Study On Prehistoric Fishery Remains Along The Coast Of Fujian Province

Fujian,which is surrounded by mountains and sea,has been well suited for the development of fishery since ancient times.However,the development of fishery in prehistoric times is not very clear and lacks attention.Due to its distance from the Central Plains and environmental restrictions,the agricultural production technology and civilization development of prehistoric Fujian lagged behind that of the Central Plains.Fishing and hunting accounted for a large proportion of its subsistence economy,which played an important role in the construction of prehistoric Marine civilization.The reconstruction of the organizational form and development mode of the prehistoric fishery in Fujian is not only conducive to understanding the livelihood mode and life outlook of the ancestors,but also helpful to trace the origin of the Chinese Marine civilization and discuss the collision,communication and influence between the farming civilization and the Marine civilization.Based on the archaeological excavations,this paper aims to systematically study the fishery remains along the coast of Fujian Province,and on this basis,to analyze and discuss the economic level and mode of the fishery along the coast of Fujian Province,so as to further understand the production and life of the prehistoric coastal ancestors in Fujian Province.The preface of this paper firstly defines the relevant concepts and space-time scope of the fishery economy along the coast of Fujian Province,and then makes the background and significance of the research clear.The prehistory period refers to the period from the Neolithic Age to the Bronze Age in Fujian,and the fishery economy mainly focuses on the Marine fishing industry.Secondly,the research status of fishery economy in prehistoric times at home and abroad is summarized from three aspects: fishery environment and resources,fishery tools and technology,fishery history and culture.Finally,the research theories and methods of this paper are introduced,including archeological stratigraphy,typology,cultural anthropology,ethnology,statistical analysis,GIS,and cultural factors analysis.The paper is divided into four parts.The first part briefly introduces the coastal geographical environment and production conditions of Fujian,and puts forward the research theme by reviewing Fujian Marine fishery economic history.The coastal arable land area of Fujian Province is small with frequent natural disasters,so it is not suitable for agricultural development.But its vast ocean and long coastline bring abundant aquatic resources,which greatly helped the development of local Marine fishing and aquaculture.The development history of Marine fishery can be divided into four stages: Neolithic Age and Bronze Age,Qin to Ming Dynasty,Qing Dynasty to before liberation,and after liberation till now.Among all the stages,the peak period is the Song and Ming dynasties,while the least studied one is prehistoric,which including Neolithic Age and Bronze Age.The second part of the text summarizes the general situation of prehistoric archaeological work along the coast of Fujian and introduces the relevant sites.Bounded by the 1980 s,the archaeological work can be divided into two stages.At first,the archaeological investigation and small-scale excavations were mostly confined to the lower reaches of the Minjiang River.Later,the investigation areas covered Jinjiang,Jiulong River Basin and various sea islands,and the excavation areas were gradually extended to southern Fujian and the whole coastal area.In order to provide the background of archaeological cultural connotation and sequence for the following research,this part focuses on the typical sites related to fishing in the north and south coastal areas,and preliminarily establishes the archaeological cultural sequence from Neolithic Age to Bronze Age in the coastal areas of Fujian.In the third part,the quantity statistics,typology division and spatial distribution of the remains of animals and plants and fishing-hunting tools unearthed from the relevant sites in the north and south coastal areas are studied,and the production and use of the speculations are also made.This part studies the remains of shellfish,fish and reptiles,terrestrial animals and plants,and four kinds of fishing and hunting tools,including shellfish remains,net sinkers and arrowheads,and concave stones.Shellfish remains are divided into three categories: artifacts,building materials,and remains of debris,especially the oyster shovel along the coast of eastern Fujian;net sinkers can be divided into different types,suitable for different waters and fishing objects;the concave stone is a chopping block and stone hammer for processing shellfish,and there is a phenomenon of multiple uses.The fourth part of the text studies the prehistoric fishery economic level and model along the coast of Fujian.Firstly,the characteristics of fishery economy in the north and south coastal areas were summarized and compared.The fishery boom period in the eastern Fujian coastal area was in the middle and late Neolithic Age,with relatively developed shellfish collection,processing and net fishing industries.It was not until the Bronze Age that the coastal area of southern Fujian reached its peak,relying more on shellfish collection and fishing operations.Secondly,from two aspects of shellfish collection and utilization and fish fishing and processing,this paper discusses the prehistoric fishery economic model along the coast of Fujian Province.Finally,the influencing factors are briefly analyzed from three perspectives: the different geographical environments of estuaries,seashore and islands will form different fishing methods and create sites with different forms,such as shell mound and sand dune;the cultural exchange inside and outside the region as well as the influence of agriculture and war will promote the transformation of the economic structure of subsistence industry;the change of the division of labor and the change of social class promoted each other,which promoted the fishery gradually to be independent from the original fishing and hunting,and became the full-time of some waterside residents.In the end,this paper summarizes the previous research from macroscopic and microscopic perspectives.Macroscopically,the prehistoric coastal economy of Fujian was mainly a mixed economy based on fishery,which reached its peak in the late Neolithic Age and the early Bronze Age.On the micro level,the morphology,material selection,production and use of fishery relics such as oyster ware,net sinkers and concave stones can reflect the mode and level of fishery economy.With the emergence of more archaeological materials and the expansion of research methods,the study of livelihood mode and subsistence economy including fishery economy is bound to be more in-depth.