The Songze Culture

In the Yangzi River Valley during the Neolithic period of Chinese history, there emerged a series of different cultures including the Songze, the Majiabang, the Chengbeixi, the Daxi and the Yangshao. At this time, these early cultures interacted with each other, and through these exchanges new cultures prang up one after another, each expanding and evolving in their turn.

The Songze culture was a later stage of the Majiabang culture (which emerged around c.5000 BCE) and materialized in the lower Yangzi region around c.4000 BCE and was given its name after the site of Songze in Shanghai. The general dates in which the Songze culture flourished is usually given is between 3400 – 3300 BCE and it was these people that are considered to be one of the ancestors of the Shanghai people.

The site has been able to give us great insight into the weather conditions during the time that the Songze culture flourished. Scholars have determined from pollen samples that indicate that in the sixth millennium BCE temperatures w ere 2 -3 degrees C higher than at present and that the Yangtze delta was at an early stage of formation. In the fifth millennium BCE (which has been determined as the middle cultural layer of Songze) the climate was slightly cooler and deciduous tree species had replaced an early forest dominated by broadleaf evergreen oak trees (Castanopsis and Quercus glauca). By the middle cultural layer, the final period of the Neolithic (third millennium BCE), the annual mean temperature is believed to have been 1 – 2 degrees C higher.

The site of Songze has given us some remarkable insights into the lives of the Neolithic people. The cemetery that was excavated revealed an increase of mortuary offerings from those found at Majiabang sites. Archaeologists uncovered bodies that were laid out in rows or clusters. The women were found to be buried with pieces of jade placed in their mouths and often wearing other jade ornaments.

Some individuals were buried more lavishly than others; for example, at the Beiyinyanying site in Nanjing, 225 burials were uncovered. There were some which wore exceptional agate and jade ornaments. There were pottery vessels and stone axes placed above the head and below the feet. When examining the vessels and the pieces of jade at this site, scholars noticed that the quality of these pieces were far higher than that of those found at Majiabang sites.

The Songze culture represents an important stage in Chinese Neolithic history. One of these stages was the creation of the quality and quantity of jade and the ritual element of upper-class graves which signalled the early stages of state formation.

Bibliography:

Higham, Charles (2005) The Human Past – East Asian Agriculture and Its Impact, Thames & Hudson, London.

Pearson, Richard (1981) Social Complexity in Chinese Coastal Neolithic Sites, Science, American Association for the advancement of Science.