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Archeology unearths the life of an ancient population
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In 1959, workers digging a cesspit in what is today Yutang village in Minhang District’s Maqiao Town found an antler fossil and a red-ornamented clay fragment 1.5 meters underground. Three days later, a bulldozer unearthed more fragments nearby. Cultural relics protection authorities confirmed that some valuable history of Maqiao had been discovered..
The findings pushed back Shanghai’s history to around 3,500 years, when ancestors settled by the sea. Food supplies were ample. Their diet consisted of animals, seafood and crops.
Freed from some of the daily pressures of food foraging, these early inhabitants had the time to create pottery, stoneware and bronzeware.
The Minhang Museum is now holding an exhibition of Maqiao Cultural relics.
“We are depicting scenes of life 3,500 years ago,” said Song Yu, an official with the museum.
“Most of the exhibits show articles for daily use. We want to tell visitors what they were for and how they were used,” Song said.
About 3,500 years ago, the current-day farm village faced the sea along a bund formed by shell sand.
The rich natural resources of lakes, grasslands, forest and sea provided food and other daily necessities. Sika deer, moose, wild boar and roebucks roamed the forests, while the sea contained an abundance of turtles, fish, cockles and clams.
Nature’s bounty
The ancestors built wooden houses using logs, branches, thatch and reeds.
“Such materials were very hard to preserve,” said Song. “So the houses had to be reconstructed frequently. Archaeologists found only one layer of ash in some of the former house sites.”
The ancestors used wells for fresh water. Some of the wells have been preserved, though they required cleaning out after centuries of use as garbage dumps.
The ancestors also dug holes to use as root cellars. The walls were reinforced by yellow mud and many of the primitive storage areas contained pottery fragments.
Survival inventiveness
Food, of course, was a principle concern for Maqiao ancestors. Apart from very limited forays into farming, the bulk of their diet came from hunting and fishing. They also raised some livestock, such as chicken, dogs and pigs.
Archeologists found evidence of 20 breeds of animals and seafood that were edible and served as food sources. The early settlers also hunted deer, tigers and rhinos.
“Our research shows that Maqiao ancestors didn’t plant rice as much as did the Liangzhu Culture, and people pretty much relied on nature for living,” Song Jian, director of the archaeological research department at Shanghai Museum wrote in the book “The Essence of Archaeology in Shanghai” (2006, Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House).
“Their culture is an outstanding example of the development of the relationship between humans and nature.”
Stones and bones were polished into dart-like weapons and arrowheads, which were used in hunting and fishing. Stone sickles and hoes were also found among the relics.
The ancestors have also devised rudimentary fishponds to ensure the supply of fresh aquatic products. The ponds, which were usually around 1.7 meters deep, were rarely seen in other primitive cultures in China. On one end of the ponds, crude stairs were built for people to step down into the waters, which kept freshly caught fish, shrimp and turtles.
Celebrating seasons
Containers for food and drink containers were also found among the relics. The most common was zhi, which was shaped somewhat like a vase, with a narrow neck, a wider middle and a round base. Plates, pots and cauldrons of all shapes also were unearthed and are on display.
The change of seasons must have mesmerized these early settlers of Maqiao. They carved the images depicting different seasons on their food containers. They also carved symbols on the pottery to convey messages.
Ornamentation during the Xia (21th century BC-16th century BC) and Shang (1600 BC -1046 BC) dynasties showed clouds and storms. In other areas, however, such ornamentation was confined to bronzeware.
Another achievement of the Maqiao Culture was the invention of chinaware. The primitive settlers used black glaze on small pots and jars. With centuries of experimentation and refinement, the origins of black-blaze chinaware were born. The enamel layer was transparent and shiny.
Like other primitive cultures, the Maqiao didn’t conquer time. There was a blank gap between about 1100 BC and 770 BC, when the culture seemed to vanish for nearly four centuries. Archeologists haven’t reached a consensus on why that happened, though natural disasters are one theory.
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