The Abandonment Process Research Of Early Neolithic Sites In Northern China

The formation of archaeological materials is the result of a series of natural and cultural processes,and to study these processes is the basis to understand human behaviors through analyzing artifacts.Currently,there is very little research on this subject in Chinese archeology,which makes the formation process of archaeological materials overlooked during the process of interpreting.In the study of the formation process of archaeological materials,how they are discarded is a top priority problem.There are important differences in the way of site abandonment between the different ways of livelihood,especially between the hunter-gatherer and the agricultural group.In turn,the development of primitive agriculture can be viewed from a perspective of abandonment process analysis.For the above two reasons,this article tries to use abandonment process analysis to explore early neolithic site in northern China,and then discusses the change process of early agriculture from unstable settlement to stable settlement.The main content of this paper is divided into three parts.The first part is an introduction and a review of the theories and methods.This paper emphasizes that the formation of archaeological materials is deeply influenced by the formation process of the sites,and the abandonment process analysis is an effective means to study this problem.Compared to the later period,a different abandonment pattern is prevalent in the early neolithic,which stems from the unstable settlement in the early stage of agricultural development.Consequently,the abandonment process analysis is a great way to explain the development of agriculture.Firstly,this part introduced the forming and abandonment process of the archaeological materials,related theories and methods are summarized and discussed.Secondly,the theories,methods and practices of abandonment are systematically examined,and the relevant research at home and abroad are reviewed.Thirdly,combining with the research results of archaeology and ethnoarcheology,we hope to provide an analytical model.Finally,this paper defines the range of space-time,the concept and terminology,meanwhile,the research idea and the specific process are put forward.The second part is the detailed analysis of the material.Five archaeological cultures in northern China in the early neolithic period(about 8500-7,000 years ago)were analyzed as follows: The Xinglongwa culture represented by the three typical sites of Xinglongwa,Xinglonggo and Nantaizi in western Liaoning,where is an ecological intersection zone;The Cishan culture represented by the two sites of Cishan and Beifudi in the north area of north China;The Peiligang culture represented by the three sites of Tanghu,Egou and Jiahu in central China;The Houli culture represented by the five sites of Houli,Xihe,Xiaojingshan,Qianbuxia and Yuezhuang in Shandong area;The Dadiwan culture represented by the site of Dadiwan in Guanzhong and Longdong area.This part uses the abandonment process analysis,the stone analysis and the correlation analysis to study the abandonment process and the means of livelihood of each site.To be specific,the goal is to study the behavior strategy that the ancient people might have taken from the analysis of the structures,the ash-pits,the integrity of artifacts and the spatial correlation.Thus,it can be concluded that there are patterns of planned and unplanned,expected return and non-return,short-term and long-term.Through the analysis of stone tools and the unearthed plant and animal remains,the livelihood of the site was comprehensively investigated,and the possible abandonment strategies were proved.The results show that:(1)The abandoned strategy of Xinglongwa culture is showing no difference.The surface of structure generally holds a large number of complete objects,which indicates that it adopted a hunter-gatherer and primitive farming methods of livelihood,existing a expected return strategy.Besides,the sites present the characteristics of seasonal utilization;(2)In the north area of north China,the site of Cishan appear with dozens of ash pits containing food and pottery and stone tools.This is not a result of sacrifice behavior,but a reserve behavior that is expected to be returned because of a weak ability to settle down.Plenty of structures have been found in the Beifudi site,However,the "sacrificial pit" still reserves the complete variety of objects,and also shows the expected return strategy;(3)Jiahu can be divided into three phases,and the settlement has been achieved in the early period.However,there is no significant difference among the three phases of the abandoned pattern.In the late period,the proportion of agricultural economy is obviously improved,and the settlement ability is relatively strong.The same is true of Tanghu and Egou,quite a few structures have been unearthed,which means these two sites have obvious agricultural economy and strong settlement ability.The abandonment process is planned and slow;(4)Houli culture in Shandong is divided into two regions,which are different from each other,and each site develops a slightly different hybrid economy according to the characteristics of regional resources.The much more stable settlement is more planned when it is abandoned,which mainly refers to the site with a larger proportion of fishing and hunting economy.The site with weak settlement ability manifests the characteristics of the short-term repeated use;(5)There is a significant difference in the two phases of Dadiwan.The first phase rarely owns structures,on the contrary,which are increase sharply in the second phase.In the first stage,there are many kinds of complete objects in the ash pit.The hunter-gatherer economy accounts for a significant proportion of the economy,and the site shows a short-term expected return abandonment.The study of abandonment process suggests that,settlement and agricultural development is a slow and gradual process.In the early neolithic period,the ancient people had to migrate regularly because the settlement ability was generally not strong,and the agricultural system was not stable.In the mixed economy,the settlement ability is strong if the agriculture accounts for a higher proportion,the opposite is weaker.The settlement ability is also strong because of the complementary role of utilization of aquatic resources.The third part is summary and discussion.Firstly,the identity and difference of each region are summarized.The former refers to the settlement life has emerged,but the settlement is not stable,and the site is not used all the year round;The latter is related to the natural environment and cultural system in various regions.It can be divided into agricultural core area and non-core area,and the settlement ability of central and eastern parts of north China is generally stronger than that of northeast and northwest.Secondly,the theories and methods used in this paper are concluded,and the further research area is prospected.Finally,this paper reviews the shortcomings and innovations,and puts forward the future thinking and research direction.