Daxi culture hooks up the study of paisley faience pottery

Hooked paisley pottery is made up of parallel upper and lower triangular base along the upper corner of the branch fork, the branch fork up and down is not closed and reverse symmetry, the base triangle is connected horizontally, horizontally distributed; or by the crescent-shaped leaves composed of opposite and opposite double hook vortex, reverse symmetrical double hook base or flat, or oblique, or no base at all, and the pattern is often spaced with arc triangle pattern, petal pattern, "worker" glyph pattern, "human" glyph pattern and dot pattern and other patterns of faience ornamentation. According to the crescent shape and symmetry of the hooked line, the hooked paisley faience can be divided into two categories: A and B (Figure 1). Class A prevailed in the middle and late Hongshan culture, and Class B was popular in the Xiyin culture, which was a typical faience of the two types of cultures, and was rarely found in other cultures represented by the Daxi culture in about the same period.

Figure 1 Daxi culture is associated with the classification of paisley faience pottery

1. Daxi (M114:1), 2. Carved Dragon Monument (T2314A:121)

Daxi culture is distributed from the east mouth of Qutang Gorge in the west, to the area around Wuhan in the east, around Dongting Lake in the south, to the southern foothills of Jingshan and Dahong Mountain in the north, the main area is in the two lakes plain area in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the central area is in the western part of the Jianghan Plain. According to the study of the staging of Daxi culture, it can be divided into four phases of obvious development sequence, of which the Class A hooked vortex of Daxi culture is only found in M144:1 of the Daxi site belonging to the third phase of the remains, showing that the triangular base extends two forks at one end, and the top of the fork is pressed up and down on the fork and slightly closed; the upper and lower fork lines of M144:2 are inversely symmetrical, the two forks are not closed at all, and there is an arc on the outside of the forks. In the sites of osmanthus trees, Guanmiao Mountain, Yangjiawan and other sites that also belong to the third period, the base triangle began to shrink, and the branch fork showed a clear trend of complete closure (Figure 2). Class B picsleys are only found in T2314A:121, which belongs to the second phase of the Carved Dragon Monument, showing a continuous ribbon pattern composed of hook leaves, concave triangles, dots, and variant "worker" glyph patterns, and the symmetrical vortex of the extension line at one end of the triangle (Fig. 1, 2). In addition, the Daxi culture faience pottery mainly includes kettles, pots, beans, pots, bowls, curved cups, utensil seats, pots, barrel bottles, etc., characterized by petal patterns, grid patterns, arc triangle patterns, rope patterns, parallel lines between the top triangle patterns, etc., and does not have the pattern basis for evolving into the Daxi culture hooked vortex, so to explore the source of the Daxi culture hook vortex should also be placed on the surrounding culture similar to the era.

Figure 2 Daxi culture class A hooked swirl faience pottery

1~2.Daxi (M114:1, M114:2), 3~4.Guanmiao Mountain (T34:6, T34A:51), 5.Osmanthus tree (original report number Figure 9:5), 6.Yangjiawan (T47:10)

As mentioned above, the Daxi culture class A hook vortex has a base triangle with parallel bases up and down, and this base is an extension of the triangle at one end to form a number of hook arrangements, and from the top corner of the triangle grows branches. According to this idea, in the Miaodigou site belonging to the early stage of the Xiyin culture in the Yellow River Basin of about the same period, a kind of original report called "with white pottery clothes and black color", that is, a faience ornament with a branch fork protruding from the top of the upper and lower triangular base and reverse symmetry, which is continuously arranged horizontally, and the difference with the Daxi site is only the reverse of the two rows of branches and forks above and below the former, and the latter has an extra symmetrical arc on the outside of the two rows of branches, which is speculated that the latter is a variant of the former. Combined with the pottery types and ornaments with the style of the Xiyin culture unearthed by the Daxi culture, as well as the spread background and influence expansion given by the Xiyin culture as a period of strong development, there is a possibility of direct communication and reference between them. Daxi culture class A hooked scroll faience pottery originated from The Xiyin culture is extremely likely, which is in line with the development and interaction trend of culture, and also adapts to the law of the evolution of ornament exchange. In addition, the paisley of The Xiyin culture and the Daxi culture have the same background for the development of ornamentation, that is, neither of the two ornaments is of local origin, nor is there a basis for the transformation of the ornamentation, let alone the mainstream ornamentation. If you want to find its ultimate source, you need to look at the Hongshan culture in the LiaoHe River Basin in the northeast, where the gouge vortex appeared earlier and very popular, the evolutionary context is also very clear, and it is the center of the spread and development of class A glitched paisley pottery. Therefore, the Class A concatenated vortex of the Xiyin culture is the result of the influence from the Hongshan culture in western Liaoning, and shows a high degree of similarity with the cylindrical faience pottery from the Hutougou site belonging to the Hongshan culture, and the possibility of direct communication is not excluded (Figure 3, 1-3). In addition, the Class B glitches have a distinct Xiyin culture style, indicating that their connection with elements from the Xiyin culture is obviously the product of communication and interaction with the Xiyin culture, and has the same composition method and motif elements as the faience pot H3:17 in the Beiyangping site belonging to the early Xiyin culture in the middle reaches of the Yellow River Basin (Fig. 3, 4-5).

Figure 3 Daxi culture, Xiyin culture, Hongshan culture unearthed scrolled faience pottery

1. Daxi (M114:1), 2. Miaodigou (original report 8:10), 3. Hutougou (original report 5:2), 4. Carved Dragon Monument (T2314A:121), 5. Beiyangping (H3:17) (1, 4, Daxi culture; 2, 5, Xiyin culture; 3, Hongshan culture)

Cultural staging studies have shown that the Hongshan culture class A hooked vortex is produced and prevalent in the middle and late period, and the absolute age is about 6000 to 5000 years ago; the Xiyin culture B type hooked vortex developed and became popular in the early and late stages, and the absolute age is about 6000 to 5000 years ago. Therefore, it can be inferred that the time of the occurrence of the Daxi culture A and B types of paisleys is from 4000 to 3000 BC, which is consistent with the process of the production, development and demise of the late Neolithic paisley faience in the entire northern Region of China. Daxi culture A class hooked vortex is a variant of the development of the local characteristics of the pattern, the absolute age is about 5645 to 5505 years ago; class B hooked vortex because of the cultural nature of the second phase of the carved dragon stele where it is located is more complex, through the relevant research results, its cultural nature roughly belongs to the second and third phases of the Daxi culture, relatively earlier than the time when the A type of hooked vortex appeared in the Daxi culture. Combined with the propagation path of the Daxi culture A and B class hooked vortices, it can be found that the influence of the same Xiyin culture gouge paisley pottery to the south expands, and the B goulian paisley appeared in the carved dragon monument site in the southern Han River Plain in the early stage of the Xiyin culture, coexisting with the indigenous culture, maintaining the original composition and style of the ornamentation; and the slightly later A glittering paisley is spreading south and west in space, and the distance is farther, thus making a big difference from the original appearance of the ornament. The above phenomena show that with the expansion of the radiation scope of Xiyin culture and the gradual strengthening of indigenous culture, the cultural penetration of Xiyin culture has shown a trend of decay, from absolute dominance to gradual adaptation to the development of indigenous culture. In addition, the Class A hooked vortex found in the Xiyin culture obviously has the characteristics of the Hongshan culture after the development of the Hooked Vortex of the Hongshan culture is fully mature, indicating that its appearance time is at least after the middle of the Hongshan culture. The spread and exchange of Daxi culture hooked swirled faience pottery represents the route and channel of exchange and interaction between various archaeological cultures to a large extent, mainly divided into two communication channels in the north and south, of which the exchange of class A hooked swirl faience pottery is the cultural expansion produced by the so-called "Y" shaped cultural belt to the Yellow River Basin, which is also the reason why typical faience pottery with typical Hongshan can be found at the Miaodigou site. The Daxi culture shows a close relationship with the Xiyin culture because of its pottery shape system, faience patterns and other cultural phenomena, especially the discovery of the B-class gouge paisley in the site of the carved dragon monument, which fully reflects the jujube corridor as an important land transportation road, connecting the Yangtze River Basin and the Yellow River Basin, providing convenience for cultural exchanges and interaction between the north and the south, and also creating good external conditions for the Daxi culture to produce A and B gouge paisley pottery.

While the influence of the Goulian vortex faience pottery gradually expanded from north to south, it was also the strong rise of the Hongshan culture in the Xiyin period, the rapid expansion of the Xiyin culture, and the change period of the absorption and tolerance of the Daxi culture, and the extensive development and exchange of the goulian paisley faience reflected the strong cultural interaction between the cultures under the cultural development situation of great integration and great fusion, which vividly showed the situation and situation of various cultural changes in the late Neolithic period of China.

exegesis:

Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: Chinese Archaeology, Neolithic Volumes, China Social Sciences Press, 2010.

Li Wenjie, "Types and Periodizations of Daxi Culture", Journal of Archaeology, No. 2, 1986.

Sichuan Provincial Museum: "The Third Excavation of the Daxi Site in Wushan", Journal of Archaeology, No. 4, 1981.

Jingzhou Regional Museum, Hubei Province: "Neolithic Ruins of Osmanthus Trees in Songzi County, Hubei Province", Archaeology, No. 3, 1976.

Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: Zhijiang Guanmiao Mountain, Beijing: Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2017.

Hubei Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology: Yangjiawan, Yichang, Beijing: Science Press, 2013.

Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: Dragon Stele of Zaoyang Carving, Science Press, 2006.

Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Miaodigou and Sanli Bridge, Science Press, 1959.

Fang Dianchun and Liu Baohua, "The Discovery of the Hongshan Cultural Jade Tomb in Hutougou, Fuxin County, Liaoning Province", Cultural Relics, No. 6, 1984.

Henan First Task Force, Henan Institute of Archaeology, Henan Academy of Social Sciences, Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Sanmenxia City Cultural Relics Task Force, Lingbao City Cultural Relics Protection and Management Institute, Jingshan Huangling Management Institute: "Briefing on the Trial Excavation of Beiyangping Site in Lingbao City, Henan Province", Archaeology, No. 7, 2001.

Zhang Xingde, "A Preliminary Study on the Staging of Hongshan Culture", Archaeology, No. 8, 1991.

Yu Xiyun: Xiyin Culture: The Abuse of Chinese Civilization, Science Press, 2006.

Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: "Zaoyang Carved Dragon Stele", Science Press, 2006; Zhao Bingzhu: "Research on the Culture of Youziling", Master's Thesis, Wuhan University, 2017.

Guo Dashun, "From the "Three Forks" to the "Y"-shaped Cultural Belt: Revisiting Mr. Su Bingqi's Discussion on the Origin of Chinese Culture and Civilization", Inner Mongolia Cultural Relics and Archaeology, No. 2, 2006

At present, the Hongshan culture of the Xiyin period only refers to the remains of the Hongshan culture that are consistent with the Xiyin culture in relative times, that is, the middle period of the Hongshan culture.

Photo: Li Nengjiao

Editor-in-charge: Dong Yongjia

Editor: Liu Wei

Review: Lin Bizhong

About author:Li Nengjiao, Institute of Archaeology, Chongqing Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

Reprinted from: Chongqing Archaeology