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Pengtoushan culture

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Pengtoushan culture
Geographical rangeChina
PeriodNeolithic China
Dates7500–6100 BC
Type sitePengtoushan
Major sitesBashidang
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese彭頭山文化
Simplified Chinese彭头山文化
Transcriptions

The Pengtoushan culture was a Neolithic culture located around the central Yangtze River region in northwestern Hunan province, China. It dates to around 7500–6100 BC,[1] and was roughly contemporaneous with the Peiligang culture to the north. It is named after the type site at Pengtoushan.

Sites

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Pengtoushan, located in Li County, Hunan, is the type site for the Pengtoushan culture. Excavated in 1988, Pengtoushan has been difficult to date accurately, with a large variability in dates ranging from 9000 BC to 5500 BC.[2] Cord-marked pottery was discovered among the burial goods.[2]

Another important site is Bashidang, also in Li County, belonging to the late stage of the Pengtoushan culture. It features a wall and a ditch, as well as a star-shaped platform.

Rice cultivation

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Rice residues at Pengtoushan have been carbon dated to 8200–7800 BC, showing that rice had been domesticated by this time.[3] At later stages, pots containing grains of rice were also dated to approximately 5800 BC.[4] By 4000 BC, evidence of rice domestication in the region is abundant in the form of bone and wooden spades, as well as pottery.[4] The rice grains at Pengtoushan are larger than naturally occurring wild rice. Large amounts of rice grains have also been found at Bashidang.

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See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Crawford 2006, p. 84.
  2. ^ a b Higham 1996, p. 63.
  3. ^ Chang 2005, p. 298.
  4. ^ a b Harris 2005, p. 17.

References

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  • Chang, Kwang-chih (2005). "Epilogue, Part II". In Chang, Kwang-chih; Xu, Pingfang; Allan, Sarah; Lu, Liancheng (eds.). The Formation of Chinese Civilization. Yale University Press. pp. 289–294. ISBN 0-300-09382-9.
  • Crawford, Gary W. (2006). "East Asian Plant Domestication". In Stark, Miriam T. (ed.). Archaeology of Asia. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 77–95. ISBN 1-4051-0212-8.
  • Harris, David R. (2005). "Origins and Spread of Agriculture". In Prance, Ghillean; Nesbitt, Mark (eds.). The Cultural History of Plants. Routledge. pp. 13–26. ISBN 0-415-92746-3.
  • Higham, Charles (1996). The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56505-7.