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Mortuary Ritual and Social Hierarchy in the Longshan Culture*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2015

Liu Li
Translated by
劉 莉
Liu Li*
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia3083
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Abstract

The mortuary data from the Longshan culture provide crucial information for understanding the process of socio-political change from non-stratified to stratified societies in late Neolithic China. This article identifies the variables in Longshan burials that can be correlated with social rank, and then studies four Longshan burial sites (Taosi, Chengzi, Yinjiacheng, and Zhufeng) in two steps. The first step is to classify the evidence for determining burial rank; the second step is to analyze intra-cemetery spatial patterns through time, including the location of graves within a site, the distribution of differently ranked graves and spatial relationships between graves and associated features (houses and pits), the diachronic changes observed in a site, and the depositional practices relating to ritual activities. The results of these analyses suggest that kinship-based Longshan communities were internally and externally stratified in their social structure; that this social stratification was ideologically legitimized by ritual activities that emphasized ancestor worship; and that their society was politically reinforced by an elite exchange network of high status goods at both regional and interregional levels. These social, political, and religious relationships formed the foundation for the development of civilization in prehistoric North China.

龍山文化的墓葬材料爲研究中國新石器時代晚期社會向分層結構發展的過程提供了重要資料.本文首先分析龍山文化墓葬中代表社會等級的考古遺存,然后分兩步討論四個龍山墓地（陶寺，呈子,尹家 城,朱封)的考古材料：(1)墓葬等級的分類及(2)墓地平面布局的分析. 後者包括墓葬在墓地中的分布,不同等級墓葬的分布,墓葬與房屋,灰坑之間的分布關系，同一墓地中墓葬在不同時期分布的變化,墓地中文化遺存的埋藏過程與宗敎儀式之間的關系.本文的分析結果顯示龍山文化以親緣關系爲基礎的社會組織已具備了分層結構，以祖先崇 拜爲主導的宗敎禮儀爲社會分層提供了意識形態基礎，而各地區貴族之間進行社會等級象徵物品的交換活動則在政治上加強了分層的社會結構.這些關系爲史前中國北方的文明社會發展奠定了社會,政治,和宗敎基礎.

Type
Articles
Information
Early China , Volume 21 , 1996 , pp. 1 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Study of Early China 1996

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Footnotes

*

I am grateful to Kwang-chih Chang, Richard Meadow, and Chen Xingcan, who read and commented on earlier versions of this article. I especially thank David Keightley, John Olsen, and an anonymous reviewer, who offered detailed suggestions and comments. I express my gratitude to Ming Wei and Rudy Frank, who made the final version of the maps and figures presentable. Appreciation also goes to Thomas Bartlett and Lee Ann Younger, who edited the previous drafts, and to Donald Harper, the Editor of Early China, who edited the final draft. The revision of this work was supported by a research grant from the American Council of Learned Societies with funds provided by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation. Without the support and help from the above individuals and institution, the completion of this research would have been impossible. However, I am responsible for all imperfections in the finished product.

References

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56. For example, pig teeth were found on top of the stone chamber in 90% of the burials at Tuchengzi 土城子in Jilin, dating to the Zhou period (Renxiang, Wang, ”Xinshiqi shidai zangzhu de zongjiao yiyi,” 79)Google Scholar.

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58. Youheng, Li 李有恆, “Dawenkou muqun de shougu ji qita dongwu guge”, 大交口墓群的獸骨及其他動物骨豁, in Dawenkou, ed. guanlichu, Shandong sheng wenhua and bowuguan, Jinan shi, 156–58Google Scholar.

59. jiaoyanshi, Shandong daxue lishixi kaogu zhuanye, Sishui Yinjiacheng, 155Google Scholar.

60. For example, see Zuobin, Dong 董作賓, Xiaotun dier ben: Yinxu wenzi yibian (Nanjing: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo, 1949), 4543Google Scholar: ”Crack-making on the day jiazi. Use two non-castrated boars and two boars as sacrifices for ancestor Xiayi” (甲子卜0[二豕二豕土于下乙). Shi 豕 may have referred to non-castrated boars, while 豕± may have been used as a general term for all boars. See also, Zhenyu, Luo 羅振玉, Yinxu shuqi houbian 殷虛書契後編(n.p., 1916; rpt. Taibei, n.d.), 1.24.8Google Scholar: “Crack-making on the day jichou. In making burnt offering to the (Yellow) River at night, it should be a young pig (that we use)” (己丑卜河赏夕虽隊).Tun膝 means young pigGoogle Scholar. See Cheng, Zhao 趙誠, Jiaguwen jianming cidian 甲骨文簡明詞典 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1988), 199–200Google Scholar.

61. E.g., Zhuchen, Tong 侈柱臣, “Cong kaogu cailiao shitan woguo de siyouzhi he jieji de qiyuan” 從考古材料試探我國的私有制和階級的起源, Kaogu 1975. 4, 213–21Google Scholar; Da, Shan 單達and Shi Bing史兵, “Cong Dawenkou wenhua yicun kan woguo gudai siyouzhi de yunyu he mengya” 從大汶口文化遺存看我國古代私有制的孕育和萌芽, Wenwu 1976. 4, 84–88Google Scholar.

62. Kim, Seung-Og, “Burials, Pigs, and Political Prestige in Neolithic China,” Current Anthropology 35. 2 (1994), 119–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

63. Kim, , “Burials, Pigs, and Political Prestige,” 126Google Scholar.

64. For additional criticisms of the argument that pigs were items of long–distance exchange, see also Lee, Yun Kuen, “Comments,” Current Anthropology 35.2 (1994), 133–35Google Scholar; and Nelson, Sarah, “Comments,” Current Anthropology 35. 2 (1994), 135–36Google Scholar.

65. Renxiang, Wang, “Xinshiqi shidai zangzhu de zongjiao yiyi,” 79–81Google Scholar.

66. The sacrifices found in the Shang royal cemetery include humans, elephants, horses, dogs, pigs, sheep, monkeys, and birds. See yanjiusuo, Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu, Yinxu de faxian yu yanjiu 殷墟的發現與硏究(Beijing: Kexue, 1994), 117Google Scholar. Several animal sacrificial pits dated to the Western Zhou were found at Xiwusi 西吳寺 in Shandong. These pits contained either complete animal skeletons or were packed with mixed animal bones from cattle, pig, deer, and sheep. See xunlianban, Guojia wenwuju kaogu lingdui, Yanzhou Xiwusi 竞州西吳寺 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1990), 122–29Google Scholar.

67. Renxiang, Wang, “Xinshiqi shidai zangzhu de zongjiao yiyi” 83 (Wang cites the Weizhi passage from the Sanguozhi 三國志)Google Scholar.

68. Thompson, Stuart E., “Death, Food and Fertility,” in Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China, ed. Watson, J. L. and Rawski, E.S. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), 71–108Google Scholar; Watson, James L., “Of Flesh and Bones: The Management of Death Pollution in Cantonese Society,” in Death and the Regeneration of Life, ed. Bloch, M. and Parry, J. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 155–86CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Watson, Ruble S., “Remembering the Dead: Graves and Politics in Southeastern China,” in Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China, ed. Watson, and Rawski, , 203–27Google Scholar.

69. Keightley, , “Dead but not Gone,” 33–34Google ScholarPubMed; Fung, “Deer-tusk Knives, Serving Stands and Goblets,”

70. guanlizu, Changwei diqu wenwu and bowuguan, Zhucheng xian, “Shandong Zhucheng Chengzi yizhi fajue baogao” 山東諸城呈子遺址發掘報告, Kaogu xuebao 1980. 3, 329–85Google Scholar; yanjiusuo, Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu, Jiaoxian Sanlihe 應縣三里河 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1988), 173–84Google Scholar.

71. Renxiang, Wang, “Xinshiqi shidai zangzhu de zongjiao yiyi,” 84Google Scholar.

72. Keightley, , “Dead but not Gone” 33Google ScholarPubMed; Fung, “Deer-tusk Knives, Serving Stands and Goblets.”

73. Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo, “Shanxi Xiangfen xian Taosi yizhi fajue jianbao,” and “1978–1980 nian Shanxi Xiangfen Taosi mudi fajue jianbao.”

74. Gao Wei, Gao Tianlin, and Zhang Daihai, “Guanyu Taosi mudi.”

75. Wei, Gao, “Longshan shidai de lizhi,” 239Google Scholar.

76. In Taosi burials, the large V-shaped stone knives were associated with cutting boards, indicating that they were used for food preparation in ritual (Wei, Gao, “Longshan shidai de lizhi,” 242)Google Scholar. This type of stone knife was also found at Liangzhu sites in the lower Yangtze River region (Jian, Song 宋健, “Songshan diqu yu Taihu diqu wenming jincheng de bijiao yanjiu” 嵩山地區與太湖地區文明進程的比較硏究, Shanghai bowuguan jikan 6 [1992], 366, figure 20)Google Scholar and the Lushanmao site in Shaanxi (Naijun, Ji 姬乃軍, “Yan'an shi faxian de gudai yuqi” 延安巿發現的古 代玉器, Wenwu 1984.2, 84–87)Google Scholar.

77. Wei, Gao, Tianlin, Gao, and Daihai, Zhang, “Guanyu Taosi mudi,” 532–33Google Scholar.

78. yanjiusuo, Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu, “1978–1980 nian Shanxi Xiangfen Taosi mudi fajue jianbao,” 32Google Scholar.

79. Wei, Gao, Tianlin, Gao, and Daihai, Zhang, “Guanyu Taosi mudi,” 533Google Scholar.

80. Wei, Gao, Tianlin, Gao, and Daihai, Zhang, “Guanyu Taosi mudi,” 534Google Scholar.

81. The occupants of small tombs were probably not captives, slaves, or human sacrifices. First, skeletons in all small burials were placed in the grave pits in an extended dorsal position, suggesting that the deceased had received regular mortuary treatment. Second, the skeletons reveal no evidence of a violent death. Last, in each section of the cemetery, all ranks of burials were closely spaced and organized in a regular pattern, indicating the existence of close relationships among the deceased when they were alive. Evidence of human sacrifice in Neolithic burials, however, was revealed in three Liangzhu culture burials at Fuquanshan 福泉山 in Qingpu, 靑浦, Shanghai, (“Shanghai faxian sanzuo ‘Liangzhu’ gumu you peizang nuli” 上海發現三座良渚古墓有陪葬奴隸, Xinhua ribao 新華日報, 01 3, 1988)Google Scholar, and eight large burials at Huating in Jiangsu, belonging either to the Dawenkou culture (bowuguan, Nanjing, “1987 nian Jiangsu Xinyi Huating yizhi de fajue” 1987 年江蘇新祈花廳遺址的發掘, Wenwu 1990. 2, 1–26Google Scholar; and “Jiangsu Xinyi Huating yizhi 1989 nian fajue jiyao” 江蘇新沂花廳遺址1989年發掘記要, Dongnan wenhua 東南文化 1990.1-2, 225–61)Google Scholar or to the Liangzhu culture (Minghua, Zhang 張明華, “Guanyu yipi Liangzhu xing guyu de wen-hua guishu wenti” 關于一批良渚型古玉的文化歸屬問題, Kaogu 1994. 11, 1012–21)Google Scholar.

82. Changwei diqu wenwu guanlizu and Zhucheng xian bowuguan, “Shandong Zhucheng Chengzi yizhi fajue baogao.”

83. I disagree with the excavation report, which suggests that the burials were divided into three sections; see guanlizu, Changwei diqu wenwu and bowuguan, Zhucheng xian, “Shandong Zhucheng Chengzi yizhi fajue baogao,” 349Google Scholar.

84. The two houses were not dated in the excavation report. However, house F2 was on top of a middle-phase burial (M18), and house F3 had intruded into an early-phase burial (M76). It is likely that the houses belong to the late phase. From the structure of the houses and the artificial remains near them, there is no evidence that the houses had been used for any purpose other than as domestic residences.

85. Pit H16, which has been dated to the late phase and was associated with house F3, adds support to dating the houses to the late phase (guan-lizu, Changwei diqu wenwu and bowuguan, Zhucheng xian, “Shandong Zhucheng Chengzi yizhi fajue baogao,” 377)Google Scholar.

86. At Cishan, 474 ash pits and only two house foundations were found in an area of 2,579 m2. Among the ash pits, eighty were filled with millet and two with tree seeds. The millet deposit was 0.3 m to 2.0 m in thickness. Sometimes skeletons of dogs and pigs were underneath the millet deposit, and whole vessels were also found in some pits (guanlichu, Hebei sheng wenwu and baoguansuo, Handan shi wenwu, “Hebei Wu'an Cishan yizhi” 河北武安磁山遺址, Kaogu xuebao 1981. 3, 303–38)Google Scholar. Gong, Bu 卜工, “Cishan jisiyizhi jixiangguan wenti” 磁山祭祀遺址及相關問題, Wenwu 1987.11, 43–47Google Scholar, argues that the ash pits may have served a ritual function, and that the excavated areas at the Cishan site were largely used as places for public ritual activities. This kind of activity, which involved digging a pit and burying sacrifices, may be the prototype of the rituals later identified as xianji 陷祭in oracle bone inscriptions, as yimai 瘦埋 in Erya 爾雅, “Shitian” 釋天, and as kan in Liji 禮言己 (all refer to a burying ritual).

87. guanlizu, Changwei diqu wenwu and bowuguan, Zhucheng xian, ”Shandong Zhucheng Chengzi yizhi fajue baogao,” 348Google Scholar.

88. Pit H14, which was close to a middle phase burial (M67), is dated to the early phase in the excavation report, and would seem to be an exception. However, several pottery vessels found in the pit, such as an All type ding 鼎 tripod and a II type cylinder-stand pan 盤 basin, were dated to the middle or late phases. Therefore, I place pit H14 in the late phase, and consider it to be later than burial M67.

89. guanlizu, Changwei diqu wenwu and bowuguan, Zhucheng xian, ”Shandong Zhucheng Chengzi yizhi fajue baogao,” 348Google Scholar.

90. jiaoyanshi, Shandong daxue lishixi kaogu zhuanye, Sishui Yinjiacheng, 2–4Google Scholar.

91. It seems that there was a cultural discontinuity between phase I and phase II. In phase I, six dismembered human skeletons, including four children under thirteen years of age and one old male, were found on the floors of the four houses. Abundant burnt mud and ash as well as a large quantity of tools and pottery vessels were also found above the house floors. The evidence suggests that phase I may have ended with the occurrence of some kind of disaster at the village—probably an enemy raid, as the houses were burnt down after the elder and younger inhabitants were killed. In contrast, phases II-IV show a continuous cultural development.

92. According to Tiemei, Chen 陳鐵梅, “Zhongguo xinshiqi muzang chengnian rengu bili yichang de wenti” 中國新石器墓葬成年人骨比例異常的問題, Kaogu xuebao 1990. 4, 511–22Google Scholar, an unbalanced sex ratio, in which the number of males is much higher than the number of females, exists in 50% of Neolithic burial sites. However, as noted by Chen, the gender data from Neolithic burial sites may not reflect true demographic configurations. The reasons can be summarized as follows: (1) poor preservation of the skeletons makes sex determination difficult; (2) misidentifications may be made by archaeologists due to the lack of understanding of the differences between Neolithic and modern female body types (Neolithic female skeletons were more robust than those of modern females, since they performed more physical work in their daily lives); (3) Women often died at a younger age in the Neolithic period, and their skeletons were more perishable than those of males who tended to survive longer; (4) males and females were not treated equally in burial customs; (5) female infanticide may have been practiced for population control. Because of these factors, the sex ratio from Neolithic sites has to be handled with caution.

93. The distribution of burials at the site is illustrated in the excavation report (Shandong daxue lishixi kaogu zhuanye jiaoyanshi, Sishui Yinjiacheng, figure 32), but the locations of pits and houses are not. This makes spatial analysis difficult. Based on descriptions in the text and based on the inventory lists, I have tried to plot the houses and pits in my maps. The accuracy of this plotting is limited, since the report only indicates the number of the excavation squares in which houses and pits were found. I can only mark the approximate location of the houses and the pits in the excavation squares where they were found. Most houses were poorly preserved, so it is difficult to analyze the ranking of houses in relation to the ranking of burials. Therefore, burial ranking is the only variable used here for the study of spatial separation as an indicator of social hierarchy.

94. Other comparable examples are the three burials found at Zhufeng in Linqu, Shandong (see below).

95. One exception is M138, which was not associated with any houses. It was located in the southwestern corner of the excavated area. It is not known if there were more archaeological features, including houses and burials, beyond the excavated area.

96. The jade knife (16.1 cm long, 7.8–8.1 cm wide, and 0.3 cm thick) was found in M139, ranked in Class 2.

97. The pits near the houses probably also had a religious function in household ritual activities of the Longshan culture (an example of this has been identified at the Kangjia 康家 site in Lintong 臨潼, Shaanxi). See Liu, , “Development of Chiefdom Societies,” 99–128Google Scholar.

98. Shandong sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo, “Linqu xian Xizhufeng”; Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo, “Shandong Linqu Zhufeng.”

99. The Liangzhu jade ornaments mentioned here refer to the so-called guanzhuangqi 冠狀器 “headdress-shaped objects” (Figure 4), found near the head of skeletons in large burials at the Fanshan site in Yuhang, Zhejiang. See Jinpeng, Du 杜金鵬, “Lun Linqu Zhufeng Longshan wenhua yuguanshi ji xiangguan wenti” 論臨朐朱封龍山文化玉冠飾及相關問題, Kaogu 1994. 1, 55–65Google Scholar.

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102. For a more detailed discussion of the development of ancestor ritual revealed in Neolithic data, see Liu, Li, “Ancestor Worship: An Archaeological Investigation of Ritual Activities in Neolithic North China,” in Essays on East Asian Archaeology in Honor of Professor K.C. Chang, ed. Murowchick, et al.Google Scholar

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108. The social position of women may have not been universally lower than that of men. In one case at Sanlihe in Shandong, female burials make up the greater percentage of the highest ranking burials (Liu, , “Development of Chiefdom Societies,” 214–17)Google Scholar.

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111. See Hong, Wu, “From Temple to Tomb: Ancient Chinese Art and Religion in Transition,” Early China 13 (1988), 78–115CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The remains of a shrine found on top of M5 at Xiaotun in Anyang, Henan (which belongs to Fuhao 婦好, a consort of King Wuding 武丁 in the late Shang dynasty) is one indication that rituals were performed at tombs (yanjiusuo, Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu, Yinxu Fuhao mu 殷墟婦好墓 [Beijing: Wenwu, 1980], 6)Google Scholar.

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113. Guangren, Gao 高廣仁and Wangping, Shao 邵望平, “Zhongguo shiqian de guiling yu quansheng” 中國史前的龜靈與犬, in Zhongguo kaoguxue yanjiu 中國考古學研究, ed. Bingqi, Su (Beijing: Wenwu, 1986), 57–70Google Scholar.

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115. The remains of a pair of turtle shells painted with red pigment, perhaps used as a rattle, were found in a Longshan culture deposit at the Kangjia site in central Shaanxi. The turtle was identified as Chinemys reevesii, a form not native to the area; the turtle rattle was probably obtained directly or indirectly from southern regions as ritual paraphernalia (see Liu, “Development of Chiefdom Societies,” 107–12)Google Scholar.

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119. The Erlitou culture is divided into four phases, dating to 1900–1600 B.C. The bronze ritual vessels, bronze workshops, elaborate burials, and most palatial structures occurred in Phase III. See yanjiusuo, Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu, Xin Zhongguo de kaogu faxian he yanjiu 新中國的考古發現和硏究 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1984), 211–15Google Scholar; Chang, , The Archaeology of Ancient China, 307–16Google Scholar; and Thorp, Robert L., “Erlitou and the Search for the Xia” Early China 16 (1991), 1–38Google Scholar.