Plant Macro-remains Unearthed From The 2020 Excavation At The Site Of Fenghuangzui In Xiangyang

Fenghuangzui Site is located between Qianwang Village and Yanying Village in Longwang Town,Xiangzhou District,Xiangyang City,Hubei Province.It is located in the southern part of the Middle Han River Valley,which is a high-grade Neolithic site.In this paper,using the method of paleoethnobotany,425 units of soil samples collected during the 2020 excavation of Fenghuangzui Site were used for flotation of carbonized plant macro-remains.The subsistence strategy and living space changes of the ancestors in Fenghuangzui Site were analyzed and studied on the basis of the plant macro-remains.The agricultural situation in the Middle Han River Valley in the late Neolithic Age is further summarized.In this study,152.807 grams of charcoals(≥1mm)and 2959 carbonized plant seeds were found.The seeds of carbonized plants whose species can be identified include four crops are rice(Oryza sativa),wheat(Triticum aestivum),foxtail millet(Setaria italica),and broomcorn millet(Panicum miliaceum),and non-agricultural crop seeds of goosefoot(Chenopodium album),perilla(Perilla frutescens),Wild soybean(Glycine soja),copperleaf herb(Acalypha australis)and purslane(Portulaca oleracea).Through the analysis of the plant macro-remains,from the Qujialing culture period to the Meishan culture period,the crop combination structure of the Fenghuangzui site has been relatively stable,with rice occupying the absolute advantage.In the late Neolithic age,the agriculture mode of Fenghuangzui site was mainly rice farming,or a small amount of dry farming such as foxtail millet and broomcorn millet.Combined with the spatial distribution of the site and the results of plant macro-remains,the ancestors of Fenghuangzui Site did not do the crop-processing,such as threshing in in the south of the site(excavation area in 2020).In addition,seeds from non-agricultural crops entered the site in various ways,rather than as field weeds associated with crop harvesting.The life of the ancestors in Fenghuangzui Site went through three stages: the rise of Qujialing culture period,the prosperity of Shijiahe culture period and the decline of Meishan culture period.By summarizing the current research work on the plant macro-remains of Neolithic Age in 12 archaeological sites in the Middle Han River Valley,it can be seen that the overall feature of the late Neolithic agriculture in the Middle Han River Valley is mixed farming.Dry-farming agriculture mainly consisted of foxtail millet was developed in the western mountainous area,and the proportion of rice farming was constantly changing with the competition between the Central Plains culture and Jianghan culture,as well as geographical,hydrothermal and other conditions.But rice farming has always been subordinating.The eastern basin is dominated by rice farming,but under the influence of the culture of the Central Plains and the arid environment,dry farming used to be equal to rice farming,and rice farming could not keep its advantages.The flotation discovery at Fenghuangzui Site showed a new agricultural model in which rice farming dominated.This pattern of agriculture has never been seen before in the Middle Han River Valley,and is more similar to the pattern of agriculture in the Jianghan Plain.