Archaeological survey of mound sites in Southwestern Shandong, China: Plants and people

Summary

The surveyed area, Heze city of southwestern Shandong, China is located at the lower reaches of the Yellow River. Most archaeological sites in this region were deeply buried, from 3m to more than 10m. Very few archaeological works especially excavations had been taken due to the depth. Our survey of 2012-2015 revealed that these sites had been continuously occupied for a long history. The occupation started from Beixin culture (c. 5000 -4100 BC), continued to Dawenkou culture (c. 4150-2650 BC), Longshan culture (c. 2650-2050 BC), and to early Bronze Age of Yueshi culture, Shang and western Zhou dynasties. Then they were used as graveyards during eastern Zhou and Han periods. Since Sui-Tang dynasties, there had been temples built on these mounds.

About one hundred soil samples were collected and floated during the survey. The results indicated people had been engaged in the dry land agriculture, planting millets (Setaria italic and Panicum miliaceum), bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), soybean (Glycine max), as well as explored wet land for rice (Oryza sativa) cultivation. Rice remains were mainly from Longshan culture (c.2650-2050 BC), and declined dramatically after that. This may indicate changes of environment.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Advances in Archaeology of Prehistoric and Early China

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15827