Cishan culture

Cishan culture

Geographical range	Hebei,Henan
Period	Neolithic China
Dates	6500–5000 BC
Type site	Cishan
Preceded by	Nanzhuangtou
Followed by	Yangshao culture
Chinese name
Chinese	Từ sơn văn hóa
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Císhān wénhuà

TheCishan culture(6500–5000 BC) was aNeolithicculturein northernChina,on the eastern foothills of theTaihang Mountains.The Cishan culture was based on the farming ofbroomcorn millet,the cultivation of which on one site has been dated back 10,000 years. The people at Cishan also began to cultivatefoxtail milletaround 8700 years ago.However, these early dates have been questioned by some archaeologists due to sampling issues and lack of systematic surveying.

Common artifacts from the Cishan culture include stone grinders, stone sickles and tripod pottery. The sickle blades feature fairly uniformserrations,which made the harvesting of grain easier. Cord markings, used as decorations on the pottery, was more common compared to neighboring cultures. Also, the Cishan potters created a broader variety of pottery forms such as basins, pot supports, serving stands, and drinking cups.

Since the culture shared many similarities with its southern neighbor, thePeiligang culture,both cultures were sometimes previously referred to together as theCishan-Peiligang cultureorPeiligang-Cishan culture.The Cishan culture also shared several similarities with its eastern neighbor, theBeixin culture.However, the contemporary consensus among archaeologists is that the Cishan people were members of a distinct culture that shared many characteristics with its neighbors.

This culture has been linked to the origin of theSino-Tibetanlanguage family.

Red oval is the late Cishan and the earlyYangshao cultures.After applying the linguistic comparative method to the database of comparative linguistic data developed byLaurent Sagartin 2019 to identify sound correspondences and establish cognates, phylogenetic methods are used to infer relationships among these languages and estimate the age of their origin and homeland.

Cishan type site

Thetype siteat Cishan is located inWu'an,Hebei, China on a low elevation mesa. The site covers an area of around 80,000 m²(861,113 sq ft). The houses at Cishan were semi-subterranean and round. The site showed evidence of domesticated pigs, dogs and chickens, with pigs providing the primary source of meat. The Cishan people hunted deer and wild boar. Nuts (Juglans regiaandCorylus heterophylla),Celtis bungeana,wild apricots and pears, and various roots and tubers were foraged from the surrounding forests. Fish was also an important part of the diet at Cishan, specifically carp and herring from the nearby river; fishing nets made from hemp fibers were used.

Over 500 subterraneanstorage pitswere discovered at Cishan. These pits were used to store millet. The largest pits were 5 meters deep and capable of storing up to 1,000 kg (2,205 lb) of millet.

See also

• List of Neolithic cultures of China
• Dadiwan culture
• Prehistoric Beifudi site

References

• Allan, Sarah(ed),The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An Archaeological Perspective,ISBN0-300-09382-9
• Higham, Charles,The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia,ISBN0-521-56505-7
• Liu, Li;Chen, Xingcan (2012).The Archaeology of China: From the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-64310-8.
• Zhu, Yanping (2013). "The Early Neolithic in the Central Yellow River Valley, c. 7000–4000 BC". In Underhill, Anne P. (ed.).A Companion to Chinese Archaeology.John Wiley & Sons. pp. 171–193.ISBN978-1-4443-3529-3.
• Sagart, Laurent;Jacques, Guillaume;Lai, Yunfan; Ryder, Robin; Thouzeau, Valentin;Greenhill, Simon J.;List, Johann-Mattis(2019), "Dated language phylogenies shed light on the history of Sino-Tibetan",Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,116(21): 10317–10322,doi:10.1073/pnas.1817972116,PMC6534992,PMID31061123.
  • "Origin of Sino-Tibetan language family revealed by new research".ScienceDaily(Press release). May 6, 2019.