黄淮地区藤花落、后大堂龙山文化遗址古稻的研究

用粒型分析法,对黄淮地区藤花落和后大堂两处龙山化遗址出土的5群古稻作了研究。就粒型特征而言,尽管两群古稻种群内尚有不同类型存在,但相对比较单纯,其主要演化特征已属粳稻类型。     

Archaeobotanical and GIS-based approaches to prehistoric agriculture in the upper Ying valley,Henan, China

Archaeobotanical survey has sampled a series of late Neolithic to early Bronze Age settlements in the upper Ying valley (part of the central plain of China) and provided useful data for understanding prehistoric arable ecology and farming during a period of increasing local social complexity. A combination of the modelling functions offered by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the data reduction possibilities offered by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) allow us to explore possible relationships between local arable ecology, crop-processing strategies and the natural environment. The results should be treated cautiously given the size of the analytical sample but suggest that differences in the natural environment around each site may explain varying patterns of wild food collection, while social and cultural factors may better explain variation in farming practice and crop-processing at different sites.     

稻作农业起源研究中的植物考古学

早期稻作农业是植物考古学的一个研究热点。本文首先厘清了农业、栽培和驯化等稻作农业发展中的常用术语。进而对区分野生稻与驯化稻,即反映“半驯化”特征的几个指标包括基盘、谷粒尺寸和植硅石分别展开讨论。文章结合我们对现代野生稻和栽培稻的测量数据以及田螺山的工作,引用了国内外诸多考古实例和最新的分子学证据,证据表明上述几个指标在某些程度上多少可以作为性状来判断驯化稻是否已经出现,但是随着农业景观概念的提出,耕地杂草群落作为农田系统研究的证据．为稻作农业出现和发展研究展开了新视野。     

中国最早的稻作与稻作农业起源中心

产生最早稻作的地方未必一定能成为稻作起源的中心,中国最早的稻作可能在华南北部诞生,中国稻作农业起源的中心首先是在长江中游,长江下游和淮河上游也可能是另外的两个中心。     

Stable isotopic analysis of human bones from Jiahu site,Henan, China: implications for the transition to agriculture

We have investigated change in subsistence during the transition to agriculture in the site of Jiahu, Henan Province, China, using stable isotopic analysis of collagen and apatite in human bones. Millet agriculture is well documented at drier high latitudes of the Yellow River Valley, while rice agriculture predominated at wetter lower latitudes of the Yangtze Valley region. The early Neolithic site of Jiahu lies near the boundary between the drier north and wetter south. Archaeobotanical evidence shows that rice was a significant component of diet at Jiahu, but its δ¹³C value is similar to that of other foods, and therefore cannot be conclusively identified by carbon isotope analysis. Foxtail and broomcorn millets are the only C₄ crops known for the Chinese Neolithic. Because of their high δ¹³C values, their consumption can be evaluated by stable carbon isotope analysis of human bone. Collagen reflects mainly the δ¹³C value of dietary protein, and apatite accurately records that of the whole diet. Isotopic analysis of 15 well-preserved samples from three periods shows that collagen δ¹³C values were very low for almost all individuals, suggesting C₃-based foods dominated their diets. However, apatite carbonate δ¹³C values and δ¹³C spacing between collagen and apatite (Δ¹³C_ap-co) indicate that millet may have been a minor component of the diet in this region. Individuals, who consumed the smallest amounts of animal protein, as indicated by low δ¹⁵N, generally had the highest apatite δ¹³C values. Archaeobotanical evidence for millet at Jiahu is needed to support this interpretation.     

From Traditional Farming in Morocco to Early Urban Agroecology in Northern Mesopotamia: Combining Present-day Arable Weed Surveys and Crop Isotope Analysis to Reconstruct Past Agrosystems in (Semi-)arid Regions

ABSTRACT

We integrate functional weed ecology with crop stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to assess their combined potential for inferring arable land management practices in (semi-)arid regions from archaeobotanical assemblages. Weed and GIS survey of 60 cereal and pulse fields in Morocco are combined with crop sampling for stable isotope analysis to frame assessment of agricultural labour intensity in terms of manuring, irrigation, tillage and hand-weeding. Under low management intensity weed variation primarily reflects geographical differences, whereas under high management intensity fields in disparate regions have similar weed flora. Manured and irrigated oasis barley fields are clearly discriminated from less intensively manured rain-fed barley terraces in southern Morocco; when fields in northern and southern Morocco are considered together, climatic differences are superimposed on the agronomic intensity gradient. Barley δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values clearly distinguish among the Moroccan regimes. An integrated approach combines crop isotope values with weed ecological discrimination of low- and high-intensity regimes across multiple studies (in southern Morocco and southern Europe). Analysis of archaeobotanical samples from EBA Tell Brak, Syria suggests that this early city was sustained through extensive (low-intensity, large-scale) cereal farming.     

Skin, hair and cloth remains from the ancient kerma civilization of Northern Sudan

Animal skins from human burials, dated 2nd and 3rd millenium BC, including haired skin bags lined with cloth, provided evidence of ox, goat and sheep, the cloth being made of plant fibre, possibly flax. Two thirds of the skin samples had evidence of vegetable tanning. Of 18 samples of livestock hair or skin 61% were from cattle with the remainder being about equally shared between goats and sheep. The hair diameter distributions indicated that all had been killed in late summer. Only two colours, black and white, were presented in each livestock species. That the sheep were of hair type accords with the use of plant fibre in the cloth, and is in keeping with the later appearance of fleeced sheep in the Egyptian New Kingdom.     

The status of phytolith analysis in the American tropics

Phytolith analysis is now sufficiently mature to provide an independent source of data in tropical paleoethnobotany and paleoecology. At the same time, ongoing studies of phytoliths from tropical plants and sediments are discovering new applications. There are, to be sure, problems in interpreting prehistoric plant use and paleoecology which cannot be addressed through phytolith analysis; some of the more important ones are listed. Through a review of recent studies in the New World tropics, this paper presents some contributions to, problems of, and prospects for phytolith analysis to inform the archaeological community about such issues as (1) the origins and dispersals of domesticated plants, (2) the development of tropical forest agriculture, (3) the uses of tropical plants in prehistory, and (4) the distribution and composition of past plant communities.     

Late Preceramic Peru

This paper presents a synthesis of current knowledge of Late Preceramic Peru (ca. 4450–3800 B.P.), a field of study that is less than 50 years old. A brief history of investigations and discussion of chronological systems are presented. A review of Late Preceramic achievements concentrating on subsistence economies and technology is followed by discussion of the social world of Late Preceramic Peru and current consensus and disputes regarding culture processes. Extensive long-distance exchange, farming, and social complexity are first clearly seen in the archaeological record during this time period. Nevertheless, the significance of this evidence with regard to the nature and intensity of the culture practices and processes that they represent is currently under investigation and in contention.     

中国磨制石器起源的南北差异

磨制石器的起源是学界关心的问题之一,本文试图探讨中国早期磨制石器的主要种类、发展阶段及南北差异的原因,以期揭示磨制石器起源的内在机制。磨制石器的起源与生业经济紧密相关,中国旧石器向新石器过渡阶段对于植物资源的利用促使了中国磨制石器的起源。由于中国南北环境的差异,对于植物资源的利用种类和利用方式有所区别,因此导致中国南北磨制石器种类的不同。