Plant Resource Utilization at the Shunshanji Site in Jiangsu Province Based on the Analysis of Plant Remains

Summary

Shunshanji is an important Neolithic age archaeological site in Jiangsu province. However, until now hardly any paleo-ethnobotanical research has been accomplished. In this paper, microbotanical remains such as starch grains and phytoliths were used to investigate the ancient plant utilization at this site. In addition, carbonized seeds from portulacaceae, rumex, chenopodiaceae, asteraceae were recovered through flotation analysis. Both stone tools and pottery vessels yielded plentiful starch grains. The grains included oryza, triticeae, quercus, coix and the root of snakegourd. Phytolith anslysis further verified that rice had been exploited by Shunshanjie people. All findings above indicate that the Shunshanji people had utilized rice as their food resource; however gathering was still an important way to gain plant foods. This research result is very significant for understandingancient human diets, origin and development of prehistorical agriculture in the mid-low Huaihe River Valley during 8.5-7.0 kaBP.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Use-wear, Experimental Archaeology and Residue Analysis in the People's Republic of China, A Session in Memory of George H. Odell   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage