Lower Xiajiadian culture

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The Lower Xiajiadian culture (Simplified Chinese: 夏家店下层文化; Traditional Chinese: 夏家店下層文化; pinyin: Xiàjiādiàn xiàcéng wénhuà; 2200–1600 BC^[1]) was an archaeological culture in Northeast China, found mainly in southeastern Inner Mongolia, northern Hebei and western Liaoning, China. The culture was based on millet farming, supplemented with animal husbandry and hunting. The remains of pigs were mostly commonly found, while dogs, sheep and cattle were also found. The culture built permanent settlements and achieved high population densities. The population levels reached by the Lower Xiajiadian culture in the Chifeng region would not be matched until the Liao Dynasty^[2]. The culture was preceded by the Hongshan culture, through the transitional Xiaoheyan culture. The type site is represented by the lower layer at Xiajiadian, Chifeng, Inner Mongolia.

Stone, bone and pottery artefacts were discovered at Lower Xiajiadian sites, while gold, lead, lacquer, jade, copper and bronze artefacts were also found. The most commonly found copper and bronze artefacts were earrings.

The culture practiced oracle bone divination, as oracle bones were discovered at Lower Xiajiadian sites. The culture prepared its oracle bones by drilling and polishing the bones before heating them. No inscriptions were incised into the Lower Xiajiadian oracle bones.

The culture had good access to local sources of stone, primarily basalt, which were often used in construction and tool-making. Lower Xiajiadian houses were typically round, made from mud and stone, and surrounded by stone walls. Lower Xiajiadian settlements were built with its back protected by cliffs or steep slopes, and noted for building stone walls around the non-sloped perimeter of its settlement. Typical walls were narrow. More advanced walls incorporated watchtowers and were built by sandwiching a rammed earth core with two sides of stone walls.

[edit] See also

Dadianzi
Upper Xiajiadian culture
Zhukaigou culture
Late Jeulmun pottery period, a contemporaneous (c. 2000–1500 BC) culture with small-scale cultivation of millet in the adjacent Korean peninsula.

[edit] Notes

^ Leadership Strategies, Economic Activity, and Interregional Interaction: Social Complexity in Northeast China, pp. 89
^ Leadership Strategies, Economic Activity, and Interregional Interaction: Social Complexity in Northeast China, pp. 120