中原地区全新世早中期旱-稻混作农业的形成与演变

The origin and development of agriculture is an important transformation of human subsistence, and it is also an important manifestation of cultural exchange. In the early and middle Holocene, the cultural exchanges between the north and south of China brought the rice farming into the Central Plain where the dry farming dominated, making the mixed farming of millet and rice form. It is a major innovation in the history of agriculture in China. However, its formation time, development process and spatial differences are still unclear, mainly due to the little number of early plant macro-remains which are difficult to save in loess area. At present, phytolith analysis is a new method for the identification of early crop remains, while scholars tend to use regional and multi-index archaeobotanical means to study ancient agriculture. The project selects Zhengzhou area as the research region, applies phytolith and plant macro-remain analyses as well as radiocarbon dating into samples from more than 30 early and middle Holocene (10-5 ka BP) archaeological sites, and figures out the accurate time when foxtail millet, common millet, rice and mixed farming first appeared in this region. Moreover, the project will reveal the differences of crop species and proportions in different periods and sites (different landforms and scales), and finally reconstruct the temporal and spatial evolution of mixed millet and rice agriculture. This project will provide a new understanding of the origin and development of dry farming and the spread of rice farming in China, meanwhile provide new direct evidence for the early cultural exchange between the north and the south.

农业起源与发展是人类生计方式的重要变革，也是人群文化交流的重要体现。全新世早中期，我国南北方之间的文化交流使稻作农业传入中原旱作区，形成了旱-稻混作模式，这是我国农业发展史上的重大创举。但迄今对其形成时间、发展过程和空间格局是不清楚的，主要是因为黄土区早期植物大遗存难保存，缺少确切的农作物证据。目前植硅体分析是有效鉴定早期农作物的新方法，而区域性、多指标的植物考古已成为研究古代农业的重要手段。本项目选择郑州地区为研究区，对该地区全新世早中期（10-5 ka BP）30余处遗址进行植硅体和植物大遗存分析，结合碳十四年代数据，标定粟、黍、稻最早出现的时间，明确旱-稻混作形成的时间节点；揭示不同时段、不同类型（地貌、规模）遗址旱、稻作物种类和比例的差异，重建旱-稻混作农业的时空演变过程。本研究将为我国旱作农业的起源发展及稻作农业的传播过程提供新的认识，还能为南北早期文化交流提供新的实物证据。

本项目在郑州地区选择位于不同地貌部位、不同等级规模的13处裴李岗-仰韶文化遗址进行系统采样，通过植硅体分析、植物大遗存分析和AMS碳十四测年，揭示了中原早中全新世旱-稻混作农业的形成时间、历时变化过程和空间分布格局，并探讨了环境和社会因素对旱-稻混作农业发展的影响。结果显示，（1）距今8,000年前后，在全新世适宜期气候转暖变湿的背景下，稻作北传至黄河中游旱作区，形成了最早的旱-稻混作模式；（2）中原地区在裴李岗文化时期和仰韶文化中晚期均属于以黍为主的黍、粟、稻混作的农业格局；（3）该区黍子的驯化过程至少在裴李岗时期已经开始并且持续至商代，而裴李岗文化和仰韶文化遗址水稻遗存均被判别为驯化粳稻，且一直被耕种在较为干旱的农田系统中；（4）裴李岗时期，黍粟旱作分布在浅山丘陵区的黄土台塬沟谷地带，旱-稻混作仅存在于冲积平原，农业模式的选择主要受地形和水文因素影响；仰韶中晚期，粟和稻的比例显著提高，稻作进一步分布于台塬沟谷和中小聚落，标志着农耕技术的进步和作物结构的优化，而仰韶时期以黍-稻为原料的酿酒及宴饮活动的普及应是黍占主导和稻作传播的社会动力，这意味着农业生产开始打破自然条件限制，为中原地区农业社会的建立和文明化进程奠定了基础。这项研究为我国旱作农业的起源发展及稻作农业的传播过程提供新的认识，还为南北早期文化交流提供新的实物证据。本项目区域性植物考古调查和研究模式还可以推广至其他区域，对于获得更多农业起源与传播的证据记录，具有借鉴与指导意义。