Author: Guo Weimin
Source: "Jianghan Archaeology" WeChat public account
The original article was published in Jianghan Archaeology, No. 6, 2021
The layout map of the 2021 National Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in Lixian County, Hunan Province (Source: "Wenbo China" WeChat public account)
Preface
Since the founding of New China, the understanding and research of neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River has generally gone through two stages: the first stage is before the end of the 1980s, focusing on the cultural nature of archaeology and the construction of cultural sequences. Archaeological discoveries and studies at that time believe that the Neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River has gone through several cultural development periods of Daxi culture, Qujialing culture, And Longshan culture (Hubei Longshan culture). The second stage is that after the end of the 1980s, due to the vigorous development of field archaeology, many new sites have been excavated, and many new archaeological and cultural remains have been discovered. These new remains appear to be dating back to the Daxi culture, such as the soap city site excavated in Hunan, where new remains were found in the lower layers. Excavations at the PengtouShan site have also uncovered remains that are older than the lower layers of soap market. Sites such as Chengbeixi and Zhichengbei in Hubei have also found remnants that predate the Daxi culture. Academics clearly feel that the axis of Neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River will be greatly extended. Therefore, since about the middle of the 1990s, the neolithic cultural sequence in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River has been re-recognized, which is: Pengtoushan culture - lower culture of Soap City • Chengbeixi culture - Tangjiagang culture · Liulinxi Culture- Daxi Cultural Area- Qujialing Culture- Shijiahe Culture. It was also during this period that academics recognized that there was a difference between the source of the Neolithic cultural lineage east of the Han River in the Jianghan Plain and the area west of the Han River and dongting Lake, which may come from another lineage. Later, after relevant fieldwork and research, the remains of the Bianfa culture and the Youziling culture were found in the Handong region. Furthermore, some scholars have proposed that there is actually an archaeological and cultural genealogical structure with duality as the main body in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Bounded by the Han River, the northern and eastern regions are the Bianfa culture - Youziling culture - Qujialing culture - Shijiahe culture; the area west of the Hanshui River in the Jianghan Plain and the Dongting Lake area is the Pengtou Mountain culture - the lower culture of Soap City, the chengbeixi culture , the Tangjiagang culture - the Daxi culture. In the past two decades, new materials and research results have greatly enriched people's understanding of the issues related to Neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
First, pluralism and unity in the cultural process
Up to now, the earliest Neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River with clear spatio-temporal characteristics of archaeological culture is still the Pengtoushan culture. Of course, before the Pengtoushan culture, there were some remnants of early Neolithic cultures, such as a type of relic represented by jade toad rock in the Shonan region. There were pottery, ground stone tools, and rice, which is considered to be an early stage of neolithic culture. At the same time, in the Liyang Plain, earlier remains than the Pengtou Mountain cultural relics have also been found, such as the Linli Hualai site and the Songjiagang site in Lixian County, which are more than 10,000 years old, and the characteristics of the pottery pieces are similar to the Pengtou Mountain culture. At the same time, the stone tool characteristics of the liyang plain at the end of the Paleolithic period and the stone tool form of the Pengtou Mountain culture also have a clear inheritance relationship. The early neolithic remains of the Shonan Jade Toad Rock are clearly related to the contemporaneous remains in the Nanling area and should be included in the cultural system of the "Nanling Central Belt". The early Neolithic culture in the Nanling area, especially in the northeast of Guizhou, has a certain relationship with the Pengtoushan culture. The current situation of huadi-class remains is unclear.
From this, we can roughly understand that the occurrence of the Pengtoushan culture may be influenced by the culture of the Nanling region on the basis of the end of the local Paleolithic culture, or the residual cultural factors such as the Kopi Rock and Jade Toad Rock in the central belt of the South Ridge radiating northward, resulting in the emergence of the Pengtou Mountain culture in the Liyang Plain. With the progress of excavations and the continuation of research, we have a general understanding of its cultural characteristics and settlement characteristics, as well as its coverage and distribution area, and the process of diachronic change. According to research, in the middle and late period of Pengtou mountain culture, its cultural appearance has undergone some changes. One of them developed northward, giving rise to the Chengbeixi culture. The emergence of the Chengbeixi culture may be the result of a combination of factors, but the main factor is the Pengtoushan culture from the Liyang Plain. In the process of its development, the Jiahu culture from the upper reaches of the Huai River had a significant impact on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the characteristics of pottery can be seen that the Chengbeixi culture has the factors of typical Jiahu culture (Figure 1). Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that the Chengbeixi culture is located along the Yangtze River, and its emergence and development are influenced by the influence of the north-south binary cultural factors of Pengtoushan culture and Jiahu culture.
The upper reaches of the Huai River belong to the central plains in a broad sense, and the role of the central plains in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River was more obvious during the Jiahu culture period, but it seems to have weakened after this. It was at this time that another area affected the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, this area is the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Even the disintegration of the Pengtoushan culture and the transition and transformation of the Pengtoushan culture to the lower culture of the soap city may be related to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Some new cultural factors have emerged during the transition period from Pengtoushan culture to new culture, the most obvious of which is the newly appeared foot trap, and the circle foot device is not the tradition of Pengtou Mountain culture, even if it is included in Pengtou Mountain culture, it can only be regarded as an external factor. The foot trap is a typical artifact feature of the upper mountain-cross-lake bridge culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and when the middle reaches of the Yangtze River transition from the Pengtou Mountain culture to the lower culture of soap city, the circle foot device just appeared. Circle foot apparatus appeared at the Huangjiayuan site on the east bank of Dongting Lake, and there were also circle foot apparatus at the Tujiatai site and the Tomb Hill Fort site not far away, and circle foot apparatus also appeared in the Chengbei Creek along the Yangtze River, and many factors in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River appeared at the Lujiashan site in Lixian County. It means that at the end of the Pengtoushan culture, or after the chengbeixi culture developed to a certain stage, cultural factors from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River had an effect on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, which eventually led to cultural changes here (Figure 2). The Jiahu culture from the north is only the influence of cultural factors, and has not led to the fission of Pengtou Mountain culture, and the force that really led to the disintegration of Pengtou Mountain culture comes from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Some scholars believe that the cultural factors of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River have a great influence on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, not only affecting the Plain of the Two Lakes, but even wading into the mountain valley, giving birth to the Gaomiao culture in the upper reaches of the Yuanshui River. In short, around 7600 years ago, the Neolithic cultural pattern in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River underwent obvious changes, and this change was due to the influence of external cultural factors here. The result of the influence of cultural factors in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is that the overall pattern of the Neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River has changed for more than 10,000 years, and since then, the circle foot plate has become an important factor in the Neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. From this point, it can be seen that the cultural changes of the Neolithic era in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River have both internal changes and the influence of external cultural factors, and as for the size and strength, they must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. This also shows that the driving force of cultural change is not a monolithic beginning, but a pluralistic renewal.
During the lower cultural period of Soap City, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River appeared in the pattern of coexistence of multiple cultures. In the area south of the Yangtze River, it is mainly the Gaomiao culture and the lower culture of Soap City, and the culture along the Yangtze River or the Jianghan area is mainly the Chengbeixi culture. Chengbeixi culture is mainly distributed along the West Hubei Gorge River, but it seems that there is also a distribution in the Eastern Han region, such as the lower layer of the Tianmen Tucheng ruins, the Xiejiadun Hougang in the Huanggang area, and other places, pottery pieces similar to the Chengbeixi culture have been found, which means that the Chengbeixi culture has been widely distributed in the Jianghan region. As mentioned above, the emergence of the foot trap led to the disintegration of the Pengtou mountain culture, followed by the lower culture of soap city and the culture of Chengbei Creek. That is to say, the main factor of Pengtoushan culture is inherited by these two cultures. However, the Gaomiao culture, located in the upper reaches of the Yuanshui River, is significantly different from the above two cultures. The ornamentation and life forms on its pottery are different from the Chengbeixi culture and the lower culture of soap market. Further analysis also found that the Gaomiao culture is not only distributed in the upper reaches of the Yuanshui River, but also in the middle and upper reaches of the Xiangjiang River Basin. In other words, in the original base camp of Pengtou Mountain cultural distribution, that is, the distribution range of Pengtou Mountain culture, the successor is the lower culture of Soap City. If we trace back to the roots, the Pengtoushan culture was influenced by the Jiahu culture and the Shangshan culture in the middle and late stages of its development, and the Chengbeixi culture and the lower culture of soap city were basically the emergence of the Pengtoushan monistic system under the influence of foreign cultures. Whether the Gaomiao culture also occurs under this system requires specific analysis of specific problems.
Of course, some factors of the Gaomiao culture also have the shadow of the Pengtoushan culture, which is not the same nature as the lower culture of soap city or the culture of Chengbeixi, but there are still certain similarities in many pottery forms. Of course, it is not excluded that the influence of the shangshan culture of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River - the cross-lake bridge culture can be excluded. In addition, many factors of the Gaomiao culture are also related to a type of relics represented by koshiki rock in northeast Guangxi. For example, many factors in the cultural remains of the fifth phase of the Koshiki Rock appear in the Gaomiao culture. Some of the factors in the cultural remains of the fifth phase of The Koshikiyan are also similar to some of the factors in the cultural remains of the Qianjiaping site in Guiyang (Figure 3). The source of the aforementioned Pengtou Mountain culture may be related to a type of relics represented by Koshiki Rock in northeast Guangxi, and the correlation of this cultural factor in the Gaomiao culture is once again reflected, which means that the process of influencing the culture of the Nanling region on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River has continued from the Pengtou Mountain culture to the stage of the emergence and development of the Gaomiao culture. The distribution range of Gaomiao culture is in the middle zone of the transition from the Nanling area to the Two Lakes Plain, and at the same time, it shows that there is indeed a cultural system with a dual structure between 7600 and 7000 years in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, which is the southern system represented by the Gaomiao culture and the northern system represented by the lower culture of Chengbeixi and Soap City. Of course, this "north-south" is only relative to the two regional spaces in the south and north of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and it is not clear whether there are still smaller regional differences within the interior of these two spaces.
Around 7,000 years ago, the dual structure pattern of Neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River has undergone new changes. The original Gaomiao culture, Chengbeixi culture, and lower-class culture of Soap City have disintegrated one after another, and four major archaeological cultures have emerged, namely, the Tangjiagang culture distributed in and around Dongting Lake, the Liulinxi culture distributed in the Xiajiang river area, the Bianfa culture distributed in the Handong region, and the Xiawanggang Phase I culture distributed in the upper reaches of the Han River. Tangjiagang culture is the lower level of soap city culture by the impact and influence of the Gaomiao culture, many of its factors have inherited the tradition of the Gaomiao culture, especially the printed white pottery, pottery on the ornamental image, is the tradition of the Gaomiao culture (Figure 4). The Liulinxi culture appeared on the basis of the original Chengbeixi culture, and of course was also influenced by the Nanmuyuan culture in the Three Gorges area. There are other foreign factors in the Liulinxi culture: the stamped circular bottom kettle, the grate-dot folded belly bowl, etc. come from the Tangjiagang culture; the flat bottom bowl and the deep belly bowl come from the Lijiacun type of the old Guantai culture; its carved symbols may be related to the Huanghuai area, the carved symbols were first from the Jiahu culture, and later appeared in the Shuangdun culture, and the depicted symbols of the Liulinxi culture cannot seem to be said to have nothing to do with this. The Xiawanggang Phase I culture in the upper reaches of the Han River is considered to be a local type of Zaoyuan culture, which was influenced by the Jiahu culture. The border culture in the Eastern Han Dynasty was produced under the influence of the culture of the Huanghuai region in the Central Plains. In the Central Plains, the middle and upper reaches of the Huai River, and the Nanyang region, around 7,000 years ago, the Ding culture was relatively developed. There are quite a lot of Ding in the first phase of Baligang and the first phase of Xiawanggang, and the border culture is influenced by the above cultures, and its red pottery artifacts characterized by Ding and sub-waist-shaped ware seats are mostly from the above areas.
In absolute terms, the Tangjiagang culture, the Liulinxi culture, the Bianfa culture, and the Xiawanggang phase I culture are all around 7000 to 6300 years ago. Within the scope of this era, the Neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is obviously diverse, and it has not yet reached integration. This pluralism is still a north-south binary structural system. That is, the southern system represented by the Tangjiagang culture and the Liulinxi culture and the northern system represented by the border culture and the Xiawanggang phase I culture. The northern system is characterized by ding, and the southern system is characterized by kettles and circle foot discs.
After 6300 years ago, the cultural pattern of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River ushered in a new reorganization. In the southwest area (southern system) of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the Daxi culture was produced in the distribution range of the original Tangjiagang culture and Liulinxi culture. In the northeast area of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (northern system), another archaeological culture appeared later, the Red Pottery Yauziling culture. At the same time, in the Xiangjiang River basin of the southeast area, a new archaeological culture different from the Daxi culture appeared- the Duiziling culture. The upper reaches of the Han River are the distribution areas of Yangshao culture (Xiyin culture) (Figure 5).
Daxi culture is produced on the basis of Tangjiagang culture and Liulinxi culture, which mainly absorbs the cultural factors of Tangjiagang culture and Liulinxi, but also accepts the factors of foreign cultures. Circle foot plates and kettles are obvious traditions of the original local cultural factors, but the first phase of the Daxi culture also appeared in the three-legged bowl, the sub-waist seat with a folded abdomen, a low-neck wide-shoulder jar, and a false circle foot bowl. These factors generally come from the north and east of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The following Wang Gang phase I has a sub-waist shaped instrument seat, a low collar and a wide shoulder jar. The Huai River Basin is a popular area of false circle foot bowls and three-legged bowls, such as the Shuangdun ruins, Houjiazhai ruins, Longqiuzhuang ruins, etc., all of which have such artifacts, and these factors of the Daxi culture are most likely from the above areas. In the process of the emergence and development of Daxi culture, it is also continuously influenced by northern and eastern cultural factors. For example, in the second phase of the Daxi culture in the Dongting Lake area, there were single-ear cups, circle foot jars, and high-circle foot beans, and jade objects of huang, yue, and pendant also appeared. These factors have obvious relationships with the Anhui River and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, such as Huang EelZui, Beiyinyangying, Songze and other oriental cultures.
After the disintegration of the border culture in the Eastern Han Dynasty, here is a number of cultural relics with the red pottery system as the main body. The Wuhan area downstream of the Han River is represented by the remains of the front and iron gates. The Handong region is represented by the first phase of the third excavation of Qujialing, a group of youziling phase I, a group of Tanjialing phase I, and a group of longzui groups. At present, there are different understandings of such relics in the academic community, some people think that such relics are Yauziling culture, while some people think that this kind of remains is the result of the eastward expansion of the Daxi culture west of the Han River, so the nature of such relics is the Daxi culture. In short, the understanding of it still needs a process, and its cultural characteristics are not very obvious due to the limitations of the excavation data. It is hoped that there will be more excavation results in the future, in order to better understand this batch of archaeological cultures with red pottery as the main body.
The transition from the red pottery relics to the Yauziling culture has also been found, represented by the Yauziling Phase I Group II, the Longzui Ii Group and the Liuhei Phase I. The remains of this type already have the characteristics of the Yauziling culture in form, although they are still dominated by red pottery, but the number of gray and black pottery has accounted for a large proportion. The remains of the black pottery system of the Yauziling culture are superimposed on the strata of the aforementioned red pottery remains, the early remains of the second excavation of Qujialing, the remains of the second and third phases of the third excavation, the third phase of the Tanjialing site, the second phase of the Youziling site, and the Class B remains of the Liuhe site. This is a group of utensils represented by ding, curved belly cup, gui and bean, and its development has evolved from red and gray pottery to black pottery. The time of occurrence is roughly around 5700 years ago, which is equivalent to the second period of the Daxi culture in the Liyang Plain and Xiajiang area. At this time, the southeast of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, that is, the northeast and southeast of Hunan Province, is still the Duziling culture. The main distribution area of Duziling culture is the middle and lower reaches of the Xiangjiang River Basin, the lower reaches of Zishui, and the area south of Yuanshui Gudao, and the typical sites are Xiangtan Duziling, Xiangyin Qingshan, Yueyang Daorenji, and Linxiang Toba. There are also sites such as Cai Jiayuan, Yuzhu Bao, and Loess Dam in the lower reaches of zishui. The dividing line between the Duiziling culture and the Daxi culture is on the south side of the Yuanshui Ancient Road. In recent years, remnants that clearly belong to the Duiziling culture have been found at sites such as Hanshou Malanzui and Lao tomb mountain. The upper reaches of the Han River and the Nanyang Basin were still occupied by the Yangshao culture at this time, and the academic circles were also known as the Zhujiatai culture. In addition, there is also an archaeological and cultural relic represented by the remains of the second phase of the carved dragon stele in the Suiju Corridor.
From this point of view, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River during the Daxi culture period did not form a unified archaeological and cultural community, and there were still diverse archaeological cultures distributed in different spaces and river basins. Of course, the people of these interregional cultural communities are not without exchanges, on the contrary, they have a very close relationship, such as the Duiziling culture continues to be influenced by the Daxi culture, and the Daxi culture also appeared in the late Period of Tao Ding, which should be influenced by the Duiziling culture. There are also exchanges between the Duiziling culture and the remains of the red pottery system in the Handong region, and the Yangshao culture in the upper reaches of the Han River also has obvious exchanges with the Daxi culture. The cultural relics of the Youziling culture of the Red Pottery System of Handong are also influenced by the culture of the upper reaches of the Han River, the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Huai River Basin.
Second, from diversity to unity
Among the many archaeological cultures in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River dating back about 5700 years, the Youziling culture in the Handong region is the most active. The emergence of the Yauziling culture itself is diverse, and soon after its production, there was a significant change in its own characteristics, and this change was from the red pottery system to the black pottery system, which meant that the production and production of pottery - the industrial technology system of the Neolithic era changed. The advanced production technology that emerged in the evolution from red pottery to black pottery has driven the development of all aspects, and then showed the vigorous vitality of Yauziling culture. Therefore, the pottery vessels characterized by the black pottery system and the combination of ding, bean, pot, gui and curved belly cup were constructed to construct the material and spiritual characteristics of the Youziling culture, which once produced, was spread outward with a very obvious advantage. Around 5500 years ago, it expanded westward across the Han River and south across the Yangtze River, so that the original Place of Daxi Culture was occupied by the Youziling Culture. The lower reaches of the Han River and the eastern Hubei region also showed the style of Youziling culture at this time. Therefore, including the Jianghan Plain, most of Edong, the Western Hubei Gorge River, and the area around Dongting Lake, the two lakes in the narrow sense, the emergence of a pure Yauziling culture, which means that a single cultural community appeared for the first time in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the Yauziling culture realized the integration of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River for the first time. Of course, even so, it is still not excluded that there are other cultures on the periphery of this cultural community, nor does it rule out that there are still certain regional differences within the YauZiling Cultural Community, but this cannot change the objective fact that it integrates the culture and society of the central area of the two lakes.
After the integration of Youziling culture, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River ushered in the Qujialing era. Qujialing culture is developed on the basis of Yauziling culture, which mainly inherits the factors of Yauziling culture. In a number of important sites such as Chengtou Mountain, Chengcheng Gang, Cheshi Mountain, Shijiahe, Qujialing, etc., it is obvious that the Youziling culture is inherited by the Qujialing culture, and each small area also has its own characteristics of the region. Although there are these local characteristics, although in the process of its formation and development, it has also been influenced by some peripheral cultures, such as Dawenkou culture and Yangshao culture, the overall style of Qujialing culture is highly consistent, no matter how many local types of Qujialing culture is divided, the overall characteristics of its culture are unified. In this sense, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the Qujialing cultural era were culturally unified. From the perspective of cultural genealogy, from the Youziling culture to the Qujialing culture, it is also the same cultural genealogy. In this way, it can be roughly determined that the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the Qujialing cultural period are culturally dominant in the form of a monoculture structure, starting from the integration of youziling culture to the Qujialing cultural period, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River have completed the transformation from diversity to integration. The geographical range of The distribution of Qujialing culture is significantly expanded compared with that of Youziling culture. To the west, enter the Three Gorges Gorge Area to reach Yudong, to the south, trace the Yuanshui River up into the yuanshui upper reaches of the yuanshui area, cross the Dabie Mountains to the east into henan, and go north to the yellow river. It has become a strong archaeological culture that crosses the Yangtze River Huai River and reaches the Yellow River in the north, with a wide range of distribution and distinct cultural characteristics, and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River have also entered the Qujialing era.
Another feature of Qujialing culture is its expansion, in its development and prosperity period, it moved north, occupying a large area south of the Yellow River and the middle and upper reaches of the Huai River, and its factors even affected the sphere of influence of the Dawenkou culture. In such a vast and wide space, does the Qujialing culture maintain its high degree of consistency? After analysis, there are still some obvious differences between the various regions. For example, the Qujialing culture around Dongting Lake is more influenced by the traditional types of Youziling culture in this area, and the Ding, Bean, and Pot-shaped utensils are developed. The Handong region is more affected by the regional factors of the Youziling culture in the area, with distinctive characteristics of ding, bowl, bean, pot, pot, thin tire faience cup, and faience spinning wheel. Of course, there are other regional differences, and the research on the relevant Qujialing cultural types has been thoroughly analyzed on this issue, which will not be repeated. The latest archaeological discoveries show that the Han River is still a very important cultural dividing line. The cultural characteristics of sites in the Eastern Han Region, such as Qujialing and Shijiahe, are the same, but there are differences west of the Han River. The tombs at the Chenghe site show this situation, and the morphological characteristics of a number of burial artifacts here seem to be closer to the burial artifacts of the same period in the distant Yangtze River south of Zomaling and Chengtou Mountain, but they are significantly different from the Qujialing cultural tombs in Dengjiawan and Xiaojiayaling ridge sites, which are closer and separated from the Han River. There is a deep meaning in this, and it is necessary to carefully consider the reasons behind it. However, some kind of special artifacts excavated from the Chenghe site are closer to the Shijiahe area, such as barrel-shaped vessels and four-eared artifacts, which may have great religious characteristics, and the Chenghe, Qujialing and Shijiahe are highly consistent, and are basically absent in the Qujialing cultural remains on the south bank of the Yangtze River.
3. Culture, ancient cities and ancient countries
One of the most obvious features of the Qujialing era is its city, and 20 Sites of Qujialing Cultural City have been found in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (Figure 6). The construction years of these cities, some are the early Qujialing culture, and some are the middle and late Qujialing culture, indicating that the construction and use of these cities have been successive, and there are also coexistence. There is no doubt that the social organization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the Qujialing era has obviously entered a complex society, but how to define it is still difficult. Is it an ancient country that unifies the rivers and lakes, or a small state that coexists and does not belong to each other? In addition, there are still some questions that need to be clarified: what is the relationship between the existence of dozens of ancient cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River during the Qujialing culture period? Has a single city been formed, and are all the other cities subordinate to and controlled by the central city? In short, have some kind of political, economic, and cultural subordination been formed between these cities? This is a problem. Another problem is that our current archaeological research, including the typology of pottery relative dating, or even absolute ageing such as carbon fourteen measurements, cannot be accurate to less than 100 years. Even if we take a hundred years as a measure, it is entirely possible that a group of people will build two cities in the first 10 years and the last 10 years in 100 years, then the two cities that are separated by 90 years may become the cities of the same period in the researcher's vision. In addition, these dozens of cities correspond to a group of people? How many groups or dozens of people? That is, do these cities still need to be grouped, how many cities are in the group, and are they sequential or simultaneous? Is there a sequence or simultaneous between groups? And so on, the current archaeological work is not refined to such a degree. From another point of view, if there were actually several different groups of people in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River during the Qujialing Era, and they coexisted in some way, then the middle reaches of the Yangtze River may form a community of A, B, C or a variety of people. These communities may form loose alliances between them, and a high degree of unity within the communities. The three communities of A, B and C may build cities one after another. The king of each community may lead the people to build cities in several places. In this way, there are still options: these dozens of cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River may be built by one or several groups of people successively; it may also be built by several groups of people at the same time. In the early days, it was common for countries to move, and the first merchants and early merchants had moved the capital many times and built cities many times. In the early days, the capital of the Chu state was also moved very frequently. So during the Qujialing culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, could it be that various people's communities may also be led by their "kings" or "chiefs" and "move the capital" many times to build cities? Or, can these cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River at present be the result of the many migrations of one or more ethnic groups and the "residence of all"? Because this kind of "capital relocation" is entirely likely to be affected by various internal and external factors, including internal control, regulation, defense, attack by external forces, floods, etc., it may lead to frequent capital relocation. The reason for this is not yet fully understood.
Shijiahe culture is the product of the development of Qujialing culture, which comprehensively inherits the tradition of Qujialing culture and further carries it forward. The Shijiahe cultural period was the heyday of the culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and in terms of the settlement sites of the Liyang Plain, the number of Shijiahe cultural sites was several times that of the Qujialing culture, and the Same was generally true of the Jianghan Plain. The distribution range of Shijiahe culture has expanded on the basis of maintaining the distribution area of Qujialing culture. The distribution of Shijiahe culture in Hunan also crossed the southern bank of Dongting Lake and reached the Xiangtan and Zhuzhou areas in the middle reaches of the Xiang River. In Hubei, it is distributed to the southeast of Hubei to form the Yaojialin type, and the northeast of Hubei crosses the Dabie Mountains to reach the Zhumadian area.
To investigate the culture of the Shijiahe cultural era, we have to focus on Shijiahe City, from the Youziling culture to the Qujialing culture and the Shijiahe culture, which has always been the largest city in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. In the researchers' field of view, it is the center of the late Neolithic period in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. But how is the center determined? Whether area is necessary to define the central criterion needs to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. If the Shijia River is the center of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, it not only means that its culture is leading, but it should also have a leading position in other aspects, not only the role of the leader, but also the role of commanding the city. To study this problem, the lower reaches of the Yangtze River may be referred to. During the Liangzhu culture period in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, a political, economic and cultural community centered on the ancient city of Liangzhu had been formed in the Taihu lake area, and the ancient city of Liangzhu had become the location of the veritable capital of wang, and the relationship between the regional sub-settlement centers of other Liangzhu cultural distribution areas and the ancient city of Liangzhu was similar to the relationship between "central" and "local". Did this situation also exist during the Qujialing-Shijiahe cultural period in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River? At present, the ancient city of Shijiahe obviously has the highest rank among the cities. The so-called highest level, of course, must be based on the area of the city, and this indicator must not be missing. In addition, it is a special relic, after observation, there are many special relics and relics that appear in the ancient city of Shijiahe first, such as cylindrical vessels, four-eared vessels, faience spinning wheels, eggshell faience cups, ceramic sculpture animals, red pottery cups stacked, sleeve cylinders with carved symbols, etc. These remains are found earliest in the ancient city of Shijiahe, the largest number, and the richest and most typical forms. Many of them are not used in everyday life, but should be representations of religion and ideas. These remains, which are commonly found in the ancient city of Shijiahe, appear only in small quantities or occasionally in other city sites. This is not a matter of probability, but a reflection of reality. Different from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River are different from the Liangzhu culture, which uses jade and jade to determine inferiority, or uses some special form of artificial remains to characterize the political and cultural relations behind it. In this sense, during the Qujialing-Shijiahe cultural period, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River had already formed a political and cultural community centered on the Shijiahe River, and the unity of culture reached its peak during this period.
Conclusion
The overall investigation of the neolithic cultural process in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is not only a process of continuous absorption of foreign multicultural factors, but also a process of interaction and exchange between various regions within the unified cultural community. Judging from the history of cultural development in the region, the region has always been an open area, and its archaeological culture has also been produced and developed in the process of internal and external cultural exchanges and integration. Therefore, the prehistoric cultural and historical traditions in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River are inclusive and pluralistic. In the process of development, the characteristics of the north-south binary structure are more obvious. The north-south duality is also the basic structure of Chinese culture, from the prehistoric period to the historical period, it is precisely with this dualistic structure as the starting point to innovate the pluralistic and integrated structure of Chinese civilization, which presents the eternal vitality of Chinese culture.
The prosperous stage of the ancient city of Shijiahe is also a highly developed and prosperous stage of prehistoric culture and society in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The middle reaches of the Yangtze River during the Qujialing-Shijiahe cultural period also had an important position in prehistoric China, covering a vast range and region, creating advanced cultures, and many cultural factors were inherited by future generations. The city moat system it created had an extremely far-reaching impact on ancient Chinese cities and urban civilization. In the Qujialing-Shijiahe cultural era, rice farming areas like Chicken Calling City appeared, creating a monument in agricultural irrigation and garden construction. The wooden structure recently discovered at the site of Jimingcheng has a deep relationship with the traditional Chinese architecture of later generations, which is the contribution of prehistoric culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River to Chinese culture. On this basis, Chinese culture has formed more than 5,000 years of uninterrupted continuous development of Chinese civilization from pluralism to unity, and thus cast a glorious historical process of the Chinese national community.
Author Affilications:Yuelu College, Hunan University
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Editor: Xiang Yu
Proofreader: Water Life
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