Liao civilization

The Liao Civilization or Liao River Civilization is an ancient Chinese civilization that originated in the southern part of Manchuria, in the northeastern Liao basin of China. It is thought to have formed in about 6,200 B.C. This civilization was discovered when Ryuzo Torii, a Japanese archaeologist, discovered the Hongshan culture in 1908.

Culture

Large-scale pit-type houses, graves and temples with altars were excavated. It is thought that the Liao civilization may have been "a country" of the prehistoric age.^[1]

A model of the feng shui were excavated from remains of the Hongshan culture. Ball products such as the jade which made the oldest Chinese dragon were discovered in remains of Xinglongwa culture. In addition, the oldest pit-comb ware and Liaoning bronze dagger (biwa form bronze sword) were excavated.

Since it was contemporaneous with Hwan‐huou civilization and Chang Jiang Culture, it is thought to have influenced ancient Chinese culture.

Environment

This region was thought to have been desert for the past 1 million years. However, a 2015 study found that the region once featured rich aquatic resources and deep lakes and forests that existed from 12,000 years ago to 4,000 years ago. It was changed into desert by climate change which began approximately 4,200 years ago.^[2] Therefore, people of the Hongshan culture may have emigrated to the south approximately 4,000 years ago and later influenced Chinese culture.^[3]

People

A genetic analysis of human bone remains dating back to 6500 to 2700 B.C. in the Liao area, Haplogroup N (Y-DNA) (frequently in Uralic peoples and Yakuts) was observed at approximately 70% frequency.^[4] People of Liao civilization possibly are related to Uralic and Yakut people.

List of cultures

• Xinglongwa culture About 6200 - 5400 B.C.
• Xinle culture About 5200 - 4800 B.C.
• Zhaobaogou culture About 5400 - 4500 B.C.
• Hongshan culture About 4700 - 2900 B.C.
• Lower Xiajiadian culture About 2000 - 1500 B.C.
• Upper Xiajiadian culture About B.C. 1100 - B.C. 500

See also

• Yangtze civilization
• Yellow river civilization

References

1. University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Regional Lifeways and Cultural Remains in the Northern Corridor: Chifeng International Collaborative Archaeological Research Project. Cited references: Drennan 1995; and Earle 1987, 1997.
2. Yang, Xiaoping; Scuderi, Louis A.; Wang, Xulong; Scuderi, Louis J.; Zhang, Deguo; Li, Hongwei; Forman, Steven; Xu, Qinghai; Wang, Ruichang (2015-01-20). "Groundwater sapping as the cause of irreversible desertification of Hunshandake Sandy Lands, Inner Mongolia, northern China". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (3): 702–706. doi:10.1073/pnas.1418090112. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4311860. PMID 25561539.
3. New Thoughts on the Impact of Climate Change in Neolithic China Archaeology誌解説記事
4. Cui, Yinqiu; Li, Hongjie; Ning, Chao; Zhang, Ye; Chen, Lu; Zhao, Xin; Hagelberg, Erika; Zhou, Hui (2013-09-30). "Y Chromosome analysis of prehistoric human populations in the West Liao River Valley, Northeast China". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 13 (1): 216. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-13-216. ISSN 1471-2148. PMC 3850526. PMID 24079706.