Hemudu Culture

Author: Liu Jun / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: With the development of horticultural farming and domestic animal husbandry, the lives of the Hemudu people changed. However, although horticultural farming and animal husbandry increased their production, hunting and gathering still remained an indispensable supplement to their economic life. The Hemudu site has yielded a vast number of animal remains, with sixty-one genera and species identified, and many more skeletons remaining unidentified. If known and unknown remains are combined, their quantity certainly ranks first among all excavated Neolithic sites of the same period, both domestically and internationally. This indicates that hunting and gathering were very frequent activities for the Hemudu people. To the north of the Hemudu site, there are vast water bodies, including swamps and lakes, which provided the Hemudu people with abundant aquatic animal resources. To the south, there are deep mountains, dense forests, shrublands, and lush green grass, which also provided the Hemudu people with rich terrestrial animal resources. In summary, the provided the Hemudu people with ample natural resources.
The Book of Shi records in Guangze: "In the era of Suiren, there was much water in the world, so people were taught to fish. In the era of Paoyi, there were many beasts in the world, so people were taught to hunt." Hunting and gathering were among the most important economic activities in primitive society. Based on the artifacts unearthed from the Hemudu site, it is inferred that the Hemudu people used slingshots to shoot clay pellets to bring down birds and also used bows to shoot bone points to bring down birds. The Hemudu culture had a Type C, II bone point with a cylindrical long shaft and a blunt tip. Some ethnological scholars have informed us that in some ethnic minority groups, there was a custom of hunting birds with beautiful feathers for fear of injuring them, using arrowheads similar to those found in Hemudu. Strong bows could shoot arrowheads to bring down. The Hemudu site has unearthed over 1,700 varieties of arrowheads, which is closely related to the widespread use of bows and arrows for hunting by the Hemudu people. Animals like deer, which are weak in resistance and numerous, often roam in groups in search of food, making them easy targets for the Hemudu people. This can be verified by the large number of deer specimens unearthed from the Hemudu site. Moreover, the mandibles of most deer specimens are heavily fragmented and broken, indicating that they were indeed consumed.
From the analysis of animal specimens unearthed, the bones of large animals such as rhinoceros, elephants, tigers, and bears are very rare, indicating that these animals were indeed extremely fierce and difficult to hunt. According to the opinions of experts on animal bone identification, aquatic animals were also a major source of meat for the Hemudu people. The remains of fish, turtles, and other aquatic animals are countless, with only the remains of turtles numbering over 1,970 individuals. Based on the unearthed tools, the Hemudu people primarily used bone fish darts and bone points to catch aquatic animals. Only two fish darts have been found, making it unlikely that they were the main fishing tools at the time. It is speculated that using bows and arrows to fish was the primary method of fishing. It is said that the Oroqen, Gaoshan, and Li ethnic minority groups in the past also commonly used this method to fish. Generally, people would shoot fish with bows and arrows when the moon was bright, and fish would surface. Another method might have been fishing with bare hands. It is said that ancient Yi men were skilled at diving into the water to catch fish, using methods such as digging holes and catching fish on the ground. Among modern primitive peoples, the Kibaro tribe living in the Amazon rainforest in Peru still uses the method of fishing with bare hands. "They usually stand bare-handed in the water, using their thick palms to catch slippery fish."
Individual sinkers have also been found in the Hemudu site, making it possible that people at the time also used nets to fish. Gathering and hunting were the two oldest production activities in primitive society. In the limited excavation area of the Hemudu site, plant-based gathering items such as acorns, sour jujubes, water chestnuts, locust beans, and lotus seeds have been found. Except for sour jujubes, these wild fruits are rich in starch. The presence of these fruit seeds buried in the strata is not an isolated phenomenon but rather occurs in piles and pits. Some pits are so full of fruit seeds that they can barely hold a basket, showing the sheer quantity of wild fruits. From the condition of the wild fruits, many seeds have been split in half, indicating that they had already been consumed by the Hemudu people. These wild fruits ripen and are gathered in autumn for storage to supplement food shortages in winter.
Red-barked tung trees, fine-leaved camphor trees, Jiangzhe, mountain pepper trees, bitter chestnut trees, and Dendrobium trees of the Moraceae family have also been found in the excavation site, as well as the fruits of the sweetgum tree. Since Hemudu is located in a humid and warm transitional zone between waterways and forests, there may have been a lot of mosquitoes. Burning camphor leaves can repel mosquitoes and remove foul odors. After being bitten by mosquitoes, people's bodies would itch intensely, develop bumps, and the oil extracted from boiled camphor leaves is similar to modern menthol oil, which can relieve itching, dispel toxins, and reduce swelling. The sweetgum tree is also a good medicinal plant. Its leaves, roots, and fruits can all be used directly as medicine. The roots can dispel wind and dampness, the leaves can relieve wind and cold, and they can also reduce inflammation. The fruits can promote blood circulation and unblock meridians.
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