Yangshao

  General Description   Yangshao culture (Miaodigou, Xiyincun) first developed in the Loess plateau in the Holocene period. ^[1] The culture was present from 5000 to 3000 BCE, extending from the Middle Yellow River Valley to modern Qinghai and Gansu. ^[2] Yangshao sites are mainly found in the Guanzhong region in Shaanxi, eastern Gansu, western Shanxi, southern Hebei and Henan. ^[3] Yangshao subsisted on wild foods and domesticated millet. Men most likely hunted, and men and women farmed and produced goods. ^[4]
Yangshao villages were often surrounded by a ditch, and contained groups of semi-subterranean round or square houses constructed using the wattle and daub method, a graveyard and a public courtyard. ^[5] Homes contained hearths for cooking and wide benches. ^[6] Yangshao culture is characterized by the presence of painted black and red pottery featuring animals and geometric designs. ^[3] Pottery, jewelry and stone, bone and ceramic tools have been excavated from Yangshao period graves. ^[6]
Population and political organization
In the early Yangshao phase, settlements did not have any detectable hierarchies. In the later phase, structures in the settlements began to vary in size, suggesting the existence of settlement hierarchies. ^[5] In many villages, a large structure is surrounded by smaller dwellings. ^[6] However, grave goods in Yangshao burials suggest a more egalitarian society. ^[6] More information is needed on settlement hierarchy and community organization in the Yangshao period. The population of Yangshao settlements varied- smaller settlements had 70 to 80 members while larger settlements housed a few hundred. ^[1]

[1]: (Lee 2001, 335) Lee, Yun Kuen. 2001. “Yangshao.” In East Asia and Oceania (Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Volume 3), edited by Peter Peregrine and Melvin Ember. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. 333-339. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/BUI9EC3T

[2]: (Tanner 2009, 20) Tanner, Harold Miles. 2009. China: A History. Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/46QCS68G

[3]: (Lee 2001, 333) Lee, Yun Kuen. 2001. “Yangshao.” In East Asia and Oceania (Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Volume 3), edited by Peter Peregrine and Melvin Ember. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. 333-339. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/BUI9EC3T

[4]: (Lee 2001, 336) Lee, Yun Kuen. 2001. “Yangshao.” In East Asia and Oceania (Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Volume 3), edited by Peter Peregrine and Melvin Ember. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. 333-339. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/BUI9EC3T

[5]: (Lee 2001, 334) Lee, Yun Kuen. 2001. “Yangshao.” In East Asia and Oceania (Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Volume 3), edited by Peter Peregrine and Melvin Ember. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. 333-339. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/BUI9EC3T

[6]: (Von Falkenhausen 1994, 55) Von Falkenhausen. Lothar. 1994. “Rediscovering the Past.” In China: Ancient Culture, Modern Land, edited by Robert E. Murowchick. Norman Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KKWA9MT3