岭南地区晚更新世晚期生态环境和生业经济研究--以洞穴遗址动物群分类栖息地指数分析为例

Late Pleistocene Environment and Subsistence Economy Study in Lingnan——Using the Analysis on Taxonomic Habitat Index of Cave Site Fauna as an Example

晚更新世晚期以来,岭南地区的旧石器文化面貌发生了一系列转变,先后经历了"砾石石器-小石片石器-局部磨制石器和陶器"的发展演变过程,洞穴遗址数量显著增加,人群流动性下降,生计方式开始向广谱化方向发展。通常认为,这些转变与末次冰期以来生态环境的变化有关,但地处低纬度低海拔的岭南地区受冰期影响的程度一直存在争议。本文以"分类栖息地指数"为主要分析方法,评估岭南地区13处洞穴遗址的动物群所反映的生态环境,认为当地的水热资源状况在晚更新世保持稳定,动植物资源种类和数量都很丰富,并未受到末次冰期等气候事件的强烈影响,人群流动性和生计方式的变化应当与环境因素无关,而更可能是人群迁徙造成的人口密度变化的结果。验证这一猜想还需要对岭南地区晚更新世晚期洞穴遗址出土的小动物骨骼和软体动物化石进行系统采样和测量研究。

Paleolithic cultures in Lingnan region experienced a series of change from cobble tool industry to flake tool industry and finally to polished stone tool and pottery.During this time,the number of cave sites greatly increased,together with reduction in mobility and broader spectrum of diet.These changes were generally considered to be related to environmental change since Last Glacial,but the effects of glaciation in low latitude regions remained to be debatable.This article uses taxonomic habitat index(THI)to evaluate 13 cave sites in Lingnan region,and shows a relatively stable environment in Late Pleistocene.This finding suggests change in mobility and subsistence was not directly driven by environment,but may be influenced by change in population density resulted from human migration.This hypothesis remained to be tested by systematically collected and analyzed small-sized animals and mollusks from cave sites in this area.