One major assertion in this work is that a volcanic eruption on Luzon during the 4th millennium BCE caused upheavels resulting in expanded Nusantao migration and trading clan wars.
The dispersion of Lungshanoid culture, where ever it originates, is one signature of the resulting activity in the region.
Hoabinhian background
Understanding the Neolithic situation in Southeast Asia starts with the Mesolithic Hoabinhian culture and also takes into account Wilhelm Solheim's latest theories on the Nusantao.
Solheim now proposes that "Pre-Austronesian" culture begins in the Bismarck Islands off northwestern Papua New Guinea beginning around 13,000 to 10,000 BP. He cites specifically the appearance of arboriculture and shell artifacts at this time.
He proposes that by at least 10,000 BP interaction networks had been established from the Bismarcks to Indochina and South China. Here they came into contact with Hoabinhian culture. Previously, Solheim has suggested that tool edge-grinding in northern Australia radiocarbon dated to about 20,000 BCE was of Hoabinhian provenance.
Carl Sauer and Solheim have suggested that simple agriculture may have begun as early as 15,000 BCE or even 20,000 BCE in mainland Southeast Asia based on Hoabinhian finds. Although the oldest radiocarbon dates for plant remains go back only to 9700 BCE, other evidence is found in successively deeper layers with no radiometric dating. Solheim has suggested a time scenario based on the depth of these layers.
Hoabinhian culture utilized chipped pebble tools, a "pebble" referring to a gravel stone of certain diameter. They appear to have used a simple hoe, one of the oldest known farming artifacts, consisting of a transversly-hafted adze, and to have made cord-marked pottery.
The cords used by the Hoabinhian and the roughly contemporary Jomon to the north provide some of the earliest evidence of hand-spinning in the world. We also find evidence of mat-making from mat impressions in the pottery.
Some early long-range dispersions of the Pre- or Proto-Austronesians appear to have been caused by sea flooding in Southeast Asia, and these could account, for example, in cultural changes seen at places like Spirit Cave in 6600 BCE.
Shell culture
In the region of the Philippines and eastern Indonesia, a culture based on shell tools and shellfish gathering emerged sometime around 7000 BCE.
Wilfredo Ronquillo has documented some early phases of this shell mound culture including stone-flaking and shell-working at Balobok Rockshelter in the southern Philippines starting in the period 6810-6050 BCE. By 5340 BCE, we see shell and stone tools, together with some polished tools and earthenware pottery (still not classified).
A Tridacna shell adze from Palau. Source: http://www.pacificworlds.com/palau/sea/reef.cfm
The Southeast Asian and coastal East Asian tradition of polished tools is different from that of areas of inner and northern eastern Asia. In the southern areas, they continued to chip pebbles, only grinding and polishing to finish the product. This practice often continued well into the Neolithic unlike other areas where grinding and pecking displaced the chipping process.
The Insular Southeast Asian and coastal East Asian polished tools also differed from those of mainland Southeast Asia and non-coastal East Asia in that stepped adzes of quadrangular cross-section were mostly used by the former, while the latter mostly used shouldered adzes.
Balobok culture fashioned tools from the giant clam Tridacna giga, and we find this and similiar shell artifacts moving northward during the sixth millennium BCE. Shell tools pop up in Dapenkeng culture in Taiwan and in the Neolithic cultures around Hong Kong around 5000 BCE. It appears that the early shell-working in the Bismarcks was significantly enhanced in the region of the Philippines and eastern Indonesia and then taken northward by the Nusantao.
The stone and shell tool tradition in this area may be related to the earlier edge-grinding tradition in northern Australia. Most of the tools during this early period were still only edge-ground although some others like the rectangular stepped adze, found also at Dapenkeng and in the Hong Kong Neolithic sites, were more fully-polished.
At about his time we also see the appearance of the semilunar stone or shell reaping knife. It is difficult to say where this came from, but it eventually gets strongly associated with rice agriculture and becomes an important marker of Lungshanoid culture.
North-South interaction
After 5000 BCE, trade networks extending as far north as Shandong appear established. A two-way diffusion of culture begins to take place.
The Nusantao cultural kit by this time included items like the stepped adze/axe of rectangular cross-section, the semilunar reaping knife, the spindle whorl probably borrowed from the north, clay/stone net sinkers, perforated discs that may have been indigenous spindle whorls and/or net sinkers, shell tools and beads.
The image shows the process of reducing stone into the semilunar knive of the Korean Neolithic. Source: Pusan National University Museum, http://pnu-museum.org
Lungshanoid culture develops with the appearance of rice agriculture and is marked by the mainland tripod and ringfoot pottery tradition, the semilunar knives and the stepped adze. Otherwise the Lungshanoid is typically Nusantao especially in the southern locations of Fujian and Taiwan.
R. Ferrell believes the Yuanshan culture of Taiwan was "Proto-Lungshanoid" while KC Chang thought the culture may have originated in China. Whatever the case, there was a lot of exchange going on.
We also know that the Taiwanese Neolithic cultures were closely related with those in the Philippines. The red-slipped Philippine wares were very closely associated along with other artifacts to the Yuanshan wares and culture. Even the Dapenkeng sees it closest correspondence with Philippine sites. A comparison of the pottery at Balobok with that of Dapenkeng could be very revealing.
In both cases the pottery traditions are probably related to the Hoabinhian methods that filtered into the islands during the early Pre-Austronesian interactions with the Hoabinhian culture, the latter seems to be categorized by Solheim as consisting largely of Proto-Austro-Tai speakers.
Interactions between Taiwan and the Philippines continued through the Lungshanoid as rice agriculture appears to enter the islands at this time by at least 3000 BCE. Lungshanoid tripod and ringfoot pottery may also radiate into Insular Southeast Asia through the Philippines. Examples of such pottery are found at Novaliches in the Philippines and Leang Buidane in Sulawesi.
Tripod and ringfoot pottery together with the practice of jar burial also eventually moves westward into South India during the megalithic period, and apparently creeps northward into eastern India, where we hear of the practice of jar burial in Buddhist literature.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Ronquillo, Wilfredo. "The 1992 Archaeological Reexcavation of the Balobok Rockshelter, Sanga Sanga, Tawi Tawi Province, Philippines: A Preliminary Report. With Mr. Rey A. Santiago, Mr. Shijun Asato and Mr. Kazuhiko Tanaka," Journal of Historiographical Institute, Okinawa Prefectural Library. No. 18, March, 1993. Okinawa, Japan pp. 1-40. 1993.
Solheim, Wilhelm, Archaeology and Culture in Southeast Asia: Unraveling the Nusantao, with contribution from David Bulbeck and Ambika Flavel, University of the Philippines Press, ND.
__, "Origins of the Filipinos and their languages," Paper presented at 9th Philippine Linguistics Congress (25-27 January 2006), University of the Philippines.
Showing posts with label dongyi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dongyi. Show all posts
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Xihe (Glossary)
According to the Mulberry Tree Tradition written during the Zhou Dynasty, Xihe is the wife of Jun, and the mother of the Ten Suns of the Fusang Tree.
The Yaodian section of the Shangshu also recorded during the Zhou Dynasty splits Xihe into four persons, the younger brothers of Emperor Yao all known as Xi and He (Xi Zhong, Xi Shu, He Zhong and He Shu).
The brothers are asked to venture to the four quadrants of the earth to 'calculate and delineate' the movement of the Sun and other astronomical bodies, and the times of the seasons. In latter tradition, Xihe is sometimes said to be the mother of the four brothers. Xi Zhong is sent to Yanggu "Valley of the Sun," which is the same place known as Tanggu "Hot Water Valley" where the Fusang Tree is found.
Xihe here is then associated with the delineation of the seasons starting in the region of the Fusang Tree. This legend probably explains the origin of the latter concept of the four seasonal palaces of the Chinese zodiac: the Blue Dragon of the East (beginning with Spica), the Vermillion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West and the Black Turtle of the North.
Yu the Great was also said to have marked the seasons starting with the Sun's journey from the Fusang Tree in the East to the Ruo Tree in the West and back again through an underground passage, in the Huainanzi, written during the Han Dynasty.
Spica
The role of Spica, or the "Horn," as marking the start of spring is explained in the "Heavenly Questions" from the Huainanzi:
The verses indicate that the Full Moon when the Sun was opposite Spica, which was thus conjunct with the Moon, indicated the start of spring. Mid-spring according to the Yaodian was when the vernal equinox occurred and this was signified by the star Alphard (alpha Hydrae) known as Niao meaning "Bird." The Oracle Bone Inscriptions mention both the star Niao and Huo (Antares), the determining star for the Vermilion Bird Palace.
The Shang Dynasty, as we have seen in previous blog entries, was closely connected with birds, as were the Dongyi or "Eastern Yi." The Zhou Dynasty knew the Shang as Dongyi people. It has been suggested that some of the earliest examples of pictographic writing in China are found in combined solar and bird motifs on Liangzhu jades that could read Yang Niao "Sun Bird," the name of a Dongyi tribe that settled in the Lower Yangtze region according to early texts.
Bird and sun-moon motif on jade ring from Liangzhu Culture (3500 BCE-2250 BCE), left, bird on cartouche and sun-moon on bi disc, Liangzhu. The sun-moon motif, in one case combined with what could be a 'fire mountain' motif appear also on Ling-yang-ho vases (4300 BCE-1900 BCE) from Shangdong, source: Wu Hung, "Bird Motifs in Eastern Yi Art."
Given Xihe's connection with the birth of the Suns, bathing and hanging of the Suns in the Fusang Tree, and the four quadrants, it would be reasonable to think that Xihe has some celestial form herself. Some verses appear to portray here as rising over the horizon like a star.
As such it would be reasonable to think of her as represented by the star that stands in the zenith of the Fusang Tree. Spica, the Horn, would certainly be one prime candidate as it delineates the start of spring and the Sun's yearly journey.
This leads us again to the location of the Fusang Tree. According to the Shanhaijing, attributed to Yu (3rd millennium BCE) and definitely not later than the Han Dynasty, the Fusang Tree was located near and north of the "Black Teeth Country." The History of the Eastern Barbarians, dating to the Eastern Han Dynasty, locates this country southeast of Japan, the journey taking one year by ship.
Sung Dynasty ethnographer Ma Tuan-lin mentions in connection with these countries an archipelago of 2,000 kingdoms called Tong ti-jin (Eastern Fish People) located beyond the Sea of Kwei-ki, which is another name for the Southeastern Sea extending from the mouth of the Yangtze to the Strait of Formosa. He relates that this was the same area where explorers searched for the fabled Penglai.
Although he gives conflicting accounts, in one instance he suggests the Black Teeth Kingdom and Naked People Kingdom are located 4,000 leagues (li) to the south of Japan. The Pygmy Kingdom, where people stand only three of four Chinese feet tall, is located south of the Black Teeth Kingdom and is said to be one year's ship journey to the southwest of Japan. In another instance, the author states the Black Teeth Country was another year's journey by ship to the southeast of the Naked People Kingdom.
The Shanhaijing places the Wugao Mountain more than 1600 li (3 li is about 1 mile) south of Shaanxi, and to the east of Wugao is the Fusang Tree. It describes the people of Black Teeth Country as black, or having black teeth or hands. The practice of blackening the teeth was, at one time, quite common in Southeast Asia. Other peoples nearby are also described as black or having black hips, thighs or lower bodies. Some are said to go around naked, so there is a general sense that the climate was warm. Pygmies called "Yao" are also mentioned as living in the country. The people in the region eat rice, and those of the valley where the Sun rises are said to be inclined toward piracy.
The countries around the Fusang Tree are described many times in early works to be approached by sailing in a southerly direction from Japan. Furthermore, the land is repeatedly said to be located in or beyond the "Southeastern Sea" i.e. off the southeast coast of China.
Connecting the mountain of the Fusang Tree, the home and resting-place of the Suns, with the volcanoes of Pinatubo and Arayat, the Sun would set nearly directly to the West, with the Full Moon nearly directly to the East when the Moon conjoined Spica. This would apply to the traditional dates of Yao and Yu, when Spica stood nearly directly over Pinatubo and Arayat when passing near the zenith.
Babylonian echoes
The clay astronomical tablet known as the Mulapin dating to about 700 BCE appears to use Spica (Nebiru station) to delineate the heavens into bands of declination from the celestial equator.
It's difficult to date this practice of using Spica to map the heavens. The Akkadian goddess Sala, wife of the weather god Adad, began taking on some aspects of the constellation Virgo, which is determined by Spica, around the second half of the second millennium. She is portrayed as nude with a ear of barley over her shoulder. By the second half of the first millennium, she becomes the fully-dressed constellation with Spica shown as a "spike" of corn in her hand.
I have suggested earlier that Spica can be identified with the station of Nebiru that was used to determine the bands of declination in Mesopotamian star charts. This star was linked with a celestial "crossing," a divine boatman and a ferry. These can be interpreted as indicating that this star was used as a zenith and bearing star. It was suggested earlier that it provided the latitude and bearing for Dilmun and Mt. Mashu of Sumerian lore.
In India, the constellation Virgo was portrayed by the astronomer Varahamihira as a woman or girl with a grain of corn in one hand and a lamp in the other standing in a boat. The lamp or a pearl of light is also suggested by the Indian name of Virgo's determining star Chitra (Spica).
As in legendary China, the new year in India was also determined by the Full Moon closest to the Sun's opposition to Chitra.
The image of a woman with a lamp standing in a boat is one of a seafarer's goddess. The "spike" of grain also matches well with the "Horn" of the Chinese Spica.
The constellation Virgo became associated with Isis Pelagia, a goddess of seafarers and the sea in Greco-Egyptian religion who later gets absorbed into the Virgin Mary cult as Stella Maria or Stella Maris.
Isis is the mother of Horus, who is a patron god of the Sun, and fused with the Sun god Ra becomes the patron deity of Egyptian royalty. He also had many other forms associated with the winged Sun disk, the morning Sun, the noon Sun, etc.
Whether it is coincidence or not is impossible to say, but Isis Pelagia and by association Maria Stella become mothers of a bird, Horus is a falcon god, that is associated with the Sun, which resembles the myths of Xihe as the mother of the Ten Suns or Sun Crows.
Southern Interaction Sphere
The eastern coastal peoples of northern China known as Dongyi were one of the Yi peoples often described as "maritime" and as having large ships ('tower boats').
Coastal Yi people inhabited the area southward to the mouth of the Yangtze and had trade relations extending further south. K.C. Chang used the term "interaction sphere" to describe these relations which often involved direct or indirect trade.
Dongyi culture is associated archaeologically most often with the Lungshanoid horizon and also to some extent with the earlier Dawenkou culture of Shandong. A relationship has been shown to exist between these traditions and the Liangzhu to the south, and even further south to the Neolithic coastal traditions near Hong Kong, which Solheim links directly with the Nusantao.
Shang civilization brought trade contacts with the South to a new high. So famed where the Shang as traders that in latter times the word "shang" came to mean "trader, merchant." The term "yi shang" combining the words "Yi" (as in Dong-Yi) and "Shang" came to mean "Barbarian Trader."
Copper, tin and lead used to fuel the Shang bronze industry came from the South, from Yunnan and probably from countries further south like Thailand and Malaysia. Tortoise shell, including that from sea turtles, used for divination and other purposes often came from tropical species.
Cowries used as money came at least from the South China Sea, and some cowries and other shells may have originated in the Indian Ocean. Elephant ivory and rhinoceros were imported from the Southeast Asian rainforests.
Cinnabar dye came mostly from Szechwan and other southern locations, and jade may have come from as far as Burma. Whalebone, on the other hand, likely originated in the northern seas. Nephrite could have come from Vietnam, Taiwan or Lanyu Island, or even from the Tarim Basin.
Generally though, the Shang and Dongyi operated in the eastern coastal and southern interaction spheres. It was the Lungshanoid-Dongyi who first begin exploring rice agriculture to a full extent for example.
These southern impulses verified by archaeology may explain the legends of Xihe of the Southeastern Ocean and the Hot Water Valley associated closely with the founding of the Shang clan and dynasty.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Chang, K.C. "Chinese prehistory in the Pacific perspective: Some hypotheses and problems," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, No. 22, 1959, 100-149
Major, John S. Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: : Chapters Three, Four, and Five of the Huainanzi, SUNY Press, 1993.
Senner, Wayne M. The Origins of Writing, U of Nebraska Press, 1991, pgs. 192, 198.
Vining, E. P. An Inglorious Columbus, D. Appleton and Co., 1885, pp. 681-683.
Wu Hung. "Bird Motifs in Eastern Yi Art," Orientations, 16.10 (Oct. 1985), 34-36.
The Yaodian section of the Shangshu also recorded during the Zhou Dynasty splits Xihe into four persons, the younger brothers of Emperor Yao all known as Xi and He (Xi Zhong, Xi Shu, He Zhong and He Shu).
The brothers are asked to venture to the four quadrants of the earth to 'calculate and delineate' the movement of the Sun and other astronomical bodies, and the times of the seasons. In latter tradition, Xihe is sometimes said to be the mother of the four brothers. Xi Zhong is sent to Yanggu "Valley of the Sun," which is the same place known as Tanggu "Hot Water Valley" where the Fusang Tree is found.
Xihe here is then associated with the delineation of the seasons starting in the region of the Fusang Tree. This legend probably explains the origin of the latter concept of the four seasonal palaces of the Chinese zodiac: the Blue Dragon of the East (beginning with Spica), the Vermillion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West and the Black Turtle of the North.
Yu the Great was also said to have marked the seasons starting with the Sun's journey from the Fusang Tree in the East to the Ruo Tree in the West and back again through an underground passage, in the Huainanzi, written during the Han Dynasty.
Spica
The role of Spica, or the "Horn," as marking the start of spring is explained in the "Heavenly Questions" from the Huainanzi:
Dark as it closes, bright when it opens [what is it?]
Before the Hornrises, the Great Light hides [where?]
The verses indicate that the Full Moon when the Sun was opposite Spica, which was thus conjunct with the Moon, indicated the start of spring. Mid-spring according to the Yaodian was when the vernal equinox occurred and this was signified by the star Alphard (alpha Hydrae) known as Niao meaning "Bird." The Oracle Bone Inscriptions mention both the star Niao and Huo (Antares), the determining star for the Vermilion Bird Palace.
The Shang Dynasty, as we have seen in previous blog entries, was closely connected with birds, as were the Dongyi or "Eastern Yi." The Zhou Dynasty knew the Shang as Dongyi people. It has been suggested that some of the earliest examples of pictographic writing in China are found in combined solar and bird motifs on Liangzhu jades that could read Yang Niao "Sun Bird," the name of a Dongyi tribe that settled in the Lower Yangtze region according to early texts.
Bird and sun-moon motif on jade ring from Liangzhu Culture (3500 BCE-2250 BCE), left, bird on cartouche and sun-moon on bi disc, Liangzhu. The sun-moon motif, in one case combined with what could be a 'fire mountain' motif appear also on Ling-yang-ho vases (4300 BCE-1900 BCE) from Shangdong, source: Wu Hung, "Bird Motifs in Eastern Yi Art."
Given Xihe's connection with the birth of the Suns, bathing and hanging of the Suns in the Fusang Tree, and the four quadrants, it would be reasonable to think that Xihe has some celestial form herself. Some verses appear to portray here as rising over the horizon like a star.
The Ruo Tree shines before Xihe has risen [how?]
--- Huananzi
As such it would be reasonable to think of her as represented by the star that stands in the zenith of the Fusang Tree. Spica, the Horn, would certainly be one prime candidate as it delineates the start of spring and the Sun's yearly journey.
This leads us again to the location of the Fusang Tree. According to the Shanhaijing, attributed to Yu (3rd millennium BCE) and definitely not later than the Han Dynasty, the Fusang Tree was located near and north of the "Black Teeth Country." The History of the Eastern Barbarians, dating to the Eastern Han Dynasty, locates this country southeast of Japan, the journey taking one year by ship.
Sung Dynasty ethnographer Ma Tuan-lin mentions in connection with these countries an archipelago of 2,000 kingdoms called Tong ti-jin (Eastern Fish People) located beyond the Sea of Kwei-ki, which is another name for the Southeastern Sea extending from the mouth of the Yangtze to the Strait of Formosa. He relates that this was the same area where explorers searched for the fabled Penglai.
Although he gives conflicting accounts, in one instance he suggests the Black Teeth Kingdom and Naked People Kingdom are located 4,000 leagues (li) to the south of Japan. The Pygmy Kingdom, where people stand only three of four Chinese feet tall, is located south of the Black Teeth Kingdom and is said to be one year's ship journey to the southwest of Japan. In another instance, the author states the Black Teeth Country was another year's journey by ship to the southeast of the Naked People Kingdom.
The Shanhaijing places the Wugao Mountain more than 1600 li (3 li is about 1 mile) south of Shaanxi, and to the east of Wugao is the Fusang Tree. It describes the people of Black Teeth Country as black, or having black teeth or hands. The practice of blackening the teeth was, at one time, quite common in Southeast Asia. Other peoples nearby are also described as black or having black hips, thighs or lower bodies. Some are said to go around naked, so there is a general sense that the climate was warm. Pygmies called "Yao" are also mentioned as living in the country. The people in the region eat rice, and those of the valley where the Sun rises are said to be inclined toward piracy.
The countries around the Fusang Tree are described many times in early works to be approached by sailing in a southerly direction from Japan. Furthermore, the land is repeatedly said to be located in or beyond the "Southeastern Sea" i.e. off the southeast coast of China.
Connecting the mountain of the Fusang Tree, the home and resting-place of the Suns, with the volcanoes of Pinatubo and Arayat, the Sun would set nearly directly to the West, with the Full Moon nearly directly to the East when the Moon conjoined Spica. This would apply to the traditional dates of Yao and Yu, when Spica stood nearly directly over Pinatubo and Arayat when passing near the zenith.
Babylonian echoes
The clay astronomical tablet known as the Mulapin dating to about 700 BCE appears to use Spica (Nebiru station) to delineate the heavens into bands of declination from the celestial equator.
It's difficult to date this practice of using Spica to map the heavens. The Akkadian goddess Sala, wife of the weather god Adad, began taking on some aspects of the constellation Virgo, which is determined by Spica, around the second half of the second millennium. She is portrayed as nude with a ear of barley over her shoulder. By the second half of the first millennium, she becomes the fully-dressed constellation with Spica shown as a "spike" of corn in her hand.
I have suggested earlier that Spica can be identified with the station of Nebiru that was used to determine the bands of declination in Mesopotamian star charts. This star was linked with a celestial "crossing," a divine boatman and a ferry. These can be interpreted as indicating that this star was used as a zenith and bearing star. It was suggested earlier that it provided the latitude and bearing for Dilmun and Mt. Mashu of Sumerian lore.
In India, the constellation Virgo was portrayed by the astronomer Varahamihira as a woman or girl with a grain of corn in one hand and a lamp in the other standing in a boat. The lamp or a pearl of light is also suggested by the Indian name of Virgo's determining star Chitra (Spica).
As in legendary China, the new year in India was also determined by the Full Moon closest to the Sun's opposition to Chitra.
The image of a woman with a lamp standing in a boat is one of a seafarer's goddess. The "spike" of grain also matches well with the "Horn" of the Chinese Spica.
The constellation Virgo became associated with Isis Pelagia, a goddess of seafarers and the sea in Greco-Egyptian religion who later gets absorbed into the Virgin Mary cult as Stella Maria or Stella Maris.
Isis is the mother of Horus, who is a patron god of the Sun, and fused with the Sun god Ra becomes the patron deity of Egyptian royalty. He also had many other forms associated with the winged Sun disk, the morning Sun, the noon Sun, etc.
Whether it is coincidence or not is impossible to say, but Isis Pelagia and by association Maria Stella become mothers of a bird, Horus is a falcon god, that is associated with the Sun, which resembles the myths of Xihe as the mother of the Ten Suns or Sun Crows.
Southern Interaction Sphere
The eastern coastal peoples of northern China known as Dongyi were one of the Yi peoples often described as "maritime" and as having large ships ('tower boats').
Coastal Yi people inhabited the area southward to the mouth of the Yangtze and had trade relations extending further south. K.C. Chang used the term "interaction sphere" to describe these relations which often involved direct or indirect trade.
Dongyi culture is associated archaeologically most often with the Lungshanoid horizon and also to some extent with the earlier Dawenkou culture of Shandong. A relationship has been shown to exist between these traditions and the Liangzhu to the south, and even further south to the Neolithic coastal traditions near Hong Kong, which Solheim links directly with the Nusantao.
Shang civilization brought trade contacts with the South to a new high. So famed where the Shang as traders that in latter times the word "shang" came to mean "trader, merchant." The term "yi shang" combining the words "Yi" (as in Dong-Yi) and "Shang" came to mean "Barbarian Trader."
Copper, tin and lead used to fuel the Shang bronze industry came from the South, from Yunnan and probably from countries further south like Thailand and Malaysia. Tortoise shell, including that from sea turtles, used for divination and other purposes often came from tropical species.
Cowries used as money came at least from the South China Sea, and some cowries and other shells may have originated in the Indian Ocean. Elephant ivory and rhinoceros were imported from the Southeast Asian rainforests.
Cinnabar dye came mostly from Szechwan and other southern locations, and jade may have come from as far as Burma. Whalebone, on the other hand, likely originated in the northern seas. Nephrite could have come from Vietnam, Taiwan or Lanyu Island, or even from the Tarim Basin.
Generally though, the Shang and Dongyi operated in the eastern coastal and southern interaction spheres. It was the Lungshanoid-Dongyi who first begin exploring rice agriculture to a full extent for example.
These southern impulses verified by archaeology may explain the legends of Xihe of the Southeastern Ocean and the Hot Water Valley associated closely with the founding of the Shang clan and dynasty.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Chang, K.C. "Chinese prehistory in the Pacific perspective: Some hypotheses and problems," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, No. 22, 1959, 100-149
Major, John S. Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: : Chapters Three, Four, and Five of the Huainanzi, SUNY Press, 1993.
Senner, Wayne M. The Origins of Writing, U of Nebraska Press, 1991, pgs. 192, 198.
Vining, E. P. An Inglorious Columbus, D. Appleton and Co., 1885, pp. 681-683.
Wu Hung. "Bird Motifs in Eastern Yi Art," Orientations, 16.10 (Oct. 1985), 34-36.
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Monday, June 26, 2006
Fu Hsi (Glossary)
Fu Hsi (also Fu Xi) is mentioned in Chinese legendary history where he is said to have ruled before the advent of writing.
However, this ancient sage is credited with the origin of the trigrams used for divination and knotted cord records both of which lead eventually, in Chinese tradition, to the written script.
Traditional dates vary for Fu Hsi's period, but they tend to cluster around the late 4th millennium and early 3rd millennium BCE.
Fu Shi hailed according to prevalent traditions from around present-day Jining in Shandong province. It was in Shandong and neighboring Henan that theDongyi peoples were based. Fu Hsi is called the leader of the Dongyi, usually referred to in such capacity by one of his other names, Taihao.
Fu Hsi is often credited with inventing or introducing the qin, a horizontal stringed instrument. The image showing the stringing of a qin comes from the Sung dynasty text Xinkan Taiyin Daquanji
The "Hsi" part of Fu Hsi's name is indicated with the character meaning "a sacrificer." The same meaning is given by Fu Hsi's alternate name Pao Hsi. The "Fu" character combines glyphs meaning "dog" (quan) and "man" (ren).
So, "Fu Hsi" symbolically could mean something like "a dog-man who sacrifices" or "one who sacrifices a dog." Fu Hsi was said to have instituted the great royal sacrifice on Mount Tai in Shandong.
There may be some allusion here to the cosmic being Pangu who some believe may be related to the Hmong-Mien culture hero and dog-human Panhu. Besides the similarity of the names which are identical among many southern peoples, Pangu is said to have existed originally in a "cosmic egg" that resembled a 'dog without eyes or ears.'
Fu Hsi's surname was Feng meaning "Phoenix" indicating probably totemic or clan lineage.
Another of Fu Hsi cultural gifts was the establishment of an early form of kingship. He was said to have established his capital at Chen, near modern Kaifeng in Henan province. His successor Shen Nong also had his capital in Chen but latter moved to Qufu in Shandong.
Given that Fu Hsi appears to predate agriculture, or at least plow agriculture which is usually credited to Shen Nong, the former's kingship was certainly of the most primordial kind. Fu Hsi is linked with the establishment of fishing, hunting and animal husbandry.
However, the royal institutions he is credited with introducing continued to provide the root model for China's kingship system through much of history. His was originally a priest king, or shaman/sage king model. One of his legendary successors Shun, was said to have ruled properly simply by maintaining good conduct and facing his throne and palace toward the South like the Pole Star.
Nu Gua, Fu Hsi's wife, is said to have sacrificed a turtle and used its legs to prop up the sky. This reminds us of the turtle(s) said to carry Penglai, the legendary isle of the blessed, on their backs. Indeed, Fu Hsi's sacrifice on Mount Tai might relate ultimately to Mount Penglai in the immortal paradise.
Feng sacrifice
Followed by 72 kings starting with Fu Hsi, the Taishan sacrifice had as one of its goals, the immortality of the emperor, something likely transferred from Mount Penglai.
The location of Penglai has been the subject of much debate. Most Chinese traditions locate it off the southeast coast and thus theories have connected it with the Penghu islands (Pescadores) off southwest Taiwan.
The Shiyi Ji states that "Penghu" is another name for "Penglai" and uses the name Penghu for the mountain of Penglai. Penghu means the "Pot of Peng" and in ancient texts Penglai and the other blessed isles are described as pot-shaped.
However the early text Shi Ji locates Penglai in or east of the Bohai sea. A late Zhou writer thought the paradise peak was Mount Fuji in Japan.
Whatever the case, during Fu Hsi's period we have suggested that the Nusantao trade network had established itself in locations like Shandong and Japan, following some of the theories put forth by Shun-Sheng Ling and Wilhelm Solheim. The presence of these trading peoples can help explain the Malayo-Polynesian adstrate in the Japanese language.
Nusantao would then have made up an important component of the Dongyi people linked with Fu Hsi. The Dongyi were the eastern component of the "Yi" peoples known to the ancient Chinese. The Yi were often termed "Niao Yi" or "Bird Foreigners" in reference possibly to the use of the bird totem. Eventually Niao-Yi and the related word Dao-Yi "Island Yi" became general names for people in southern China and from foreign island nations.
Knot records
The introduction of knot records by Fu Hsi might also relate to these early Nusantao trader/voyagers. The widespread use of this method even in the Pacific would suggest that the Lapita explorers already used knotted cords for recording and tallying at an early date.
Some scholars believe the trigrams arose from knot records, while others attribute them to counting rods/sticks. Either way both items were widely used in the Asia Pacific region for numerical calculation and record-keeping, as well as for divination.
The trigrams and the figures made by knots eventually became the basis for the early ideographic and pictographic Chinese script.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Bonnefoy, Yves. Asian Mythologies, University of Chicago Press, 1993, p. 253.
Ching, Julia. Mysticism and Kingship in China: The Heart of Chinese Wisdom, Oxford University Press, p. 51.
Soothil, William Edward. The Hall of Light: A Study of Early Chinese Kingship, James Clarke & Co., 2002, p. 133.
However, this ancient sage is credited with the origin of the trigrams used for divination and knotted cord records both of which lead eventually, in Chinese tradition, to the written script.
Traditional dates vary for Fu Hsi's period, but they tend to cluster around the late 4th millennium and early 3rd millennium BCE.
Fu Shi hailed according to prevalent traditions from around present-day Jining in Shandong province. It was in Shandong and neighboring Henan that theDongyi peoples were based. Fu Hsi is called the leader of the Dongyi, usually referred to in such capacity by one of his other names, Taihao.
Fu Hsi is often credited with inventing or introducing the qin, a horizontal stringed instrument. The image showing the stringing of a qin comes from the Sung dynasty text Xinkan Taiyin Daquanji
The "Hsi" part of Fu Hsi's name is indicated with the character meaning "a sacrificer." The same meaning is given by Fu Hsi's alternate name Pao Hsi. The "Fu" character combines glyphs meaning "dog" (quan) and "man" (ren).
So, "Fu Hsi" symbolically could mean something like "a dog-man who sacrifices" or "one who sacrifices a dog." Fu Hsi was said to have instituted the great royal sacrifice on Mount Tai in Shandong.
There may be some allusion here to the cosmic being Pangu who some believe may be related to the Hmong-Mien culture hero and dog-human Panhu. Besides the similarity of the names which are identical among many southern peoples, Pangu is said to have existed originally in a "cosmic egg" that resembled a 'dog without eyes or ears.'
Fu Hsi's surname was Feng meaning "Phoenix" indicating probably totemic or clan lineage.
Another of Fu Hsi cultural gifts was the establishment of an early form of kingship. He was said to have established his capital at Chen, near modern Kaifeng in Henan province. His successor Shen Nong also had his capital in Chen but latter moved to Qufu in Shandong.
Given that Fu Hsi appears to predate agriculture, or at least plow agriculture which is usually credited to Shen Nong, the former's kingship was certainly of the most primordial kind. Fu Hsi is linked with the establishment of fishing, hunting and animal husbandry.
However, the royal institutions he is credited with introducing continued to provide the root model for China's kingship system through much of history. His was originally a priest king, or shaman/sage king model. One of his legendary successors Shun, was said to have ruled properly simply by maintaining good conduct and facing his throne and palace toward the South like the Pole Star.
Nu Gua, Fu Hsi's wife, is said to have sacrificed a turtle and used its legs to prop up the sky. This reminds us of the turtle(s) said to carry Penglai, the legendary isle of the blessed, on their backs. Indeed, Fu Hsi's sacrifice on Mount Tai might relate ultimately to Mount Penglai in the immortal paradise.
Feng sacrifice
Followed by 72 kings starting with Fu Hsi, the Taishan sacrifice had as one of its goals, the immortality of the emperor, something likely transferred from Mount Penglai.
The location of Penglai has been the subject of much debate. Most Chinese traditions locate it off the southeast coast and thus theories have connected it with the Penghu islands (Pescadores) off southwest Taiwan.
The Shiyi Ji states that "Penghu" is another name for "Penglai" and uses the name Penghu for the mountain of Penglai. Penghu means the "Pot of Peng" and in ancient texts Penglai and the other blessed isles are described as pot-shaped.
However the early text Shi Ji locates Penglai in or east of the Bohai sea. A late Zhou writer thought the paradise peak was Mount Fuji in Japan.
Whatever the case, during Fu Hsi's period we have suggested that the Nusantao trade network had established itself in locations like Shandong and Japan, following some of the theories put forth by Shun-Sheng Ling and Wilhelm Solheim. The presence of these trading peoples can help explain the Malayo-Polynesian adstrate in the Japanese language.
Nusantao would then have made up an important component of the Dongyi people linked with Fu Hsi. The Dongyi were the eastern component of the "Yi" peoples known to the ancient Chinese. The Yi were often termed "Niao Yi" or "Bird Foreigners" in reference possibly to the use of the bird totem. Eventually Niao-Yi and the related word Dao-Yi "Island Yi" became general names for people in southern China and from foreign island nations.
Knot records
The introduction of knot records by Fu Hsi might also relate to these early Nusantao trader/voyagers. The widespread use of this method even in the Pacific would suggest that the Lapita explorers already used knotted cords for recording and tallying at an early date.
Some scholars believe the trigrams arose from knot records, while others attribute them to counting rods/sticks. Either way both items were widely used in the Asia Pacific region for numerical calculation and record-keeping, as well as for divination.
The trigrams and the figures made by knots eventually became the basis for the early ideographic and pictographic Chinese script.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Bonnefoy, Yves. Asian Mythologies, University of Chicago Press, 1993, p. 253.
Ching, Julia. Mysticism and Kingship in China: The Heart of Chinese Wisdom, Oxford University Press, p. 51.
Soothil, William Edward. The Hall of Light: A Study of Early Chinese Kingship, James Clarke & Co., 2002, p. 133.
Friday, December 17, 2004
The Water Buffalo
The Chinese legendary histories tell of us warfare between totemic clans that preceded the formation of the dynastic Chinese state.
The information given on the Yi peoples is of primary importance to us particularly the history of the Dong-Yi who inhabited the coastal region between the mouths of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers.
Here we hear of the king Chiyou mentioned as the overlord of the Dong-Yi peoples. It appears that Chiyou's Juili tribe is linked with another clan union, this time between the serpent/bird clan and a people who had a bull totem, either an ox or a buffalo.
Chiyou himself is often described as a man with a bull's head. This image is an important one since the union of these totemic clans becomes a driving force among the Nusantao. The bull totem clans seem linked with various peoples living along coastal Southeast Asia of the time. These peoples may have spoken Austro-Asiatic, Hmong-Mien and Daic languages.
The image of a water buffalo or a man with buffalo horns appears also in the iconography of the Sumerians. Indeed, we see that the water buffalo in Sumer is none other than the Southeast Asian swamp buffalo. Remains of this species have also been found at Sumerian archaeological sites.
The swamp buffalo is different than the river buffalo of India. It originates in Southeast Asia but is historically absent from India. It was however found in ancient Sri Lanka apparently brought by sea from Southeast Asia.
Swamp buffalo on the Seal of Sharkalisharri, 3rd millennium BC, Sumer
To see some Powerpoint slides from Stephen Oppenheimer's presentation of swamp buffalo in Sumer, click here (large file).
A Mesopotamian seal with swamp buffalo, humans with buffalo horns, peacock, rhinos, sea-goats and the "Master of the Animals" motif
The combined emblem for the new clan union involved three elements -- serpent/dragon, bird and ox/buffalo.
The serpent could be found as a common spiral or a coiled "embryo" design. The bird totem could be represented by feathers or a bird's head. Also, by a tau symbol representing the tree of life, which in local mythology has a bird resting in its branches. The buffalo motif comes in the form of the bull's head or horns.
These motifs can be seen in the bicephalous jade ornaments of the Sa-Huynh-Kalanay culture of the mid to late 3rd millennium BC in which the dual heads would represent both horns and a hybrid bird-serpent creature. These motifs also appear in that culture's lingling-o ornaments. The Sa-Huynh-Kalanay culture represents the Nusantao in Southeast Asia during this period.
We will discuss these symbols more as we go along.
The warring clan confederacies believe in their symbols. These were a very spiritual people. While some among them undoubtedly used religious elements only as a means to an end, the evidence points more toward people who believed in the supernatural. We only have to look at some of behaviour and actions of some of history's more recent kings, sultans and emperors from this region to know that magic played an important part in the people's beliefs.
Any clan competition going on in this world was only an extension of something greater happening in the spirit world. Magic plays a large part in their culture.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
The information given on the Yi peoples is of primary importance to us particularly the history of the Dong-Yi who inhabited the coastal region between the mouths of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers.
Here we hear of the king Chiyou mentioned as the overlord of the Dong-Yi peoples. It appears that Chiyou's Juili tribe is linked with another clan union, this time between the serpent/bird clan and a people who had a bull totem, either an ox or a buffalo.
Chiyou himself is often described as a man with a bull's head. This image is an important one since the union of these totemic clans becomes a driving force among the Nusantao. The bull totem clans seem linked with various peoples living along coastal Southeast Asia of the time. These peoples may have spoken Austro-Asiatic, Hmong-Mien and Daic languages.
The image of a water buffalo or a man with buffalo horns appears also in the iconography of the Sumerians. Indeed, we see that the water buffalo in Sumer is none other than the Southeast Asian swamp buffalo. Remains of this species have also been found at Sumerian archaeological sites.
The swamp buffalo is different than the river buffalo of India. It originates in Southeast Asia but is historically absent from India. It was however found in ancient Sri Lanka apparently brought by sea from Southeast Asia.
Swamp buffalo on the Seal of Sharkalisharri, 3rd millennium BC, Sumer
To see some Powerpoint slides from Stephen Oppenheimer's presentation of swamp buffalo in Sumer, click here (large file).
A Mesopotamian seal with swamp buffalo, humans with buffalo horns, peacock, rhinos, sea-goats and the "Master of the Animals" motif
The combined emblem for the new clan union involved three elements -- serpent/dragon, bird and ox/buffalo.
The serpent could be found as a common spiral or a coiled "embryo" design. The bird totem could be represented by feathers or a bird's head. Also, by a tau symbol representing the tree of life, which in local mythology has a bird resting in its branches. The buffalo motif comes in the form of the bull's head or horns.
These motifs can be seen in the bicephalous jade ornaments of the Sa-Huynh-Kalanay culture of the mid to late 3rd millennium BC in which the dual heads would represent both horns and a hybrid bird-serpent creature. These motifs also appear in that culture's lingling-o ornaments. The Sa-Huynh-Kalanay culture represents the Nusantao in Southeast Asia during this period.
We will discuss these symbols more as we go along.
The warring clan confederacies believe in their symbols. These were a very spiritual people. While some among them undoubtedly used religious elements only as a means to an end, the evidence points more toward people who believed in the supernatural. We only have to look at some of behaviour and actions of some of history's more recent kings, sultans and emperors from this region to know that magic played an important part in the people's beliefs.
Any clan competition going on in this world was only an extension of something greater happening in the spirit world. Magic plays a large part in their culture.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
Saturday, December 11, 2004
The Yi Peoples
Shun-Sheng Ling wrote: "During ancient times the majority of the inhabitants of the Pacific coast of China belonged to the East Yi. The East Yi people in accordance with the results of our research consisted chiefly of peoples from Polynesia and Micronesia".
Pointing more toward Taiwan and the Philippines, the late Harvard historian Kwang-chih Chang agreed that Austronesian presence in early coastal China was likely.
The "East Yi" (Dong Yi) are the Yi peoples who lived in Shandong and Henan as described in Chinese literature. The Yi to the south were known as Nan Yi and those to the north as Bei Yi.
Chinese literature describes the Yi as "maritime" people who built large ships. Eventually the name Yi became synonomous with the sea itself.
The Yi peoples are normally associated with Dawenkou, Lungshan, Liangzhu and Hongshan cultures. These people practiced tooth removal and head deformation, and built their homes on piles (stilts), all common features of Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
The Dawenkou showed the first signs of significant social stratification in China. Elite burials became increasingly common and elaborate toward the latter Dawenkou period. By the time that Dawenkou transitioned to its daughter Lungshan culture in Shandong, signs of extreme hierarchy were present to include, at times, funerary human sacrifice.
In the Lungshan period we see the rise of forts with rammed earth walls. This has been interpreted as possibly signaling an increase in clan warfare and the consequent need for protection.
Chinese texts make it clear that the Yi people were considered foreign in comparison to the Hua folk of the Upper Yellow River region. In latter times, the term "Dong Yi" came to exclusively mean foreigners and no longer applied to Shandong province.
However, during the earliest times, the Yi people were very important in the formation of Chinese culture and civilization.
The Dawenkou Pottery Inscriptions may have faciliated communication and trade between people who spoke different languages. These characters were pictographic in nature and thus would have facilitated cross-cultural communication.
As noted earlier there is extensive evidence of long-distance trade particularly that involving jade and nephrite originating in the Yangtze region (Liangzhu culture).
During the Lungshan period, we see the increasing use of clan emblems. By studying these symbols we can see that some clans were able to extend their range considerably. Sometime around 5500 years ago things started heating up in this region. If the war had not started yet, it was about to begin.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
Pointing more toward Taiwan and the Philippines, the late Harvard historian Kwang-chih Chang agreed that Austronesian presence in early coastal China was likely.
The "East Yi" (Dong Yi) are the Yi peoples who lived in Shandong and Henan as described in Chinese literature. The Yi to the south were known as Nan Yi and those to the north as Bei Yi.
Chinese literature describes the Yi as "maritime" people who built large ships. Eventually the name Yi became synonomous with the sea itself.
The Yi peoples are normally associated with Dawenkou, Lungshan, Liangzhu and Hongshan cultures. These people practiced tooth removal and head deformation, and built their homes on piles (stilts), all common features of Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
The Dawenkou showed the first signs of significant social stratification in China. Elite burials became increasingly common and elaborate toward the latter Dawenkou period. By the time that Dawenkou transitioned to its daughter Lungshan culture in Shandong, signs of extreme hierarchy were present to include, at times, funerary human sacrifice.
In the Lungshan period we see the rise of forts with rammed earth walls. This has been interpreted as possibly signaling an increase in clan warfare and the consequent need for protection.
Chinese texts make it clear that the Yi people were considered foreign in comparison to the Hua folk of the Upper Yellow River region. In latter times, the term "Dong Yi" came to exclusively mean foreigners and no longer applied to Shandong province.
However, during the earliest times, the Yi people were very important in the formation of Chinese culture and civilization.
The Dawenkou Pottery Inscriptions may have faciliated communication and trade between people who spoke different languages. These characters were pictographic in nature and thus would have facilitated cross-cultural communication.
As noted earlier there is extensive evidence of long-distance trade particularly that involving jade and nephrite originating in the Yangtze region (Liangzhu culture).
During the Lungshan period, we see the increasing use of clan emblems. By studying these symbols we can see that some clans were able to extend their range considerably. Sometime around 5500 years ago things started heating up in this region. If the war had not started yet, it was about to begin.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
Thursday, December 09, 2004
The Nusantao, continued
The Nusantao lived around shell mounds and sand dunes. Often they lived right on top of them. Later as they moved into colder regions in the north they began to build their homes partly within the mounds. This was an excellent adaptation to cold weather and was one of a number of factors that allowed the Nusantao to easily explore colder regions.
Another thing that helped was their habit of hunting sea mammals. The shell mounds show abundant evidence of this type of hunting including sea mammal bones. They used harpoon heads including some probably of the toggling type, which have survived until modern times in the Philippines and New Zealand. A toggling harpoon has a detachable head attached to a line or cord.
The people also supplemented their diet by hunting and by raising domestic animals. They had chickens, pigs and dogs.
Many of them practiced horticulture -- evidence of which goes back to at least 15,000 BC in this region. And there is also evidence of sugarcane and rice agriculture.
The dates on the start of rice agriculture are rather controversial. Oppenheimer has a good discussion on this in Eden in the East. The earliest dates go back to 12,000 years ago at Spirit Cave and 9260 years ago at Sakai Cave on the Malay Peninsula. It is difficult though to tell wild rice from domestic rice just by looking at it.
The domestication argument is strengthened by the fact that other plants found at Spirit and Sakai caves were among those later domesticated in Southeast Asia.
Whatever the earliest dates for rice, the Nusantao that had reached South China definitely were planting this crop.
These shell mound people used ground-edge tools of both shell and stone. And a new discovery at Balobok Cave in the southern Philippines dated to 5340 BC suggests they also used fully-polished neolithic tools.
One thing we should remember in studying Southeast Asia is that a Neolithic or Metal Age "revolution" does not mean the same thing here as in other places. There are cases of "Stone Age" people surviving in this region to the present-day. The controversial Tasaday are one well-known example, but there are many other less controversial ones. "Mesolithic" Hoabinhian sites have been discovered surviving in regions that appear to had already moved into the Metal Age. Keep this fact in mind.
Here's a good summary of the Nusantao:
The Yangtze and Shandong regions are important. They will become vital nodes in the Nusantao trade network.
Another thing that helped was their habit of hunting sea mammals. The shell mounds show abundant evidence of this type of hunting including sea mammal bones. They used harpoon heads including some probably of the toggling type, which have survived until modern times in the Philippines and New Zealand. A toggling harpoon has a detachable head attached to a line or cord.
The people also supplemented their diet by hunting and by raising domestic animals. They had chickens, pigs and dogs.
Many of them practiced horticulture -- evidence of which goes back to at least 15,000 BC in this region. And there is also evidence of sugarcane and rice agriculture.
The dates on the start of rice agriculture are rather controversial. Oppenheimer has a good discussion on this in Eden in the East. The earliest dates go back to 12,000 years ago at Spirit Cave and 9260 years ago at Sakai Cave on the Malay Peninsula. It is difficult though to tell wild rice from domestic rice just by looking at it.
The domestication argument is strengthened by the fact that other plants found at Spirit and Sakai caves were among those later domesticated in Southeast Asia.
Whatever the earliest dates for rice, the Nusantao that had reached South China definitely were planting this crop.
These shell mound people used ground-edge tools of both shell and stone. And a new discovery at Balobok Cave in the southern Philippines dated to 5340 BC suggests they also used fully-polished neolithic tools.
One thing we should remember in studying Southeast Asia is that a Neolithic or Metal Age "revolution" does not mean the same thing here as in other places. There are cases of "Stone Age" people surviving in this region to the present-day. The controversial Tasaday are one well-known example, but there are many other less controversial ones. "Mesolithic" Hoabinhian sites have been discovered surviving in regions that appear to had already moved into the Metal Age. Keep this fact in mind.
Here's a good summary of the Nusantao:
During the third and last rapid rise flood a Hoabinhian-like people that built shell mounds began migrating southward into insular Southeast Asia. These people certainly practiced horticulture and possibly agriculture. These people eventually settle in eastern Indonesia and the Philippines where they begin using shell tools. They also learn (or relearn) the art of edge grinding. They manufacture edge-ground shell and stone tools, and also make fully polished neolithic blades. One of the important tools made by these people was the celt, a groove-less axe. The blade industry is distinguished by the rectangular cross-section of the tools. The shell mound people appear on the South China coast with their shell tools, edge-grinding and roughly polished tools sometime before 5000 BC. They form a culture along the Yangtze River. And they quickly move northward into present-day Shandong. The cultural kit of these people came to include by 5000 BC: clay spindle whorls to make nets, clay net sinkers, disc-shaped earplug ornaments, stepped stone (socketed) adzes, stone hoes, stone knives and long-stemmed polished stone arrow/harpoon heads. They also made Hoabinhian-descended pottery.
The Yangtze and Shandong regions are important. They will become vital nodes in the Nusantao trade network.
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