Study On The Distribution Of Archaeological Sites From Yangshao To Shang Periods In The Zhuozhang River Basin And Its Relationship With Physical Environment

The Zhuozhang River Basin,adjacent to the cultural core area of the Central Plains,is located in the southeastern region of Shanxi Province,and is one of the important areas for early human activities in China,with a continuous cultural development sequence from the Yangshao to the Shang periods.It is an ideal place to study the relationship between past human society and geographical environment.In this study,GIS is used to analyze the elevation,slope,aspect,terrain undulation,and riverine degree of archaeological sites from the Yangshao to Shang periods in the Zhuozhang River Basin.Combining the methods of site resource domain,Tyson polygon and kernel density,the spatial aggregation status and the patterns of archaeological site distribution from the Yangshao to Shang periods in study area are revealed.On this basis,the relationship between human and the environment in the past is explored,with a view to contribute to the study of environmental archaeology and human-land relationship in the southeastern region of Shanxi Province.This study takes the archaeological sites from the Yangshao to Shang periods in the Zhuozhang River Basin as the research object,and mainly uses the instrumental function of GIS technology to study the spatial distribution of archaeological sites in each period,including digital terrain analysis,spatial superposition analysis,and spatial morphology analysis.The characteristics of site distribution in each period are revealed,and the relationship between site distribution and natural environment is discussed as a whole.The results are as follows:(1)From the perspective of the number and spatial distribution of archaeological sites during the Yangshao and the Shang periods in the Zhuozhang River Basin,the number of sites from Yangshao to Shang periods shows a trend of first increasing and then decreasing,with the largest number of sites in the Xia period.The sites are mostly distributed along the main stream of the Zhuozhang River and its larger tributaries,with obvious strip-like distribution characteristics.(2)Archaeological sites from the Yangshao to Shang periods in the Zhuozhang River Basin are mainly distributed in areas with elevations of 900-1000 m above sea level(a.s.l.),slope values below 15°,topographic relief values below 70 m,and within 1500 m of rivers.Compared with other periods,the proportion of sites distributed in the area of 900～1000 m a.s.l.decreases and the proportion of sites below 600～900m a.s.l.increases in the study area during the Xia and Shang periods,which may be related to an obvious river downcutting around 4.0 ka BP.The gradient of the site distribution from the Yangshao to Shang periods gradually became larger,indicating that human ability to adapt to and transform nature has gradually increased.The sites in each period tend to be distributed in the southeast and southwest slopes,which can avoid direct sunlight and obtain sufficient light.The topographic relief of the distribution of sites from the Yangshao to Shang periods in the study area is gradually decreasing,and the proportion of sites distributed in flat areas is gradually increasing,indicating that the flat areas with better soil and water conservation are conducive to house construction and agricultural production.In addition,the tendency of rivers in each period is obvious,and the sites become closer to rivers as time goes by,indicating that water resources had an important influence on the production and life of ancient people.(3)The results of the Tyson polygon coefficient of variation(CV)calculations show that the sites from the Yangshao to Shang periods all show a "cluster distribution" pattern.The results of the site resource domain analysis show that the areas with large overlapping buffer zones in the north,west and south sources of Zhuozhang present frequent and close communication within these areas.From the analysis of the density of site distribution,site density areas are found in the main stream of the Zhuozhang River and its larger tributaries nearby.In addition,as time goes on,the sites in the southern source of the Zhuozhang River Basin gradually gathered and the density of sites gradually increased.(4)During the Yangshao and Shang periods,ancient humans had a clear tendency to choose their place of residence,which was closely related to natural conditions.Since the middle period of Yangshao culture,agriculture has become the main form of human subsistence,ancient humans in study area chose to live in areas with lower elevations and less undulating terrain for agricultural cultivation.At the same time,they chose river terraces near water sources,which not only have fertile land but also facilitate water intake.