The origins of rice domestication and the beginnings of alcoholic fermentation in China are intriguing research topics, with the Shangshan culture in the Lower Yangzi River region being a focal point of archaeological investigations. This study employs a multiproxy approach (phytolith, starch, and fungi) to analyze microfossil remains associated with pottery vessels from the earliest phase of the Shangshan site (ca. 10,000 to 9,000 cal. BP). The results indicate that rice was consumed as a dietary staple and used for brewing fermented beverages with a qu starter containing Monascus mold and yeast as fermentation agents. The fermentation ingredients included rice, supplemented with other cereals (Job’s tears, Panicoideae, and Triticeae), acorn, and lily. This rice-fungi-based multiplant brewing method marked the earliest-known alcoholic fermentation technique in East Asia. The emergence of this fermentation technology is attributable to the early development of rice domestication and the arrival of the wet-warm Holocene climate, which was favorable for fungal growth. These alcoholic beverages likely played a pivotal role in ceremonial feasting, highlighting their ritual function as a driving factor that may have stimulated the intensive utilization and widespread cultivation of rice in Neolithic China.
Shangshan is the earliest Neolithic culture discovered in the lower Yangtze region and is significant as one of the origins of rice agriculture worldwide. During the Early Holocene, the Shangshan human groups settled in the river basins of the upper Qiantang region and transitioned from hunter-gatherers to farmers. Little is known about the dominant factors motivating them to settle down and their occupation patterns for adapting to local environments. To address these issues, we applied an ad hoc method by coupling landform classification, geomorphic fieldwork, accessibility analysis, and flood risk assessment. The results of geomorphic and accessibility analyses show that the ancient residents preferred to occupy the edges of the Middle Pleistocene terraces along second- and third-order streams. These locations are mainly situated in the centers of river basins and have height differences of 5-15 m, less than approximately 15-min walking distance from streams, providing them with stable residential spaces and accessible water resources. Within the 10-min territorial scope, there are always some fluvial plains near the terrace edges, indicating that the plain is another critical landform utilized by the residents. The wide plains and a plain-terrace-upland geomorphic assemblage, within 1-h and 2-h scopes, respectively, imply that the residents started to develop agricultural land while they also exploited diverse environments to ensure a plentiful food supply. Furthermore, the hydrologic analysis and assessment reveal that the residents were aware of the potential flood risks: their settlements are located at 30-min walking distance or greater from the high-order streams; most sites are exposed to low flood risks, with average percentages of unflooded territory greater than 67% and 43% in the minor and large flood scenarios, respectively; and each site has sufficient arable land with areas of 5-23 km2 2 within a 1-h scope, even under the large flood scenario. Overall, these results reveal that the river basins provided favorable living environments, and the residents could flexibly manage the landscapes to ensure stable settlements and food production, thus enabling the appearance and development of a sedentary society and rice agriculture during the early Holocene. Ultimately, the methods used in this study provide an effective approach to exploring the occupation patterns of prehistoric residents in the river basins.
Rice ( Oryza sativa ) serves as a staple food for more than one-third of the global population. However, its journey from a wild gathered food to domestication remains enigmatic, sparking ongoing debates in the biological and anthropological fields. Here, we present evidence of rice phytoliths sampled from two archaeological sites in China, Shangshan and Hehuashan, near the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. We demonstrate the growth of wild rice at least 100,000 years before present, its initial exploitation as a gathered resource at about 24,000 years before present, its predomestication cultivation at about 13,000 years before present, and eventually its domestication at about 11,000 years before present. These developmental stages illuminate a protracted process of rice domestication in East Asia and extend the continuous records of cereal evolution beyond the Fertile Crescent.
Coastal societies are known to be vulnerable to sea-level rise. However, here we report the occurrence of salt manufacturing in the archaeological record of an island of East China that reveals an adaptation strategy by a prehistoric coastal society to sea-level rise through an interdisciplinary study of archaeology and stratigraphy. Archaeological findings and observations of marine microfossils and alkaline earth metals in sediment sequences, together with radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, reveal that the site was initially occupied at ca. 2900 BCE as an island village with multiple subsistence strategies including hunting, fishing, and stone-tool making associated with the formation of a freshwater dominated coastal plain. Seawater inundation induced by relative sea-level rise occurred at the site at ca. 2400 BCE when Neolithic people constructed elevated mounds and developed specialized sea-salt manufacture in the sheltered tidal flat environment on the island. Evidence from the foraminiferal assemblage suggests that salty soil was scraped from the surface of the adjacent tidal flats and waste material was dumped around the artificial mounds. Micro-structures of the foraminiferal fossils further indicate that these salty soils were air-dried before brine enrichment to produce high-quality salt. Such an economic shift from multiple subsistence into specialized sea-salt manufacture on the island stands in striking contrast to the contemporaneous abandonment of numerous Liangzhu settlements on the adjacent mainland due to coastal flooding. We suggest that prehistoric sea-salt manufacture on the East China coast signifies the resilience of coastal societies in facing the challenge of sea-level rise through exploitation of geographical advantages and marine resources.
This study focuses on the technological origin of stamped hard pottery, one of the precursors to Chinese porcelain, developed in the Late Neolithic period of China. 160 ceramic sherds of stamped hard wares from the Nanshan site (5300-4300 cal. BP) and Yanzaidong site (5000-4300 cal. BP) were investigated through water absorption, Vickers hardness, petrography, ED-XRF, thermodilatometry, XRD, and SEM-EDS. The results indicate that two categories of samples exhibit commendable physical properties, comparable to stoneware, attributed to specific high-alumina clay with low fluxing elements (porcelain stone), fired at high temperatures ranging from 1100 to 1250 degrees C. The other categories of samples appear to be defective products during firing process, or have another raw material source, contributing to a diversity of pottery at the two sites. Nanshan and Yanzaidong unequivocally emerge as the earliest known production of stamped hard pottery, dating back to 5000 cal. BP, marking a revolutionary advancement in high-firing technology during the Late Neolithic China.
The domestication of rice first took place in the Yangtze River Valley. It is argued that the expansion of farming communities to the south reached mainland Southeast Asia starting in the late third millennium BC. The conjunction of new archaeological and bioanthropogical information, and the re-examination of older reports, is beginning to shed light on the southward expansion of Neolithic rice farmers. The existing evidence suggests that a maritime expansion took place, originating in the lower Yangtze and spreading south along the coast of Fujian to Lingnan and then into Southeast Asia. This shift brought farmers into a wide range of new habitats long densely inhabited by indigenous hunter-gatherers. Three key sites document this maritime expansion in Southeast Asia. Man Bac is located in Bac Bo, the Red River area of Northern Vietnam; An Son is one of several sites in the Dong Nai Valley of Southern Vietnam; and Khok Phanom Di is located on the former estuary of the Bang Pakong River in Central Thailand, where a new analysis of cranial and dental variables has linked the inhabitants to the migrating farmers. Yet the population’s adaptation to a marine estuarine habitat made rice cultivation marginal at best, and the new settlers turned instead to hunting and gathering, even as they continued to maintain a fully Neolithic material culture.
Sino-Tibetan is the second largest language family in the world. Recent linguistic and genetic studies have traced its origin to Neolithic millet farmers in the Yellow River region of China around 8,000 y ago and also suggested that initial divergence among branches of Sino-Tibetan coincided with expansion of the Neolithic Yangshao culture to the west and southwest during the sixth millennium BP. However, archaeological investigations to date have been insufficient to understand the lifeways of these migrant Proto Sino-Tibetan speakers. Here, we present the results of the interdisciplinary research on the material culture and ritual activities related to the initial southwestward migration of Yangshao populations, based on evidence from microfossil remains on ceramics at three sites in Gansu and Sichuan, regional archaeological contexts, and ethnographic accounts of modern Gyalrong Tibetans. The first Yangshao migrants may have integrated with indigenous hunter-gatherers in the NW Sichuan highlands, and adopted broad-spectrum subsistence strategies, consisting of both millet farming and foraging for local wild resources. Meanwhile, the migrants appear to have retained important ritual traditions previously established in their Yellow River homelands. They prepared qu starter with Monascus mold and rice for brewing alcoholic beverages, which may have been consumed in communal drinking festivals associated with the performance of ritual dancing. Such ritual activities, which to some extent have survived in the skorbro-zajiu ceremonies in SW China, may have then played a central role in maintaining and reinforcing cultural identities, social values, and connections with the homelands of the Proto Sino-Tibetan migrants.
江汉地区的石家河是长江中游地区迄今发现面积最大、持续时间最长的新石器时代聚落.本文以史前的石家河聚落作为研究对象,从区域、流域和遗址三个尺度,通过实地考察、遥感影像分析,并结合区域环境考古学的研究进展,探讨了石家河聚落形成的地貌背景.以此为基础,对相关人地关系问题进行了讨论.
2019、2021年江西省文物考古研究院对南昌市新建区蛟桥镇的3座砖室墓进行了抢救性考古发掘,出土了一批陶器、瓷器和铁器.其中2019NSM1为长方形券顶砖室墓,推测时代为东汉晚期;2019NSM2为凸字形券顶砖室墓,推测时代为西晋早期;2021NXM1为带斜坡墓道的长方形券顶砖室墓,推测时代为东汉中期偏晚.这些墓葬的发现为研究东汉至西晋时期南昌地区墓葬形制和葬俗提供了实物资料.
人殉和人牲作为一种跨文化的丧葬现象,出现在社会复杂化加深、阶级分化加剧的早期国家阶段的高等级墓葬中.在墓葬中使用人殉人牲,是新兴贵族阶层为了彰显权力,树立和巩固其社会地位所采用的特殊葬俗.随着国家社会不断发展完善,王权和贵族阶级的权力、地位逐渐稳固,墓葬中使用人殉人牲的做法,因其过高的经济和道德成本,难以维系.通过对乌尔王陵和商代贵族墓葬中人殉人牲的比较研究,认为两河流域早王朝时期和中国商代人殉人牲葬俗的相似性可归因于早期国家发展过程中的同质性.丧葬行为的差异性则与城邦国家、广幅国家,两种不同的国家形态以及两个早期文明不同的文化内核有关.
本文通过对长江中下游墓主身份信息较明确的孙吴墓葬进行比对,将其分为孙吴宗室成员与吴帝、贵族与官吏以及平民墓葬3个等级,并对墓葬中受墓主地位等级影响较大的元素做了提取和总结.同时,文章也指出,孙吴政权的丧葬等级规定辐射范围有限,在墓葬规模与墓主的身份地位之间并未形成严格的对应关系;并且丧葬等级规定的实施很可能还受到其政权性质与社会集团构成的影响,一些个体化、特例化的现象也需要被给予关照.
一、器物背景与保存状态 1987年出土于合浦文昌塔汉墓M05B.该墓葬位于文昌塔西北约285米,共出陶器、铜器、铁器24件.器物出土时极残,腐蚀严重,质地酥粉,几乎已通体矿化,当时使用了蜂蜡加固提取.器物仅存的三块残片内包裹着黄褐色的墓葬土,铜钫造型清晰可辨,现为广西文物保护与考古研究所藏研究标本.为增强器物稳定性并减缓劣化,以便展陈保管,广西文物保护与考古研究所委托北京大学考古文博学院和中国科学院自然科学史研究所对器物进行修复研究.
绞缬是具有相同工艺原理多种工艺的总称.以往的研究将其统称为绞缬,缺少对工艺类型的分析与梳理,更出现对工艺的误判.新疆且末县扎滚鲁克古墓地出土了我国已知最早的绞缬织物,呈现出多种流传至今的基本工艺类型.本文以其为研究对象,从基本防染原理出发,结合实验考古试验,进行工艺类型分析.认为其中揽括了"缝"这一类型中"平缝""折缝""绕缝",扎这一类型中的"扎点""束状捆扎".这些分析将为古代绞缬工艺体系构建,及古代绞缬工艺的分类研究奠定基础.
甘肃境内仰韶文化百年来的发现与研究,有力驳斥了仰韶文化"西来说",对甘肃境内仰韶文化的年代分期、类型谱系、生业形态、社会状况等有了比较清楚的了解.但是,长期以来甘肃境内仰韶文化在中华文明形成和发展中的重要地位和关键作用被严重低估,直到最近圪垯川、南佐等聚落的发现才开始扭转这一局面.通过对甘肃境内仰韶文化百年学术史的考察,我们认识到不同时期考古学发展的背景关联深刻影响着学术研究的发展方向和研究路径.
一、引言 贾湖遗址位于河南省中南部漯河市舞阳县贾湖村(图一),面积约5.5万平方米,以贾湖文化遗存为主,年代约为9ka—7.5kaBP,亦即距今约9000至7500年.贾湖遗址第一至第六次发掘资料公布于报告《舞阳贾湖》①,第七次发掘资料公布于报告《舞阳贾湖（二）》②,第八次发掘资料暂以简报形式部分发表③.
一、文物价值评估是未来文物保护现代化治理的关键载体 纵观5000年中国文明的发展,与技术的创新息息相关.改革开放中国科学技术进步和迭代,每一次都带来了文物保护领域的飞速进步.当前我们国家文物保护正好处于最好的发展时代,如何结合智慧浪潮解决文物价值评估理论的科学性要求,推动文物保护现代化发展,是非常重要、关键性的基础问题,将影响我国未来二三十年文物保护空间建构与文物保护体系建设.
本文通过对关东地区北朝晚期墓葬出土陶俑的类型学研究,以公元528年前后和北魏灭亡为界将陶俑的发展演变分为三期,认为其在不同时期所表现出的不同特征均深受当时社会状况的影响,尤其与北魏时期的汉化、北魏和东魏时期的政权交替、东魏—北齐时期中央政权与地方、霸府的关系等重大政治和社会事件密切相关,同时陶俑在这三期的发展变化也分别展现了北朝社会在北魏迁都洛阳后、北魏末期和东魏—北齐时期的不同面貌,为全面深入认识北朝社会提供了参考和借鉴.
《锡山华处士静慧先生墓表》(以下简称墓表)由清初著名遗民书家宋曹撰并书,现珍藏于江西省庐山博物馆.该墓表为十六开册页,夹板长31厘米、宽21厘米(封二:图一:1).此册页是宋曹晚年七十七岁(1696年)时的行书作品,而且还是其代表作.
