NEOLITHIC CHINA

The Big Thaw (end of the Ice Age) opened enormous land areas in China for ancient hunters and gathers to exploit. Sino Archaeologists have discovered and recorded artifact remains from a number of very distinct cultures dating c. 7000-2000 B.C.  These Neolithic cultures rose from the development of  agriculture, the earliest traces of which date as far back to 8000 B.C. 

The cultivation of certain edible plants and the domestication of animals (husbandry) was a profound sociological shift from hunting and gathering. Storage control of food surplus created social stratification and transformed human social organization by greatly centralizing authority. Those who controlled the food ruled society and built armies to control the community and to keep outside invaders from invading. The archaeological record shows indications of cross-cultural contacts and influences. Knowledge and goods were shared and traded but, with increased contact, defense also became more important, and eventually many communities were walled for protection. Labor became divided, first at the household level, then more broadly within the community. The largest concentration of agriculture was below the southern bend of the Yellow River and millet was the main crop not rice. The geography of Neolithic China was different from today. It was much wetter, with most of Northern China being lakes and marshes and central China covered in an enormous lake. The climate was warm and moist, rather than the colder, arid China of today. The mountains were well forested and there were a variety of animals including Elephants, Camels, and Rhinoceros.

The Hongshan Neolithic Culture dated 3700-2250 B.C. was mainly located in the land area between Inner Mongolia, and present day Liaoning and Hebei provinces. Recently, a Hongshan "pyramid" (three- storied stone building) with the bottom layer being more than 30 meters long and 15 meters wide was discovered on a mountain ridge one kilometer north of Sijiazi Township. The Hongshan were temple builders and city builders who created some of the earliest nephrite jade carvings. Their sophisticated Jade carving techniques employed technologies that exceeded simple explanations.  Many of the Hongshan Jade artifacts are well persevered due to the fact that Hongshan culture utilized slab burial tombs and because of the dry arid climate of Inner Mongolia. Perhaps the more famous known Hongshan Jade artifact is the Coiled Dragon Fetus. It is my theory (based on artifact evidence) that the Hongshan possessed the knowledge of metallurgy and employed the use of copper metal tools to work their Jade masterpieces. Many Hongshan artifacts express the use of saw blade and drill instruments that other Neolithic Jade artifacts lack.  

The Liangzhu culture, dated to 3310 – 2250 B.C., is a late Neolithic culture located in Southeast China. Well known for its high quality jade artifacts, it succeeded the Majiabang culture and later became part of the   Shang Dynasty. The Liangzhu culture is roughly contemporary with the Longshan and Hongshan cultures to the north.  Many of the Liangzhu jade artifacts demonstrate a sophistication that was comparable to the Hongshan.  Perhaps the most famous motif of the Liangzhu is the Tao Tai (Dragon demon face). It is my theory (based on artifact evidence) that the Liangzhu employed advanced optical technologies (magnification glass) to create many of their fine detailed jade works. The Liangzhu also employed the use of Slab tombs that fortunately preserved their ancient jade and pottery artifacts. The Liangzhu jades have two prominent kinds of jades that were for their ritual use. These are called Bi (pronounced B) and Tsung (pronounced Cong) jades. The Bi is a circular ring used to speak to and worship heaven, and the Tsung is an elongated square tube used to worship Heaven and earth.

The Yangshao lived in the mountainous regions of northern and western China in round or rectangular houses that were below ground level and surrounded by little walls of earth. They may have been the inventors of the Silk industry as there is evidence that they farmed silkworms. The Yangshao created Painted Pottery that had geometric designs and plain course type of pottery was used that varied between the colors gray, black, red, and white.  Axes and arrowheads  were made of polished jade and flint. Millet was the main crop of the Yangshao. They domesticated three main animals, the dog and the pig, with the pig being the more important. Another interesting Neolithic culture the Lungshan lived on the plains of eastern China. Their villages were similar to those of the Yangshao. They created Black Pottery of exceptional quality. It had a polished exterior, was never painted, and is almost always without decoration. This pottery may have been a direct predecessor to later Chinese pottery, as the forms of the vessels are typical of Chinese pottery (li and Cong). Firing bones for the purpose of divination, which continued into the following dynasties (Xia, Shang and Zhou), also began during this time by these ancient people.

The Neolithic age lasted until about 2,000 B.C. with the introduction of bronze metal. Toward the end of Neolithic period, there is clear evidence by archeological finds that all later  Neolithic societies had hierarchy of social elite (discoveries of lavish burial sites). A ruling group had emerged, and with it came the beginnings of dynasties and ancestor worship. Initially this ruling group appears to have been a theocracy (based on magic and animistic religious beliefs).  At the beginning of Bronze Age theocracy would give way to militarism and a military elite, headed by a series of kings whose right to rule was divine and based on ancestral lineage from the Yellow Emperor (the sun god’s child).

The term Neolithic is a misnomer as it is a label that archeologists from the last century gave to a specific time in human history when it was thought that humans from that period possessed no metal but had sophisticated rock shaping and polishing techniques. New archeological evidence is shedding light on the fact that perhaps this term should be “recoined” as it does not fit the artifact evidence of China.  Chinese nephrite jade artifacts from the "Neolithic" period of China conclusively show and prove that these ancient people possessed metal for shaping and working this extremely hard and fibrous Jade stone.

Authentic Chinese Neolithic  Jades are difficult to acquire because rarity and scarcity. I have studied and specialized in Neolithic Chinese Jades for over 30-years and find that each artifact is a window into the ancient past. I occasional offer Neolithic  Jade specimens from my 30-year collection so please check my Ebay auctions while I have them available. -Ian (Fung Gen Qua)