Plant Macrofossil Analysis Of Beitaishang Site In Tengzhou Of Shandong Province

As a site with a long period of existence in the Xue River Basin,Bei Taishang site contains cultural relics including the Longshan Period,Warring States Period to Han Dynasty,Song and Yuan Dynasties,together with Ming and Qing Dynasties,which provides amount of significant information for studying the ancestors' social life at Bei Taishang site.On one hand,although the paleoethnobotany of Longshan period in the region of Haidai has obtained gratifying achievements,there still exists unbalanced distribution,especially the poor situation in the southwest of Shandong Province,urging to carry out systematic study in paleoethnobotany.On the other hand,paleoethnobotany in historical periods mainly focuses on the era before Qin and Han Dynasties,while the latter stages are always ignored.The discovery of abundant plant remains in Bei Taishang site in prehistoric and historical periods accumulates materials for paleoethnobotany in this area.This paper analyzes the plant remains in Bei Taishang site in 2016 to reveal the basic situation of agricultural development and plant utilization in the site.At the same time,with the background of the remains and other artefacts,we try to explore the internal human activities and management patterns in the settlements of Longshan Culture period.In this paper,besides absolute numbers,percentages,and the probability of unearthing,we mainly apply the corresponding analysis.Based on the relict density of plant remains,we establish the spatial relationship between plant remains and various remains and excavation units through correspondence analysis,so as to explain the interaction between the plants and human within the settlement.The unearthed crops of Bei Taishang site accounted for nearly 80%of the total plant remains,with a total of 39,380 grains,which gave us an understanding of the diachronic changes in the crop structure and the state of agricultural development of the site.A total of 13 species of crops were found,including millet,alfalfa,wheat,rice,soybeans,adzuki beans,mung beans,,barley,buckwheat,hemp,sesame,and perilla.During Longshan period,there existed Five Cereals in Bei Taishang site,and the agriculture was well developed.However,millet dominates the structure of crops.During Warring States Period to Han Dynasty,the structure of crops remained stable,while millet served as staple food and wheat became more common.In Song and Yuan Dynasties and afterwards,the structure of crops changed a lot.The composition of crops was not only more abundant but also more reasonable in structure.In addition to the high abundance and universality of staple wheat,other supplementary food(adzuki bean,sesame,buckwheat)also became more common,which means that the agricultural development at this time is more mature than before.During the Longshan Culture period,evidence of grain processing was discovered in the excavation area,and the remains of the millet found in H192 may be the accumulation of plutonium produced by the previous hulling of millet crops by the ancestors of the Beitaishang site.Compared with the city site of the Zhu State at the same period(Warring States Period to Han Dynasty),Bei Taishang site features ordinary settlement in terms of"grain weed ratio" and the structure of crops and non-farm plants.During Song and Yuan Dynasties,the crops of Bei Taishang site were rich in structure and mature in the agricultural development system.At this time,wheat has replaced millet to be the staple food in this area,and the scale of rice shrank probably because of climate change.In addition to a mature agricultural system,it may also have developed silkworm cultivation and silk weaving industry.