The social structure of Liangzhu culture seen from burial system

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project Area: Rice Farming and Chinese Civilization : Renovation of Integrated Studies of Rice-based Civilizations.
• Project/Area Number: 18H04174
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Institution: Kumamoto University (2019, 2021); Kanazawa University (2018)
• Principal Investigator: KUBOTA SHINJI 熊本大学, 大学院人文社会科学研究部附属国際人文社会科学研究センター, 准教授 (00609901)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 良渚文化 / 良渚遺跡群 / 社会階層 / 墓 / 副葬品 / 稲作文明 / 新石器時代

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, I clarified the structure of the social hierarchy of Liangzhu culture by constructing a comprehensive database of tombs. In Liangzhu culture, many tombs face south, and differences were found in the size, structure, quantity and quality of burial goods among the social classes. Especially in the contents of burial goods, jade, lacquer ware, pottery named “Shuangbihu（双鼻壺）”, etc. show a remarkable tendency. From the above, it is highly possible that there was a clear standard for burial in Liangzhu culture as a whole.

Free Research Field

考古学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

良渚文化の標式遺跡である良渚遺跡群は、2019年に世界文化遺産にも登録された世界的に注目を集める遺跡である。しかし、これまでの研究では、大型墓という一部の社会階層のみに注目が集まり、社会全体の構造が理解されていなかった。本研究では墓に注目し、良渚文化全体を包括する社会階層の一端の解明に成功した。