Majiabang culture
The Majiabang culture, formerly also written Ma-chia-pang, was a Neolithic culture that occupied the Yangtze River Delta, primarily around Lake Tai west of modern Shanghai and north of Hangzhou Bay. The culture spread throughout southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang north of Hangzhou Bay from around 5000 BC to 3300 BC, coexisting with the Hemudu culture in Zhejiang south of the bay. The later part of the period is now considered a separate cultural phase, referred to as the Songze culture. The Majiabang and Songze cultures were succeeded in their area by the Liangzhu culture.
Based on their archaeological findings, archaeologists have theorised that the Majiabang culture is the origin of the early fishing, hunting and gathering economy in China, and that the rice-dominant system of agriculture was developed by people living in this period.
Majiabang people cultivated rice. At Caoxieshan and Chuodun, sites of the Majiabang culture, archaeologists excavated paddy fields, indicating the centrality of rice to the economy. In addition faunal remains excavated from Majiabang archaeological sites indicated that people had domesticated pigs. However, the remains of sika and roe deer have been found, showing that people were not totally reliant on agricultural production. Archaeological sites also bear evidence that Majiabang people produced jade ornaments.
In the lower stratum of the Songze excavation site in Shanghai's modern day Qingpu District, archaeologists found the prone skeleton of one of the area's earliest inhabitantsa 25–30-year-old male with an almost complete skull dated to the Majiabang era.
Related cultures
Initially, archaeologists had considered the Majiabang sites and sites in northern Jiangsu to be part of the same culture, naming it the. Archaeologists later realized that the northern Jiangsu sites were of the Dawenkou culture and renamed the southern Jiangsu sites Majiabang culture. Some scholars state that the Hemudu culture co-existed with the Majiabang culture as two separate and distinct cultures, with cultural transmissions between the two. Other scholars group Hemudu in with Majiabang subtraditions.Environment
The climate in the period had more annual rainfall than at present, with higher average temperature. From 7000 to 6500 BP, the annual precipitation was 1500 to 2000 mm with the average temperature 15 to 18 °C. After that, the average temperature reduced about 6000 BP, and slightly increased again about 5500 BP. Since 5300 BP, the temperature has gradually become cooler, in parallel with the climate changes in Northern Europe and Northern Asia during the Recent Epoch.Related sites
The Weidun Site, one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the Majiabang culture, was discovered at Weidun village, Changzhou, Jiangsu Province in September 1985. At this site, several artifacts and about 38 burials were uncovered by the archaeological team from the Changzhou Museum and the Department of Anthropology from Zhejiang University. In addition, the deposit of this site is nearly 2 meters and can be separated into six layers, the ploughed layer on top, yellow-brown soil, yellow-green soil, grey-brown soil, grey-black soil and yellow-brown sterile soil at the bottom. Among those burials, 33 of them were considered as belonging to the period of the Majiabang culture, and those were found below a layer of yellow-brown, grey-brown and grey-black soil. Only 7 burials contained grave objects; the tomb M127 which was discovered under the layer of yellow-brown soil was one of them. Inside this tomb, the archaeologists found no trace of a coffin or burial pit, instead, they only found a male skeleton lying on his back, lying at a 20-degree angle, and facing east, with a few grave objects that include stone adzes, spindle whorls and ceramic bo-bowls.Material culture
Artifacts
In the Majiabang culture, people were already starting to make artifacts with different materials, jade and pottery in particular. They made these objects for different purposes. These Neolithic artifacts usually represent the combinations of beliefs and economic needs, they could also be seen as reflections of the owners' social status and identity in the Neolithic period.Jade
Majiabang people used jade when making ornaments. At Weisun Site, a few jade objects were found in the Majiabang Culture deposits, including hue-earrings, huang-pendants, small tube, and other ornaments. For example, a penannular jade ring and semi-annular jade discs, all made from local materials.Pottery
In the Majiabang culture, all the pottery from the early period and most from the late period was handmade. Compared with the early period, the late period contained more types and styles of pottery. People made the pottery objects for with a particular function in mind. For example, pottery, pots, jars, bowls, etc. Those were important in their daily life, like cooking, drinking, and rituals. In the early period, people were using the mud from the bank, firewood that was heaped and the level earth to make the pottery, while in the late period, they started to put the red cover on the pottery. Besides that, those pottery objects also could be used as burial objects, this could be proved through the archaeological discoveries from those tombs.At Weidun Site, archaeologists discovered a huge number of pottery objects, include fu-cauldrons, guan-pots, ding-tripod, dou-stemmed plates, bo-bowls, and pen-basins, most of them were fine-clay ware, and some were tempered with shell or sand.