中国史前时期石磨盘、石磨棒功能研究——来自科技考古的证据

Study on the Function of Grinding Stone Tools in Prehistoric China from the Perspective of Archaeological Evidence

石磨盘、石磨棒作为中国史前时期一种重要的石制工具组合,出土数量多,流行时间长,很早便受到学术界的广泛关注。特别是关于其功能问题,一直是争论的焦点。以往诸多学者借助民族考古学、实验考古学以及类型学分析和文献记载,对石磨盘、石磨棒的主要功能提出了若干不同观点,包括加工谷物、坚果、动物皮毛、植物纤维以及矿物颜料等。但这些研究基本都建立在推测的基础上,缺乏来自石器本身的直接证据。近年来随着科技考古在中国的迅猛发展,微痕分析和淀粉粒分析方法开始被应用于石磨盘、石磨棒的功能研究,并逐渐积累了一批实验数据。本文对国内已开展的石磨盘、石磨棒微痕分析和淀粉粒分析研究案例进行了系统的整理和分析。结果显示,在25个进行了石磨盘和石磨棒微痕分析的遗址中,基本都加工过植物,具体种类主要为谷物、坚果类和块根块茎类。而在46个已开展石磨盘和石磨棒淀粉粒分析的遗址中,也是谷物、坚果类和块根块茎类植物的淀粉粒出现频率最高,分别为85%,63%和54%。这表明中国史前时期的石磨盘、石磨棒是一种多功能石器,主要用于加工谷物(包括野生类)、坚果和块根块茎类植物。

As important stone tool sets in the prehistoric period of China, millstones and stone grinding rods have attracted extensive attention from academia for a long time due to the large quantities of excavations and long popularity. In particular, the function of millstones and stone grinding rods has been the focus of debate. In the past, many scholars, with the help of national archaeology, experimental archaeology, typological analysis and documentary records, put forward several different views that grinding stones were used to process cereal, nut, animal fur, plant fiber and mineral pigment. Nevertheless, most of these studies were based on speculation and lacked direct evidence from the stone tools. In recent years, with the rapid development of Chinese archaeological science, methods of use-wear analysis and starch grain analysis have been applied to investigate the function of millstones and stone grinding rods and gradually accumulated a batch of experimental data. This paper systematically collects and analyzes previous studies about use-wear and starch grain analysis of millstones and stone grinding rods. The results show that in the 25 sites where use-wear analysis has been carried out, most of millstones and stone grinding rods were used to process plant foodstuffs, mainly consisting of cereal, nut as well as roots and tubers. However, among the 46 sites where the analysis of starch grains of millstones and stone grinding rods were carried out, most frequently occurring starch grains were found in grains, nuts and tuberous plants with 85%, 63% and 54% respectively. Both results of use-wear and starch grain analysis point out that millstones and stone grinding rods were multi-functional tools and were primarily used to process cereal, nut as well as roots and tubers.