中国长江下游茅山遗址新石器时代晚期水稻耕作的水资源管理及农业集约化

Water Management and Agricultural Intensification of Rice Farming at the Late-Neolithic Site of Maoshan,Lower Yangtze River,China

加强水稻耕作的水资源管理及相关土地的利用需要增加劳力投入来改变当地的景观。在发掘长江下游茅山遗址保存完好的新石器时代晚期稻田时,应用地质考古调查研究获得了晚全新世关键时期的水资源管理、农业集约化、环境变迁和社会发展之间变化关系的详细信息。

Intensifying water management for rice farming and related land use involves increasing labour investment in transforming local landscapes.By applying geoarchaeological investigation at the well-preserved late-Neolithic rice paddy site of Maoshan,Lower Yangtze River,during the excavation,this study provides detailed information of the changing relationship between water management,agricultural intensification,environmental change and social evolution during the critical time period of the late Holocene.It illustrates that the intensification of rice farming was facilitated by successful water management and landscape management in most time,and it was the combined effect of gradually increasing aridity,fluctuating sea-level patterns and increasing labour investment in water management that led to the eventual abandonment of the paddy field at the end of the Neolithic in this region.This study therefore draws attention from large-scale sites to small-scale,but economically important,sites in enhancing our understanding of the dynamic relationship between human societies and environmental changes during the late Holocene in this region.