Upper Xiajiadian culture explained

Upper Xiajiadian culture
Dates:1000-600 BCE
Precededby:Lower Xiajiadian culture
Followedby:Jinggouzi culture
Donghu people (600-150 BCE)

The Upper Xiajiadian culture (c. 1000-600 BC[1]) was a Bronze Age archaeological culture in Northeast China derived from the Eurasian steppe bronze tradition.[2] It is associated with the Donghu ("Eastern Barbarians") of Chinese history.

Characteristics

The Upper Xiajiadian culture emerged out of local Ancient Northeast Asian-derived tribes of hunter-gatherers and early farmers, which shifted to a pastoralist lifestyle.[3]

This culture is found mainly in southeastern Inner Mongolia and western Liaoning, China. The Upper Xiajiadian's range was slightly larger than that of the Lower Xiajiadian reaching areas north of the Xilamulun River. Compared to the Lower Xiajiadian culture, population levels were lower, less dense, and more widespread. The culture still relied heavily on agriculture, but also moved toward a more pastoral, nomadic lifestyle. The social structure changed from being an acephalous or tribal society into a more chiefdom-oriented society. The type site is represented by the upper layer at Xiajiadian, Chifeng, Inner Mongolia.

The Upper Xiajiadian culture is considered as the earliest "Scythian-style" (Saka-style) culture in North China, starting the 9th century BCE. The development of animal styles may have been the result of contacts with nomads in Mongolia (Deer stones culture) in the 9th — 8th centuries BCE.[4] It has strong similarities with other Scythoïd cultures to the west, such as the Maoqinggou culture, the Ordos culture, the Shajing culture in Gansu, and of course the Saka culture of the Xinjiang.[5]

The Upper Xiajiadian culture produced inferior ceramic artifacts compared to those of the Lower Xiajiadian culture, although this was compensated by their superior bronze, bone, and stone artifacts. The culture is well known for its bronze objects, producing bronze daggers, axes, chisels, arrowheads, knives, and helmets. Upper Xiajiadian bronzes were decorated with animal and natural motifs, which suggest possible Saka (Scythian) affinities and indicate continued cultural contact and exchange across the Eurasian steppes.[6]

The locally produced bronze vessels were much smaller than comparable bronzes from Zhou states. In the later periods, Zhou-style dagger-axes and bronze vessels were found at Upper Xiajiadian sites. In one case, bronze vessels belonging to the ruling family of the State of Xu were discovered in an Upper Xiajiadian grave at Xiaoheishigou (小黑石沟), evidenced by the inscriptions on one of the vessels.[7]

Upper Xiajiadian culture shows evidence of a drastic shift in lifestyle compared to that of the Lower Xiajiadian culture. The Upper Xiajiadian culture placed less emphasis on permanent structures, preferring to reoccupy Lower Xiajiadian structures or reuse Lower Xiajiadian stones for building Upper Xiajiadian structures. The horse became important to the culture, as evidenced by the remains of horses and horse paraphernalia found at Upper Xiajiadian sites.[8] The culture also moved away from a centralized social organization, as no evidence for large public works has been discovered at Upper Xiajiadian sites. From relying on pigs to a dependence on sheep and goats for its primary source of domesticated protein, the culture built more extravagant graves for its elites than the Lower Xiajiadian, with more numerous and elaborate burial offerings. Upper Xiajiadian burials were typically marked by cairns and tumuli.

Genetics

Genetic analyses of remains from the Upper Xiajiadian culture (UXC) are primarily of Ancient Northern East Asian origin and similar to "West Liao River farmers" (WLR_BA).[9] The Bronze Age West Liao River farmers were found to display genetic continuity with modern Koreans.[10] One UXC individual, however, shared higher genetic affinities to earlier "Amur hunter-gatherers", later Xianbei remains as well as contemporary Tungusic-speaking peoples, suggesting him to be a recent migrant from further North. The majority of Upper Xiajuadian remains belonged to subclades of paternal haplogroup N-M231, C-M217, and O-M175.[11]

The genetic profile of Upper Xiajiadian individuals differed from the Lower Xiajiadian populations, who displayed high genetic affinity with Yellow River farmers associated with Sinitic peoples. The Upper Xiajiadian genome may point to migrations from the north Eurasian steppes and the Amur region during the Bronze Age period.[12]

See also

Bibliography

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Notes and References

  1. Shelach, pp. 143
  2. Barnes, pp. 153
  3. Cui . Yinqiu . Li . Hongjie . Ning . Chao . Zhang . Ye . Chen . Lu . Zhao . Xin . Hagelberg . Erika . Zhou . Hui . 30 September 2013 . Y Chromosome analysis of prehistoric human populations in the West Liao River Valley, Northeast China . BMC Evolutionary Biology . 13 . 1 . 216 . 10.1186/1471-2148-13-216 . 1471-2148 . 3850526 . 24079706 . The mode of subsistence shifted from hunting and early farming in the Hongshan and Xiaoheyan cultures, to advanced agriculture in the Lower Xiajiadian culture, and eventually to pastoral nomadism in the Upper Xiajiadian culture . free . 2013BMCEE..13..216C .
  4. Shulga . P.I. . THE CULTURES OF THE EARLY IRON AGE IN CHINA AS A PART OF THE SCYTHIAN WORLD . МАИАСП . 2020 . 12 . 119 . The materials analysis makes it possible to trace the Scythian cultures in North China formation and transformation process. The earliest is the "Xiajiadian upper layer" culture. Its representative monuments date back to the 9th — first half of the 7th centuries BCE. At that time the population in its area was in close contact with the Yan kingdom and neighboring cultures. Presumably, as a result of contacts with the Mongolia nomads in 9th — 8th centuries BCE, already established distinctive animal style images were spreading in the art of culture. By the middle of the 7th century BCE the "Xiajiadian upper layer" culture population part and nomadic Mongoloid tribes from Mongolia moved 150—250 km west to the Chinese kingdom of Yan northern border, where they mixed and settled..
  5. Book: Cosmo . Nicola Di . Northern Frontier in Pre-Imperial China (Cambridge History of Ancient China) . 1999 . Cambridge University Press . 951–952 . The Saka culture in Xinjiang, the Shajing culture in Gansu, the Ordos complex in Inner Mongolia, and the Upper Xiajiadian culture of Liaoning, all point to a transition from mixed agropastoral to predominantly or exclusively pastoral nomadic cultures. From the seventh century onwards, objects related to improved horse management and horse riding, such as the bit, cheekpieces, horse masks, and bell ornaments, became ever more widespread and sophisticated. .
  6. Barnes, pp. 153
  7. Shelach, pp. 214-216
  8. Shelach, pp. 162
  9. Ning . Chao . Li . Tianjiao . Wang . Ke . Zhang . Fan . Li . Tao . Wu . Xiyan . Gao . Shizhu . Zhang . Quanchao . Zhang . Hai . Hudson . Mark J. . Dong . Guanghui . Wu . Sihao . Fang . Yanming . Liu . Chen . Feng . Chunyan . 1 June 2020 . Ancient genomes from northern China suggest links between subsistence changes and human migration . Nature Communications . 11 . 1 . 2700 . 10.1038/s41467-020-16557-2 . 2041-1723 . 7264253 . 32483115 . 2020NatCo..11.2700N . Interestingly, the Bronze Age WLR individuals, associated with the Upper Xiajiadian culture (“WLR_BA”), again show a genetic change but to an opposite direction from the Middle-to-Late Neolithic, with one individual (“WLR_BA_o”) being indistinguishable from the ancient AR individuals (Supplementary Figs. 9 and 10). Compared with AR_EN, he has extra affinity with later AR individuals (“AR_Xianbei_IA”) and multiple present-day Tungusic-speaking populations (Supplementary Fig. 20)..
  10. Sun . Na . Tao . Le . Wang . Rui . Zhu . Kongyang . Hai . Xiangjun . Wang . Chuan-Chao . 2 January 2023 . The genetic structure and admixture of Manchus and Koreans in northeast China . Annals of Human Biology . en . 50 . 1 . 161–171 . 10.1080/03014460.2023.2182912 . 36809229 . 0301-4460. free .
  11. Cui . Yinqiu . Li . Hongjie . Ning . Chao . Zhang . Ye . Chen . Lu . Zhao . Xin . Hagelberg . Erika . Zhou . Hui . 30 September 2013 . Y Chromosome analysis of prehistoric human populations in the West Liao River Valley, Northeast China . BMC Evolutionary Biology . 13 . 216 . 10.1186/1471-2148-13-216 . 1471-2148 . 3850526 . 24079706 . free . 2013BMCEE..13..216C .
  12. Cui . Yinqiu . Li . Hongjie . Ning . Chao . Zhang . Ye . Chen . Lu . Zhao . Xin . Hagelberg . Erika . Zhou . Hui . Y Chromosome analysis of prehistoric human populations in the West Liao River Valley, Northeast China . BMC Evolutionary Biology . 30 September 2013 . 13 . 216 . 10.1186/1471-2148-13-216 . 24079706 . 3850526 . 1471-2148 . The Upper Xiajiadian culture (UXC) of the late Bronze Age succeeded the LXC but was completely different from the LXC. The UXC people mainly practiced animal husbandry and made bronze objects decorated with animal and other natural motifs in the style of the Eurasian steppes. The UXC individuals of the Dashaqian site had higher Y chromosome haplogroup diversity, with a lower frequency of the LXC lineage. Only one individual carried N1 (×N1a, N1c), the prevalent haplogroup before the UXC period. (...) The presence of N1c in the UXC might suggest that there is immigration from the north Eurasian steppes during this period. . free . 2013BMCEE..13..216C .

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