After years of archaeological excavations, a large number of prehistoric sites have been unearthed in this area, spanning from the early matriarchal society to the later patriarchal society; the status of men and women has undergone a great reversal in these two societies; what happened in this? For years, people have been searching for the answer to this question; and what do the large number of prehistoric sites in the lower Yangtze River tell us? Let's take a look!
The lower reaches of the Yangtze River have abundant rainfall, mild climate, and good living conditions; human ancestors have long multiplied and lived here; so they have left a large number of precious relics; since the fifties of the last century, archaeologists have excavated a large number of prehistoric sites in this area; its chronological span from 7,000 to 3,000 years ago is an important stage of human accelerated evolution, and the society has changed from a matrilineal clan to a patrilineal clan society; the cultural relics excavated from the site, especially in the tombs, can be clearly seen. During this period, it was changed from "female superiority to male inferiority" to "male superiority and female inferiority".
In 1973, the Jiangsu Provincial Archaeological Team found a large site 1 km northeast of Weiting Town, Wu County, named "Cao Shoe Mountain Ruins"; its age spanned all the chronicles from the Neolithic Age to the pre-Qin history; the earliest remains were about 6,000 to 7,000 years ago matrilineal clan society - the Majiabang culture period; 106 tombs were excavated from the site, and there were 7 double burials in the Majiabang culture period, all of which were same-sex burials: male and female burials; female tombs were higher than males. In comparison, there are more and more abundant burial products; expert research and analysis show that due to the prevalence of matrilineal clan marriages and couple marriages, men have no right to live in female clans, and they are buried in their own clans after death; therefore, in matrilineal clan society, the phenomenon of "husband and wife burial" cannot occur in tombs; women's status is higher than that of men, so the tomb specifications are high, and there are more burial products.
The Songze culture, which has a completely different situation from the Majiabang culture, also exists in the Caoshoe Mountain site; due to the activities of humans at different times and in different ways, there are many layers of strata in the site; the site excavated 89 late Songze culture tombs in the 6th layer, dating back to about 5300 years; a total of 2 male and female burial tombs were found, all buried according to the male left and female right customs; of which the male was upright, the female was buried sideways, with the burial of Ding, beans, pots, pots, pots, pots, etc.; from the perspective of burial limbs, the popular burial at that time was straight-limbed burial on the back. The burial of women is a side burial, which has the meaning of submission, indicating that the status of some men over women has been established.
The status of men and women has reversed, what happened in the middle? Countless experts and scholars have conducted research and explanations from various aspects; yet the most intuitive and fundamental evidence comes from archaeology.
In 1993, in Longqiu Town, Gaoyou City, Jiangsu Province, a Neolithic site was excavated, called the "Longqiuzhuang Ruins", which dated from 7,000 to 5,000 years ago; it was located in the Jianghuai Plain, with an altitude of 2.4 meters; the site plane was approximately square, with a total area of about 43,000 square meters; when experts studied the accumulation of strata in the site, they found that the sixth layer had particularly important information.
The 6th floor of the Longqiuzhuang site, experts analyzed its time from 6300 to 6000 years ago; a total of 32 tombs were excavated, of which 29 were single burials, and the remaining 3 were joint burials, which were same-sex burials; indicating that humans were still in the stage of marriage in the matriarchal clan society; however, unlike the tombs in the Majiabang culture period, the tomb specifications at this time were no longer females higher than males; and from the perspective of the number of burial items, the number of burials in male tombs was significantly more than that of women, indicating that the status of men had improved Experts have also found three objects in male tombs that have never been found in earlier tombs - hammers, hammers and axes; "hammers" refer to arrows, and primitive people's hammers are mostly made of stone and animal bones; used in hunting activities and self-defense weapons; "hammers" are a tool of carpentry in modern times, its type is a flat axe; the hammers and axes used by primitive people are hunting tools made of stone; in addition, in a female tomb, a spinning wheel made of pottery for spinning yarn was found.
What does this mean? About 6,000 years ago, the roles of men and women in human society began to change slowly, men engaged in productive activities and hunting because of their strength advantages; women engaged in textile work at home; men's status in life and production was higher than that of women; then with the further development of agriculture and handicrafts, men's status and role in production became larger and larger, so a patriarchal society appeared; through the study of prehistoric sites in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, people saw that the inflection point of the reversal of the status of men and women in the mainland was 6300~ 6,000 years ago.
[Reference: Stone Age Culture in the Lower Yangtze River, Ancient Society]