Ironic that I post stuff about cHiNesE history. However they might be some of the truly ancient ancestors of mine as most Taiwanese can trace their ancestry to Southern China.
Now cut the crap and let us enter the main topic.
For starters, the Liangzhu Culture existed between 3300 BCE to 2300 BCE (Mid Gerzeh Culture - Mid Old Kingdom/ Late Predynastic-Mid Old Kingdom). They were rice farmers who called the Yangtze Delta their home unlike my Han ancestors who cultivated wheat & millet while living in northern and (relatively) western parts of ancient China.
Economically they traded with the Northern Longshan Culture and the western Yangshao Culture. However, probably due to a result of a more fertile land, the people of Liangzhu established a much more advanced civilization.
From which, they created what will be interpreted by future archaeologists as the very first and basal instances of “Taotie” (the beasts that served as main antagonists in the accursed movie “The Wall”) iconography, which would come to be adopted by early dynasties such as the Shang and Zhou (possibly the Xia too, but the Xia themselves are disputed) as a common type of sigil craved on ceremonial bronze pots.
The “script” these people might have created is now deemed as an early contributor to what would evolve into the scripts the Shang dynasty utilized.
Although, along with the Longshan’s proto-script, the supposed writing system of Liangzhu was possibly not a mature one hence historians argue about the ultimate historical position of these. The common ground among them is that a potential usage of these “scripts” via recording daily affairs is supported.
Culturally, the peoples of this culture/proto-civilization MIGHT have practiced a form of religion intermediate of Shamanism and Polytheism/ pantheon. The religion was associated with rice-cultivation as stated in the article I provide. My personal interpretation is that it influenced the following southern culture/states such as that of the Chu, Wu and Yueh of the Spring and Autumn-Warring States period.
Structurally, these people were remarkable. Trenches and water conservation-systems were present. The remains of their gatherings were deemed as superior to their contemporaries and likely comparable to the later Erlitou culture (possibly late Xia dynasty, but still too obscure to be drawn).
The brick walls found in Liangzhu culture had its height ranging from 30-40 meters. The length range from hundreds of meters to some twenty meters.
In short, it marks the dawn of Neolithic urbanization of cHiNa.
Artifacts of the culture were predominantly delicately carved jade objects with both ritualistic affinities and burial purposes.
Socially, the jade objects may have been more prominent in higher classes as we know the Liangzhu people were insanely stratified and the ruling class would very likely serve simultaneously as the so-called priest class.
This unique aspect was revived during the late Shang (ruling class took over the priest hood) and Quin & Han dynasties. Interestingly, early Shang people had both classes separated so perhaps
a class dedicated solely to priest hood emerged during the alleged Xia dynasty.
Eventually the Liangzhu disappeared from archaeological records. The reasons for the sudden and abrupt decline of this culture is to this day disputed. Some attributed it to flood, others proposed a famine destruction or perhaps a severe earthquake and followed tsunami eventually did the trick. However, the likelihood of over farming and simple draining of social resources were listed as possible/probable reasons as well.
TL; DR so many factors & hard to tell.
A hypothesized movement of the last Liangzhu people had some believe that the remaining portions were ultimately integrated in the supposedly existed Xia community. They brought with them seeds, the knowledge of rice cultivation and possibly cultic materials.
Either way, the people fucked off from the delta as the following culture the Ma Qiao was so primitive it was genuinely hard to link the two as one.
Now the following is where the fun begins.
When they genotyped the human remains the determined Y-chromosomes were predominantly O1. Thus possibly differentiating them from the traditional Hans. Sadly full autosomal DNA testing was not carried out.
Modern O1 carriers are predominantly related to Austronesians in one way or another. This discovery had led bio archaeologists to associate the culture with proto Austroasiatic groups enjoying limited gene flow from proto-Sino Tibetan speakers.
TL;DR proto Austronesians might have created the first semi-proper state on that land and with it brought in the rice-eating Asian meme.
The “basal iconography” which marked the artistic achievement of said culture.
Shang & Zhou Taotie iconography
Historians interpreted the earlier one as a symbol of a man or competent tribal leader (presented as the humanoid with weird hat) subduing the surrounding areas and the megafauna (presented as a beast which the man he’d down).
Perhaps centuries of transformation left only the beast like part.
Now cut the crap and let us enter the main topic.
For starters, the Liangzhu Culture existed between 3300 BCE to 2300 BCE (Mid Gerzeh Culture - Mid Old Kingdom/ Late Predynastic-Mid Old Kingdom). They were rice farmers who called the Yangtze Delta their home unlike my Han ancestors who cultivated wheat & millet while living in northern and (relatively) western parts of ancient China.
Economically they traded with the Northern Longshan Culture and the western Yangshao Culture. However, probably due to a result of a more fertile land, the people of Liangzhu established a much more advanced civilization.
From which, they created what will be interpreted by future archaeologists as the very first and basal instances of “Taotie” (the beasts that served as main antagonists in the accursed movie “The Wall”) iconography, which would come to be adopted by early dynasties such as the Shang and Zhou (possibly the Xia too, but the Xia themselves are disputed) as a common type of sigil craved on ceremonial bronze pots.
The “script” these people might have created is now deemed as an early contributor to what would evolve into the scripts the Shang dynasty utilized.
Although, along with the Longshan’s proto-script, the supposed writing system of Liangzhu was possibly not a mature one hence historians argue about the ultimate historical position of these. The common ground among them is that a potential usage of these “scripts” via recording daily affairs is supported.
Culturally, the peoples of this culture/proto-civilization MIGHT have practiced a form of religion intermediate of Shamanism and Polytheism/ pantheon. The religion was associated with rice-cultivation as stated in the article I provide. My personal interpretation is that it influenced the following southern culture/states such as that of the Chu, Wu and Yueh of the Spring and Autumn-Warring States period.
Structurally, these people were remarkable. Trenches and water conservation-systems were present. The remains of their gatherings were deemed as superior to their contemporaries and likely comparable to the later Erlitou culture (possibly late Xia dynasty, but still too obscure to be drawn).
The brick walls found in Liangzhu culture had its height ranging from 30-40 meters. The length range from hundreds of meters to some twenty meters.
In short, it marks the dawn of Neolithic urbanization of cHiNa.
Artifacts of the culture were predominantly delicately carved jade objects with both ritualistic affinities and burial purposes.
Socially, the jade objects may have been more prominent in higher classes as we know the Liangzhu people were insanely stratified and the ruling class would very likely serve simultaneously as the so-called priest class.
This unique aspect was revived during the late Shang (ruling class took over the priest hood) and Quin & Han dynasties. Interestingly, early Shang people had both classes separated so perhaps
a class dedicated solely to priest hood emerged during the alleged Xia dynasty.Eventually the Liangzhu disappeared from archaeological records. The reasons for the sudden and abrupt decline of this culture is to this day disputed. Some attributed it to flood, others proposed a famine destruction or perhaps a severe earthquake and followed tsunami eventually did the trick. However, the likelihood of over farming and simple draining of social resources were listed as possible/probable reasons as well.
TL; DR so many factors & hard to tell.
A hypothesized movement of the last Liangzhu people had some believe that the remaining portions were ultimately integrated in the supposedly existed Xia community. They brought with them seeds, the knowledge of rice cultivation and possibly cultic materials.
Either way, the people fucked off from the delta as the following culture the Ma Qiao was so primitive it was genuinely hard to link the two as one.
Now the following is where the fun begins.
When they genotyped the human remains the determined Y-chromosomes were predominantly O1. Thus possibly differentiating them from the traditional Hans. Sadly full autosomal DNA testing was not carried out.
Modern O1 carriers are predominantly related to Austronesians in one way or another. This discovery had led bio archaeologists to associate the culture with proto Austroasiatic groups enjoying limited gene flow from proto-Sino Tibetan speakers.
TL;DR proto Austronesians might have created the first semi-proper state on that land and with it brought in the rice-eating Asian meme.
The “basal iconography” which marked the artistic achievement of said culture.
Shang & Zhou Taotie iconography
Historians interpreted the earlier one as a symbol of a man or competent tribal leader (presented as the humanoid with weird hat) subduing the surrounding areas and the megafauna (presented as a beast which the man he’d down).
Perhaps centuries of transformation left only the beast like part.
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