Prehistoric China: Yangshao Culture

Pottery Basin of Yangshao (Credits: Cultural China)

China boast a civilization that traced back more than a millennia - a cycle of dynasties rose and fell. But before this era of Emperor a handful of cultures once inhabited China’s provinces. The Yangshao Culture belonged to these handful of cultures that shed light to the life in China during the Neolithic Age.

Excavation

In 1921, after hearing of large number of stone artifacts found in a village of Yangshao, Swedish archaeologist Johan Gunnar Anderson unearthed a Neolithic culture that contributed to the study of prehistoric China.

Located near Mianchi in Northern Henan Province, the Neolithic Yangshao Culture thrived between 2500 – 1500 BCE in mountainous areas of Northwestern China near the Yellow River. Andersons’ team unearth fragments of stone tools, arrow heads, and finally potteries colored in grey, black and red. Overall, they surveyed around 60 acres of land for information regarding this culture.

Later on, in 1953, another archaeological excavation in Banpo near Xi’an showed a settlement similar to Yangshao. The site sized around 12 acres composed of 45 houses and surrounded by a ditch which suspected being once a moat.

Both sites offered a glimpse to the life of a group of people that settled in modern day China in a time of great development in history.

Technology

People of the Yangshao culture possessed tools that allowed them to effectively hunt preys, build houses and protection, craft textile and potteries, and cultivate various grain and root crops. Their culture revealed the most basic of an economy – which ran down to survival.

The Yangshao and Banpo sites revealed numerous number of tools available to its inhabitants. From stones, wood, and bones, they made knives, chisels, hoes, spades, and sickles. They also owned rectangular-shaped axes as well as bows and arrows useful for hunting. They also possessed spindle whorls used to process fibers for textile.

The potteries of the Yangshao Culture made it remarkable for archaeologist, so much so that the Yangshao culture received the nickname “painted-pottery culture.” From the nickname suggest, the culture made jars colored grey, black and red. The inhabitants used grey and black potteries for various daily uses such as bowls, water, containers, and jars. They used the red on the other hand for burial offerings. These jars also served as an artistic medium as black and white color motifs showed stylized depiction of nature such as animals as well as humans. In Banpo, archaeologist found 22 incised markings in its potteries. Many suggested that the markings indicated the early development of Chinese writing, while others dismissed this claiming the signs as signatures of a clan.

Archaeologist defined the design of Yangshao potteries into 3 phases. The 1st Phase dubbed the Banpo Phase dated from 2,500 – 2,200 BCE and defined by polished red fine wares with some exhibiting decorations in the mouth rim while other cord-marked patterns. The 2nd Phase dated from 2,200 – 1,700 BCE displayed extensive distribution of potteries which have begun to incorporate hollow-legged tripods and exhibited remarkable artistic skill through patterns and stylized representation of nature such as rain, cowry shells, even a female vulva, and a spiral design called lei wen or thunder pattern. The 3rd and last phase called the Ma Ch’ang which characterize by sudden lack of expressiveness and quality compared to previous phases. As suggested, the lack in quality and style marked the shift of attention from ceramic crafts to bronze crafts.

Another key feature of the Yangshao pottery laid in its production. Such works resulted without the use of potter’s wheel which only appeared in later cultures such as the Longshan Culture.

Dwellings

A Yangshao village resembled a camp site as well as a tight knit community with several common areas and families living close together. A village composed a central plaza or an assembly area surrounded by cluster of houses. These cluster of houses provided shelter for a whole clan or family. On the other hand, outside the village parameter, the community shared a common cemetery and kilns for producing potteries. They also built animal enclosures for domesticated animals.

A clan or a whole family lived together in a cluster of houses. Layouts of the house varied between round and square. They stayed in semi-subterranean houses, meaning half of the house laid below ground level. They built the walls with stamped clay utilizing the deposit in the nearby river and creeks and topped it with thatched roofs.

Basic Economy

The people of the Yangshao culture relied on multiple source of food. They practiced agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting and gathering, as well as fishing. While some worked in the surroundings, other focused in crafting instruments useful for everyday work.

In agriculture, they preferred a slash and burn style of agriculture. This meant burning an area before cultivating it with crops. This practice, however, led to rapid loss of soil nutrients, thus it suggested that they may be semi-nomadic as they need to move in search of new lands to cultivate. They focused in raising wheat, millet, and root crops, some also suggested that the Yangshao also cultivated rice.

Along with crops, the Yangshao people also domesticated various animals. These included cattle, sheep, pigs, and dogs. They also continued the practice of hunting and gathering as well as fishing from the nearby creeks and river.

While others search for food, other inhabitants of the community delved with crafting other necessities. Others made potteries for storage and utensils while some processed hemp to make clothing. It also had been suggested that the Yangshao possessed a small scale sericulture or the cultivation of silkworm, hence having both hemp as silk as source of textile.

Summing Up

The Yangshao Culture revealed the extreme simplicity of the life during the Neolithic Age - a far cry from the sophisticated and fast moving life of today. It reminded us the great leaps that mankind has made over the millenniums. They provide a glimpse on the stages of development of humanity from nomadic hunters and gatherers to sedentary agriculture which defined the so-called Neolithic Revolution. Thus, the allure of the Yangshao.

Edited on August 21, 2020

See also:

Olmecs: Before the Aztecs and Mayans
Prehistoric China: Longshan Culture
Prehistoric Japan: Jomon Culture
Prehistoric Japan: Yayoi Culture

Bibliography:

Websites:

“Yangshao Culture.” Chinaculture.org. Accessed on August 8, 2020. URL: http://en.chinaculture.org/2013-01/09/content_449867.htm

Custer, Charles. "Yangshao Civilization in Chinese Culture." ThoughtCo. Accessed on August 8, 2020. URL: https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-yangshao-culture-688048

Books:

Anderson, J.G. “Prehistoric Sites in Honan.” In the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Bulletin No. 19. Goteborg: Elanders Boktryckeri, 1947.

Eberhard, W. A History of China. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1977.

Fairbank, John King. China: A New History. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2006.

Munsterberg, Hugo. Arts of China. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Turtle Company, Inc., 1972.

Roberts, J. A History of China. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.