论西汉中后期冬小麦在关中的推广

在农业发展史上,任何农作物的推广与普及,都离不开适合该作物生长的自然环境,但同时也需要技术与社会条件的推动。西汉中后期冬小麦之所以能在关中地区获得推广,不仅仅因为其具有高产、旱作的特性,还在于它适应了当时关中农业发展的需要,以及防旱保墒技术的完善对其推广过程中技术问题的解决。     

汉代黄河流域麦作发展的环境因素与技术影响

汉代冬小麦的推广与普及,具有自东向西的时空特点。麦作发展是区域自然环境与技术条件交互作用的结果,其中自然环境条件是影响汉代黄河流域冬麦普及过程的基本因素。不论是黄河下游地区冬麦种植的较早普及还是关中地区冬麦推广的迟滞,均首先与当地的自然环境有关。在黄河下游地区,人们利用冬麦的生长特性趋利避害,减少和防止河汛水患的影响,保障粮食生产,麦子得以广泛种植。在关中地区,干旱的困扰一度制约了冬麦的推广和普及。在自然因素推动下的汉代麦作推广与普及,促进了黄河流域抗旱耕作及粮食加工技术的发展,影响深远。     

有关先秦时期北方地区麦子种植的几个问题的思考

就目前的材料看,尚难以断定夏代已有麦类作物种植,商代“麦”、“来”也未必 为冬小麦,春秋、战国时期冬小麦已在北方地区普遍种植的说法也难以经得起认真推敲。     

江苏盱眙东阳军庄汉墓群出土人骨的稳定同位素分析

黄淮地区是传统粟稻混作区,西汉时麦作推广进入关键时期,但小麦在这一过程中对黄淮地区原有粟稻混作格局的影响并不明确。对江苏省盱眙县东阳军庄汉墓群出土人骨的稳定同位素分析结果显示,9例人骨骨胶原δ13C值的范围为-20.0‰~-18.4‰,均值-19.4±0.6‰(n=9),表明西汉时期盱眙先民主要以稻、麦等C3类植物为食,已经不再将粟作为主要粮食,结合该地区西汉以前的农业格局,可推测西汉时期苏北淮河流域已经开始由传统的稻粟混作模式向稻麦混作模式转变。将本文数据与我国同时期其他遗址的稳定同位素数据比较后发现,在原有稻粟混作区内,粟在先民饮食结构中的地位呈自西向东下降的趋势,反映了小麦种植在不同区域的不平衡发展,关中地区小麦的推广普及明显晚于东部近海地区。     

西汉楚王陵墓形制研究

西汉楚国是西汉王朝最重要的封国之一,历12代楚王,210余年。到目前为止, 已发现发掘8处、15座楚王和王后崖洞墓,是同时代发现最多、最具系列的诸侯王墓群。楚王墓从西汉初年到王莽废汉,其墓道、甬道、墓室等形制发生了一系列有规律的变化,从一个侧面反映出楚国的兴盛衰废,也折射出西汉王朝政治、经济、文化的变迁,是研究西汉历史重要的物质文化资料。     

江苏仪征刘集联营西汉墓出土占卜漆盘

仪征刘集联营是扬州地区一处重要的西汉早期墓葬群,从已发掘的9座墓葬规格和出土器物来看,这里应是西汉江都国至广陵国高中级官吏的葬地,本次抢救清理的10号墓,最重要发现是首次出土了1件占卜漆盘,该漆盘对研究古代星相、阴阳、堪舆学等提供了新的实物资料。     

反季节种植技术在园林施工中的应用探究实践

目前,生态质量已成为权衡一个城市水平的重要指标,因而各城市十分重视园林绿化工作。绿化植物的种植、成活率将直接影响园林绿化工程的质量。现阶段,季节性种植技术已不能满足园林绿化工程施工要求。为提升园林绿化工程建设水平,形成并推广了反季节植物种植技术。为提高园林绿化工程的生态效益及社会效益,需加强对反季节种植技术的研究。     

简析西汉崖洞墓的防盗设施

汉代王陵防盗设施形式多样,较为全面。本文根据已公布的考古资料,结合历史文献对已发掘的西汉崖洞墓防盗设施略作探讨,以展见西汉诸侯王对墓葬修建的重视。     

西汉时期中国拱券技术的产生和来源研究

西汉中期以后,长安地区开始使用子母砖来构建券顶的排水涵洞,标志着拱券技术开始在中国出现。受其影响,一些中小型洞室墓也开始使用这种结构,并出现了小砖券顶的砖室墓,与其联系紧密的中原地区接着也出现了小砖券顶砖室墓,并从关中和中原传播到国内其他地区,成为西汉中晚期以后中小型墓室的典型建筑风格,并对基本同时流行的空心砖墓和画像砖墓的形制造成了一定的影响。拱券结构在中国从出现到成熟都在西汉中期,历时很短,说是本土自然发生的难以置信。反观国外,拱券结构的发展经历了数千年的时间,曾经出现过叠涩券、筒拱等多种形式,并且在中国出现拱券以前已传播到中亚地区。我们有理由相信正是在西汉中期特定的社会状况下,拱券技术从中原传播到了关中,并有所创新,成为流行的砖室墓特色。     

中国古代加工纸十种——中国古代造纸技术史专题研究之五

我国是造纸术的故乡。早在西汉,我国劳动人民就已发明用麻类植物纤维造纸,从而完成了书写材料演变史上划时代的革命。较近报道的甘肃肩水金关故地发现的两片西汉麻纸,又为造纸术起源于西汉之说提供了有力的佐证,进一步纠正了东汉蔡伦发明造纸的传统说法。     

Ancient DNA analysis of desiccated wheat grains excavated from a Bronze Age cemetery in Xinjiang

Wheat has been one of the most important crop in Eurasia since the Neolithic period. Understanding the spread of wheat cultivation is crucial to understanding the spread of agriculture as a whole and the interactions between prehistoric populations across the Eurasian continent. However, the routes by which wheat cultivation spread eastwards have been poorly understood to date, due to the scarcity of plant remains recovered from archaeological sites. Desiccated wheat grains excavated from the Xiaohe cemetery in Xinjiang, and dated to the early Bronze Age, show excellent DNA preservation. Here we present an ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis of wheat (Triticum sp.) grains excavated from Xiaohe and provide the first definitive evidence for bread wheat in China during the Bronze Age. The nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS1 and ITS2) and the intergenic spacer region (IGS) were amplified. The IGS region within the D genome of wheat has a 71 bp insertion that is absent from corresponding regions in the A and B genomes. The results showed that the Xiaohe wheat showed most sequence similarity to hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), including the characteristic insertion into the D genome. The presence of bread wheat at the Xiaohe cemetery is discussed in relation to it having spread into Xinjiang by the Bronze Age, providing new insight into the origins of bread wheat in East Asia.     

Phylogeography of einkorn landraces in the Mediterranean basin and Central Europe: population structure and cultivation history

Einkorn (Triticum monococcum L.) was one of the first cereals to be domesticated in the Old World ca. 10,000 years ago and to spread towards Europe and North Africa. Its cultivation declined before the Iron Age and it remains today only as a relic crop in remote areas. To investigate if the geographic distribution of genetic diversity in modern einkorn landrace accessions could be informative about the movement of this crop during prehistory, we genotyped 50 accessions of einkorn from Europe, North Africa and the Near East. Using nuclear and chloroplast microsatellites and clustering methods, we detected two main gene pools in einkorn. The distribution of these lineages revealed differences between accessions from Morocco and the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of Europe and the Near East and suggests different regional dynamics in the spread of this crop.     

Genetic analysis of wheat landraces enables the location of the first agricultural sites in Italy to be identified

We typed five microsatellite loci in 52 landraces of Italian emmer wheat to determine if genetic analysis of cereals can provide information relevant to the spread of agriculture. Each of the five loci was polymorphic with 43 allele combinations identified in the 52 landraces. The allele combinations fell into two groups. Group 1 comprised 27 genotypes found in 42 landraces and Group 2 comprised 15 genotypes found in 10 landraces. The landraces with Group 1 genotypes showed a strong correlation between geographical and genetic distances (r = 0.601, p < 0.001) but those with Group 2 genotypes did not (r = 0.116, p = 0.244). We inferred that the Group 1 landraces might therefore retain a phylogeographical structure that reflects ancient events. We present a phylogeographical model for the spread of agriculture that enables the point of origin of crop cultivation to be predicted by comparison between the genetic and geographical distances between landraces. We applied this model to the Group 1 landraces by positioning 131 hypothetical points of origin around the coastline and northern border of Italy. The highest correlation coefficients between genetic and geographical distances were seen for hypothetical points of origin located on the coast of northern Puglia. We repeated the analysis with 1040 hypothetical points of origin located within the Italian peninsula. Again, the highest correlation coefficients were located in northern Puglia. These predicted points of origin correspond with the location of the earliest agricultural sites in Italy. The results show that plant genetics can be used to study the spread of agriculture.     

Isotopic Determination of Seasonality in Diet and Death from Nubian Mummy Hair

Sections of human hair from naturally desiccated Sudanese Nubian mummies representing X-Group (AD 350-550) and Christian (AD 550-1300) periods in the Wadi Halfa area have been analysed for their isotope ratios. Because the carbon in hair represents food intake over the growth period of this tissue, analysis comparing segments taken next to the scalp with those further along the shaft can indicate diet just prior to death as well as any recent shift in food consumption. Modern populations in this area practise seasonal crop scheduling which involves the cultivation of C₃ plants (wheat, barley and most fruits and vegetables) in the winter and the hardier C₄ plants (sorghum and millet) in the summer. Shifting isotopic values along the length of hair strands of the ancient inhabitants of this area demonstrate that this practice has its roots at least as far back as the Initial Phase of Intensive Agriculture. The most common season of death appears to have been summer, the time of greatest climatic, nutritional and physiological stress for both ancient and modern inhabitants.     

Latitudinal variation in a photoperiod response gene in European barley: insight into the dynamics of agricultural spread from ‘historic’ specimens

Between ca. 6000 BC and ca. 500 BC, barley cultivation spread across the continent of Europe from the extreme south to the extreme north. Carbon-dating would suggest that this spread, and indeed the spread of crop cultivation generally, varied in its pace, with ‘delays’ at certain points along its route. Such delays in the spread of agriculture have been explained as resulting from the slow assimilation of agricultural practices by existing indigenous human populations or as the time taken for the crops to adapt to novel climatic conditions, such as altered temperature regimes and day-lengths. A mutant form of the photoperiod response gene, Ppd-H1, causes barley to be non-responsive to long days, while the wild-type responsive form allows plants to flower in response to long days. We sequenced this gene in 65 ‘historic’ barley accessions, from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in order to explore the potential role of environmental adaptation in the spread of agriculture. We chose to use ‘historic’ material, to complement the richer patterns in extant genetic lines, by spreading the data range in both time and space. Our ‘historic’ barley data shows a latitudinal divide in the Ppd-H1 gene similar to that found in extant lines, but with clearer geographical resolution, and extending northwards into the Arctic Circle. We discuss the implications of our results in relation to the dynamics of agricultural spread across Europe.     

Agricultural change in Copper Age Croatia (ca. 4500–2500 cal B.C)?

The Copper Age in the Carpathian Basin is marked by a distinct change in settlement patterns, material culture, social traditions and subsistence practices; however, few studies address the nature of crop cultivation in the region. This paper examines new archaeobotanical data from 13 Copper Age (ca. 4500–2500 cal BC) sites located in continental Croatia, in order to assess the extent to which crop agriculture may have changed and contributed to overall subsistence economies in the Copper Age. From the archaeobotanical results, a dominance in einkorn and emmer is seen followed by barley. Less frequently millet, naked wheat and spelt/new glume wheat are also recovered, but due to their limited numbers, it is less clear whether they were grown as crops or represent weeds. Pulses (e.g. lentil, pea and grass pea), fruit remains (e.g. cornelian cherry and chinese lantern) and wild plant and weed species are also recovered, although more commonly from the late Copper Age sites. The archaeobotanical results show a clear reduction in the quantity and range of plant species recovered during the early/middle Copper Age; however, this is likely the result of taphonomic bias rather than a reduction in crop cultivation. The results therefore highlight problems of recovery bias in the region, which makes comparisons between sites as well as the reconstruction of crop husbandry regimes difficult. Overall, the results from continental Croatia suggest that the type of crops cultivated continued relatively unchanged from the late Neolithic, although it is clear that more research is desperately needed to explore the relationship between crop agriculture and the changing socio-economic environment of the Copper Age in the region.     

Bread and surpluses: the Anglo-Saxon ‘bread wheat thesis’ reconsidered

This paper presents a fundamental new assessment of crop husbandry in the Mid Saxon period in England (c. AD 650–850), using data from charred plant remains. While recent archaeological studies have begun to emphasise the importance of agricultural development in this period – focusing especially upon field systems and livestock – crops have received comparatively little attention. This study challenges one popular model of Anglo-Saxon arable farming, here dubbed the ‘bread wheat thesis’, which posits a Mid Saxon shift whereby bread wheat supplanted hulled barley as the most important cereal crop in this period. The empirical basis for this model is here re-examined in the light of an updated archaeobotanical dataset from selected regions in southern Britain. No evidence for bread wheat supplanting hulled barley is discovered. It is argued instead that rye and oats became substantially more important in the 7th–9th centuries, regional patterns in cereal cultivation in this period correlate with differences in the natural environment and Anglo-Saxon farmers were able to produce greater arable surpluses from the 7th century onwards.