Geoarchaeological study of the evolution of rice farming fields in prehistoric Yangtze Delta and Huai River regions of China

IF 3.2 1区 地球科学 Q1 GEOGRAPHY, PHYSICAL Quaternary Science Reviews Pub Date : 2025-03-12 DOI:10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109293
Yijie Zhuang , Pin Ding , Lina Zhuang , Yonglei Wang , Wenwan Wu , Xia Wang , Yulong Niu , Guoping Sun , Xingtao Wei , Ling Qin
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Abstract

The construction of rice fields represents a milestone development in humans' continuous effort to modify and transform their environments for rice framing. They appeared very early in the Yangtze Delta region and continued to develop into diverse forms and structures, becoming essential parts of the expanding rice-farming economies and stimulating great social structural changes in prehistoric and historic times. This paper examines the physical environmental conditions, field construction and modification, and water management of prehistoric rice fields that were excavated recently in the Yangtze Delta and Huai River regions through geoarchaeological surveys of excavated fields and detailed micromorphological and sedimentation analyses of collected samples. We sketch out the broad developmental trajectory of rice fields from the preliminary field modification to systematic landscape transformation during the intensification process of rice farming with macro-scale environmental evidence and micro-morphological evidence. Our results show that alongside the macro-scale morphological changes of the rice fields with a noticeable trend of size increase over the long-term period, are more intensive field management practices as evidenced by the increasing presence of diagnostic soil micromorphological features such as concentric clay textural features and redoximorphic features caused by frequent wet-dry alternations from more sophisticated manipulation of field hydrologies and soils. We also compare the similarities and differences in the scale, structure, and soil and environmental conditions of rice fields in different regions and discuss their significance to understand different intensification processes and interactions with rice-farming societies in prehistoric Yangtze Delta and Huai River regions. We suggest that constrained by regional soil, hydrological and topographic differences, these regions might have undergone intensification and extensification processes. Typically, small fields or field-like structures in the Upper-and-Middle Huai River and around Taihu-Lake regions remained unchanged for a relatively long time until the late Majiabang when systematic transformation of local environments for large-scale rice farming began. This is in contrast with the Ningshao Plain where Hemudu-period rice fields were without field bunds and other facilities. However, the divergent regional trends in the scale and practices of rice farming around the Taihu Lake and Ningshao Plain regions might have converged during the Liangzhu period, leading to a significant expansion in rice fields, as vividly represented by the Shi'ao and Maoshan examples discussed in our paper.
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来源期刊
Quaternary Science Reviews
Quaternary Science Reviews 地学-地球科学综合
CiteScore
7.50
自引率
15.00%
发文量
388
审稿时长
3 months
期刊介绍: Quaternary Science Reviews caters for all aspects of Quaternary science, and includes, for example, geology, geomorphology, geography, archaeology, soil science, palaeobotany, palaeontology, palaeoclimatology and the full range of applicable dating methods. The dividing line between what constitutes the review paper and one which contains new original data is not easy to establish, so QSR also publishes papers with new data especially if these perform a review function. All the Quaternary sciences are changing rapidly and subject to re-evaluation as the pace of discovery quickens; thus the diverse but comprehensive role of Quaternary Science Reviews keeps readers abreast of the wider issues relating to new developments in the field.
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