Shajing culture

Shajing culture
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Location of the Shajing culture, with contemporary cultures circa 500 BCE
Map of the Shajing culture ( ). The City of Xiutu () was about 20km north of Wuwei, and about 500km from Guyuan and its Great Wall built by King Zhao of Qin in 271 BCE (), and by Qin Shihuang (circa 210 BCE, )
Geographical rangeGansu
Dates800/700–100 BCE.[1]
Type siteShajing 沙井村 (Minqin County) 39°05′43″N 100°16′00″E / 39.095264°N 100.266670°E / 39.095264; 100.266670 [2]
Major sitesLiuhudong (Minqin County)

Hamadun (Yongchang County)[3]
Yushugou (Yongdeng County)[4]
Sanjiaocheng 三角城 (Jinchang)[5][6] Liangucheng 连古城[6]
Yangchaodun 柳湖墩[6]

Jinshangsanjiaocheng 金昌三角城[6]
Preceded byMachang culture (2200-2000 BCE)[1]

Xichengyi culture (2000-1600 BCE)[1]
Siba culture (1700-1300 BCE)[1][7]
Siwa culture (1350-650 BCE)

Shanma culture (900-100 BCE)[1][7]
Followed byXiongnu (King Xiutu, 150-121 BCE)

Western Han dynasty (121 BCE-)

Majiayuan culture (3rd-2nd c. BCE)

The Shajing culture (Ch: 沙井文化, 800/700–100 BCE),[1][7] is an ancient Iron Age culture in the area of Gansu, to the northwest of the Central Plains of China. The village of Shajing is about 250 km northwest of Wuwei, while the village of Yushugou, another important Shajing site, is about 140 km to its southeast. The Shajing culture is closely associated to the Saka culture of the Xinjiang, the Ordos culture of Inner Mongolia and the Upper Xiajiadian culture of Liaoning.[8] It was a culture essentially based on pastoral nomadism.[8] As of 2017, seven sites had been excavated and almost as many fortified settlements built with walls of compacted loess.[9]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Yang, Yishi; Zhang, Shanjia; Oldknow, Chris; Qiu, Menghan; Chen, Tingting; Li, Haiming; Cui, Yifu; Ren, Lele; Chen, Guoke; Wang, Hui; Dong, Guanghui (2019). "Refined chronology of prehistoric cultures and its implication for re-evaluating human-environment relations in the Hexi Corridor, northwest China". Science China Earth Sciences. 62 (10): 1578. Bibcode:2019ScChD..62.1578Y. doi:10.1007/s11430-018-9375-4. ISSN 1674-7313. S2CID 199511546.
  2. ^ Cosmo, Nicola Di (1999). Northern Frontier in Pre-Imperial China (Cambridge History of Ancient China). Cambridge University Press. p. 937.
  3. ^ Vigo, Laura (2004). Cultural Diffusion and Identity: Material Culture in Northwest China -II and I millennia BCE (PDF). School of Oriental and African Studies (Thesis). p. 156.
  4. ^ 36°53′40″N 103°32′56″E / 36.894368°N 103.548912°E / 36.894368; 103.548912 Vigo, Laura (2004). Cultural Diffusion and Identity: Material Culture in Northwest China -II and I millennia BCE (PDF). School of Oriental and African Studies (Thesis). p. 209.
  5. ^ Sanjiaocheng 三角城 38°59′N 103°19′E / 38.99°N 103.32°E / 38.99; 103.32 in Linduff, Katheryn M.; Sun, Yan; Cao, Wei; Liu, Yuanqing (23 November 2017). Ancient China and its Eurasian Neighbors: Artifacts, Identity and Death in the Frontier, 3000–700 BCE. p. 205. doi:10.1017/9781108290555. ISBN 9781108290555.
  6. ^ a b c d Liangucheng 连古城 38°56′N 103°14′E / 38.93°N 103.24°E / 38.93; 103.24
    Sanjiaocheng 三角城 38°59′N 103°19′E / 38.99°N 103.32°E / 38.99; 103.32
    Yangchaodun 柳湖墩 38°32′N 102°56′E / 38.54°N 102.93°E / 38.54; 102.93
    Jinchangsanjiaocheng 金昌三角城 38°37′N 102°17′E / 38.62°N 102.29°E / 38.62; 102.29
    in Li, Yu; Zhang, Zhansen; Zhou, Xueru; Gao, Mingjun; Li, Haiye; Xue, Yaxin; Duan, Junjie (1 May 2023). "Paleo-environmental changes and human activities in Shiyang River Basin since the Late Glacial". Chinese Science Bulletin. doi:10.1360/TB-2022-0965. S2CID 257736583.
  7. ^ a b c Li, Xin; Wei, Wenyu; Ma, Minmin; Lu, Minxia; Du, Linyao; Yang, Yishi; Chen, Guoke; Ren, Lele (2023). "Transformation of animal utilization strategies from the late Neolithic to the Han Dynasty in the Hexi Corridor, northwest China: Zooarchaeological and stable isotopic evidence". Frontiers in Earth Science. 10. Bibcode:2023FrEaS..1064803L. doi:10.3389/feart.2022.1064803. ISSN 2296-6463.
  8. ^ a b Cosmo, Nicola Di (1999). Northern Frontier in Pre-Imperial China (Cambridge History of Ancient China). Cambridge University Press. pp. 951–952. The Saka culture in Xinjiang, the Shajing culture in Gansu, the Ordos complex in Inner Mongolia, and the Upper Xiajiadian culture of Liaoning, all point to a transition from mixed agropastoral to predominantly or exclusively pastoral nomadic cultures. From the seventh century onwards, objects related to improved horse management and horse riding, such as the bit, cheekpieces, horse masks, and bell ornaments, became ever more widespread and sophisticated.
  9. ^ Komissarov, S.A (2017). "Shajing Culture (Gansu, China): Main Sites and Problems of Chronology". Paeas.ru. The Shajing culture of the Early Iron Age. The sites of this culture have been discovered in the central part of Gansu Province (China). Seven big burial grounds and almost the same amount of fortified settlements (with walls made of compacted loess) have been excavated. Painted pottery, associated with the local tradition of Neolithic-Early Bronze Age, has been found at the early sites, but the Scythian-like artifacts constitute the core of this culture. This makes it possible to clarify the chronological limits of the culture as 900-400 BC, but probably with the later specific dates. Different suggestions have been made concerning the ethnic origins of the "Shajing people," who may have some connections with the Tocharian-speaking Yuezhi, the proto-Tibetean Qiang and Rong, or even with the Iranian Wusuns. The Shajing culture might have emerged from the interaction of all these (or close) ethnic and cultural components.