Liangzhu Culture
Liangzhu Culture refers to a Neolithic culture that thrived in the region of present-day Zhejiang, China, between approximately 3300 and 2200 BCE. This culture is noted for its distinctive pottery, primarily wheel-made gray ware with a characteristic black skin, though oxidized red ware was also produced but in lesser quantities. Liangzhu artisans are particularly renowned for their exquisite jade craftsmanship, creating jewelry such as animal-shaped pendants and bracelets, as well as ceremonial artifacts like bi disks and cong tubes. Bi disks, often found in graves, are believed to symbolize heaven or the Sun, while the purpose of cong tubes remains uncertain, with theories suggesting they may represent earth or have astronomical significance. Additionally, the Liangzhu people were skilled farmers, utilizing advanced agricultural tools like the triangular-shaped shale plow, and evidence suggests they also engaged in sericulture, as woven silk artifacts from the period have been discovered. Overall, Liangzhu Culture represents a significant chapter in the development of early Chinese civilization, reflecting a rich material culture and agricultural innovation.
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Liangzhu Culture
Related civilization: China.
Date: 3400-2100 b.c.e.
Locale: Southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang provinces of China
Liangzhu Culture
The Liangzhu (LEEAHNG-jew; Wade-Giles Liang-chu) culture was a Neolithic culture whose pottery shapes partly evolved from the Ma-Chia-pong culture. Pots were mainly wheel-made gray ware with a black skin, produced by oxidized firing. Although there was some oxidized firing of red ware, this type of pottery was much less common than the gray ware.
Members of the culture made long-necked gui pitchers, but the culture is more generally recognized for its jade jewelry, including pendants, bracelets in animal forms, and mask decorations. Two interesting artifacts of the culture that are often found in graves from the Liangzhu period are bi disks and cong tubes. The perforated bi disks, which may have originally been a symbol of either heaven or the Sun, became a symbol for heaven during later Chinese civilizations. Anthropologists are unable to determine the function of cong tubes, which had square exteriors and cylindrical hollow centers; they may have been symbols of the earth or may have been astronomical instruments.
The Liangzhu was a farming culture that developed a triangular-shaped shale plow for use in the wet soil of the area. Farmers must have raised silkworms, as woven silk from the last part of the Liangzhu period has been found. Tools utilized both gui and zhang blades.
Bibliography
Loewe, Michael, and Edward L. Shaughnessy, eds. The Cambridge History of Ancient China from the Origins of Civilization to 221 b.c.e. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Murowchick, Robert E., and Araiana Klepac, eds. China: Ancient Culture, Modern Land. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.