农业考古研究的几点思考

Reflections on Agricultural Archaeology

农业考古是现代考古学的一个重要分支或研究方向。中国的农业考古研究已取得不少突破性成果,尤其在农业起源、农业在中华文明起源与早期发展过程中的作用等方面。但也存在一些问题,如相关术语内涵的认识不一致、用法混乱等。通过比较现代工具书中的农业相关概念,考察甲骨文和金文中的“农”字字形,梳理考古学、农学等学界的相关代表性学术认识,思考农业考古的关注时限与研究范畴,本文提出农业考古应基于历史性的研究视野有区别有侧重地考察不同阶段的具体研究对象。立足现有研究成果和中国农业经济特点,建议着重从农业起源阶段(相当于10000年前后至距今7000—6500年前)、史前农业阶段(相当于距今7000~6500年前至距今4000年左右)、过渡农业阶段(相当于距今4000年左右至西周时期)和传统农业阶段(春秋战国以来),开展农业考古专题研究。

Agricultural archaeology is an important branch or research direction of modern archaeology.China’s agricultural archaeological research has achieved many breakthroughs,especially in the origin of agriculture and the role of agriculture in the origin and early development of Chinese civilization.However,there are also some problems,such as inconsistent understanding of the connotation of related terms and confusing usage.By comparing agriculture related concepts in modern reference books,examining the shape of the character"nong"in oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions,sorting out relevant representative academic understandings of archaeology,agronomy and other academia,and thinking about the time limit and research scope of agricultural archaeology,this paper proposes that agricultural archaeology should examine specific research objects at different stages based on historical research perspectives with distinction and emphasis.Based on the existing research results and the characteristics of China’s agricultural economy,it is recommended to focus on the origin of agricultural stage(about 10000 years ago to 7000~6500 years ago),the prehistoric agricultural stage(about 7000~6500 years ago to 4000 years ago),the transitional agricultural stage(about 4000 years ago to the Western Zhou Dynasty)and the traditional agricultural stage(since the Spring and Autumn Period)to carry out special research on agricultural archaeology.