| Under the international academic background of "Global Change Study", this dissertation attempts to reconstruct regional environment on the Lower Reaches of the Yangts River in terms of archaeological sequence within a range of 500 years.The concrete object is to explore the interaction between cultural change and ecological environment as well as the process of civilization on the Lower Reaches of the Yangtse River between 7000 and 3000 BP by using archaeological and geographical theories and methods. Meanwhile, it will explore a potential whether archaeological geography could become a branch of the discipline of historical geography.The main points will focus on following topics:1. On the basis of chronological scale of thousand years adopted previously, a quantitative approach will be taken to provide a detail sequence within the limit between 400 to 200 years and to produce 12 maps of archaeological sequence since the Holocene.2. To analyze some typical sites such as Guangfulin, Longnan and Longqiuzhuang and to set up the landscape of both humanistic and natural environments.3. To explore the interaction between culture and environment, especially to analyze the vicissitudes of " the Liangzhu culture", in order to understand the dynamics of cultural diffusion and migration in different environments;4. To make a comment that the Lower Reaches of Yangtse River played an important role in the process of Chinese history. Its unique pattern differs tremendously from other regions in the country;5. To expand data base of historical and geographical studies by using archaeological research and to explore the potential whether archaeological geography could become a branch of the discipline of historical geography;6. Using technological methods and discussing the possibility of these methodsemployed for the study of archaeological geography.According to the topics mentioned above, about 4000 years of the archaeological sequence is divided into 12 phases with a shortest interval within 200 years.About 350 sites have been thoroughly collected. Statistical approach is used to calculate the numbers and density of settlements and then illustrated by diagrams. It is found that distribution of settlements was unbalanced. During Phases 1-5 which lasted about 1600 years, settlements were less in number and scattered sporadically and many were reused. During Phases 6-9 which lasted about 1400 years, settlements were dramatically increased and densely distributed. Sites with single component increased as well. During Phases 10-12 which lasted about 900 years, the quantity of sites dramatically decreased. They sporadically distributed. The sites with single component increased.The Guangfulin site is used as a case study to analyze environmental change. It shows a warm and moist environment about 5300 BP represented by freshwater lakes and swamps, which provided an ideal habitat for ancient residents. About 4000 BP, however, temperature became cool and dry and the water areas expanded, which might be unsuitable for human habitation.The reconstruction of humanistic landscape is made according to the research of the Longnan site in Jiangsu Province. Among four types of architectural structures, residential architectures might be related to hamlets or villages, palace architectures might be related to towns or cities. During the middle period of "the Liangzhu culture" about 5000 BP, social stratification became obvious and social structure might be undergoing a transition from centripetal to centrifugal families. High ranking burials of central settlements were commonly constructed on artificial mounds while small tombs of small tribes were ordinarily built on natural hills or plains. Some evidence indicates that in the Yangtse River Delta defensive systems might have been built by using bamboo fence rather than earthworks. It might be conditioned by local environment where water areas were abundant and vegetation flourishing.The Longqiushan site in the Gaoyou region...
|
PDF Full Text Request