An Archaeological Study Of The Stepping Pestle From Han To North And South Dynasties

Stepping Pestle is a kind of food processing tool that operates on the principle of leverage,it slams and pops down through the head,the new rice can be processed by removing the rice husk or the millet shell of the hull.The main driving force is manpower,later stages animal power pestles and more efficient leeches.Put millet and rice into the pestle can be processed into millet and rice flour,which can be processed into a variety of food.Since the early appearance of Stepping Pestle in Western Han Dynasty,it has been more than two thousand years of history.As early as in the Neolithic Age,with the development of primitive agriculture,grain processing tools such as stone discs,stone sticks,and pestles were widely used,however,from the perspective of the processing efficiency of cereals,it is completely dependent on the production methods of arm food for grain processing,and it has gradually failed to meet people' s living needs,as a result,more labor-saving and more productive Stepping Pestle emerged.Its higher production efficiency meets people's dietary needs to a certain extent.and improves people's quality of life.Stepping Pestle has gradually developed into a food processing tool widely used by people in the north and south.It was a critical period for the development of Stepping Pestle from Han to North and South Dynasty,many efficient and convenient food processing tools have emerged,and it has occupied an important position in the grain processing tools of this period.Investigate the archaeological discoveries of the Stepping Pestle from the Han to the Northern and Southern Dynasties announced so far,and master the approximate geographical scope of their excavations.Stepping Pestle were mainly unearthed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in Shanxi,Henan,Shandong,and Shanxi,and in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River,mainly in Hubei and Jiangsu,Gansu,Sichuan,Chongqing,Beijing,and Liaoning also had a small number of unearthed sites.Typological analysis of stepping pestle,Scholars did a typological analysis based on the changes in the floor of stepping pestle,but he lacked attention to the details of the structure and found it difficult to find innovations in the shape system.Typological analysis of stepping pestle in this article takes shape as the standard and can be divided into five types,after the analysis,the treading shows more obvious characteristics of the distribution in time and space.In terms of time,it can be divided into three stages:the Western Han Dynasty-the early Eastern Han Dynasty,the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Wei,Jin,Southern and Northern Dynasties.The change characteristics of stepping pestle are mainly reflected in the truss,fulcrum,and mast.In terms of space,the distribution of pedaling has obvious regional characteristics.Generally,it can be divided into several regions such as Southern Henan to Northern Hubei,Guanzhong area,nouthern Henan,northern Shandong to southern Hebei.Stepping Pestles in each region have their own evolution and development process,there are also different types of regions between the morning and the evening,it is therefore possible to study the ways to spread treading.Zoning research laid the foundation for exploring its relationship with crop cultivation.The development of Stepping Pestle is closely related to the crops.Millet and rice are the main crops for processing.The position and distribution of the two in food crops have a direct impact on the development of pedaling.Combining archaeological discoveries with historical data to analyze the planting status of millet and rice in the Han to the Southern and Northern Dynasties,then combined with the spatial propagation and development of Stepping Pestle,it can be inferred that the status of the foothills spread from the Han to the Northern and Southern Dynasties.In the middle and late Western Han Dynasty,the Henan region was the area where the development of Stepping Pestle originated,with the promotion of millet and rice,it gradually spread to the surrounding areas.In the middle and late period of the Eastern Han Dynasty,the development and promotion center of Stepping Pestle has been moved from the northern part of Henan to the southern part of Henan Province and the north of Hubei,and has been promoted to Hebei,Shandong,and Beijing.During the period of the Wei,Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties,the development and promotion center of Stepping Pestle was diversified,and the development center Nanjing,as the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties,found part of Stepping Pestle,and Liaoyang,Ningxia and other remote areas also appeared.It can be said that the development and dissemination of Stepping Pestle are mainly the result of promotion and dissemination of rice cultivation.Stepping has great significance on the social development,after the middle Western Han Dynasty,the landlord estate economy gradually developed and entered the peak stage during the Eastern Han Dynasty,most of Stepping Pestles in the tombs of the aristocrats reflect the level of agricultural development of the landlords.The use of Stepping Pestles during the period of the Wei,Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties was gradually extended to the ordinary peasant class,which to a certain extent reflected the level of social development of agricul ture.As an important part of grain processing tools,it plays a role in connecting with the past,and contains a wealth of scientific knowledge.It has developed and innovated on the basis of the existing original grain processing tools,such as stone discs,stone sticks and gongs.It uses the scientific lever principle,the principle of the connecting rod transmission mechanism,and the principle of energy conversion to promote the birth of new processing tools and promote the development of science and technology and agricultural progress.Its development has also changed people's dietary habits,people can use the millet and rice they are processing to make a variety of foods,millet and rice can be used as staple foods such as rice and porridge,and they can also produce delicious snack foods that are popular among people.The use of Stepping Pestle in agricultural production has improved people's diet structure and promoted the development of Chinese food culture.