Early Bronze found in Hubei, China (middle Yangtze)

In a new study provides more evidence for an early Bronze Age in eastern parts of Asia.

Sediments from Liangzhi Lake in Hubei Province suggest bronze working by about 3000 +/- 328 BC. Hubei is in south-central China (middle Yangtze), and the findings could be associated with Daxi or Qujialing cultures.


Hubei province, Wikipedia


Similar radiocarbon dates have been obtained for bronze in Thailand (Non Nok Tha, Ban Chiang) and the Philippines (Balobok).

Environ Sci Technol. 2008 Jul 1;42(13):4732-8.

Seven thousand years of records on the mining and utilization of metals from lake sediments in central China.

Lee CS, Qi SH, Zhang G, Luo CL, Zhao LY, Li XD.

Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

A 268 cm section of sediment core from Liangzhi Lake in Hubei province in central China was used to assess the use and accumulation of metals in the lake in the past 7,000 years. The concentrations of trace metals, including Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn, and major elements, Ca, Fe, and Mg, in a 14C- dated segment of sediment core were analyzed. Historical trends on the input of metals to Liangzhi Lake from around 5000 BC to the present were recorded in the sediments, representing about 7,000 years of history on the mining and utilization of metals in central China. The concentrations of Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn increased gradually from about 3000 +/- 328 BC, indicating the start of the Bronze Age in ancient China. During the period 467 +/- 257 to 215 +/- 221 AD, there was a rapid increase in the concentrations of these metals in the sediments, indicating enormous inputs of these metals at that time. This era corresponded to China's Warring States Period (475- 221 BC) and the early Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), during which copper and lead were extensively used in making bronze articles such as vessels, tools, and weapons. From 1880 +/- 35 AD to the early 1900s, there was also a significant increase in the concentrations of metals such as Cu, Ni, and Pb, which probably reflected the metal emissions and utilization during the early period of industrial development and weapon manufacture during the wars in China. The Pb isotopic analysis showed that the surface and subsurface sediments had lower 206Pb/207Pb and 208Pb/ 207Pb ratios than the deeper layers, reflecting the additional input of Pb from mining activities that took place during the Bronze Age era and in modern times. This study provides direct evidence of the environmental impact of the mining and utilization of metals in the last 7,000 years in one of the important regions of Chinese civilization.

Zheng He film shoots in ASEAN countries

A new movie featuring the Chinese Muslim explorer Zheng He's journey to the Majapahit Empire is under production in Southeast Asia.

The film is an ASEAN co-production with a fairly hefty budget by local standards (US$3 million).

Ex-minister plays Admiral Cheng Ho in ASEAN film

Prof. Yusril Ihza Mahendra, former minister/state secretary, is currently in Bangkok for shooting a drama colossal film on Admiral Cheng Ho.

Yusril played the role as Admiral Cheng Ho in the film jointly produced by six member countries of ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations).

The former minister told ANTARA here on Wednesday that the film having duration of 48 minutes would cost around US$3 million and involved about 6,000 actors and actresses from six ASEAN member countries.

Another former Indonesian minister, Shaifullah Yusuf, also joined the film and played as a Majapahit king.

The film would be produced in 26 episodes. The film is expected to be shown simultaneously on television stations in the six ASEAN member countries early 2008.

According to Yusril, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also supported the joint ASEAN film production. The production process being held at Kantana Studio in Bangkok has reached 30 percent, he said.

Cheng Ho was born around 1371 in China`s southwestern Yunan Province (just north of Laos) with the name Ma Ho. Ma Ho`s father was a Muslim hajji (who had made a pilgrimage to Mecca) and the family name of Ma was used by Muslims in representation of the word Mohammad.

Based on an imperial edict his first of seven or perhaps eight voyages in Asian waters took him from 1405 to 1407 to Java and Sumatra.

Two Former Ministers Turn To Acting

Two former Indonesian ministers who were ousted from the cabinet of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently are now film stars in the making.

They were enlisted in a 26-episode drama about Admiral Cheng Ho which involves about 6,000 artistes from six Asean countries.

Former State Secretary Prof Yusril Ihza Mahendra has been given the lead role as Admiral Cheng Ho.

He is now in Bangkok for the filming of the drama series along with former State Minister for Development of Backward Regions, Saifullah Yusuf who is playing the role of the Majapahit King.

Antara’s report from Bangkok quoted Yusril as saying that the drama which would have a 48-minute episode each cost US$3 million (RM10.5 million) to produce.

Yusril said the drama, currently being shot at Kantana Studio in Bangkok and already 30 per cent underway, was fully supported by President Susilo.

The drama which depicts Cheng Ho’s role in propagating Islam in Indonesia is expected to be televised simultaneously in six Asean countries by early 2008.

At the height of the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century, Cheng Ho led a fleet of 357 ships with 27,800 crew members.

His travels had taken him to Melaka, Sumatra, Java, India, West Asia and East Africa.

He died in 1435 while on his return journey from Africa to China and was buried in Niushou, Nanjing.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Y chromosome study probes ancient Liangzhu culture

A new DNA study from China suggests, among other things, that the ancient Liangzhu Culture of the Yangtze region, famed for its jade work, had genetic signatures suggesting an Austronesian and Daic population. One has to question whether genetics, in this case the O1 haplotype, can say anything about language culture especially that far back in time, but the study does support the archaeological evidence suggesting Liangzhu had links with areas further South.

Y chromosomes of prehistoric people along the Yangtze River.

Li H, Huang Y, Mustavich LF, Zhang F, Tan JZ, Wang LE, Qian J, Gao MH, Jin L.

MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.

The ability to extract mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from ancient remains has enabled the study of ancient DNA, a legitimate field for over 20 years now. Recently, Y chromosome genotyping has begun to be applied to ancient DNA. The Y chromosome haplogroup in East Asia has since caught the attention of molecular anthropologists, as it is one of the most ethnic-related genetic markers of the region. In this paper, the Y chromosome haplogroup of DNA from ancient East Asians was examined, in order to genetically link them to modern populations. Fifty-six human remains were sampled from five archaeological sites, primarily along the Yangtze River. Strict criteria were followed to eliminate potential contamination. Five SNPs from the Y chromosome were successfully amplified from most of the samples, with at least 62.5% of the samples belonging to the O haplogroup, similar to the frequency for modern East Asian populations. A high frequency of O1 was found in Liangzhu Culture sites around the mouth of the Yangtze River, linking this culture to modern Austronesian and Daic populations. A rare haplogroup, O3d, was found at the Daxi site in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, indicating that the Daxi people might be the ancestors of modern Hmong-Mien populations, which show only small traces of O3d today. Noticeable genetic segregation was observed among the prehistoric cultures, demonstrating the genetic foundation of the multiple origins of the Chinese Civilization.

Lungshanoid (Glossary)

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.

Phoenix or Feng (Glossary)

The Phoenix of China is known as Feng 鳳, or, starting in Zhou times, Feng-huang 鳳凰. It is also known as the August Rooster 鶤雞 and Daoist texts describe the legendary bird as resembling a cock, especially one of cinnabar-red color.

Bird totems are found in Neolithic China although they don't necessarily resemble latter depictions of the Phoenix. Around the middle of the first millennium BCE, the bird is shown together with the taotie symbol in Chinese artwork.

The Phoenix was said to live somewhere in the South, and starting in Han dynasty times the Feng-huang became a symbol for the southern direction.

Fu Hsi's surname was Feng, possibly representing his totemic clan, and he faced his throne toward the South, a tradition that persisted throughout Chinese history. Feng-shui masters also claim that the orientation of the emperor's throne and palace was toward the Phoenix of the South.

The Feng-huang was said to live in the mountain of Cinnabar Caves (Tan-hsüeh shan) which Chuang Tzu located somewhere south of the Yueh kingdom (modern Zhejiang and Fujian).

The Phoenix was said also to reside in the "South Sea" and to fly at times to the "North Sea."

The Cinnabar Caves may be related to the Cinnabar Field far beneath Penglai's central mountain. When Xu Fu was sent by the Qin Emperor to find Penglai, he claimed to have met a "great spirit" in the ocean who led him toward the southeast to the legendary island.

Some of the Boshanlu censers, which when in use relay an image of a smoking mountain, display Penglai island supported on the beak of a Phoenix standing on a turtle, the latter possibly representing the center of the earth.

The oracle bone character for feng "wind" is a bird pictograph that has been identified with the Phoenix (feng 鳳).

Sarah Allan has suggested that the bird-wind-Phoenix link may connect with Jun "East Wind" mentioned in the Shang texts as one of the great ancestors of the Shang dynasty so closely associated with bird totems.

According to the Shanhaijing, Jun (Di Jun) married Xihe in the "Southeastern-Sea amidst the Sweet Waters, and Xihe gives birth to the "Ten Suns" which bathe in the boiling water pools near Fu-Sang, the mulberry tree under which rises the Underground World River.

Thus, this Di Jun may also have some Feng clan associations that locate geographically in the "Southeastern-Sea" where the Fu-Sang tree is located.

Fu-Sang is central to the myth of the multiple suns that are said to rest in its branches. It is associated with the East and apparently with the equatorial regions where the Sun rises above the horizon between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

Xihe, Jun's wife, is said to rinse and purify each Sun after its journey and place it back on the branches of the Fu-Sang tree.


Variations of Shang dynasty origin myths from Allan, he Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art, and Cosmos in Early China, p. 35.

If the huang in the name "Feng-huang" is an epithet, as claimed by some, then it might indicate the movement of the Phoenix myth from the South towards the North, as languages in the southern region commonly placed epithets after substantives.

By Han times, the Feng-huang became two birds, one male and the other female, and later five different phoenixes arose. The modern Phoenix, like the Dragon, is a composite creation.

Feng-huang is portrayed often either cinnabar-red, or with five colors representing the five cardinal virtues. The Phoenix stands for, among other things, the Empress, conjugal union and the Yin principle.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Allan, Sarah. The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art, and Cosmos in Early China, SUNY Press, 1991.

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 the Dongyi 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.