新疆吐鲁番早期铁器时代青稞脱粒研究

STUDIES ON THE CROP PROCESSING OF NAKED BARLEY OF EARLY IRON AGE IN ANCIENT TURPAN OF XINJIANG

本研究选取新疆吐鲁番苏贝希文化具有代表性的洋海墓地、胜金店墓地及鱼儿沟遗址出土的青稞遗存为研究材料，并结合现代青稞原始脱粒模拟实验，初步探讨吐鲁番早铁器时代先民的青稞脱粒方式。本研究选择了手搓、徒手摔打、木棍击打等3种原始脱粒方法，统计所产生的青稞副产品的组合比例及形态，然后将结果与青稞遗存进行比较。研究发现：洋海墓地、胜金店墓地及鱼儿沟遗址出土的青稞遗存多为破碎断裂的穗轴且形态扁平，与木棍击打所产生的外观形态较为相似；穗轴的破碎状态及破碎程度同样与现代模拟实验木棍击打的结果极为接近。综上证明，吐鲁番早铁器时代的先民可能使用木棍击打的方法对青稞进行脱粒。

Many plant remains are well preserved in the archaeological sites or cemeteries in Turpan of Xinjiang due to the dry environment there. In the present study, well-preserved chaff remains of naked barley were excavated from three sites representative of the Subeixi culture（1000 BC^100 A.D.）：Yanghai cemetery（42°48＇N, 89°39＇E）, Shengjindian cemetery（42°56＇N, 89°11＇E）, and the Yu＇ergou site（42°29＇N,87°52＇E）. Based on our observation, all the barley remains were in a compressed condition. Furthermore, no complete ear was discovered. All fragments we observed consisted of smaller clusters spikelets. We classified these as either of two types：1）Short fragments with 1 or 2 spikelets（50.9%~61.3% frequency）; and 2）long fragments retaining 3 or more spikelets（38.7%~49.1% frequency）（see Table 1）. We designed a simulation experiment to study the crop processing of naked barley with primary emphasis on the threshing method. We collected modern specimens from the Tibetan Plateau and processed them using three primitive methods：hand rubbing, hand tossing, and stick striking. Nearly all ears maintained a complete set of spikelets in simulations involving hand rubbing and hand tossing. In contrast, ears threshed by stick striking separated into fragments with a spikelet distribution similar to those found in the ancient collections. In the modern simulation involving stick striking, 43% of fragments were classified as short and 57% as long. This pattern closely matches those observed in the archaeological remain. Thus, we infer that the indigenous people of Turpan threshed naked barley using a stick striking method in the early Iron Age.