[Let’s talk about the outstanding characteristics of Chinese civilization]
Chinese civilization is a dazzling star in the human civilization system, with unique attributes, connotations and development paths. It has outstanding characteristics such as continuity, innovation, unity, inclusiveness and peace, and has strong cohesion, vitality, flexibility and adaptability. These characteristics sprouted in the Paleolithic Age, with deep roots and long veins. The formation of Chinese civilization system is closely related to the special geographical position and ecological conditions of China, the continuous evolution of ancient Chinese people, and the specific development process of prehistoric culture. It is a colorful chapter in the millions of years of human history in China.
one.each place has its streams in from all over the country
China is located in the center of East Asia, with a vast territory and complex natural environment. Living in such a vast and diverse space, the ancestors can make full use of the convenience of the environment, obtain all kinds of living resources, develop colorful regional cultures, and migrate between the north and the south and in elevation when the climate fluctuates, so as to avoid disadvantages. The research shows that the climate fluctuation of Pleistocene in China and East Asia is far less than that in Europe and America, and even in the ice age, its cold degree is far less than that in Europe and America. Even there is a dispute about whether there was a real ice age in China. This shows that most areas of China were suitable for human survival and reproduction in the Paleolithic period.
China is geographically independent, with tropical jungles in the south, Himalayas and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the roof of the world, mountains such as Kunlun Mountain, Tianshan Mountain and Altai Mountain in the west and deserts in Central Asia, Mongolian Plateau and Gobi Desert in the north and the sea in the east. Although they cannot constitute an absolute barrier to human migration, they will bring challenges to the flow of large-scale people, especially when the environment deteriorates. In such a relatively closed ecological environment, early Homo erectus, who migrated here in a suitable climate, survived and multiplied, spreading branches and leaves. After that, although a small number of people moved in and out, large-scale migration rarely occurred; The new small group of people can only be integrated into the main group, and their physical and cultural characteristics, although occasionally preserved, will soon be assimilated and absorbed. As a result, ancient people and ancient culture with regional characteristics have formed here. Although they are “disconnected” from the outside world, the regional characteristics are lasting and distinctive. This evolution and development process still existed in the Neolithic Age and historical period.
Under such a natural environment, human beings in China and even East Asia have continuously evolved since the Pleistocene. From 1930s to 1940s, when paleoanthropologist Dunrui Wei studied the fossils of Peking Man, he found that Peking Man had a series of similar characteristics with modern North China people, and put forward the view that Peking Man was the ancestor of modern China people and even Mongolian people for the first time. In 1950s, human fossils between Peking man and modern man were found in Ziyang, Sichuan, Ding Cun, Changyang, Hubei, Liujiang, Guangxi and Maba, Guangdong, which filled the gap in evidence between Homo erectus and modern China. Later, earlier human fossils were found in Yuanmou, Yunnan, Jianshi, Hubei, Lantian, Shaanxi and Yunyang, Hubei, which further lengthened the history of human beings in China. Paleoanthropologists such as Wu Rukang and Wu Xinzhi think that there are obvious similarities among the skulls of most ancient humans in China, including sagittal ridge, prominent face, high and protruding cheekbones, broad nose, shovel-shaped upper incisors, round chin pillow, etc. Therefore, it is inferred that ancient humans in China have evolved continuously in different periods, which has a clear inheritance relationship, and it is suggested that there may be gene exchange among ancient people in different regions.
In 1987, “Modern humans came from Africa..According to the theory, some scholars believe that the ancient people in China are extinct and have no genetic relationship with modern China people. In 1998, Wu Xinzhi developed the theory of “continuous evolution with hybridization” on the basis of the “multi-regional evolution theory” of the origin of modern people, pointing out that human beings in China and East Asia have evolved continuously since Homo erectus, and there is no interruption in evolution. Although gene exchange between the native people and the outside people in East Asia has occurred from time to time, there has not been a large-scale replacement of the native people by foreign people, and the transmission of the native people from generation to generation is the main theme of human evolution here.
Later, the analysis of ancient DNA found that ancient humans, including Neanderthals and Denisovans, had made some genetic contributions to modern people. The newly discovered human fossils in Huanglong Cave in Hubei, Zhiren Cave in Guangxi, Lingjing Cave in Henan, Hualong Cave in Anhui and other sites, as well as the re-study of dali man fossils and the decoding of the genetic code of the pastoral cave people, have made the evidence chain of the continuous evolution of human beings in China from ancient times to the present more solid and perfect.
2.Behavior patterns come down in one continuous line
Paleolithic culture in China has a history of about 2 million years. The research shows that the paleolithic people in China and East Asia have maintained the same cultural characteristics for a long time, which are different from those in the West. This cultural tradition reflects that the ancient people in this area have a specific survival mode, which the author calls the “Paleolithic Oriental Behavior Mode”, mainly in the following aspects:
Use local materials and be flexible. Oriental ancient humans mainly used Shi Ying, quartzite, dolomite, sandstone, volcanic breccia, small pieces of flint and other materials to make stone tools. Different from the stone tools made by ancient people in the west of the Old World, the stone tools in the East are relatively poor in quality. In view of such resource conditions, the ancient people here made use of local materials and used a variety of stone materials. The mining method was simple, practical and eclectic. For example, Peking man used the inefficient and wasteful smashing method to develop and process the pulse Shi Ying with poor quality and abundant quantity in Zhoukoudian area; In Sichuan basin, ancient humans stripped large flat pebbles with simple and effective anvil collision method, and then processed and used them. In the Three Gorges area of Chongqing, faced with a large number of blunt river pebbles, which are not easy to be peeled by hammering and anvil-bumping techniques, the ancients used the method of falling and bumping to hit the stone chips with sharp edges, or split the stone body into two, creating conditions for further peeling and processing; The ancient people living in the Gan Tang Qing site in Yunnan Province, in the absence of stone tools, made wooden materials, animal bones and antlers into tools, so as to obtain living resources and ensure the reproduction of the population. These methods are simple and practical, which fully embodies the flexibility and wisdom of our ancestors.
Simple production, the pursuit of practicality. Most of the stone tools of ancient oriental people are simple and practical, and the overall characteristics of stripping technology are opportunism and randomness. Many methods, such as hammering, smashing, anvil bumping, sharp-edged smashing and bumping, are used, and stone cores are basically not prefabricated or repaired. The processing technology is relatively simple, based on the principle of practicality, and the processing degree of the blank is shallow. The goal is to repair the edge that can be used for cutting or the sharp edge that can be used for puncture, without deliberately pursuing neatness, standardization and aesthetics. Many stone tools have the property of multi-function, and often use unprocessed stone chips directly. This is in stark contrast to the widespread use of two-sided processing technology and Levalowa prefabrication technology in the western part of the Old World, and the standardized deep processing of stone tools. This reflects the pragmatic and simple behavior and life attitude of the creators of these cultures.
Develop resources at a low level and live in harmony with the environment. The ancient people in the East rarely deliberately searched for high-quality stone raw materials and carried out long-term and deep mining in terms of resource utilization; There are few sharp edges and lethal tools, and there is little evidence of excessive killing of prey. These signs show that the ancestors here only made a shallow development of the available resources and objectively maintained harmony and friendship with the ecological environment..Archaeological excavations show that most Paleolithic sites in China have been used for a short time, indicating that the ancient people visiting these sites are constantly moving, that is, when food resources in one area tend to be scarce, they will move elsewhere to find new resources. This mode of migration has enhanced the adaptability of human beings to climate change, and it is not necessary to develop the resources of a place to the extreme, nor to make major changes in technology and culture, so that cultural traditions can develop steadily.
Paleolithic cultural remains also show that ancient Chinese people are by no means clinging to the disabled, but constantly making progress and innovation. 500,000-600,000 years ago, Peking man who lived in the first site of Zhoukoudian relied on a simple smashing method to mine and utilize Shi Ying materials. About 200,000 years ago, the ancient people living in the 15th site of Zhoukoudian, faced with the same raw materials from Shi Ying, were able to skillfully use hammering to process them into sharper and more exquisite stone tools.
The ancient people who lived in Shuidonggou site in Ningxia more than 30,000 years ago made an important invention to transform stone raw materials by using the heat energy of fire, which made the stone texture more uniform and easier to be cracked and then processed into regular and sharp tools. About 20,000 years ago, the ancestors who lived in Wannian Xianren Cave in Jiangxi Province built wet mud and burned it into utensils, and took the lead in inventing pottery. About 10,000 years ago, ancestors in North China planted millet and ancestors in South China planted rice, which started the agricultural journey of mankind … These important inventions and creations are indelible contributions made by ancient Chinese people to human evolution and civilization development.
Come down in one continuous line, the pattern is stable. Compared with the obvious stage development and changes in the western part of the old continent, the Paleolithic culture in China changed slowly, showing a stable development pattern in many aspects, with strong inheritance and continuity. There is no obvious stage change from the early stage to the late stage between the large gravel tool combination in South China and the simple stone chip tool combination in Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.
These Paleolithic cultures, which are different from the west and have clear regional characteristics, have developed continuously and steadily, indicating that the ancient people here have evolved continuously and passed down from generation to generation, forming a stable cultural tradition.
three.Chinese ancient culture is inclusive.
The continuous evolution of China’s native human beings and the passing of culture from generation to generation do not exclude the migration and integration of foreign people and the exchange and mutual learning of cultures, which is strongly proved by the cultural remains of the Paleolithic Age.
The paleolithic culture of the old continent was once divided into two parts by the so-called “Movis Line”. Decades of archaeological discoveries and research show that the hand axe, the standard device of the western Ashley technical system, is also concentrated in Baise basin, Luonan basin, Hanzhong basin, Danjiangkou area and western Sichuan Plateau in China. Among them, the combination of hand axe, thin-edged axe and hand pick unearthed from Luonan and Piluo sites has the typical characteristics of Asheli technology; Stone products with Most technical characteristics dating back 40,000-50,000 years have been unearthed from Tongtian Cave in Xinjiang and Jinsitai Site in Inner Mongolia. A mixture of Levalowa technical products and stone leaf technical products dating back 40,000 years has been unearthed at Shuidonggou site in Ningxia, which is highly similar to the cultural remains in the late Paleolithic period in western Eurasia.
All these evidences show that the migration, interaction, and cultural exchange and integration between the East and the West have taken place in China at least in some areas. These cultural elements originated from the West appear in some Paleolithic sites in China, which shows that the ancient people in the East are open and tolerant, and the foreign people and cultures are not totally excluded, but eclectic, thus injecting new vitality into the survival and evolution and cultural development.
The Paleolithic culture in China is by no means static, but presents a diversified development trend. The pattern of “multiple integration”, “stars all over the sky” and “double petals blossoming” has already begun to emerge in the Paleolithic period. According to the data, the Paleolithic cultures in the south and north of China were obviously different. In most parts of South China, coarse stone tools processed with gravel are dominant, with simple and rough processing and few types of tools, mainly chopping tools, pointed tools (or pickaxes) and large scrapers, and the changes are not obvious from beginning to end. In the north, small stone tools are mainly made of stone chips, with relatively fine processing and relatively rich types of tools, including scrapers, pointy tools, serrated edge tools, end scrapers, engravers, stone drills and other types, and the development and changes from morning till night are more significant than those in the south. These two regional cultural traditions have coexisted for a long time, but they have influenced and infiltrated each other. Of course, this dichotomy between north and south is too simple, and there are rich and colorful cultural varieties in the two regions. For example, in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in the south, stone chips and stone tools are dominant; In a few sites in the north, coarse gravel tools are popular.
Chinese civilization has a long history, with profound and diverse historical roots and ancient and powerful cultural genes, and its roots can be traced back to the Paleolithic Age. Ancient humans have been in China for more than 2 million years, and they have been living endlessly from Homo erectus. The Paleolithic culture in the East has distinct characteristics and is passed down from generation to generation. We should push forward the project of exploring the source of Chinese civilization to Paleolithic Age..Generation, set up a major research project, bring together scientific research strength and scientific and technological conditions in archaeology, genetics, anthropology, paleoenvironmentology and chronology to tackle key problems, clarify the context and motivation of human origin, evolution and civilization gestation and development in China from the source, and highlight the great contribution of the Chinese nation and its culture to the world.
(Author: Gao Xing, a researcher at the Institute of vertebrate paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and an academic advisory member of the China Institute of History)