| Abstract: |
In Guangxi, pottery and ground-stone tools occurred very early, but agriculture in this region made its appearance only after 6000 BP. Therefore, the so-called Neolithic before 6000 BP in this region actually belongs to the period of hunting and gathering. Sites of the later hunter-gatherers in Guangxi region include cave and open-air settlement/workshops. The former concentrates in the karst terrain of northern Guangxi. Open-air settlements are mainly distributed in the southern, western, and coastal areas, and are dominated by midden sites. Numerous burials have been found, with the skeletons interred in various flexed positions, in the midden sites. Chipped stone tools made of cobble, ground-stone tools, implements of bone and shell, and pottery with tempering material have all been found in association with large quantities of aquatic and terrestrial faunal remains and plants in most of the early and middle Neolithic sites in Guangxi. Many stone tools and bone implements were functionally used for hunting and gathering. Apparently, the prehistoric economics of this period in Guangxi was a broad-spectrum strategy of hunting and gathering. Although cultural remains from different parts of this region share many common characteristics, differences among them also exist.
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