Table1_Agricultural Transformations and Their Influential Factors Revealed by Archaeobotanical Evidence in Holocene Jiangsu Province, Eastern China.docx

The development and adoption of agriculture has been investigated for decades, and remains a central topic within archaeology. However, most previous studies focus on the crop’s domestication centers, leading to gaps in knowledge, particularly in transitional zones between these centers. This paper reviews published archaeobotanical evidence and historical documents to reconstruct the trajectory of agricultural systems in Holocene Jiangsu Province. Comparing these new results to paleoclimate information, historical documents, and archaeological data enables us to better understand the underlying influences of past agricultural development. Our results indicate that a warm and wet climate may have promoted ancient peoples to first settle in Jiangsu between 8,500 and 6,000 BP and adopt rice farming. The continuous warm and wet climate may have facilitated the rapid development and expansion of rice agriculture, ultimately contributing to large-scale human settlement in 6,000–4,000 BP in Jiangsu Province. Between 4,000 and 2,300 BP during a cooler and drier climate millet agriculture diffused southward, facilitating a mixed rice and millet agricultural system. This mixed farming supported a continuesd widespread settlement and population growth in Jiangsu. After 2,300 BP, political instability in north China resulted in further southeastward migration, advanced planting technology was brought about to south China, facilitating highly developed agricultural systems and rapid population expansion in Jiangsu. Population growth led to the establishment of Jiangnan as the regional economic center, where people chose high-yielding rice and wheat rather than millet.

数十年来，农业的发展与采纳一直受到考古学界的深入研究，并始终占据着核心议题的位置。然而，既往研究多集中于作物驯化中心，导致知识领域的空白，尤其是在这些中心之间的过渡区域。本文回顾了已发表的考古植物学证据和历史文献，以重构全新世江苏省农业系统的演变轨迹。将这些新发现与古气候信息、历史文献以及考古数据相对比，有助于我们更深入地理解过去农业发展的内在影响因素。我们的研究结果表明，温暖湿润的气候可能促使古代人民在公元前8,500年至6,000年间首先在江苏定居并采纳水稻耕作。持续的温暖湿润气候可能促进了水稻农业的快速发展和扩张，最终在公元前6,000年至4,000年间在江苏促成大规模的人类定居。公元前4,000年至2,300年间，在较为凉爽干燥的气候条件下，黍作农业向南扩散，促进了稻黍混合农业系统的形成。这种混合农业支持了江苏持续的广泛定居和人口增长。公元前2,300年之后，中国北方的政治不稳定导致了进一步的东南迁移，先进的种植技术被引入到中国南方，促进了高度发达的农业系统和江苏人口的快速增长。人口增长导致了江南成为区域经济中心的建立，人们选择高产的水稻和小麦而非黍。