On The Pattern Of The Agricultural Settlement And The Agricultural Technology In Qin And Han Dynasties

Sanyangzhuang site was discovered in Neihuang county in Henan province in2003, and courtyards and farmland relics were discovered which were covered by sediment, and unearthed artifacts of Sanyangzhuang site included iron ploughs, stone rollers, stone mills, pottery basins, pottery bowls, iron sheet stills, etc. In addition, wells, roads, ponds and other relics were found in Sanyangzhuang site, so it is known that it was a agricultural settlement site.According to archaeological excavation and prospecting situation, the formation of Sanyangzhuang site had close relation with the Yellow River flooding, and it disappeared completely after AD14. Compared with other sites in the Qin and Han dynasties, Sanyangzhuang site was the only Han dynasty agricultural settlement site that had been preserved intact, which provided precious material data for research on economy, politics, science and technology and culture of rural society in the Han dynasty. It promoted the study of settlement pattern and cultivation skills of the Qin and Han Dynasties.During the Spring and Autumn and Warring Stage Period, China social structural model developed from patrarchal society to geopolitical bureaucracy society. The dukedoms carried out new local administration systems, and political reforms introduced by Shang Yang was one of most influential and important reforms, which resulted in the change of settlement pattern, and urbanization and Luli settlement appeared. With the formation of the truly uniform empire, the government strengthened grassroots control, and Luli system was impressed and extended. In the western Han period, Luli system was perfect and became one of the major settlement patterns in the central region of the empire.Economic prosperity and social stability caused population growth and a relative surplus of agricultural population in the mid-late Han dynasty. Because the government had been paying special attention to the agriculture, bearing capacity of community farmlands and settlements had been impact, which forced the government to distribute the lands to farmers and satisfy their needs to the lands. During the course of land division, new settlements formed. Under the influence of weak social control, farm houses scattered in the new settlements and farmlands were distributed around the habitation.The Han dynasty agricultural community in Sanyangzhuang presented some new features:farmlands were connected with houses, and houses were built in farmlands, and houses located at the two sides of the farmlands. Its typicality lied in great difference with Luli settle and represented the trend of agricultural community in new social situation, and was a new turning point of community evolution during the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties.Sanyangzhuang site was one of the Han rural settlement site in China, and many relics related to agricultural production were precious data on agricultural production in the Han dynasty. Farmlands relics with ditches and ridges interphase were discovered in the site, and it might be ridgefurrow method. According to the records in the book Hanshu Shihuozhi, Emperor Hanwu ordered Zhaoguo to explore new ways of agriculture with agricultural technology as breakthrough. The major technical characteristics were:after the whole reclamation soil preparation, the farmlands were divided into ones with ditches and ridges interphase, and the seeds were sown in the ditches and during the course of intertillage, and stubbled ditch cultivation of crops could save labor and increase yield. So, ridgefurrow method was an intensive technical system, and it showed farmlands relics in Sanyangzhuang site were influenced by ridgefurrow method. The guess was coincident with unearthed agricultural tools, for example the structure and function of iron ploughs, stone rollers.Winter wheat planting was extended in the middle and lower Yellow River in Han dynasty, Through analyzing historical facts, we could conclude that the farming method was a technical system for suiting to the its natural environment. Of course, the improvement and spread of agricultural farming technique need proper social environment conditions. Changes in household division and the manorial system aimed at developing agriculture. To create proper social environment, the government promulgated edicts on agriculture and directed agricultural production, for example, Emperor Hanwu promulgated edicts to improve and extend ridgefurrow, which embodied the role that the government played in agricultural development.