Historically, the banks of the Xilamulun River north of Yanshan Mountain, west of Yiwu Lu Mountain, east of Qilaotu Mountain, the upper reaches of the Liao River, and the linghe River basin of the big and small rivers, were customarily referred to as the western Liaoning region, and the residents here used barrel-shaped clay pots. The area south of Yanshan is inhabited by people who use pottery bowls, pottery supports, and combination cooking utensils or use pottery dings. In the middle reaches of the Yellow River, residents who use small-mouth pointed bottom bottles are distributed. They belong to the three most important ethnic groups in ancient northern China, starting from around 6500 years ago, "you come and go", constantly colliding and merging, interpreting the historical story of more than a thousand years in western Liaoning, and also achieving the birth of the Hongshan civilization around 5200 years ago.
Multi-ethnic collision in western Liaoning
The earliest archaeological culture in western Liaoning is the Chahai-Xinglongwa culture, which once crossed the Yanshan Mountains and reached the Yannan region when its power was at its strongest. Around 7200, under the influence of the northward advance of the Yannan Magnetic Mountain culture, the frontier of the Chahai-Xinglongwa culture evolved into the Zhao Baogou culture, while the rest remained in the area north of the Xilamulun River, and later evolved into the Fuhe culture, and there is an archaeological culture related to them in the Lower Liao River Basin, called the Xinle Lower Culture.
The Xinglongwa site unearthed Yu Jue (top), the Niuheliang site unearthed the double first three-hole jade comb back ornament (middle), the Niuheliang site unearthed double hook cloud shaped jade pendant (bottom) Ye Yinian / courtesy photo
Around 6500 years ago, the Hougang I culture, which originated in the eastern foothills of the Taihang Mountains, quickly became stronger and began to swim up the Sanggan River, and without much resistance, entered northern Jin, central Jin, and south-central Inner Mongolia. The other crossed the Yan mountains and drove and occupied the living space of the Zhao Baogou cultural inhabitants, causing the latter to retreat to the north of the Xilamulun River. The pottery crafts of the aborigines who lived across the river and the gooka immigrants merged with each other to form a similar group of artifacts with both factors. This is the archaeological Red Mountain culture.
At the Sites of Ma'anqiao Mountain in Jianping and Xiaodongshan in Chaoyang, the information of the exclusivity of the powerful Hougang immigrant culture against the weak Zhao Baogou cultural group can be captured. The ruins of Ma'anqiao Mountain are located in the southwest of Shitaigou Village, Taipingzhuang Town, Jianping County, Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province. In the excavated pottery site with Zhao Baogou cultural characteristics, we found that there was an abnormal treatment method in which the human bones were deliberately placed in the site for secondary bone collection. This type of site is located in the same site as the other Hongshan people in the settlement.
The Xiaodongshan ruins are located in Yingzi Village, Liucheng Town, Chaoyang County, Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province. Among them, the pottery types and ornamental features excavated in a row of square house sites on the east side are similar to similar pottery of Zhao Baogou culture at the Site of Xizhai. The carved patterns on the surface of the pottery excavated in F5 have a clear relationship with the animal patterns of the Zhao Baogou culture, and are clearly different from the artifact groups excavated from the Hongshan cultural village on the west side of the site. Combined with the mud ringing method adopted on the north bank of the Xilamulun River, and the south bank is the mud strip plate construction method of the Hougang Phase I cultural tradition, it proves that the above sites should be the physical reflection of the Hougang people in the same location who drove and replaced the Zhao Baogou people, rather than the fusion of the two.
Around 6,000 years ago, the cultural pattern of the middle reaches of the Yellow River underwent tremendous changes, and the Banpo culture, which is characterized by small-mouth pointed bottom bottles and faience fish patterns, entered its late stage of "historian period". At this time, the distribution area of Banpo culture continued to expand, especially in the upper reaches of the Wei River to the west and into the Hetao area to the north, which formed a driving force for the cultural residents of the First Phase of Hougang who came here to live hundreds of years ago, and formed a white clay kiln culture in central and southern Inner Mongolia.
Soon after, the Xiyin culture that quietly emerged in the Southern Jin region also began to expand westward to east to south, and also advanced northward. Judging from the remnants of the Xiyin culture found in northern Jin and northern Hebei, the resistance of the local Hougang descendants should not be underestimated. For example, the site of Majia Village in Datong, Shanxi Province, has found a unique pentagonal house of Xiyin culture, but small-mouth pointed bottom bottles, brown faience pottery, etc. are more common, while clay pots, pottery stoves and typical faience pots and bowls common in Xiyin culture are rare or absent. The discovery in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, is much the same.
The formation and development of Hongshan culture
The above-mentioned changes in the cultural pattern triggered two different stages for the Hongshan culture between 6,000 and 5,500 years ago.
Hongshan Culture Jade Dragon Ye Yinian / Courtesy photo
In the first stage, the Shijia period Banpo culture and the Xiyin culture expanded northward, and as a result, the residents of the Hougang first period culture were driven out of decline. Since the Yannan region was gradually occupied by the Xiyin culture, their best retreat was only in the western Liaoning region. The emergence of factors in the Hongshan culture of the Shijia period Banpo culture and the Xiyin culture was first brought into the Liaoxi by the Hougang residents who carried the above factors, so this factor was always specious with the prototype of the Shijia period Banpo culture and the Xiyin culture.
Judging from the fact that two different pottery crafts on both sides of the Xilamulun River still exist steadily, the layout of the Hougang immigrants and the indigenous people living across the river in the western Liaoning region has not fundamentally changed. While the two are materially influenced by cultural elements from the middle reaches of the Yellow River, the spiritual identity of the ethnic groups on both sides of the strait is very obvious, and it seems that the indigenous people have the upper hand. For example, the Hougang immigrants adopted the indigenous burial forms - the stone mound and the burial with jade; the Hougang immigrants not only accepted the worship of dragons, but also created the image of the faience dragon; the long-established goddess worship was also accepted by the Hougang immigrants.
The second stage corresponds to the late Xiyin culture in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. At this time, between the white clay kiln culture and the Hongshan culture of the Banpo system, there was obviously no barrier between the descendants of the Hougang lineage, and the vague and specious manifestation of the Banpo elements in the Hongshan culture became real and clear. For example, the previous Faience pottery such as the hook and fork pattern of the Hongshan culture can only be found in the Banpo culture of the Shijia period, but it is a deformation on the basis of the original pattern of the latter, and the pattern of direct dissemination is basically invisible. At this time, whether it is a vessel type or a diagonal triangle, overlapping quadrilateral faience ornamentation is the same as the semi-slope system.
At this stage, the excavated pots, bowls, large-mouth pots, etc., especially the faience patterns, excavated from the ruins of the Niuheliang site "Goddess Temple", are clearly related to the origin of similar elements in the white clay kiln culture. Although the factors of The Xiyin culture also exist in the Hongshan culture, it is obvious that the influence of the White Clay Kiln Culture is stronger than that of the Baini kiln culture, and the Flower-shaped Faience Pottery of the Xiyin Culture that swept throughout the northern region at that time was almost absent in the Hongshan Culture. It can be seen that the fusion of Xiyin culture and Hongshan culture is not very smooth at least south of Yanshan. However, after the Xiyin culture entered Yannan, it cut off the connection between the Hougang immigrants and their mother group, making them lose their strong dependence, and eventually the latter lost its strong position that had lasted for nearly a thousand years in western Liaoning, and the indigenous ethnic groups in western Liaoning finally reclaimed their homeland south of the Xilamulun River. At this time, the Hongshan culture also entered the late stage.
The emergence of the New Order and the origin of the Red Mountain Civilization
Around 5500 years ago, the balance formed by the descendants of the Hougang lineage and the indigenous people of western Liaoning after nearly a thousand years of coexistence and run-in was finally broken, and the remains of the aboriginal style appeared south of the Xilamulun River. In the remains of the Niuheliang site at this time, we see the clay trap-shaped pottery that has never been seen in the remains of the hougang immigrants of the previous Hongshan culture, indicating that the aborigines have returned to their homeland south of the Xilamulun River. At this time, the so-called "aborigines" may include descendants of the Zhao Baogou culture, Fuhe culture and Xinle lower culture that existed here before the Hougang immigrants entered western Liaoning. Although they all come from the ancestral origin of the Xinglongwa culture, after a long period of evolution, the kinship between them may only remain some distant oral memories.
With the loss of the strength of the Hougang immigrants, the relatively well-resourced land south of the Syrhamulun River is facing redistribution, and the crowd needs to find a common foundation and common interests to reach a new balance. At this time, the emergence of such a large and luxurious sacrificial building as the Female Temple in Niuheliang should not be accidental, but the expression of the Hongshan people's tracing of common ancestors and seeking the basis and way to establish a new order. In this sense, to understand niuheliang, it can be said that since the stage of the female temple, it should become a religious shrine of the culture.
In the next two or three hundred years, the Xiyin culture in the Yellow River Basin disintegrated, and the entire northern region entered a stage of resource re-integration and distribution. Among the different images excavated from the Hongshan Cultural Site, there are both the images of foreigners with high large eyes and cheekbones or concave eyes and high noses, as well as the Chinese images of curved eyebrows, thin eyes, small mouths, or wide foreheads, wide noses, and thick lips, which shows that the collision of people in western Liaoning at this time should also enter a new peak period. Therefore, in the face of the intricate ethnic relations composed of new and old immigrants and the indigenous peoples who have been divided, exploring the paths and models of coexistence, symbiosis, complementarity and order has always been the most important background for the birth of the Hongshan civilization, and the emergence of public power above the bloodline system is urgently needed. Looking at the Hongshan society before and after the formation of civilization, it has the following six characteristics.
Niuheliang site 16 excavation of the jade man Ye Yinian / courtesy of the picture
First, the concentration of wealth of the Hongshan people is not obvious. The burial items in the hongshan culture tombs of the fourth phase of the Niuheliang site are all jade, and the number is limited, and the tombs with the richest burial products are not necessarily the central tombs, and the similar burials are almost not repeated in a tomb. It shows that this jade with special significance only expresses the identity of the owner of the tomb, does not represent wealth, and property has not yet become a symbol of distinguishing the membership level in the society at that time.
Second, the strong need for the military or the importance of military power in society has not yet been seen in the tombs. In the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins, the number of qi that represent military power and royal power has not only been excavated in the Hongshan culture, but also has a significantly lower status than that of artifacts that show divine power. A total of 5 pieces of jade (stone) jade (stone) were unearthed in Hongshan culture, and even though the jade may have stated at that time that the owner of the tomb had military command ability and power, its position in society was not prominent.
Third, the inhabitants of the same archaeological culture have basically formed beliefs and values similar to those of ethnic groups through systems such as religious knowledge. The cultural identity that has lasted for thousands of years caused by the continuous collision and triggering of different ethnic groups has enabled people who are basically in the same ecological niche to rise from the identification of utensils and patterns in the simple field of life to the gradual convergence of spiritual beliefs. Dragon worship and its image tend to be stereotyped to replace a variety of archetypal animal worship, female worship from abundant witchcraft props to become a common ancestral god, the tomb form of the stone tomb and the form of sacrifice of the barrel vessel, have gradually become the consensus of different regions and different groups of people in the entire Hongshan culture.
Fourth, the most advanced social productive forces are controlled by religious power. Jade making is the most complex and highly specialized process in the jade manufacturing industry, and there are tombs with buried jade, semi-finished products or processed scraps in sites such as Niuheliang and Banlashan, but they are not found in ordinary settlements, indicating that jade and jade production technology may be controlled by people with certain religious powers.
Fifth, a certain hierarchical model expressed in jade has been formed, and there are two types of jade with burial bracelet ring pendants, burial bracelet rings and animal-shaped jade or complex shaped jade pendants, and different jade combinations of three types of jade with burial bracelet rings and animal-shaped jade and complex shaped jade pendants, and form a certain correspondence with the tomb shape system, scale and location, indicating that the ceremonial instrument system has begun to take shape.
Sixth, from the regional investigation of the Hongshan culture, it can be seen that there are two characteristics of the cultural site, one is that there is a certain correspondence between the settlement or settlement group and the altar or the stone mound, and the other is that there is a hierarchical distinction between the religious building sites, and in the Xinglonggou site, the Straw Hat Mountain site, the Dongshanzui site, and the Niuheliang site, we can see that there are religious sacrifice sites at different levels belonging to the settlement, the settlement group, the super settlement group and the core area.
It is explained above that the secular hierarchical power in the Hongshan society is expressed by the system related to religion, although it is not mature enough, but in the vast distribution area of the Hongshan culture, its jade shape system has maintained a high degree of standardization, which should be restricted by rules, and should be a reflection of the Hongshan people's realization of secular rule through religious power. This kind of public power, which was prevalent in the Red Mountain society and transcended the blood clan society of a single ethnic group, was a manifestation of the emergence of the early state. The "Chinese Chu Yuxia" records that King Chu Zhao asked Guan Zhi's father how it was that "the heavy li shi made the heavens and the earth unclear". Through Guan Jie's father's answer, we know that the development of religion has undergone a transformation from "the mixture of people and gods" and "the history of witchcraft" to the "Jedi Heavenly Pass", and this transformation is based on the background of "Nine Li Chaos". According to historical records, jiuli is an ethnic group in ancient Chinese legends, from the Dongyi clique, and the Hongshan civilization in western Liaoning and its social background are consistent with this record.
From the Hougang migration entering the western Liaoning region in an exclusive form, to the continuous impact of the Banpo and Xiyin systems on the Hongshan culture, ethnic collision and cultural integration have always been the main theme of the development of Hongshan culture. In this context, the Hongshan people's integration and development from the material level to the spiritual level of identification not only embodies the wisdom of the ancients and the Long-standing national spiritual pursuit of peace, seeking common ground and symbiosis of the Chinese nation, but also creates a civilization model of Hongshan culture that is different from the civilization model of "worship and Rong" in the Yellow River and Yangtze River Basins, which embodies the diversity of the origins of Chinese civilization.
(Author Affilications:School of History, Liaoning University; Shanxi Institute of Archaeology)
Source: China Social Science Network - China Social Science Daily Author: Zhang Xingde Tian Jianwen