Cishan culture
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The Cishan culture (磁山文化) (6000-5500 BC) was a Neolithic Yellow River culture in northern China, centered primarily around southern Hebei. The Cishan culture was based on millet farming. Common artifacts from the culture include stone grinders, stone sickles and tripod pottery.
Since the culture shared many similarities with its southern neighbor, the Peiligang culture, both cultures are sometimes referred to together as the Cishan-Peiligang culture or Peiligang-Cishan culture. The Cishan culture also shared several similarities with its eastern neighbor, the Beixin culture.
The type site at Cishan is located in Wu'an County, Hebei, China. The site covered an area of around 80,000 m². The houses at Cishan were semi-subterranean and round. The site showed evidence of domesticated pigs, dogs and chicken, with pigs providing the primary source of meat. Fish was also an important part of the diet at Cishan.
Over 500 subterranean storage pits were discovered at Cishan. These pits were used to store millet. The largest pits were 5 meters deep and capable of storing up to 1000 kg of millet.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Allan, Sarah (ed), The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An Archaeological Perspective, ISBN 0-300-09382-9
- Higham, Charles, The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia, ISBN 0-521-56505-7
