生态位构建视野下的农业探源

Agricultural Origins in the Perspective of Niche Construction

长期以来,驯化物种被视为判断农业起源的标志,但是越来越多考古学与民族学案例表明,一些不具有驯化物种的社会也会通过主动改造环境和干预物种生命周期建立起农业生态。因此,农业起源研究除了关注驯化物种以外,还应当将更广阔的以人类行为为特征的生态背景结合进来,人类生态位构建理论为此提供了一个理想的框架。

The morphological characterization of domesticated species has long been considered as the most indicative evidence of agricultural origin. However, an increasing number of archaeological and ethnographical studies have shown that some people who did not have or rely on domesticates created agroecology by actively modifying environment and intervening the life cycles of targeted species. Therefore, in addition to domesticates, a broader ecological context featured by human behavior should be more intensively explored to better understand agricultural origins. Human niche construction theory provides such a theoretical and practical framework that enables archaeologists to trace initial domestication of plants and animals.