A collaborative work conducted by the scientists from ShanghaiTech University and Hebrew University revealed the community structure of the early Neolithic settlement, the Chahi site located in Northeast China. They suggest that during the formative phases of sedentism and cultivation, nuclear households in Northeast were relatively independent production and consumption units. At the community level, non-economic activity, such as group rituals and communal feasting, suggests the development of collective leadership that organized small-scale public construction and rituals serving as integrative mechanisms. This research is published in Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, available online on May 25, 2022.
The layout of the Chahai site, each square structure reflects a nuclear household which is a relatively independent production and consumption unit. Group ritual activities carry out in the central part of the settlement where the dragon-like stone pile and cemetery are located in.
