Table_1_Agriculture, the Environment, and Social Complexity From the Early to Late Yangshao Periods (5000–3000 BC): Insights From Macro-Botanical Remains in North-Central China.docx

In northern China, the Yangshao cultural period (5000–3000 BC) was a critical timespan in the establishment of agricultural economies and the emergence of social complexity. We present the results of archeobotanical analysis from 58 soil samples collected from 12 recently investigated sites located in the Luoyang Basin, and recovered 5290 carbonized plant remains from 9 sites dating to the Late Yangshao period. We compared our novel dataset with previous archeobotanical date, compiling a total of 196 samples from 58 sites in central and western Henan Province. During the Early Yangshao period (5000–4200 BC), a nascent, extensive agricultural economy based primarily on broomcorn millet, with lesser foxtail millet and rice, was developing in small settlements (<0.2 km2) in the loess tablelands and valleys of western Henan province. However, the population pressure—rather than environmental degradation—drove the “foxtail millet-broomcorn millet substitution” during the Middle Yangshao period (4200–3500BC). The intensive agriculture based mainly on foxtail millet facilitated the development of social complexity in the region, as demonstrated by the emergence of size-graded agricultural settlements of medium (0.2–0.6 km2) and large (> 0.6 km2) scale. Notably, millets tend to be less ubiquitous in these larger settlements compared to smaller ones, with differences in millet ubiquity between sites increasing over time. The local surface hydrology influenced by paleoclimatic changes prompted the spread of agriculture from higher loess tablelands and valleys during the early Yangshao period into more marginal loess tablelands and plains by the Middle and Late Yangshao periods. Rice cultivation is concentrated in valley areas and appears to have been closely tied to environments with better hydrothermal conditions. Our research shows that climatic conditions during the Holocene fostered the development of agriculture during the Yangshao Culture period and that the distribution of settlements throughout this time was influenced by highly localized geomorphologic environments delimiting the distribution of crops. The rise of agriculture promoted the formation of complex and stratified economies in the Yangshao Culture period and it was the intensification and elaboration of these new economic and social systems that led to later transformation in agricultural structures and settlement sizes.

在中国北方，仰韶文化时期（公元前5000—前3000年）是农业经济确立与社会复杂化萌发的关键时段。本研究报道了洛阳盆地12处近年调查遗址出土的58份土壤样品的考古植物学（archeobotanical）分析结果，并从9处仰韶文化晚期遗址中浮选获得5290粒炭化植物遗存（carbonized plant remains）。本研究将新构建的数据集与既往考古植物学数据进行对比，整合了豫中、豫西地区58处遗址的共计196份样品。仰韶文化早期（公元前5000—前4200年），豫西黄土台塬（loess tablelands）与河谷地带的小型聚落（面积<0.2平方千米）中已出现以稷（broomcorn millet）为核心、辅以粟（foxtail millet）与水稻的初具规模的原生农业经济。然而在仰韶文化中期（公元前4200—前3500年），驱动“粟-稷种植结构转变”的核心因素并非环境退化，而是人口压力。以粟为主的精耕农业推动了该地区社会复杂化进程，这一过程体现为中等规模（0.2—0.6平方千米）与大规模（>0.6平方千米）的分级农业聚落的出现。值得注意的是，相较于小型聚落，大型聚落中粟稷类作物的分布普遍性更低，且遗址间的作物分布差异随时间推移逐渐扩大。受古气候变化影响的局地地表水文状况，推动农业分布从仰韶文化早期的黄土台塬与河谷地带，向仰韶文化中晚期的边缘黄土台塬与平原区域扩展。水稻种植集中于河谷地带，且与水热条件更优越的环境密切相关。本研究表明，全新世（Holocene）的气候条件助力了仰韶文化时期农业的发展，而该时期聚落的分布则受局地地貌环境的深刻影响——这类环境直接限定了作物的分布范围。农业的兴起推动了仰韶文化时期复杂分层经济体系的形成，而这类新型经济与社会系统的强化与精细化，最终促成了后续农业结构与聚落规模的变革。