Page 523 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

Henan province; it ultimately retreated under pressures from the Banpo-Xiyin cultures. Its
successor, the Liulin phase of the Dawenkou culture, occupied only the central area of the
Hougang culture's territory. The Dawenkou culture underwent a territorial expansion during
its Xixiaohou phase, but it did not attain the scale of Phase I of the Hougang culture. The
Zaoliitai culture, which was distributed over northern Anhui province and eastern Henan
province, was probably a collateral branch of this cultural sequence.
3. In the area of Xilamulun River, as well as the area to the immediate north and south
of the southern branches of the Yanshan Mountains, the sequence of Neolithic cultures is as
follows:
/ Hongshan, Xiaoheyan
Xinglongwa
^ Zhaobaogou
Fifteen objects of the Hongshan culture, including nine from the Niuheliang site, are included
in this exhibition (cats. 10-22). The Niuheliang site, containing the remains of altars, temples,
and cairns, is the largest and most important ritual site of the Hongshan culture, and its altars
and temples are the earliest known examples of such structures in China. The Xinglongwa cul
ture dates to around 6000 BCE. The Hongshan culture spans a much longer period — the fifth
and the fourth millennium BCE — and falls into early, middle, and late stages, whose dates cor-
respond roughly with those of the Banpo culture, the Xiyin culture, and Phase IV of the Banpo

culture. The dates of the Zhaobaogou culture and the Xiaoheyan culture are contemporaneous
with those of the Banpo culture and the Xixiaohou Phase of the Dawenkou culture, respectively.
The Zhaobaogou culture (concentrated in the south) and the Hongshan culture (concentrated
in the north) were the successors of the Xinglongwa culture; there is evidence that the two
intermingled over a wide area. During the period of the transition from the Xinglongwa culture
to the Hongshan culture (as well as during the period of the Hongshan culture itself), this
sequence was influenced by Phase I of Hougang culture, the Banpo culture, and the Xiyin
culture, and it adopted certain traditions from these cultures, such as techniques of pottery
making and decoration. No successor to the Zhaobaogou culture and the Xiaoheyan culture
has yet been found, and it is likely that the Zhaobaogou culture was absorbed into the Hong-
shan culture. Some elements of the Zhaobaogou culture, however, are visible in artifacts of the
Lower Xiajiadian culture (coeval with the Xia dynasty).
4. In the middle Yangzi region, the sequence of Neolithic cultures is as follows:

Youziling .
r Chengbeixi -> Daxi -» Qujialing -» Shijiahe -> Later Shijiahe
Pengtoushan
I Lower Zaoshi -> Tangjiagang-*
[These are not represented in this exhibition, and the sequence is for that reason not
elaborated.]
5. In the lower Yangzi region, the sequence of Neolithic cultures is as follows:
Luojiajiao -» Majiabang -> Songze —> Liangzhu

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