Re-understanding of Ningxia Culture, Fenghua Moxi and Neolithic Frontier Culture

Re-understanding of Ningxia Culture, Fenghua Moxi and Neolithic Frontier Culture

With the passage of time, people in the Paleolithic learned to make production tools and some household appliances with new grinding methods, and also invented the technology of firing pottery. Grinding stone tools and firing pottery are two epoch-making new inventions in the history of human development, which indicates that mankind has entered a new development period, that is, the Neolithic Age in archaeology. Prehistoric humans living in China entered the Neolithic Age 8,000 to 7,000 years ago, lasting for 4,000 to 3,000 years. Human beings in the Neolithic Age experienced two social forms, namely matriarchal clan society and paternal clan society. In the later period of patriarchal society, the primitive commune production relations based on public ownership of means of production gradually disintegrated, and human society entered the historical development stage of slave society.

A large number of Neolithic human cultural sites have been discovered in Ningxia, which are mainly divided into three categories: first, the remains of Majiayao culture in the southern region; Second, the remains of "microlithic culture" along the Yellow River; Third, "Qijia culture" still exists in the southern region.

Majiayao culture. It is the cultural heritage of matriarchal society with primitive agriculture as the main source of economic life. It was named after it was first discovered in Majiayao, Lintao County, Gansu Province on 1923. The Majiayao culture in Guyuan and Longde counties has existed for 5,000 to 4,000 years and lasted for thousands of years. Its most striking feature is that people at that time could make different kinds of pottery with exquisite and beautiful patterns painted on the outside, such as bottles, cans and pots. This kind of painted pottery is a unique style of Majiayao culture. The decorative lines of painted pottery bottles unearthed in Fengling, Longde County are smooth and full of rhythm and artistic imagination. Its manufacturing method is also relatively novel. First, the surface of pottery is coated with a layer of orange pottery, and then the animal and plant patterns are carefully drawn with pigments made of hematite or manganese oxide. Then put the ceramic blank into a kiln and bake it at a high temperature of about 1000 degrees Celsius, and the hematite or manganese oxide pigment painted on its surface will be reduced to a black or red color map, thus making the pottery a painted pottery that lasts for thousands of years without losing its color. This achievement clearly shows that people at that time had mastered the technology of high kiln firing and pottery making.

The primitive inhabitants of Majiayao culture period did not dig wells to get water. They built simple houses on the highlands on both sides of the river, plowed the land and planted food on the sunny Yuan Ye. They use stones? Stone axes and other tools, these tools are very delicate and sharp, which is conducive to growing food. Hunting was still an auxiliary means for people to obtain means of subsistence at that time. Among the stone tools unearthed in Fengling, there is a kind of ground stone spearhead, which is more than ten centimeters long and looks like the shuttle mark now, with sharp top and side. It is a good tool for hunting. With the development of production, people's lives are gradually colorful. Among the cultural relics unearthed in Fengling, there are also ornaments for tying hair, such as bone hairpin and jade hairpin, among which one bone hairpin is 10 cm long, with a slightly larger upper end and a slender and smooth body, which shows a high manufacturing technology.

The "microlithic culture" is a human cultural relic of the Neolithic age developed on the basis of the late Paleolithic culture in northern China. Widely distributed in Northeast China, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Xinjiang and other places, and also distributed in parts of Northeast Asia and Northwest America. The natural geographical environment of this culture is that the climate in these high latitudes is dry and cold, and there are many grasslands and deserts. The natural conditions are not suitable for the development of primitive agriculture, so prehistoric humans mainly engaged in hunting and animal husbandry.

The sites where the remains of "microlithic culture" were found in Ningxia are scattered along the banks of the Yellow River, such as Zhongwei, Zhongning, Qingtongxia, Helan and Tao Le. The most striking symbol of this culture is all kinds of exquisite small stone tools with different shapes. The exquisite craftsmanship has amazed archaeologists today. Two kinds of arrows were unearthed in Gao Ren Town, Tao Le County. One is made of flint, with a triangular concave bottom, only 1.5 cm high, and the two sides are processed by indirect stripping method, with sharp points. The other is the Yangtze River Delta shape, with grooves on both sides of the bottom end, which can be embedded in the arrow shaft. There are also sharp stone leaves, which can be put into the grooves of bone handles or wooden handles to be used as small blades. These small stone tools are obviously good weapons for people to engage in hunting activities. In addition, some tools, such as stone mills, grinding rods and stone axes, were unearthed for grinding grass seeds or grains, indicating that the collection activities played an important role in people's economic life at that time. The houses built by residents of this culture are also very distinctive. For example, the house in the hot spring site in Helan County is a single room, shallow cave-shaped, slightly square, with a side length of about three meters. There is a narrow door facing east. There is a circular "fire room" in the center of the building opposite the door, which is used for heating, lighting and barbecue food. Next to the back wall of the "fire room", there is a red sand-filled round-bottomed jar for storing fire, as well as a pair of grinding discs and rods. Formally, the site is similar to Yangshao cultural site in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, which shows that residents engaged in animal husbandry in Ningxia had long had exchanges with residents engaged in agriculture in the Central Plains during the "microlithic culture" period. There are a large number of painted pottery in more than ten microlithic cultural sites found in Zhongwei County, and the method of making pottery is very close to that of agricultural residents, reflecting the extensive technical exchange between animal husbandry residents and agricultural residents.

Qijia culture is a prehistoric human culture in the Bronze Stone Age in China, which was first discovered in Qijiaping, Hezheng County, Gansu Province in 1924. Qijia culture is widely distributed in Ningxia and found in Guyuan, Longde, Xiji and Haiyuan counties. It is the primitive culture of agricultural residents, which started about 4000 years ago and belongs to the period of the disintegration of primitive communes.

During the "Qijia Culture" period, prehistoric residents had lived a relatively stable life in agricultural settlements, and residential areas in some places were densely distributed, almost the same as the current villages. At that time, although the tools of production of residents were still mainly stone tools, a small amount of copper products appeared in daily utensils, which was a cultural feature of the late Neolithic age. In agricultural production, residents often use stone axes, but their polishing is more exquisite than before, which is more suitable for digging and cutting down trees. In some sites, there is also a kind of grinding stone knife specially used for harvesting grain, and some stone knives have round holes on the back, which is convenient for people to carry and use. During this period, the production technology of pottery also improved obviously, and pottery made with slow-turning pottery wheel appeared. In the process of firing pottery, the technology of closing the kiln mouth in the later stage of firing appeared. This technology can adjust the color of pottery by changing the temperature in the kiln in the later stage of firing, which has a great influence on the formation of the unique style of China porcelain. The types of pottery are also more diverse. As far as cans are concerned, binaural cans are the most representative pottery of Qijia culture. Pottery unearthed in southern Ningxia, such as double-ear pots and single-handle pots, is quite similar to some pottery unearthed in Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province, indicating that the original residents of the two places have close economic and cultural exchanges. A Tao Ge was unearthed in Xinglong, Xiji County. Its upper part is like a pot, and its lower part has three bifurcated bag-shaped hollow feet, which can make the Tao Ge stable and firm, increase its volume and increase its contact area with fire. It is a kind of pottery with beautiful shape and scientific application, which is very distinctive in the late primitive society of China.

The semi-crypt "Qijia culture" housing sites in rivers and other places in Guyuan County also show very distinctive characteristics. There is a two-bedroom and two-hall apartment in front, and there is a tunnel in the middle, which is suitable for monogamous small families to live in. Some houses have a layer of smooth and hard "white ash" on the ground, which is both smooth and moisture-proof. There are also various pits around the house, and the bottoms and walls of some pits are polished with red clay to prevent the grain in the storage pits from being damp and moldy, which shows that the agricultural production level at that time has been improved.

The social organization of residents in Qijia culture is based on paternal line, and members of the same paternal clan are often buried in the public cemetery of the same clan after their death. There are obvious differences in quantity and quality between Guyuan and Xiji Qijia cultural tombs. At the same time, five tombs were excavated in He Dian, Guyuan County. One of them unearthed 36 pieces of pottery and hundreds of beads and pendants inlaid with turquoise, and the other only buried stone axes and stones. And a coarse clay pot shows that the number of daily necessities occupied by members of the same clan before their death has been quite different, reflecting the unequal distribution of social wealth. Primitive society gradually tends to collapse in this widening polarization between the rich and the poor, and slavery is gradually established and developed on this basis.