Research On Neolithic Concepts And Beliefs In The Lower Yangtze River Region

The Neolithic period in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River is roughly 10000 to 4000 years ago.This article divides it into three stages based on cultural characteristics.The first stage is the Shangshan Culture(10000-8500 years ago)and the Cross Lake Bridge Culture(8000-7000 years ago),which dates back 10000 to 7000 years ago;The second stage is from7000 to 5500 years ago,including the Hemudu culture(7000 to 5000 years ago),Majiabang culture(7000 to 6000 years ago),Longqiuzhuang culture(6600 to 5000 years ago),Sanxingcun culture(6500 to 5500 years ago),Beiyinyangying culture(6000 to 5000 years ago),etc;The third stage is from 5500 to 4000 years ago,mainly including Lingjiatan Culture(5600-5300 years ago),Songze Culture(6000-5100 years ago),and Liangzhu Culture(5300-4000 years ago).This article interprets the concepts and beliefs of the Neolithic Age from three aspects: the concepts and beliefs reflected in burial customs,the concepts and beliefs reflected in artworks,and the concepts and beliefs in sacrificial relics.In the first stage of the mountain climbing culture and the cross lake bridge culture,several pottery pieces were depicted with radiating sun patterns,showcasing the primitive worship of the sun.Its shape is simple,completely imitating the natural form of the sun,belonging to early Nature worship.The multi story high-rise building B discovered at the Cross Lake Bridge site is likely a sacrificial platform used to worship the sun,with each floor set up with fire pits to offer sacrifices to heaven.From 7000 to 5500 years ago,concepts and beliefs became significantly diverse.The clear definition of life and death by the ancestors,as well as the concept of soul and the concept of animism in all things,are the prerequisites for the emergence and development of various burial customs.A small number of tombs in the the Taihu Lake Lake basin and the Jianghuai region have the burial custom of covering the faces of the dead with pottery,as well as the pottery burial of deliberately breaking pottery burial,and the oral burial of putting jade in the mouth of the dead.All kinds of burial customs demonstrate people’s belief that after the death of the body,a soul will enter another world.The objects of Nature worship are diverse.The bird shaped utensils with twin birds and sunrise patterns and clay pottery figurines at Hemudu site reflect the worship of the sun and the worship of birds.Birds are considered as messengers of the sun.Compared with the first stage,the worship of Nature worship from 7000 to 5500 years ago began to develop towards personalized gods.Reproductive worship and ancestor worship have developed.The handcrafted human figures unearthed from the Luojiajiao Site of Majiabang Culture reflect the worship of reproduction.The sacrificial area to the north of Tomb I at the Camel Dun Site of Majiabang Culture contains a large amount of animal bones and one human animal.This sacrificial area should be a supporting facility of the cemetery,mainly used for worshipping ancestors;The Longqiu Village culture buried whole dogs to lay the foundation during the construction of houses,mainly hoping to suppress evil spirits with the protective role of dogs.From 5500 to 4000 years ago,it was the third stage,where concepts and beliefs moved from being loose and lively in the second stage to being standardized and institutionalized,reflecting the complexity of social forms at that time.Jade ware reached its peak in the third stage of development,and the Lingjiatan and Liangzhu cultures generally observed the phenomenon of jade burial.Typical burial jade ware such as jade cong and jade bi reflected a hierarchical ritual system.There are also Liangzhu God Emblems depicted on various jade artifacts,which are only found in high-level tombs.This indicates that the Liangzhu God Emblem is a marker of identity and status,and also reflects the hierarchical and class nature of Liangzhu society at that time.Large scale sacrificial sites independent of residential areas have also emerged in large numbers,with high-level altars appearing in Lingjiatan culture,Songze culture,and Liangzhu culture.The coexistence of altars and cemeteries indicates that while worshiping natural gods,they also worship ancestors.This combination is a reflection of the sharp division of social hierarchy.The leaders and wizards in the upper social strata of the tribe,in order to strengthen their ruling authority,imposed the divinity of various natural deities on their ancestors who were related to them.As a result,the ancestors possessed divinity,and the ruling power of the ruling group was legally established.Throughout the entire lower reaches of the Yangtze River,prehistoric concepts and beliefs should originate from humanity’s confusion and reverence for the supernatural forces that dominate human destiny.The concept of soul and animism led to Nature worship,and then developed totem worship,idol worship,reproduction worship,ancestor worship and so on.Until four or five thousand years ago,with the emergence of private ownership and the great division of social hierarchy,civilization evolved towards early states,and the upper echelons of society used religious beliefs as tools for governance.As a result,faith was artificially unified and standardized,and the system of etiquette gradually took shape.