Research On The Geographical Environment Of The Distribution Of Neolithic Cultural Sites In Nihewan Basin Based On GIS

Nihewan Basin is one of the most important sites of ancient human culture in China and even in the world,From the paleolithic age to the neolithic age,the cultural sequence is consistent with rich cultural types and connotations,which plays an important role in the study of prehistoric human civilization.However,at present,human archaeological studies in Nihewan Basin mainly focus on paleolithic human cultural sites,while the research on neolithic sites is less,in particular,the use of new techniques to study the geographical environment of the distribution of neolithic human sites is extremely weak.With the support of“The human origins of oriental human-the research about the origins,environmental and geological background of Nihewan" of Hebei province,on the basis of 4 field researchs,the measurement of various characteristic data such as the geographical coordinates of each site and characteristic geomorphic points and the elevation,combined with previous achivements,the distribution of neolithic sites in Nihewan Basin and its relationship with the geographical environment were studied from a macro perspective by using GIS.The results are as follows:(1)From the number and the geomorpholgical location of neolithic sites in Nihewan Basin,the number of early sites is small,and they are all distributed on the second terrace of Sanggan river in Yangyuan area,with narrow distribution area and monomorphic type;The number of intermediate sites has increased considerably,and that of late sites has reached the peak of the neolithic age,the distribution range has also been gradually expanded from the Yangyuan area to the Yuxian area,and even throughout the whole study area.In addition to river terraces,the landforms of the middle and late period sites were mostly on lacustrine platforms,alluvial-diluvial plains and piedmont diluvial fans,with diverse landforms.Marking the geographical division of labor of the working population is becoming more and more obvious,the population living in the flat areas near the river is mainly engaged in agricultural production,while the people living in the pre-mountain floodplain are mainly collecting and hunting.(2)From the altitude of the site distribution,compared with the late paleolithic period,the average altitude of the early neolithic sites decreased significantly.In the middle and late neolithic period,some people living in Yangyuan area migrated to the first-level river terrace of Sanggan river,and their living area "moved down";In addition,some people migrated to the alluvial-diluvial plain along the lower Huliu river and the piedmont diluvial fan with relatively higher elevation through the Huliu river graben,but low-altitude sites have an advantage in numbers.On this hand,it is related to geomorphologic processes such as river erosion and silting,at the same time,it also indicates that more people are engaged in agricultural production activities in the plains adjacent to rivers.(3)In the neolithic sites in the study area,more than 80% of the sites were distributed on gentle areas with a slope of less than 7°,facing the sun or the river;Compared with the current land types,the sites are mostly cultivated,grassland and urban areas,and 75% of the sites are within 3 km of the river.It shows that people have fully realized the characteristics and advantages of geographical environment and natural resources when choosing living or farming areas:The flat-lying areas are well preserved and conducive to agricultural production and housing;Close to water and sunrise to meet crop growth needs for water and light conditions;The site is facing the river,which is convenient to use the terrain to expand the horizon to ensure maximum detection of prey and avoiding beasts.It can also effectively prevent floods and other people from invading.(4)Tyson polygonal coefficient of variation(CV)calculation results revealed,from the early neolithic age to the middle and late neolithic age,the site distribution has the characteristics of gradual transition from "random distribution" to "cluster distribution",which laid the foundation for the emergence of settlements and the socialization of human activities.From the perspective of the buffer zones of different scales of the site,the agricultural population communicate frequently while it less or difficulties in Yangyuan and Yu county of the basin;But there may be relatively more contacts between the hunting people.With the evolution of the time,from the early neolithic period to the middle and late period,this exchange became more and more frequent,and human civilization also made progress and development in the constantly intensified communication.It is worth mentioning that in the future,it is still necessary to further explore the relationship between human beings in Yangyuan and Yu county of Nihewan Basin in the neolithic age on the basis of the geographical environment,site age and cultural development sequence revealed by the site.This is of great significance to the study of the inheritance and development of ancient human civilization in Nihewan Basin.