The Dawenkou culture is named after the dawenkou site discovered in 1959 in Tai'an County, Shandong Province. The ruins are mainly distributed in Shandong, Jiangsu and northern Anhui, and belong to the branch primitive culture of the lower reaches of the Yellow River. The Dawenkou culture has a long history, starting at least in 4500 BC and transitioning to a typical Longshan culture around 2300 BC, which lasted for about 2000 years, during which it can be divided into early, middle and late periods. Dawenkou culture and typical, Longshan culture is self-contained in China's primitive cultural system, and is one of the important sources of ancient Chinese civilization. Pottery and production tools excavated at the Wang Yin site. Among the Dawenkou cultural sites, the Wang Yin site is an early representative, located 10 kilometers southwest of Yanzhou City, Shandong Province, and was excavated five times between 1975 and 1978, with an excavation area of more than 7,000 square meters. More than ten house sites, nearly 100 cellars and ash pits, and nearly 900 tombs were cleared. According to carbon-14 dating, the site lasted from 4500 BC to 3500 BC, lasting about 1000 years. The largest group of tombs in the Dawenkou culture was found at this site.
Dawenkou Cultural Site
The pottery excavated from the Wang Yin site is all hand-kneaded, and there is no wheeling technique. The surface of the pottery is mainly plain, with a small amount of faience, and the late faience pottery increases. Pottery is mainly ding, cup, beans and bowls. Dinghe cups are two kinds of pottery that are quite distinctive in the Dawenkou culture, but the most characteristic pottery mane and back pot in the Dawenkou culture, none of which have been found here, show the early nature of this site. The pottery of the Wang Yin site is all made of sand pottery. The so-called sand pottery is to add a certain amount of sand to the soil of the pottery. Sand-filled pottery walls have fixed gaps that do not explode in the event of a fierce fire. There are not many faience pottery in the Wang Yin site, and the shape of the vessel is such as pots and bowls. The color is mainly red, black and white, and the pattern is mostly petal pattern and hook pattern, and there are also mountain-shaped, diamond-shaped, wavy, triangular and other patterns. Some of the mouth edges are also painted. The most common production tools are stone shovels, but there are also stone axes, stone hammers, stone chisel spinning wheels, gravel, stone balls and so on. The stone shovels are perforated.
Pottery from the Wang Yin ruins
In the tomb, men are mostly buried with stone shovel production tools, and women are mostly buried with spinning wheels, bone needles, etc., indicating that men and women have a certain division of labor, and male cultivators and female weaves have taken shape. The natural environment of the Wang Yin site. The number of animal skeletons excavated from the Wang Yin site is quite staggering, and there are more than a thousand tools and ornaments made of bones, horns and mussels. More than 10,000 animal bones and mussel shells have been excavated in the cultural layer and ash pits. Relevant experts have identified more than 700 bones and confirmed that these animal bones belong to 42 species such as mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and shellfish. Among these animals, the discovery of the Yangtze crocodile is of great significance. According to studies, the remains of the Yangtze crocodile are from 11 ash pits that have been excavated, and according to studies, there are at least 22 individuals with different body lengths, some of which are more than 1.5 meters long and some of which are less than 1 meter°. It should be locally produced, slaughtered on the spot, skinned and eaten meat. Amphibians and reptiles with such a large body must not survive and reproduce in the usual streams and lakes, and there must be large waters, vast lakes or rivers suitable for the yangtze crocodile to live. The Yangtze crocodile grows in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, about 118° to 120 east longitude and 30° to 31% north latitude.
spicule
The northern limit of the distribution of the Yangtze crocodile has retreated from 35* 26' north latitude where the Wang Yin site is located 6,000 years ago, and has retreated to the south by 30° to 31%. The main reason for this is that the climate in the early Wangyin region of Dawenkou was warmer and wetter than today, which was suitable for the survival of the Yangtze crocodile. The number of freshwater mussel shells unearthed at the Wang Yin site is considerable, and the shellfish belong to 26 species in 10 genera, such as lisai mussels, wedge mussels, pointed clams, sail mussels, and yu mussels. Many mussel shells have traces of processing, some are grinding the protruding knots on the surface of the shells, and some are cutting flat sail mussels into semi-finished products of a certain shape, which shows that people at that time had used thick mussel shells to make utensils. Of the 26 species of mussels, 14 are found in the present-day south, and the rest are widely distributed in both the north and the south. This is a fairly typical group of animals, and most of this group currently grows in the south of our country. Why did such a biopopulation appear in Shandong 6,000 years ago? The only explanations are climatic and environmental factors. Because in the Wangyin area, which dates back to 6,000 years ago, there is an ecological environment similar to that of Dongting Lake in the Yangtze River Basin. Among the seven species of bony fish in the soil, there are round-nosed catfish, southern catfish, long-snouted abalone, etc., which can only be seen in the Yangtze River Basin today.
Dongting Lake
Among the plant pollen, there are large amounts of rice pollen and subtropical fern spores. Rice is a wet- and warm-loving crop. Ferns also now only grow in the Yangtze River basin. Judging from the results of the analysis of plant pollen, the climate during the ancient Wang Yin site period was warm and humid." The remains of animals and plants excavated from the Wang Yin site provide us with a batch of very typical and rich materials for us to understand the ancient environment of the Dawenkou culture and even the Yellow River Basin and its changes. The people of the Wang Yin clan of the Dawenkou culture 6,000 years ago lived in a warm, humid climate, and there were vast waters near their residences, with schools of fish swimming in the clear water, and mussels on the shore opening their shells to bask in the sun. The Wang Yin people collect mussels on the shore and fish in the water, although they also have to guard against crocodile attacks at all times, but they have mastered its habits, they have been able to catch it, kill it to eat its flesh, use its skin, they use the kettle-shaped ding to cook delicious fish soup or crocodile meat, boil rice porridge in the jar shape, hold up a high foot yao-shaped cup, drink low-grade wine made of rice, and enjoy the fruits of labor.
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