Dawenkou culture

File:Painted Pottery Bowl Early Dawenkou Culture (c. 4,400—3,600 BCE) Excavated from Wangyin Site, Yanzhou, Shandong. Capital Museum, Beijing.jpg

Archaeologists commonly divide the culture into three phases: the early phase (4100–3500 BC), the middle phase (3500–3000 BC) and the late phase (3000–2600 BC). Based on the evidence from grave goods, the early phase was highly egalitarian. The phase is typified by the presence of individually designed, long-stemmed cups. Graves built with earthen ledges became increasingly common during the latter parts of the early phase. During the middle phase, grave goods began to emphasize quantity over diversity. During the late phase, wooden coffins began to appear in Dawenkou burials. The culture became increasingly stratified, as some graves contained no grave goods while others contained a large quantity of grave goods.

The type site at Dawenkou, located in Tai'an, Shandong, was excavated in 1959, 1974 and 1978. Only the middle layer at Dawenkou is associated with the Dawenkou culture, as the earliest layer corresponds to the Beixin culture and the latest layer corresponds to the early Shandong variant of the Longshan culture.

{{Continental Asia in 3000 BCE|right|{{center|The Dawenkou culture and other contemporary cultures {{c.|3000 BC}}}}|{{Location map~|Continental Asia|lat=37|long=119|position=left|mark=Orange dot (semi-transparent).png|marksize=20}}||}}

The term "chiefdom" seems to be appropriate in describe the political organization of the Dawenkou. A dominant kin group likely held sway over Dawenkou village sites, though power was most likely manifested through religious authority rather than coercion. Unlike the Beixin culture from which they descend, the people of the Dawenkou culture were noted for being engaged in violent conflict. Scholars suspect that they may have engaged in raids for land, crops, livestock and prestige goods.{{cite book|last1=Peregrine|first1=Peter N.|title=Encyclopedia of Prehistory: Volume 3: East Asia and Oceania|date=2001|page=14}}

The warm and wet climate of the Dawenkou area was suitable for a variety of crops, though they primarily farmed millet at most sites. Their production of millet was quite successful and storage containers have been found that could have contained up to 2000 kg of millet, once decomposition is accounted for, have been found. For some of the southern Dawenkou sites, rice was a more important crop however, especially during the late Dawenkou period. Analysis done on human remains at Dawenkou sites in southern Shandong revealed that the diet of upper-class Dawenkou individuals consisted mainly of rice, while ordinary individuals ate primarily millet.

The Dawenkou people successfully domesticated chicken, dogs, pigs and cattle, but no evidence of horse domestication was found. Pig remains are by far most abundant, accounting for about 85% of the total, and are thought to be the most important domesticated animal. Pig remains were also found in Dawenkou burials also highlighting their importance. Seafood was also an important staple of the Dawenkou diet. Fish and various shellfish mounds have been found in the early periods indicating that they were important food sources. Although these piles became less frequent in the later stages, seafood remained an important part of the diet.{{cite book|last1=Underhill|first1=Anne|title=A companion to Chinese Archaeology|date=2013}}

Dawenkou's inhabitants were one of the earliest practitioners of trepanation in prehistoric China. A skull of a Dawenkou man dating to 3000 BC was found with severe head injuries which appeared to have been remedied by this primitive surgery.{{cite journal|last1=Han|first1=Kangxin|title=THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF TREPANATION IN EARLY CHINA|journal=Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China.|date=2007|pages=22–27}} Alligator hide drums have also been found in Dawenkou sites.

File:Dawenkou Culture Jade Necklace 01.jpg|Jade necklace, dated between 3500 and 2600 BC

File:20210529 Red pottery animal-shaped pot on display at Zhengzhou Museum.jpg|Red animal-shaped vessel

File:镂雕弦纹象牙梳08773.jpg|Ivory comb with openwork design

File:Yanzhou Museum 2015.08.13 15-22-17.jpg|Ceramic bracelets or rings

File:Bowl, Dawenkou Culture, 3500 BCE Nanjing.jpg|Painted bowl, dated circa 3500 BC

File:Dawenkou Culture Stone Adze.jpg|Stone adze

File:Painted Pottery Dou with Octagram Design.jpg|Stemmed vessel (dou 豆) with painted star motif

Painted Pottery A Container (c. 3,800—3,300 BCE) Excavated at the Diaolongbei Site, Zaoyang, Hubei. Capital Museum, Beijing.jpg|Painted Pottery A Container (c. 3,800—3,300 BCE) Excavated at the Diaolongbei Site, Zaoyang, Hubei. Capital Museum, Beijing.

File:Neolithic dog-shaped pottery gui, Dawenkou Culture, Shandong, 1974.JPG

The Dawenkou interacted extensively with the Yangshao culture. "For two and a half millennia of its existence the Dawenkou was, however, in a dynamic interchange with the Yangshao Culture, in which process of interaction it sometimes had the lead role, notably in generating Longshan. Scholars have also noted similarities between the Dawenkou and the Liangzhu culture as well as the related cultures of the Yantze River basin.{{cite book |title=Early Civilizations of the Old World: The Formative Histories of Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, India and China |last=Maisel |first=Charles Keith |year=1999 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-4151-0975-8 |page=284}} According to some scholars, the Dawenkou culture may have a link with a pre-Austronesian language.{{cite book |title=Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan |isbn=9781430308997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=013dKNOV77oC&pg=PA22 |last1=Manansala |first1=Paul Kekai |date=October 2006}}{{cite journal|last1=Sagart|first1=Laurent|title=The expansion of Setaria farmers in East Asia |url=https://www.academia.edu/3077307 |journal=Past Human Migrations in East Asia: Matching … |access-date=31 July 2014}}{{cite book |last1=Blench |first1=Roger |title=The Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics |date=2005 |url=https://archive.org/details/peoplingeastasia00blen|url-access=limited|isbn=9780415322423|publisher=Routledge|pages=[https://archive.org/details/peoplingeastasia00blen/page/n33 9]}} Other researchers also note a similarity between Dawenkou inhabitants and modern Austronesian peoples in cultural practices such as dental avulsion and architecture.{{cite book |last1=Blench |first1=Roger |title=Past Human Migrations in East Asia: Matching Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics |editor1=Alicia Sanchez-Mazas |editor2=Roger Blench |editor3=Malcolm D. Ross |editor4=Ilia Peiros |editor5=Marie Lin |series=Routledge studies in the early history of Asia |volume=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1gKF9iWqt0gC&pg=RA1-PT60 |date=2008 |publisher=Routledge |edition=1st |isbn=9780415399234}} However, the Dawenkou appeared to be genetically distinct from the pre-Austronesian cultures to their south.

File:Dawenkou suncloud.svg

The physical similarity of the Jiahu people to the later Dawenkou (2600 BC±4300 BC) indicates that the Dawenkou might have descended from the Jiahu, following a slow migration along the middle and lower reaches of the Huai and Hanshui.{{cite journal |author1=Juzhong Zhang |author2=Garman Harbottle |author3=Changsui Wang |author4=Zhaochen Kong |date=23 September 1999 |title=Oldest playable musical instruments found at Jiahu early Neolithic site in China |journal=Nature |volume=401 |department=Letters to nature |pages=366–368 |url=https://ccrma.stanford.edu/CCRMA/Courses/220a/flutes.pdf |access-date=2014-02-19}} Other scholars have also speculated that the Dawenkou originate in nearby regions to the south.{{cite book |last1=Blench |first1=Roger |title=Archaeology and Language: Correlating archaeological and linguistic hypotheses |date=1997 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/archaeologylangu00blen_393/page/n116 94] |url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologylangu00blen_393 |url-access=limited}} The Dawenkou descends from the Beixin, but is deeply influenced by the northward-expanding Longqiuzhuang culture located between the Yangtze and Huai.{{cite journal |last1=Han |first1=Jianye |title=Northward Expanding of the Longqiuzhuang Culture and the Formation of the Dawenkou Culture |date=2011 |journal=Jianghan Archaeology |pages=59–64 |doi=10.2214/ajr.98.3.575 |url=https://xueshu.baidu.com/usercenter/paper/show?paperid=d7f5de932098debe7ecab9f044736c3e}}

The people of Dawenkou exhibited a primarily Sinodont dental pattern.{{cite journal|last1=Manabe|first1=Y|title=Dental morphology of the Dawenkou Neolithic population in North China: implications for the origin and distribution of Sinodonty |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |date=2003 |volume=45 |issue=5 |pages=369–80 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2003.08.010 |pmid=14624747}} They practiced body modification in the form of dental ablation and cranial deformation.{{quote|Many Dawenkou burials exhibited cranial deformation and dental ablation, but both forms of modification had disappeared from mainland China by the beginning of the Bronze Age. No sex differences in the frequency of Dawenkou dental ablation were de- tected (60–90 percent). The most commonly extracted teeth were the up- per incisors and canines, followed by the lower incisors. The majority of the teeth appear to have been knocked out between the ages of 13 and 15. The frequency of individuals with dental ablation among the Dawenkou drops to 50 percent over time.}}

The Dawenkou were also physically dissimilar to the Neolithic inhabitants of Hemudu, South China, and Taiwan.{{cite book |last1=Goodenough |first1=Ward |title=Prehistoric Settlement of the Pacific, Volume 86, Part 5 |date=1996 |page=53}} DNA testing revealed that the Neolithic inhabitants of Shandong were closer to ancient Northern East Asians.{{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Melinda |title=Ancient DNA indicates human population shifts and admixture in northern and southern China |journal=Science |date=2020 |volume=369 |issue=6501 |pages=282–88 |doi=10.1126/science.aba0909 |pmid=32409524 |bibcode=2020Sci...369..282Y |s2cid=218649510}}

File:Jinan 2009 1143.jpg|Painted bowl and beaker

File:National Museum of China 2014.02.01 15-02-56.jpg|Two white ceramic pitchers (guī 鬹)

File:National Museum of China 2014.02.01 15-03-26.jpg|Two painted red jars

File:National Museum of China 2014.02.01 14-57-21.jpg

File:Zoucheng Museum 2015.08.14 16-25-27.jpg

File:Dawenkou black pottery goblets. Jinan museum.jpg|Black stemmed goblets

File:新石器時代大汶口文化 陶鬹-Tripod Vessel (Gui) MET DP-12552-001.jpg|Tripod pitcher

Painted Pottery Pot Early Dawenkou Culture (c. 4,400—3,600 BCE) Excavated from Wangyin Site, Yanzhou, Shandong. Capital Museum, Beijing.jpg|Painted Pottery Pot Early Dawenkou Culture (c. 4,400—3,600 BCE) Excavated from Wangyin Site, Yanzhou, Shandong. Capital Museum, Beijing.

• List of Neolithic cultures of China
• Longshan culture
• Richard J. Pearson – this Canadian archaeologist has published extensively on Dawenkou burials and social status (see Selected Bibliography of Pearson).
• Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
• Yangshao culture

{{Reflist}}

• Allan, Sarah (ed), The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An Archaeological Perspective, {{ISBN|0-300-09382-9}}
• Liu, Li. The Chinese Neolithic: Trajectories to Early States, {{ISBN|0-521-81184-8}}
• Underhill, Anne P. Craft Production and Social Change in Northern China, {{ISBN|0-306-46771-2}}

{{Neolithic cultures of China}}

Category:Neolithic cultures of China

Category:History of Shandong

Category:5th-millennium BC establishments