Page 54 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

exhibit similarities to those of the Peiligang culture in the same area; the use of tortoise-shell
and river deer (Hydropotes inermis) tusks among the Jiahu peoples is mirrored in objects of the
Dawenkou culture in the region of the lower Yellow River; the cultivation of rice at Jiahu re-
5
flects the influence of Yangzi River cultures. This discovery challenged the conventional ap-
proach of characterizing cultures by primary reliance on excavated artifacts.
Over time, the cultural position of the Central Plains (located in ancient "central" China) 6
became more prominent. The region's geographic advantages enabled the cultures that inhab-
ited it to take on an increasingly assimilative and intermediary character during the course of
China's prehistory. During that period, societies experienced fundamental changes, elaborated
herein by Professor Zhang Zhongpei (pages 519-525). These changes ushered China into the
dynastic era. XY

1 Sima Qian, juan i "Wu Di ben ji" in the Shi ji (for English 5 Yu 1999.
translation and notes see Watson 1961); and Yuan Kang, 6 The term "Central Plains," narrowly defined, corresponds
juan 11 "Waizhuan ji baojian" in the Yue jue shu. to the present-day province of Henan. Under a broader
2 See Torii 1910. definition, which we use here, it extends to the reaches
3 See, for example, Yang Xiaoneng 1988. of the middle and lower Yellow River.
4 For further discussion of this subject, see Yang Xiaoneng
1999.

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