Environmental Archaeological Research On The Shangjifangyingzi Site Of Chifeng In Inner Mongolia

This article is a case study of the Shangjifangyingzi site from the perspective of environmental archaeology. It is divided into five parts. In the first part, the author briefly introduces the basic information of the study of environmental archaeology in the Chifeng District, the necessity and feasibility of carrying out a case analysis of environmental archaeology study in this site. In the second part, there is a simple introduction to the Shangjifangyingzi site, including its deposits of stratum, relics and the cultural periodization.The study focused on the third and fourth part. The third part is about the restoration of the ancient environment of this site. Through the spore-pollen analysis and the research of the animal remains of the site, the author recovers the environment conditions of the Shangjifangyingzi site, and then combines with the other environmental researches about the surrounding areas of this site to conduct a synthetical analysis about the ancient environment. All these researches show that the ancient vegetation in the Lower and Upper Xiajiadian culture periods transformed from the woodless grassland to semi-arid temperate grassland, and the ancient climate were always at a dry and chilly condition and changed in different amplitude fluctuations during those periods.The fourth part is an integrate research about the relationship between human and nature based on the third part. The author discusses how the ancients adapted,utilized and transformed the natural environment from three aspects: Geological archaeology, Zooarchaeology and Paleoethnobotany. Through the research, in which the whole scenes of the ancients are vivid to us. In the Lower Xiajiadian culture period, large groups of ancient people chose to live close to Ying river, earning their living mainly by agricultural production, and also by raising domestic animals and hunting wild animals to supply meat resources. The trees were cut down and the Stones from the mountains were used to make tools and construct the stone fortress. Afterwards the global climate was becoming cooler and drier. The contradictions between population growth and limited available resources intensified. Besides, the farmland could not load the high strength of cultivation for years and the ecological system deteriorated. All these led the ancients to abandon the original settlements and relocated in other areas. And then there was a 500 years of blank period. After the region had experienced several hundred years of ecological environment restoration, another group of people came here and created the Upper Xiajiadian culture. They also lived close to Ying river, earning their living mainly by agricultural production, and by raising domestic animals which played a more important role in this period. But Agriculture is still a major mode of production. What's more, the ability to utilize natural resources such as stones, animals and plants were greatly strengthened. Then this area had experienced hundreds of years of human activity. Due to human activities and global climate change, in which led to further deterioration of the local ecological environment, this ecologically fragile zone could no longer support the original large-scale agricultural production and human life.The two crowds of different cultures resembled in their survival strategies in similar circumstances. It is considered that the chosen way of their living was mainly affected by the natural environment. The initiative of the human beings had a relatively weaker effect in the development of early culture. Throughout history, the performance of man-land relationship of this site transited in the following way: Harmony - disharmony - harmony– disharmony. Eventually the fragile ecological environment could not restore again and became desolate.The fifth part is the conclusion of this article. The author summarizes the main findings: the palaeoenvironment of this site, and the manifestation and evolution of the man-land relationship during different cultural periods. This paper also summarizes the experiences obtained from the case of environmental archaeology and points out the limitations of this study. Furthermore, the research indicates that the environmental degradation is closely related with the ancients'activities. It will provide some useful guidance to us, while we will protect and exploit the ecotone zone like this.