裴李岗遗址出土石磨盘表面淀粉粒的鉴定与分析

IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF STARCH GRANULES ON THE SURFACE OF THE SLABS FROM PEILIGANG SITE

文章论述了从河南新郑裴李岗遗址(8500～7000aB.P.)出土的8件石磨盘表而提取的1000多颗淀粉粒的研究情况,根据其形态特征分析,其来源至少可分为栎属(Quercus spp.)果实(橡子)、小麦族(Triticeae Dumort.)、粟(Setaria italica)或黍(Panicum miliaceum)或薏苡属(Coix spp.)、根茎类四大类;此外,还有一部分淀粉粒无法鉴定。研究表明:裴李岗遗址石磨盘的功能具有多样性;橡子可能是当时先民的重要食物来源,其次是小麦族、粟或黍或薏苡属。本实验结果可为中国农业起源研究提供一些新思路和新线索。同时,丰的植物种类及组合也与当时温暖湿润的气候环境相吻合,从另一个角度为环境考古研究提供了一批新资料。

Peiligang Site, discovered in 1977, is located 7.5km to the northwest of Xinzheng county, Henan Province. The site was dated back to 8500 - 7000 years ago. Primary representatives of the artifacts in Peiligang Site are slabs （mo-pan） , mullers（mo-bang） , etc. Eight slabs,excavated from Peiligang Site and conserved currently in Xinzheng Museum,were examined in this study, and more than 1000 starch grains were found. In order to identify the ancient starch grains extracted from the slabs, some modern plants are selectively collected in China. Meanwhile, some references of former publications are consulted to also. Then, one-to-one comparison with modern starches from economic plants is performed. According to the characteristics analysis, identifiable starch grains recovered from the slabs can be classified into four types at least, including acorns, the wheat tribe （ Triticeae Dumort. ）, foxtail millets （ Setaria italica） or common millets （Panicum miliaceum） or job＇s tears （ Coix spp. ） and tubers. The proportion of the four types is 46.3%,24.3%, 12. 1%, 0.4% respectively. In addition, other three types of starch grainswith no obvious characteristicsneed further identification. Two conclusions can be drawn from this study. First, the slabs of Peiligang Site may be muhifunctional. Second,acorns may be the important source of botanic food at Peiligang period,followed by the wheat tribe, foxtail millets or common millets or job＇s tears （ Coix spp. ）. The experimental results provided some new ideas and new clues for Chinese agricultural origin research. Meanwhile, multiple plant species and their combination also coincided with warm and wet environment in this area. In this sense, they provided new materials for environmental archaeology research.