Spatial Distribution And Influencing Factors Of The Neolithic Sites In The Taihu Basin

Since the Neolithic Age,human activities in the Taihu Lake Basin have been closely related to environmental changes,it is of great significance to study the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of the sites in this area.Neolithic human activities are frequent in this area,and its sites have always been a hot spot in history,archaeology and geography,however,the archaeological research based on GIS is not systematic and continuous.Therefore,this paper studies the number and overlapping characteristics,spatial distribution pattern,scale and thickness of Majiabang,Songze,Liangzhu and Maqiao cultural sites in the area around Taihu Lake by using the spatial analysis method of GIS and combining with the information of cultural type,age,area,cultural layer thickness and geomorphology of the sites.Finally,the factors affecting the spatial distribution of sites are discussed from the perspective of nature and society.The research results are as follows:(1)From the early period of Majiabang culture to the middle of Liangzhu culture,the number of sites has gradually increased from small to large,but the number of cultural sites has gradually decreased since the late Liangzhu culture,it shows that the culture of the research area has experienced the development process from generation,prosperity to decline.The coefficients of superimposed sites are lower in the late Majiabang-early Songze and late Liangzhu-early Maqiao periods,about 0.2,while the other periods were relatively high.(2)From the early period of Majiabang culture to the late period of Maqiao culture,the center of gravity of the sites changed from west to east,then from north to south,then from southeast to northwest,and finally from north to south;the transfer distances of the center of gravity of the sites in the middle-late period of Songze culture and in the Early-Middle period of Maqiao culture are 20.6km and 33.1km respectively,it shows that the spatial distribution of the site has changed greatly,in other periods,the transfer distance of the center of gravity is relatively small.The sites of the Majiabang,Songze and Maqiao cultures are scattered in the northwest-southeast direction,while the sites of Liangzhu culture are scattered in the northeast-southwest direction.Except for the middle and late stages of Majiabang,the sites are all agglomerated in other period,but there are differences in agglomeration.The Majiabang,Songze and Liangzhu cultural sites are the most agglomeration at 25.05km,while the Maqiao Cultural Site is the most agglomeration at about 18.79km.During the period from Majiabang to Maqiao,the density of sites changed from low to high and then to low,the dense area of sites evolved from multi-core to single-core and then to multi-core,the distribution area is transferred from the north and south of Taihu Lake to the east of Taihu Lake,then to the Hangzhou in the south of Taihu Lake,and finally to southeastern,southern and Eastern Taihu.(3)The area of the sites in Majiabang,Songze and Maqiao periods ranged from10000 to 50000m~2,while the most of Liangzhu sites area is not more than 10000m~2,however,the number of sites with an area of more than 100000m~2 in this period increased significantly compared with those in Majiabang and Songze periods.There was little difference in the number of sites of different scales in Majiabang,Songze and Maqiao periods,but there was a big difference in the number of sites of different scales in Liangzhu period.With small area and small thickness of cultural layer were the main sites in each cultural period,which are mainly distributed in Jiaxing in the southeast of Taihu Lake and Hangzhou in the south;while the sites with large area and large thickness of cultural layer were mainly distributed in Suzhou and Shanghai in eastern Taihu Lake.(4)In each period,More than 65%of the sites are distributed in the water system with a density of 0.18~0.43km/km~2,more than 50%of the sites are located within5~10m of elevation,near or above the pier,more than 80%of the sites are located at0.5~5°of slope.During the period of Majiabang and Liangzhu,there were more sites within 5km of the coastline,and the average distance between the sites and the coastline was relatively close;while in other periods,the number of sites within 5km of the coastline was less,and the average distance between the sites and the coastline was far.The distribution of sites is obviously influenced by the changes of land and sea,and there is a general relationship between"the coastline is far from land and human migration to coastal areas".(5)During the Neolithic period,the number and distribution of sites in this area were related to climate,topography,drainage density,coastline,sea level,social organization and economic pattern.When the natural environment is good and the degree of socialized civilization is high,the number,scope,density,spatial continuity and agglomeration of the sites will increase,and the differences of the number of sites of different scales will be expanded.On the contrary,when the climate deteriorates,floods occur frequently and social civilization declines,the number and distribution,the density,spatial continuity and agglomeration will decrease,and the difference in the number of sites of different scales has reduced.