Source: School of Sociology and Anthropology
Written by: Li Fajun
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

In the recent issue of the international famous archaeological magazine Antiquity (87:337), a team led by associate professor LI Fajun from the School of Sociology and Anthropology, Sun Yat-sen University reported their new researches about Ding Si Shan Neolithic site which was found in Yongning county of Guangxi. They have analyzed a very ancient special burial called dismembered burial. The paper is entitled “Dismembered Neolithic burials at the Ding Si Shan site in Guangxi, southern China”.

The new findings include two aspects, the first is that they firstly brought forward a new view for how to study the prehistoric sites in southern China, viz. In prehistoric southern China, burial traditions have been generally classified into two types: simple extended and flexed burials. The second is that comparative work undertaken at Ding Si Shan and other sites has identified a further contrast between extended burials with tooth ablation and flexed burials with no tooth ablation in the region of southern China bounded by the western part of the Pearl River Delta. The authors have tentatively called the boundary between these two traditions the 'South China line', with tooth ablation to the east, but not to the west. The six types of burials identified at Ding Si Shan, which lies to the west of the Pearl River Delta, appear to belong mostly to the latter tradition.

The research team also analyzed preliminarily the similar burials found in southeastern prehistoric sites (eg. Lang Cao, Hang Dang & Moc Long caves) and hope to compare their relationship with Ding Si Shan Neolithic site in future.