Research On The Utilization Of Crop Resources At The Yangshao Cultural Sites,guanzhong Area

The origin of civilization and early states is one of the hot issues of academic attention.Social complexity is a key concept in studying the origin of civilization and early states.Around 4000 BC,it was a critical period for the formation of civilization,and the degree of social complexity increased rapidly.At this time,the northern part of China had completed the transformation from the gathering and hunting economy to the agricultural economy and entered the agricultural society.Yangshao Culture is an important late Neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yellow River.In a sense,Yangshao Culture is Chinese culture.Its age span is about 7000-5000 BP,which is important for the study of the origin of civilization and agricultural development.The Guanzhong area is located in the hinterland of the inland area,located in the middle reaches of the Yellow River,known as the "eight hundred miles of Qinchuan".The economic base determines the superstructure,so the research on the utilization of crop resources by the residents of Yangshao culture in the Guanzhong area is of great significance to discuss the formation and development of early China.This paper uses the method of paleoethnobotany to study ancient agriculture in the Guanzhong area,and then explores the relationship between crop resource utilization and social complexity in the Yangshao cultural site in the Guanzhong area.The research materials include the new results of plant archaeology in the Guanzhong area(the flotation results of the Beiliu site and the Yubaotou site,as well as the paleoethnobotany discoveries of other sites in the Yangshao period.The main conclusions of this study are as follows:First of all,about the characteristics of agricultural economy,this paper maintains that it was the northern dryland farming economy of the Yangshao period in the Guanzhong area,which was dominated by foxtail millet and assisted by broomcorn millet.In addition,during the Yangshao period,the degree of soybean’s domestication and utilization by Guanzhong people was relatively low.Moreover,rice had been used partly in the early Yangshao period.Even in the middle Yangshao period,rice did not become the main crop resource,although it was more common.In the late Yangshao period,the status of rice was seemingly diminished.Secondly,from the perspective of plant utilization,a new understanding of the differences between the research on charred plant remains and phytolith research was made.The habitual cognition of macro-plant remains as "mainly foxtail millet and broomcorn millet" was revised to "foxtail millet as the mainstay" Master",to strengthen the status and role of foxtail millet,and analyze the function and role of broomcorn millet in detail.Thirdly,the introduction,utilization,and popularization of rice were deeply analyzed.Among them,the introduction of rice has a lot to do with archaeological cultural exchanges,and a reasonable route of introduction to Guanzhong has been speculated.There is a negative correlation between the settlement level and the acceptance of rice to a certain extent,that is,the acceptance of rice is lower in high-level settlements,and the acceptance of rice in general-level settlements is higher.The weakening of rice utilization in the late Yangshao period may have been affected by the cold and dry climate changes during this period.However,the ancestors of the Xinjie site in this period regarded rice as an important crop resource,which may be the result of the influence of Qujialing culture in the north.Fourth,with regard to weed in cornfield,this paper preliminarily explores the possibility of the introduction of wheat crops during the Yangshao period.Wild oat remains have been found in many Yangshao period sites in the Guanzhong area.Since wild oat is a wheat field weed,related residue analysis also shows that the residents of Yangshao period may have used triticeae,or even barley(Mijiaya site)to make grain wine.Therefore,although no wheat crops have been found in charred plant remains,it cannot be ruled out that the eastward transmission of wheat crops occurred as early as the Yangshao era.Foxtail millet,broomcorn millet,rice,soybean,and possible wheat crops together constituted the primary multi-crop farming system in the ancient society of Guanzhong during the Yangshao period.The absolute dominance of foxtail millet and the decline of broomcorn millet’s status coincided with the social changes of the Yangshao era,that is,the increase in social complexity and the formation of early China in a cultural sense.Of course,this also reflects the limitations of society in the Yangshao era,that is,although Yangshao culture was the basis for the formation of civilization in the Longshan era,this period was still on the eve of the formation of civilization.