Subsistence Strategy And Society Of The Haidai Region During Longshan Era

The Haidai region is one of the important birthplaces of Chinese Civilization,playing a significant role in the Chinese culture formation and civilizing process.Especially,The Longshan Era is a crucial period of prehistoric social development in the Haidai region and reaches the pinnacle.Researches on the subsistence of the Longshan Era in the Haidai region and the relations between the subsistence and society are beneficial to exploring the motives and mechanisms of the civilizing process in the Haidai region,which provides a reference for the study of Chinese social complexity and civilizing process,and promotes archaeology development.This paper comprehensively studies the subsistence of the Longshan Era according to the systematic archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological evidence and stable isotope analysis results.This paper divides into the late Dawenkou culture period and the Longshan culture period to explore their subsistence economic modes;it studies the evolution of subsistence economy in comparison with these two modes;carries out the stable isotope analysis of seeds to find out the reasons for the subsistence evolution;studies regional similarities and differences in the two different areas and investigates the possible causes of the differences;studies the similarities and differences of the subsistence economic modes between different levels of settlements and probes into the political influence on the economic modes;explores the influence of identity,status and gender on diet by comparing the diet between different classes of people and genders.Finally based on the above studies,the environmental background,and archaeological information,this paper comprehensively explores the interaction between subsistence,environment and society.In accordance with the comprehensive study,we reach the main conclusion as follows:In the late Dawenkou culture period,the Haidai region formed an subsistence economy mode that relies mainly on agricultural economy and livestock husbandry,with hunting-collecting economy as supplement.Crops include broomcorn millet,foxtail millet and rice;meat mainly origins from domestic pig feedings.In addition,wildlife resources(including animals on land,in water and in the air)were exploited extensively and utilized as the important meat supplements.During the Longshan culture period,the agricultural economy and livestock breeding husbandry developed further.There were many kinds of crops,such as broomcorn millet,foxtail millet and rice,soybean,wheat,and barley,etc.Besides the main meat sources from feeding domestic pigs,ancestors also further exploited and used various wildlife resources.The stable isotope analysis results of seeds shows ancestors might fertilize crops and their field management techniques were improved.In the late Dawenkou culture period,there were obvious differences in the subsistence economy of the Haidai region.Ancestors develops rice-millet mixed agriculture,mainly planting rice with millet as supplement in the south of the Haidai region.And dry farming of millet is the most important agricultural economy in the north of the Haidai region.Agriculture patternrice-millet mixed agriculture in the south and dry farming of millet in the north-has existed in the Haidai region.This pattern continued in the Longshan culture period and there might be 3 agriculture areas:rice-millet mixed agriculture(rice-focused with millet as supplement)in the south,dry farming of millet with a low proportion of rice farming in the north and west of Shandong Province,the same agriculture pattern with the second area,but a slightly lower proportion of agricultural economy in the subsistence economy in Jiaodong and Liaodong Peninsulas.In these areas,the utilization ways of animal resources are similar,which focuses on livestock breeding and is supplemented by exploiting extensive wildlife resources.The differences of agriculture patterns result from various factors,among which environmental differences and cultural traditions are the main factor.The subsistence economy modes of several culture sites are closely related with their micro-environment.Social factors also play an important role in the subsistence economy of the Longshan era.The subsistence economy modes are significantly different between the central settlements and the ordinary settlements in the north of Shandong Province.The biggest difference is the status of rice farming in the agricultural economy:rice farming is much more important in the central settlements,but it is of very little account in the ordinary settlements.The reason for this difference is presumed to be related with the control of rice farming by the upper class.Rice may be privilege food.Social stratification directly affects the diet.At the Dawenkou site,high-class people have the right to consume more meat than ordinary people.Gender difference has a little effect on the diet of both sexes.The food structure is similar but compared with women,men eat a higher proportion of millet food.So we think that the main cause lies in the difference in the natural division of gender,rather than the unequal social status.It is not mongline and one-way relation between subsistence,environment and society,and they interact with each other.First,the subsistence economy is the material basis and driving force for social development.However,the subsistence economy is deeply influenced by the natural environment,which shapes and restricts the choice,but doesn’t play a decisive role.Human society influences the subsistence economy through social relationship adjustment,technology,perception and culture,which positively helps to make choice or changes the subsistence economy mode;human society adapts to and transforms the natural environment through human behaviors,but humanbeing choice is still inevitably restricted by the enviroment.Comprehensively considering the interactive relationship between the subsistence,environment and society helps to explore the evolution laws of human society.