partially dug into the earth and featured a single room, though some were later expanded to have multiple rooms. Garbage pits and storage cellars have also been excavated.[citation needed]
Discovered by Zhu Zhi in 1962, extensive excavation of the site did not occur until the 1980s. Most of the site still has not been excavated, although work is slowly progressing. The excavation of Jiahu burial sites and rubbish pits has been productive, yielding abundant evidence about the lives of the Jiahu people. Chinese researchers from the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, led for many years by Zhang Juzhong, a professor from the University of Science and Technology of China, have carried out archaeological research around the site for decades.[citation needed]
Zhang's team conducted excavation of portions of the site in seven stages; each stage took two to three years. A large portion of the Jiahu site was excavated in the first two phases of the project, between 1983 and 1987. Zhang and his assistants published the findings of the first two phases in detail in the journal Antiquity.[citation needed]
Some archaeologists point to cultural distinctions between Jiahu and Peiligang, as well as the distance: Jiahu is isolated, many kilometers south of the larger Peiligang grouping of over 100 archaeological sites in a fairly compact area. The distance would have represented a journey on foot of several days in the Neolithic era. This school of thought suggests that Jiahu and Peiligang represented separate, neighboring cultures that interacted and shared many characteristics. Other early Neolithic settlements in this part of the world were much farther south and east.[citation needed]
Archaeologists have divided Jiahu into three distinct phases. The earliest phase spans from 7000 to 6600 BC, the middle phase spans from 6600 to 6200 BC; and the latest phase spans from 6200 to 5700 BC. The last two phases correspond to the Peiligang culture, while the earliest phase is unique to Jiahu.
Careful examination of the skeletons of over 400 individuals, removed from more than 300 graves, by several scientific teams over the course of the past 30 years illustrates that the Jiahu ethnic group was a part of the Northern Mongoloid group, and identified closely with the Miaodigou and Xiawanggang sub-groups which were also descendants of hunter-gatherers in modern Henan, and the Dawenkou, Xixiahou and Yedian sub-groups that were later found in Shandong Province.