The Paleoenvironment, Plants and Animals of Liangzhu: Essence and Treasures (Liangzhu Civilization) 9811638713, 9789811638718

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Liangzhu Civilization

Xiang Ji Shu Song Xin Wu

The Paleoenvironment, Plants and Animals of Liangzhu Essence and Treasures

Liangzhu Civilization Series Editor Bin Liu, Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Hangzhou, China

The Liangzhu Civilization series consists of 11 volumes, namely: Realm of King and God: Liangzhu City; Fanshan Royal Cemetery: Pyramid of the East; Liangzhu Jade Artifacts: Legal Instrument and Royalty; Liangzhu Pottery: Introversion and Resplendence; Engineering and Tools: The Stone Story of Liangzhu; Painting and Symbol: Primitive Characters of Liangzhu; The Paleoenvironment, Plants and Animals of Liangzhu: ; China and the World in the Liangzhu Era; Eighty Years of Archaeology at Liangzhu; What Liangzhu Was Like; and One Dig for Five Millennia: Liangzhu in the Eyes of an Archaeological Journalist. Representing the combined efforts of archaeologists from the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Zhejiang Province who have been exploring Liangzhu for over 30 years, the series boasts a wealth of significant findings made at Liangzhu, shares the archaeologists’ valuable experience, and includes abundant pictures of the excavation site. Accordingly, it will help readers develop a deeper understanding of Liangzhu Civilization and reveal the evolutionary course of Chinese civilization, characterized by ‘unity in diversity.’ Both the publication of the Liangzhu Civilization Series and the ‘Liangzhu Civilization Towards the World’ exhibition are expected to serve as a bridge to the public, thereby further disseminating Liangzhu Civilization and promoting an interest in traditional Chinese culture.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/16612

Xiang Ji · Shu Song · Xin Wu

The Paleoenvironment, Plants and Animals of Liangzhu Essence and Treasures

Xiang Ji Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology Hangzhou, China

Shu Song Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology Hangzhou, China

Xin Wu Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology Hangzhou, China Translated by Zhao Jiayao

ISSN 2730-6097 ISSN 2730-6100 (electronic) Liangzhu Civilization ISBN 978-981-16-3871-8 ISBN 978-981-16-3872-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3872-5 Jointly published with Zhejiang University Press The print edition is not for sale in China Mainland. Customers from China Mainland please order the print book from: Zhejiang University Press. Translation from the Chinese Simplified language edition: 物华天宝: 良渚古环境与动植物 by Xiang Ji et al., © Zhejiang University Press 2019. Published by Zhejiang University Press. All Rights Reserved. © Zhejiang University Press 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publishers, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publishers, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishers nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publishers remain neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Foreword: Liangzhu and Five Thousand Years of Chinese Civilization

The combination of time and space is marvelous. When we look up at the starry sky and see the immense universe, the twinkling stars seem to be permanently embedded in the canopy of the heavens. However, we know from modern science that the lightyear is a unit of distance, and the light of stars from the depths of the universe was emitted in the distant past—the travel across time and space happens in the mere blink of an eye. Archaeology is also a discipline about the travel across time and space. Through the door of time opened by our own hands, we can go back to different moments in human history, and 5000 years ago was a special one. Globally speaking, the period 5000 years ago was a great era in which civilization was born. Coincidentally, early civilizations all grew up in the world’s major river basins, such as the ancient Egyptian civilization in the Nile River Basin, the Sumerian civilization in the Tigris–Euphrates River Basin, and the Harappan civilization in the Indus River Basin. How about the Chinese civilization 5000 years ago? This issue has baffled scholars for quite a long time. They have examined ancient China’s cities, characters, bronzeware, etc., according to the international standards of civilization and found that the ancient Chinese civilization could date back to no earlier than the Shang dynasty when oracle bone script appeared. The history before the emergence of characters was called “prehistory” in archaeology. During China’s prehistoric times, different geographical units in the vast territory have given birth to cultural sequences with various characteristics since 10,000 years ago, which is figuratively called “the sky dotted with stars” in archaeology. China’s prehistory, however, has long been underestimated. We always take the Xia and Shang dynasties as the origin of the Chinese civilization and take the Yellow River civilization as its core, which unconsciously downplays the historic significance of high-level ruins and high-grade relics in surrounding areas, such as those from the Hongshan culture in western Liaoning, the Shijiahe culture around the Yangtze River and the Han River, the Liangzhu culture in the Taihu Basin, the Taosi culture in southern Shanxi and the Shimao site in northern Shaanxi. As we explore the origin of the Chinese culture, we come to realize that some cultures like “stars dotting the sky” sparkled the first sign of civilization, and the Liangzhu culture is a particular one among them. v

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Foreword: Liangzhu and Five Thousand Years of Chinese Civilization

The Liangzhu culture, an archaeological culture of jade worship, suddenly came into existence in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River approximately 5300 years ago. Despite the fact that jade had already been widely admired, it was not until that period that jade worship reached an unprecedented climax. Different from ornamental jade ware many people love, Liangzhu people’s jade ware was made not only for aesthetic purposes. Represented by cong1 , which belonged to the ritual jade ware system besides yue,2 huang,3 bi,4 crown-shaped ornaments, three-pronged jade artefacts, awl-shaped jade artifacts, tablets and tubes, Liangzhu people’s jade ware symbolized their status, power, or wealth. Various jade ware buried in earth mounds alongside the people with supreme power showed the dignity of the deceased, and the divine emblem often engraved on the jade ware demonstrated Liangzhu people’s unified belief. The owners of the jade ware were Liangzhu’s ruling class who believed they could exercise the god’s will as the embodiment of the god. The types and quantities of the jade ware buried with them imply their social status and responsibility. It seems that the Liangzhu culture was once divided into multiple centers and covered a great number of small states, because extremely high-level tomb groups were found at the sites of Fanshan and Yaoshan in Yuhang District, Hangzhou, the site of Sidun in Wujin District, Changzhou, the site of Gaochengdun in Jiangyin, and the site of Fuquanshan in Shanghai. Fortunately, history gave Yuhang an opportunity: more and more sites of the Liangzhu culture were found around the site of Fanshan, and the good protection of these centrally distributed sites allowed archaeological work to be carried out smoothly in the area. In retrospect, it provided a foundation for the rediscovery of the Liangzhu culture. Otherwise, no one would have realized that the scattered sites are different parts of the ancient capital city Liangzhu. We now can see that the Liangzhu City, composed of the imperial city, the inner city, and the outer city, covers 6.3 square kilometers, around eight times the size of the Forbidden City. It boasts palaces, royal tombs, city walls, moats, a water transportation system inside the city, and a water conservancy system outside the city. It was a proper capital city in terms of its scale and layout, and the Liangzhu culture could reach the standards of civilization except for characters and bronzeware. Nevertheless, with our minds open, we may find that the general standards of civilization should not be applied rigidly when determining whether a culture has entered a civilized society or not. The significance of etiquette manifested by bronzeware in other civilized societies is reflected in jade ware in the Liangzhu culture. Despite the lack of the character system through which languages can be recorded and thoughts and cultures can be passed down, the symbols incised on ritual jade ware could unify people’s thoughts to a great extent, and the impressive organizational and managerial capabilities of Liangzhu society reflected in large construction projects also suggest that there must have been a certain method for information transmission similar to the

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Cong (琮): a straight tube with a circular bore and square outer section with convex sides. Yue (钺): axe. 3 Huang (璜): semi-circular jade artifact. 4 Bi (璧): flat jade disc with a circular hole in the centre. 2

Foreword: Liangzhu and Five Thousand Years of Chinese Civilization

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character system. For these reasons, the discovery of the Liangzhu City established the existence of the Liangzhu civilization. The archaeological studies of Liangzhu have lasted for more than eight decades. In 1936, Shi Xingeng first discovered black-surfaced pottery and stone tools, and today we have defined the Liangzhu culture as the first regional culture in ancient China that formed an early kingdom; in 1959, Xia Nai put forward the designation of “the Liangzhu culture” and scholars came to know the characteristics of this culture, and today we carry out multi-field and all-dimensional archaeological research on the Liangzhu civilization and the state form of Liangzhu becomes clearer and clearer to us. This book series, written by young and middle-aged scholars who are devoted to the archaeological work of Liangzhu, focuses on recent archaeological findings and studies of the ruins of the Liangzhu City in Pingyao Town, Yuhang District, Hangzhou, and contains a huge amount of information, including different aspects of the site that people hope to know, the history of the archaeological studies of Liangzhu, the palaeoenvironment, plants and animals of Liangzhu, Fanshan royal cemetery which is the highest level of cemetery in the Liangzhu culture, high-grade jade ware of Liangzhu often discussed by people, and a wide range of pottery used in Liangzhu people’s daily life. On top of that, Liangzhu is also compared with other ancient civilizations in the world, and an intriguing series of news reports on Liangzhu is commented on by media professionals. We hope this book series can arouse readers’ interest in the Liangzhu civilization, so more people can be inspired to explore our history. Perhaps many people would ask about the relationship between the Liangzhu civilization and the Chinese civilization because Chinese people are called the descendants of Huaxia5 in modern history but few people have heard of Liangzhu. This is understandable: we believe the Chinese civilization is a unified civilization of a state with its political power in the Yellow River Basin; it has survived from the Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties and is still thriving today. However, the archaeologists have launched the “In Search of the Origins of Chinese Civilization” project to gain some insights into the earliest cultural form of Chinese civilization, so we should not have too many presuppositions for the earliest civilized society. Since we have found a 5000-year-old regional civilization, the Liangzhu civilization, we may also find the Hongshan civilization in northern Liaoning and the Shijiahe civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, though we are not able to confirm the existence of these civilizations at this stage due to limited archaeological findings. While the Liangzhu civilization started declining gradually 4300 years ago, the elements of the civilization have been well inherited because of Liangzhu’s jade, and its influence has spread all over the country—regional civilizations actually have a nationwide and even universal influence. Human migration and communication have never ceased since the Palaeolithic era. Population movement of different scales, degrees, and forms have facilitated collisions, exchanges, and integration between cultures, and the development of 5

Huaxia refers to a confederation of tribes—living along the Yellow River—who were the ancestors of what later became the Han ethnic group in China (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaxia).

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Foreword: Liangzhu and Five Thousand Years of Chinese Civilization

regional civilization is also a dynamic process. The one thousand years following the Liangzhu civilization—the earliest Chinese civilization we can confirm as of today— witnessed the successive prosperity of Taosi, Shimao, and Erlitou, and the center of regional civilization changed from time to time. In this process, the elements of civilization, such as etiquette, hierarchical society, and city structures, were inherited and integrated till the beginning of the Xia and Shang dynasties. In fact, the Xia and Shang cultures evolved in their respective regions, and the change of the dynasties reflects the dominance of Xia which was replaced by the dominance of the other regional civilization—the regions were much larger this time and the civilizations fought against each other during that period for the control over the territory. It was not until the Qin dynasty that a state unified by centralized political power appeared in China. In this regard, the period from Liangzhu to the Shang and Zhou dynasties saw the Chinese civilization’s continued evolution from a regional civilization to a unified one, so this period can by no means be separated apart. Liangzhu, China May 2019

Bin Liu

Contents

1 Climate and Environment of the Liangzhu Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Human and Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.1 Climate and History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.2 The Mysterious 30 Degrees North Latitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Ups and Downs of Liangzhu Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.1 C-shaped Area of Liangzhu Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2 Chinese Paradise: Jiangnan (Regions South of the Yangtze River) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.3 Prehistoric Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 How to Study Paleoenvironment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.1 Book of the Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.2 Magical Chemical Elements and Isotopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.3 “Invisible” History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Animal World of Liangzhu Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Zooarchaeology in Liangzhu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 What is Zooarchaeology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.2 Field Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3 Laboratory Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Long Misunderstood Liangzhu Animals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.1 Wild Boar or Domestic Pig? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.2 Bubalus mephistopheles = Modern Buffalo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.3 Yellow-Spotted Giant Turtle, Taihu Lake Turtle, Lump-Head Turtle, Sishi Turtle, or Spotted Turtle? . . . . . . . 2.2.4 Chicken or Pheasant? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.5 Sheep, Goat, or Capricornis sumatraensis? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Liangzhu People Keep up with Animals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.1 See Big Through “small” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.2 From Bones to Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.3 Animal Images (Animal Images Applied to Jade Ware and Other Artworks) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 1 1 6 9 9 13 17 22 22 29 33 35 37 39 47 56 61 62 68 71 74 76 77 77 84 85

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Contents

3 Plant Paradise of Liangzhu Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Generation of Archaeobotany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Archaeobotany of Liangzhu Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 Rice Farming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 Fruit and Vegetable Cultivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.3 Processing and Utilization of Wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.4 Ingenious Building Material—Straw-Wrapped Mud . . . . . . .

89 89 100 100 109 126 158

Chapter 1

Climate and Environment of the Liangzhu Site

1.1 Human and Nature 1.1.1 Climate and History The earth, who has celebrated her about 4.6 billionth birthday, witnesses countless stories. Human now is generally believed to have finished evolution from Australopithecus millions of years ago, while Homo sapiens made its debut on the earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. Counted from the emergence of written characters till now, human civilization only existed for around 5000 or 6000 years, which cannot at all hold a candle to the history of the earth. Even so, the progress of human civilization has been a bumpy ride. Around 5000 years ago, Sumerian civilization known for cuneiform tablets was created by Sumerians residing in Mesopotamia (the land between the Tigris and Euphrates; the two rivers flows through what are now known as Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq, and some other countries, with the main parts sited inside Iraq). At the same time, ancient Egyptian civilization was brought to birth in East Africa and North of Nile. Then the first dynasty of Egypt was established. Shortly after ancient Egypt, nourished by Indus River, Harappan civilization flourished inside what is now known as Pakistan. No doubt, China, one of the Four Great Ancient Civilizations, joined the history on time. Around Taihu lake appeared Liangzhu culture known for its mastery of jade production. It has risen to one of the significant sources of Chinese civilization in people’s mind thanks to the ongoing archaeological discovery of the Liangzhu Ancient City and its outer water conservancy system for over ten years.

© Zhejiang University Press 2021 X. Ji et al., The Paleoenvironment, Plants and Animals of Liangzhu, Liangzhu Civilization, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3872-5_1

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Cuneiform tablets

5000 years ago, how did earth look like? As a matter of fact, 5000 years is too short a period to make the earth change drastically in terms of geological scale which can easily take millions of years. Travelling back to 5000 years ago, we would find mountains and seas basically identical as what they are today. Yet, there are indeed nuances such as sea-level height, location of coastline, temperature, rainfall, and so on. Geologically speaking, the era that accommodates all of us belongs to the Holocene epoch in Quaternary Period. Dating back to 2 million years ago, Quaternary Period was divided into Pleistocene (2,000,000 years ago ~ 10,000 years ago) and Holocene (10,000 years ago to the present). During the Pleistocene, epoch emerged giant mammals like mammoth, and Homo sapiens at the last phase, and when Holocene came, the Homo sapiens took over the stage. Quaternary Period is an Ice Age, characterized by extremely freezing climate, and great width and coverage of ice sheet of the north and south poles. The famous scientific film The Day After Tomorrow is set in the arrival of Ice Age. But for sure, Ice Age won’t come so rapidly as depicted in the movie. Perhaps you may have the question: We have a warm climate now. How could it be an Ice Age? That’s because even Ice Age is not equivalent to absolute ultimate glacial period. There exist alternate variations of interglacial period that is secondary to glacial period. Ice Age2 the Meltdown, the second movie in Ice Age animated series tells the story when glaciers begin to melt, which is a sign of interglacial stage. After the late Quaternary glacial period (the latest glacial period to the present, 110,00010,000 years ago), temperature warmed up rapidly, followed by Holocene interglacial stage. It was in these 10,000 years that mankind accomplished burgeoning

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development. However, as told before, Ice Age contains cycling between glacial and interglacial periods, and climate change exists regardless of different time scales. Four seasons in a year; morning, noon, and evening in a day. Since Holocene, there have been several different phases of climate change. From 10,000 to 8000 years ago, temperature rose quickly to the point approximating modern level with slight fluctuation. At this time appeared some early Neolithic cultures, such as Shangshan culture (earliest at about 10,000 years ago) in Zhejiang Province, China. While the Middle Holocene, 8000–4000 years ago, is warmer compared with modern period. Inside Zhejiang Province emerged cultures like Kuahu Bridge culture (8000 years ago), and Hemudu culture (7000 years ago). The climate was the warmest around 6000 years ago, when the average temperature on the land in the middle and high latitudes was 2–3 °C higher than it is now. It’s the very period that witnessed the gradual growth of the Four Ancient Civilizations. Afterwards (around 5300 years ago), Liangzhu, one of the brightest stars of China that time, rose slowly in Hangjiahu Plain. In the last 4000 years, the Holocene climate showed a trend of cooling down to modern level. It was around this time (4300 years ago) that Liangzhu culture perished. (Possibly there’s deviation of about 10% due to failure to implement tree ring calibration for early dating data.) In addition, Medieval Warm Period that is warmer than contemporary age (from the tenth to the thirteenth century, when the temperature was about 1°C higher than it is now, from Northern Song Dynasty to Yuan Dynasty), and Little Ice Age that is colder than now (from the early sixteenth century to the middle and late nineteenth century, from the end of Ming Dynasty to the end of Qing Dynasty) also appeared in the last 1000 years. For the last hundred years, huge volumes of systematic records on temperature observations have been taken worldwide. In accordance of what have been recorded, the overall trend is that from the late 1800s to the 1940s, there was a noticeable spiral-up in global temperature; From the 1940s to the 1960s, the world underwent a slight cooling down; as of the 1970s, the world’s temperature has been bouncing back, and most intensely since the 1980s. Climate change has been increasingly disturbed by human since the last hundred years, marked by the well-known greenhouse effect. It’s also the first time that human posed an impact to global climate in millions of years since earth is born. Before that, the development of human society and the course of civilization were restricted by the climate in a certain way.

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Norway Snow-line altitude in the past 1000 years (solid) and Chinese temperature (dotted) (Zhu Kezhen) 高出海平面（米）：Height above sea level (meter) 中国气温（

）：Chinese temperature ( )

挪威雪线高度：Norway Snow-line altitude

About 4000 years ago, the global climate plunged into frigid periods lasting for successive centuries. It was also the first Little Ice Age in nearly 5000 years. Also dubbed as “the 4000-year-ago-event”, this climate shift cast a profound impact around the globe. People of Mesopotamia forsook their farming land and residence base in the south, residents of the Indus valley moved from east to areas with more abundant monsoon and rainfall, and for the nomadic peoples of the Sahara, some migrated from south to grassland, while some from east to the Nile valley. That time in China, Liangzhu was declining. Shun abdicated and handed over the crown to Yu for his merits of flood control. Accepting Shun’s will, Yu eventually established Xia Dynasty. From 3800 to 3200 years ago, with the climate of China turning warm and humid, Xia Dynasty collapsed, and Shang Dynasty took over its place. From 3200 to 2600 years ago, the earth entered the second Little Ice Age, and it became cold and dry. People in the north began to migrate to the south. During this period, they overthrew Shang Dynasty, established Zhou Dynasty, and continued to fight against foreign aggression and domestic rebellion. Over 2700 years ago, once again the climate turned warm and humid. The monarch of the Western Zhou Dynasty took the price of losing his country to put a smile on his consort, Baosi’s face. Consequently, the Western Zhou Dynasty burned down into flames. With the capital of Zhou Dynasty moved to Luoyang, curtains of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were raised, ushering in a gradually split era. About 2200 years ago, Qin Dynasty died young, overthrown by Liu Bang and Xiang Yu,

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replaced by Han Dynasty after Liu bang defeated his old-time ally. 2000–1400 years ago, the earth entered the third cold and dry Little Ice Age in nearly 5000 years. Taking advantage of the cold current, Wang Mang managed to usurp the throne and established Xin Dynasty that lasted for 15 years before the Eastern Han Dynasty built by Liu Xiu, a descendant of Han Dynasty, took over its place. Ruled by the Eastern Han Dynasty for 200 years, China then stepped into Wei-Jin and Southern– Northern Dynasties. During Wei-Jin Dynasty, ancient celebrities were keen “Wushi powder” takers. Made of five minerals, the powder can warm up users’ body. It’s assumed that the popularity of “Wushi powder” is in connection with the freezing weather. Roughly 1400 years to 700 years ago, the mild and wet climate reigned again, contributing to Sui and Tang dynasties unifying the Chinese territory around 600 A.D. Thriving on agreeable climate, agriculture and animal husbandry gained rapid development. So did Tang Dynasty. This warm and humid climate lasted for almost 700 years. By the middle and late period, the forces of all the ethnic groups in China had gradually fledged, bring an end to Tang Dynasty. It’s common knowledge for readers of Semi-Gods and Semi-Devils and The Legend of the Condor Heroes that during the northern and southern Song dynasties, the states of Dali, Liao, Xia and Jin ran neck and neck. At last, Kublai Khan put an end to the division of states, reunified China, and opened Yuan Dynasty. 700 years ago, the fourth Little Ice Age arrived. It lasted less than 100 years before Yuan Dynasty was torn down by cold and starved peasants. The Mongol nobles ended up banished back to the northern steppes. In 1860, it became warm again. With the beginning of climate change, this time mankind paid a miserable price—two rounds of world wars. Looking back into the past, we can find that chaos of human society came hand in hand with climate change. Cold weather results in northern nomadic peoples migrating to the south in lack of water and pasture. And in ancient times when agriculture is the pillar of society development, inevitable are riots and civil commotions against oppressing feudal ruling classes. While people (mainly the ruling class) tend to indulge in material desires, neglecting duty to govern the country, or wantonly engaging in military aggression when blessed with durably pleasant climate that keeps them warm and fed. According to the current archaeological findings, Liangzhu dated back to 5300 years ago and ended 4300 years ago. Due to the failure to find its writing system and related records, it would remain an eternal mystery whether any uprising or revolution ever took place during that time. Nevertheless, the ancient city and water conservancy system dated to roughly 5000–4900 years ago made it safe to call the Liangzhu back then as the Liangzhu Kingdom. The pleasant climate, welldeveloped productivity and pursuit beyond basic accommodation within the ruling class or even part of the civlians, such as for engineering construction and religious belief, were all evidence. Personally, the author believes that religious belief is rooted in speculation and interpretation of the world in which mankind live, as well as the craving for the better unknown world.

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Climate may not be the history maker, but it indeed affects the progression of early human civilization in an actual way.

1.1.2 The Mysterious 30 Degrees North Latitude Longitude and latitude are created to facilitate geographic location labelling. Latitude line can be understood as the trajectory recording the movement of a certain point on the earth following the earth’s rotation. Checking the geographical location of the Four Ancient Civilizations, we can find almost all of them located at 30 degrees north latitude. The Euphrates and Tigris of the Mesopotamia join the Persian Gulf at about 29.5 degrees north latitude, flowing through what now is renowned as “Fertile Crescent”, with the downstream later becoming the birthplace of Sumerian civilization. The Nile, cradle of ancient Egyptian culture, flows into the Mediterranean Sea from south to north at around 31.4 degrees north latitude, with its lower reaches scattered with about 80 pyramids. The entrance of the Indus into the Indian Ocean is slightly deviated at roughly 25 degrees north latitude. At approximately 30.5 degrees north latitude, city of Harappa that led to the unearthing of Harappa civilization was discovered. Let’s go back to Liangzhu, and we will find that its city location also at about 30.4 degrees north latitude. The reason why the widely known Four Ancient Civilizations sprang up one after another around 30 degrees north latitude remains unclear till today. 30 degrees north latitude is located less than 7 degrees to the north of Tropic of Cancer (about 23.5 degrees north latitude), denied direct sunlight. The sun can beat down on places between Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, resulting in overall hot climate there. While geographically 30 degrees north latitude belongs to the subtropical zone, enjoying the climate that is cooler but warm enough for human to live comfortably. Despite the less abundant distribution of animals and plants than that of rainforest, people can do well with their initiative. I guess, in some way, such environmental conditions also promote the progress and development of human beings.

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Liangzhu Emblem in mixed patterns of man, gods, and celestial beasts

That the Four Ancient Civilizations flourished hand in hand at the same 30 degrees north latitude alone is insufficient to address the mystery of that location. There are many more stories that occurred here. Let’s travel across the time and space of 30 degrees north latitude. You can see Nebuchadnezzar II of the ancient Babylonian kingdom building a garden in the air for his queen Amyitis who suffered from disease and homesickness; people in the nineteenth century constructing the Suez Canal bridging the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, spanning across the latitude line; over 6000-km-long Mississippi River carrying nearly half a billion tons of sand each year into Gulf of Mexico, converging sand into huge deltas at the outlet; the famous Gulf War breaking out at the Persian Gulf, the world’s largest oil region, whose proven oil reserves took up two-thirds of the global total by the end of twentieth century; many disappearances of ship happening in the “Bermuda Triangle” between the straits of Florida and Puerto Rico at the eastern tip of Greater Antilles due to the complex environments,and even inspiring some novelists; the Himalayas, the world’s highest mountain range, rise at 30 degrees north latitude, and the Brahmaputra valley turn into “the keyhole that opens the door to earth’s history.”; Nu, Lancang, and Jinsha rivers presenting the spectacle of “Three Parallel Rivers” that stretches for over 170 km, with the

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shortest straight-line distance between Lancang and Jinsha rivers 66 km, and between Lancang and Nu rivers less than 19 km; Some bronzes in peculiar shapes unearthed at Sanxingdui Ruin Site, in the northwest of Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, which is also located at 30 degrees north latitude. Some ill-intended people linked Sanxingdui culture with alien civilization, but their speculation imploded with the ongoing archaeological progress in the recent years. Now, Sanxingdui civilization is generally believed to be a compound culture that integrates the cultural elements of Chinese Shang Dynasty and Ancient Western Asia with its local originals, an outcome of culture collisions.

Sanxingdui face-shaped statues

At 30 degrees north latitude, ocean, and land embrace each other, natural environment volatile and climate pleasant. As a result, human is active. Where there is human, there is “Ganghood” (from the Chinese term “Jiang-hu”, literally meaning rivers and lakes, referring to the environment where the groups of people live). And “Ganghood” is suffused with legends and tales, some of which have been granted with scientific explanation, some of which remains mysteries in lack of thorough research, and some of which are merely rumours. Hence, when captured by some eye-catching, mysterious news headlines, one needs to treat them in a scientific light rather than give them a wild guess. Even though the veil over the 30 degrees north latitude has been dropped, the fact that the seeds of mankind ancient civilization were sown there is undeniable.

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1.2 Ups and Downs of Liangzhu Culture 1.2.1 C-shaped Area of Liangzhu Culture The Liangzhu culture is widely distributed in the Hangjiahu Plain surrounding Taihu lake. In the north of the Yangtze River also appeared sites of Liangzhu. Although Liangzhu City is the top-notch historic site ever discovered for Liangzhu culture, it is located on the southwest border of the Hangjiahu Plain, surrounded by Tianmu Mountains, instead of at the centre. Liangzhu is embraced on three sides by hills, where masses of volcanic rocks (145 million–65 million years ago), chiefly tuff formed from volcanic ash, from the Cretaceous period are distributed. In addition, a small number of Cretaceous plutonic and epigenetic intrusive rocks (rhyolite, granite, andesite, monzonite porphyry, etc.) are also exposed. On the west side of Liangzhu City, there are pre-Cretaceous sedimentary rocks, which mainly are sandstone, mudstone, a handful of limestone, and shale. During the Cretaceous period, large-scale volcanic eruptions turned Tianmu Mountain, Fuyang, and other places into tectonic volcanic basins, where huge amounts of volcanic ash and tephra settled, forming tuff through sedimentation and metamorphism. At first, the ruins of Liangzhu City had not been discovered or confirmed until hundreds of sites of Liangzhu were found around or even at farther distance to Liangzhu City in the past decades by perseverant archaeologists. Drawing a line through those discovered dots, archaeologists classify these sites into one category named as Liangzhu Sites Group. After the discovery of Liangzhu City in 2007, plus more than ten years of archaeological excavation and research work, the inner and outer structure of Liangzhu City came to light step by step. The initial Liangzhu Sites Group is gradually divided into palace area, royal cemetery area, the workshop area, the outer city, the suburbs, and so on. These sites are scattered across the flat terrain between mountains, looking as if they were embraced in C shape. Customarily, this area is referred to as “small C”. Since there is “little C”, there must be “big C”? Sure. Open the map app on your mobile phone, switch to satellite mode, and keep on zooming in, then you can trace an enormous C-shaped area along the mountain foot. This encircled area is the “big C”. Along the C-shape, you can see Dongmingshan National Forest Park in the north, Shuangxi Bamboo Drifting in the west, Xixi Wetland in the south, and Banshan National Forest Park in the east. Apart from a few scattered hilltops, the plain consists mainly of Holocene sediments and a small amount of late Pleistocene loess, which generally emerges at the foot of the hills. The elevation here is mostly 5–8 m above sea level; a few metres below is the life surface of Liangzhu people, which is often referred to as the Liangzhu culture stratum in archaeological terms. The Holocene stratum beneath the Liangshan culture stratum is a settled layer formed by the transition from marine facies to continental facies. The thickness of this layer varies from a few metres to a few dozen metres. In the thicker parts, chances are

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that there used to be large ancient rivers or lakes where there exisits deposition of limnetic facies or fluvial facies.

Liangzhu City model diagram

When it comes to the marine deposit stratum, fluctuation of sea level is an evitable topic relating to the continent-building issue of the pain. Since the Quaternary Period, the alternation of glaciation and interglaciation has been stirring up noticeable eustatic change, which gives rise to massive sea-land changes at the transition area. Liangzhu is located to the north of the Taihu lake (during Liangzhu period, Taihu lake might not yet get formed.) and the Yangtze River, south of the Qiantang River, west of the North Tiao Creek, Mid Tiao Creek, and South Tiao Creek, and east of the East China Sea. At that time, the elevation was several metres lower than that of today. Perched at this geographical position, Liangzhu is destined to be easily affected by and positively sensitive to water.

1.2 Ups and Downs of Liangzhu Culture

11 海拔（米） Altitude (metres)

Global sea level change since the past 13000 years 1

千年：One Thousand Years 海拔（米）：Altitude (metres) 1 Zhu cheng、Fairbridge : On the Holocene sea-level highstand along the Yangtze Delta and Ningshan plain, East China , Chinese Science Bulletin Vol. 48 No.24 December 2003

Following the end of Last glacial period, the glaciers melted down due to the climate warming. Sea levels kept rising at a rapid pace. About 10,000 years ago, on the threshold of the Holocene, sea levels rose from the historic lowest of − 120 m to − 40 m. As mentioned before, the Holocene is a phase of the interglacial period with a warm climate. Consequently, in the early Holocene, sea levels continued to go up, reaching or even surpassing modern levels 6000–5000 years ago, at an average rate of about 1 m per 100 years. The steep rise of sea levels caused the coastline to migrate landward by a large margin, and the vast continental shelf (namely the extensions of land below sea level) exposed at Last glacial period to get submerged into massive shallow sea, making drastic changes befall on the paleogeographic environment. From the past 6000 years to today, there have been no other than slight

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fluctuations at current levels. Certainly, some may hold that during the Holocene Climate Optimum (6000–4000 years ago), there might have been higher sea levels, which is entirely possible to happen as we are talking about an overview of changes on a global scale. And it varies from region to region how they respond to these changes given different geographical environments. The continent-building process of the C-shaped area where Liangzhu was located came to completion 7000–6000 years ago. If we dig a well deep enough in the Cshaped area (perhaps a few tens of metres, or just a few metres), drain the water in it, and look at the inner wall from the bottom up, a general trend of change will present itself. On the lower part, a greenish-grey, arenaceous pelitic facies containing silt stripes can be seen, reflecting the sedimentary environment of tidal flat facies, usually dated to about 6000 years ago. In the middle, there is generally a dark gray muddy layer containing humus, with high organic content that gives off offensive smells, indicating the sedimentary environment of freshwater lakes and swamp facies, tracing back to 5500–4000 years ago; Above that, there are grey, yellowish, greyish-yellow layers of argillaceous sand, as the deposition of flooding facies. At the top comes the plough layer subject to modern human activities. In the middle layer, occasionally Liangzhu residents’ household and “industrial” garbage, such as pottery fragments, leftover bones, fruit cores, discarded stone tools, jade, offcuts from bone implements can be spotted. And if lucky, you can also find several relatively well-preserved artefacts. As above, this is the ground on which Liangzhu people live and create their own life. During the Holocene, the Yangtze River delta experienced several times of transgression, the gravest of which occurred about 7000–6000 years ago. At that time, the coastline of the Yangtze River delta was more westward than today. After the transgression, the coastline gradually moved eastward, and the Hangzhou area was gradually exposed from the water to form the land. When the tide had just ebbed away, the soil was left with high salt concentration, and some low-lying areas are still vulnerable to the East China Sea, not yet suitable for survival of most plants/crops. The long-lasting (perhaps hundreds of years) soil leaching effect and the biological action by some salt-tolerant organisms slowly diluted the sail concentration and alkali content, transforming the area into a human-friendly freshwater lake environment. Overall, the C-shaped area is flat and low-lying. The natural ground where Liangzhu people live is probably only about 3 m above sea level. Besides, Liangzhu City and Liangzhu Sites Group are embraced by mountains on three sides, which causes its geographical pattern high on the periphery and low in the middle. Not adjacent to any mountains, the east side is close to what now is Hangzhou Bay and the East China Sea, which makes it a sitting duck to sea-level fluctuation. Despite the over 100-km distance, the East China Sea still holds parts of Hangzhou to its bondage through the Qiantang River. Especially when a typhoon comes, if it were not for the levees on both sides of the Qiantang River, the waves would cause grave damages to parts of the human dwelling districts. The geographical conditions, to some extent, contribute to the demise of Liangzhu culture.

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1.2.2 Chinese Paradise: Jiangnan (Regions South of the Yangtze River) Widely adopted in Chinese ancient poetry and prose, the word “Jiangnan” is evocative of divine images. For example, in Han music verses there is “surfaced, overlapped and fluttered, Lotus ready to get picked at Jiangnan.” and “Intoxicating everyone but remaining sedate and graceful, Jiangnan spread its fragrance ten miles away by spring breeze.”; Lu Kai, a poet in Wei-Jin North and South dynasties wrote “The best going-away gift one can find in Jiangnan, its springtime embodied in a plum blossom.”; the poet Bai Juyi in Tang Dynasty expressed his emotional attachment to Jiangnan in his poem: “Jiangnan, what a wonderful place I used to know. Rising sun adds to the colors of blooming flowers, light leaps on the green surface of spring water. How can I resist yearning for Jiangnan?” Other examples are Dreaming of the South by the Song poet Su Dongpo, To the Tune of Narcissus·song of Jiangnan by the Yuan poet Zhang Yanghao, etc. The bloom of poems singing high praise for Jiangnan, to some degree, reflects the shifting of the cultural centre to the south. Jiangnan generally refers to regions south of the Yangtze River, not including south of the Five ridges though. The term “Jiangnan” can trace back to pre-Qin and Han dynasties when it once referred to the south part of what now is Hunan Province and Hubei Province in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and parts of what now is Jiangxi Province. The definition of Jiangnan had been in a state of flux, starting from regions of Hunan and Hubei in Sui Dynasty to Jiangxi in the present middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Hunan, and parts of Hubei south to the Yangtze River during the period of Emperor Taizong in Tang Dynasty when the supervisory region “Jiangnan Dao” was set up, then to Song Dynasty when “Jiangnan Dao” was reformed and replaced with “Jiangnan Lu” that spanned across the entire Jiangxi Province and parts of southern Anhui. Although the Jiangnan Province started in the early Qing Dynasty once embraced now what is Jiangsu and Anhui, the cultural definition of “Little Jiangnan” is increasingly confined to Jiangdong, Wu or San Wu areas. Today, the term “Jiangnan” broadly refers to all the regions of Shanghai, Jiangxi, Hunan, Zhejiang, and regions south to the Yangtze River in Jiangsu, Anhui and Hubei; narrowly, it refers to the southern shore regions of the Middle-Lower Yangtze Plain, including areas south to the Yangtze River in Jiangsu and Anhui, Shanghai and areas north to Qiantang River in Zhejiang Province. Jiangnan regions feature abundance of plains and water. Broadly or narrowly, culturally, or geographically, Liangzhu culture regions, especially its core part, belong to Jiangnan.

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Jiangnan Now

Then how did Jiangnan and Liangzhu culture look like 5000 years ago? If there is time machine, I’d travel back, and make a tour of Liangzhu Kingdom. Although there is no such machine that allows us to bridge the gap of time, wind, and wate leave their traces as they come and go, no matter how tiny the traces can be. Today’s archaeologists, as well as scientists who study paleogeography and paleoclimate serve as the trace-chaser whose output, combined with grounded imagination, can show the world where Liangzhu people lived 5000 years ago. As mentioned earlier, 5000 years is negligible on a geological scale, with mountains and seas barely changed, but for the climate, there happened some tiny changes. Liangzhu culture existed during the Holocene Megathermal Period (about 8500– 3000 years ago). The overall climate was warm. Around 5000 years ago, a slight sea-level drop occurred, resulting in overall cooling and a bout of temperature plunge; it became warm and moist again when Liangzhu culture was in full swing at its early and mid-periods, followed by temperature drops at its late stage. So, the roller coaster of Liangzhu climate can be generalized as cold and dry to warm and moist then back to cold and dry. It had been long since the last massive transgression 5000 years ago (perhaps 1000–2000 years), and fertility of the land was gradually restored thanks to the longrun biological and soil leaching effect. At that time, wetlands might still dominate the environment with well-developed water system, flourishing plants, and roaming animals. Climbing the mountains on the north or south side, and looking to the distant, Liangzhu people quickly zeroed in on this vast plain. The ruling class picked a piece of land at the central part of the little C-shaped area after thorough planning, and they arranged to pile soil on some small, natural hills since the plain was low-lying and humid. In some places, the soil was piled to even more than 10-m high. It took tremendous manpower and resources to complete this huge project and finally build the early Liangzhu City.

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Having completed construction of the platform with hundreds of thousands of acres, they set about building houses and palaces on it. While collecting soil on the wetland, Liangzhu people dug some ditches as traffic paths which later served as the river channel inside the Liangzhu City after being widened and reinforced on its slopes. The channel also was utilized to transport timber and stone when the palaces and walls were under construction. When the construction was done, along the riverbanks scattered stone ware, jade ware, wood ware, lacquerware, and other processing plants. Later, the river was turned into a waste-yard where Liangzhu people discarded their household garbage, yet proved to be a gold mine for archaeologists to explore and a window through which we can catch a glimpse of Liangzhu people’s life.

Simulated diagram of restored

At that time, it was generally humid, and waterways crossed one another. Liangzhu ancestors made platforms out of soil and lived along the rivers, which accounted for their heavy dependence on water traffic. They main travelled by canoe and bamboo raft. At its prime, canoes and bamboo rafts crowded the waterways, brushing by each other, bring a lively vibe to the rivers. Some brought exquisite stones and jade blocks to workshops by the riverbank. The long distance that those materials might have travelled wore the boatman down but did not make the smile on his face wither. Craftsmen specializing in stone and jade processing would pause their work and head towards him to pick materials. The carpenter next to the workshop was cutting a wood base to make a basin. Not far from him, on the bank, a group of men were carrying a large piece of wood, which had been cut down from the mountains, tied to a cow in its nose with a ring and a rope, and transported here by river. At that moment, noises were heard from a distance: The farmers were carrying back the rice which had just been reaped. It turned out to be another good harvest year, rendering the bamboo rafts carrying rice lined up one after another. By this time, it was nearly noon. Smoke was rising from the banks and the smell of cooked rice was streaming into your nostrils.

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Some children were at play by the house. Getting hungry, they scrambled to their mom for feeding. Yet, the lunch was not ready. Sieged by the kids, the poor mom was left with no alternative but to dismiss them with some Choerospondias axillaris (a kind of dates) plucked earlier. The kids ate up the fruit flesh, ran to the river, and started a race on who could spit the seeds the farthest. Watching them captivated by the silly competition, the mom shook her head with a smile and got down to finish cooking lunch.

Simulated diagram of Liangzhu people’s daily life

Walking out of the palace on the Big Mojiao Mountain with a crown made of feather on his head, the King of Liangzhu looked around, found it gratifying to see people living and working in peace and contentment, and he smiled. Characterized by a network of waterways, a bloom of ships and a population living by river, Liangzhu at that time bore remarkable resemblance to today’s Wuzhen if bamboo rafts and canoes replaced with the Wupeng boat (black-awning boat), and houses’ walls painted white and rooftops tiled black. Wuzhen is the epitome of Jiangnan life, while Liangzhu is the symbol of Jiangnan 5000 years ago and the significant source of Chinese civilization. The common Jiangnan life pattern that people live by water, feeding on rice and fish was basically established by Liangzhu people that time, and sustained till today. Later, there appeared a parallel comparing Liangzhu to “Oriental Venice”, which I think belittled Liangzhu.

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1.2.3 Prehistoric Power The Deluge is widely rumoured worldwide. The Chinese version that Yu tamed the flood has become a household legend, recorded as “In the time of Yao, China fell prey to heavy flooding that turned the land into home of dragons and snakes, depriving people of their shelters”. Assigned the task to harness the flood, Gun, Yu’s father, spent nine years trying blocking off the water to no avail and got himself executed. His successor Yu eventually put an end to the devouring flood by diverting waterways over a span of 13 years, which entitled him to inherit the crown from Shun, and afterwards, Yu started Xia Dynasty, the first dynasty of China. Besides Yu’s tale, amidst over 40 Chinese ethnic minorities spread legends and stories about flood. Miao culture has one story named “Monstrous Deluge”: Once upon a time, there is an old couple who had two sons and a daughter. After their death, their sons intended to find fault with the God on a regular basis. When it’s cold, they complained that it’s too hot; when it got hot, they said it’s so cold and warmed themselves by a fire at riverside. The God was enraged and sent floods gulping down the lands. Trying to find a way out, one of the two sons made an iron drum, and the other a wooden drum to seat themselves across the flood. The son seated on the iron drum was later carried away and the other son together with the daughter on the wooden drum managed to keep their heads above water. When the floods accomplished their task and returned to the God, the son and the daughter turned out to be the last pair of humans in the world. Then they got married and reproduced mankind.

Illustrator of the “Monstrous Deluge” Legend in Miao Culture

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In Sumerian legends, flood was interpreted as the resort to which almighty gods decided to eradicate human race after getting offended. There was a God named Anki, who had mercy for the mortals, secretly disclosed the gods’ plan to a priest who revered gods and taught him to build an ark as the shelter from the upcoming disaster. After the flood, only the priest survived and became the ancestor of mankind. The Indian version of flood legends tells that one day morning when Manu, the ancestor of mankind, was taking water, washing his hands, a little fish fell to his palms, talking to Manu that it needed his help and that a flood was coming, it would rescue Manu in return. Kind-hearted Manu raised the little fish till one day he was told by the fish to prepare a ship to escape the impending flood. Before long, flood invaded as the fish warned, and Manu was saved. After that, he embarked on the path to spiritual practice and began to worship water. At some point, a woman surfaced from water. He married the woman and they gave birth to new generations, keeping the human species moving forward.

Legends of Sumerian flood

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According to Greek mythology, infuriated with the filthy sight of degraded mortals in the Bronze Age, Zeus, chief of the gods, commanded human extinction with flooding. Deucalion, son of Prometheus, received his father’s warning beforehand and built a great ship. As the flood befell, he and his wife, Pyrrha, survived by hiding in the ship. When the waters had receded, the land was left barren and deserted. Deucalion and his wife followed the oracle, casting stones behind their backs. The stones thrown by Deucalion became men, and those by Pyrrha became women. In Mayan stories, the gods decided to make mortals programmed to obey and revere them. At first, they created humans with mud and wood, but none of them was satisfactory enough to avoid being washed away by the gods with floods. Then the gods opted for another method that they grinded ears of grains into flour, made human bodies out of it, and then water the bodies with 9 kinds of humours to confer strength and vigour. Four men and four women were the first to get created in this manner by the gods, and they became the ancestors of mankind. In the Indian flood stories, there was a domestic puppy that wailed by the river every day. When its owner scolded it and was about to send it home, the puppy spoke to him that a flood was coming, and every inch of the land would get submerged and suggested that he build a ship and take away with him the necessaries of life. In addition to the instructions, the puppy added that the owner would have to throw him into the water if he wanted to get rescued. To show what he said was true, the poppy had its owner have a look at the back of his head. Finding the back of the puppy’s head no longer covered with fur, the owner believed the puppy and threw it into the river. The whole family was hence saved and became the ancestors of modern human. Similar tales and legends are too many to enumerate, shared by various peoples all over the world, and some of them are very much alike. In early human civilization, the great flood is a collective memory. Most of the early civilizations originated in the great rivers, facilitating the utilization of water on one hand, and subjecting people to floods on the other. Some of these flood stories describe a legendary process of how the world is created. At the end of the story, humanity basically fell into pieces, with only a few survivors to become the ancestors of modern human. Regardless of the unfolding of the story, the leading outline is shared starting from human’s living and developing—flood’s destroying everything—human’s rising again. This also reflects, in some ways, the massive flood assaults in the early period of human civilization, which caused the development of civilization to suffer devastation. Of course, these are viewed from the perspective of myths that are too ancient to verify. But at some sites, there are proofs of the accumulation of floods. For example, ancient flood accumulation dating back to more than 4000 years ago has been discovered in Erlitou Site in Central China and Zhongqiao Site in Jianghan Plain.

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Let’s go back to Liangzhu. A layer of yellow–brown silty deposits has been found on the cultural stratum of many Liangzhu Sites, which may be correlated to the decline of Liangzhu culture. The thickness of the layer of silty deposits (usually called as “Yellow Silt”) ranges from tens of centimetres to one metre, and the relatively low-lying areas seem to be favoured. Initially, archaeologists thought it was a flood deposit, so they called it the “flood stratum”. However, from a sedimentological point of view, flood deposits generally reflect an intense hydrodynamic environment and it is characterized by the low sorting level, which means that particles of all sizes are mixed together rather than in normally ordered manners (small at the top and large at the bottom). The particles of the “Yellow Silt” deposits in Liangzhu are relatively uniform, a large proportion of which are fine silt, indicating the relatively weak hydrodynamic environment. Hence, the layer of “Yellow Silt” was not formed simply by a flood. The depositional facies may well reflect the sedimentary environment of floodplains. During a flood, the river overflows into the lower part of the plains on both sides, which is called as valley flat. When the whole plain is deluged with the river, it becomes a floodplain.

The Yangtze River flood in modern times

So, does the “Yellow Silt” equal to the flood stratum? The author believes that it may not be a direct result of flood deposit, but for sure it is linked with flood. While the cause of the flood is complex in a way that remains difficult to confirm even till today. As mentioned earlier, the Liangzhu Sites Group, including what is now Hangzhou City is located in a C-shaped area, surrounded by mountains on three sides and by the sea on the east. A slight rise in sea level would accordingly result in groundwater levels’ climbing up in coastal areas. On conditions of a long-period and large-scale precipitation under the influence of monsoon, all

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outlets of water in this area would get cut off due to the rise of groundwater levels and the low-lying geographical layout with three sides surrounds by mountains and the east side by sea. In addition, the Yangtze River to the north is likely to overflow at the lower reaches as an excess of water, caused by the increased rainfall at the upper reach, tries to edge in. Though overall, the flood heads towards the East China Sea, some parts of it would barge into the core area of Liangzhu culture through the low-lying regions of the Taihu lake. The Qiantang River to the south can be another victim. The failure to drain away the water accumulated by years of rainfall would turn “Jiangnan” featuring an intricate network of rivers into a muddy sea, forcing Liangzhu people to leave for a life somewhere else. Besides, social commotion may have occurred due to environmental changes, leading to the recession of Liangzhu culture. Though growing up at the same place after Liangzhu’s fall, Maqiao culture came nowhere close to its predecessor and showed a certain degree of regression. Consequently, this area descended to the “Barbarian South” titled by the Central Plains Dynasty in later ages, and the title stayed for quite a long time.

Liangzhu awl-shaped jade (left) Liangzhu Bi (a round flat piece of jade with a hole in its center) (right)

Like the alternation of glacial and interglacial periods, of seasons, and of day and night, majesty is not eternal. Although the Liangzhu civilization has been a frozen moment far back in history, it has made a great contribution to the development of Chinese civilization. Being an important origin of the Chinese jade culture, Liangzhu

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civilization initiated the Cong, Yue, Bi, and other jade ware that proved to be a crucial component of the Chinese ritual system in a long time.

1.3 How to Study Paleoenvironment 1.3.1 Book of the Earth There is a popular science book in the USA whose title is Reading the Rocks: The Auto biography of the Earth and translated as “the earth writes a diary with rocks: tracking the earth story back to 4.6 billion years ago” in Chinese. The author is a geologist who is fascinated with stones. In her works, each stone tells a story in the history of the earth. Among her stone family, the elder ones record the stories back to hundreds of millions or even more than four billion years ago; the younger ones tell the stories millions of years ago. Some of the stories are about the origin of the earth; some reflect the evolution of mountains and seas; some record the mass extinction; some depict the scene of eruption of volcanoes and the overflow of magma. The average radius of the earth is more than 6300 km, while the underground depth that can be observed is confined to the present level of science and technology. At present, the deepest mine in the world reaches an underground depth of 4–5 km, and the deepest drillinging 12.5 km. Both paled before a volcanic eruption that tosses substances from tens of kilometres to 200 km underground to the surface. The earth’s top crust is slightly thicker in the continental region, with an average thickness of 33 km, while that in the oceanic region is thinner, with an average thickness of 7 km. In contrast, the depth of the deposited layer formed by human activities is not worth mentioning.

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Illustration of the Earth's layers 深度/千米 Depth/kilometer 地壳 Crust 岩石圈 Lithosphere 软流层 Asthenosphere 上地幔 Upper mantle 地幔 Mantle 下地幔 Lower mantle 外核 Outer core 地核 Earth’s core 内核 Inner core 地壳位于莫霍界面之外，是地球表面一层薄薄的、由岩石组成的坚硬外壳。它厚薄不一，大陆部 分比较厚，大洋部分比较薄，平均厚度为 17 千米。

The crust is located outside the Moho, coating the earth with a thin, hard crust of rock with an average thickness of 17 km that is unevenly arranged with the continental part thicker, and the oceanic part thinner.

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地幔介于莫霍界面和古登堡界面之间, 厚度为2800多千米。根据地震波波速 的变化, 把地幔分为上地幔和下地幔两层。在上地幔上部存在一个软流层, 一般 认为这里可能是岩浆的主要发源地。 The mantle is placed between the Moho and the Gutenberg discontinuity with a thickness of more than 2800 km. In accordance to the change of seismic wave velocity, the mantle is divided into upper mantle and lower mantle. There is asthenosphere in the top of the upper mantle, which is generally believed to be the main source of magma. 地核以古登堡界面与地幔分界, 厚度为3400多千米。根据地震波波速的变 化, 可以将地核分为外核和内核两层。地核的温度很高, 压力和密度很大。 The earth’s core is over 3400 km thick, separated by the Gutenberg discontinuity and the mantle. According to the change of seismic wave velocity, it can be divided into outer core and inner core. The temperature there is extremely high and so is the levels of pressure and density. If the stone records the history of the earth, then the soil records the progress of human civilization. The land under our feet is a book that records huge volumes of information in the past. Scholars of different disciplines can interpret it from their own perspectives. This is a wordless book that denies interpretation in usual words. Soil is also called as sediment in the light of natural science. The category of sediment covers a much wider range than that of soil. Silt on riverbed, loess of the Loess Plateau and sand in deserts all belong to the sediment family. As I mentioned before, in the Hangjiahu area where historic sites were found, the Liangzhu culture layer is almost two or three metres underground. These strata are left with an abundance of traces of Liangzhu people’s life. The work of archaeologists is to restore the social patterns of that time by excavating and studying these discarded deposits (of course, there are a handful of “treasures” among the “trash”). The scientists who study paleogeographic environment are to decode the information encrypted in the soil. Some of the objects of study focus on the macro and some on the micro, but they both serve to interpret the mysterious book of the earth.

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The chemical elements contained in the soil, such as Rb, Sr, Cu, Ti, etc., can reflect the changes of temperature and humidity; the grain size and composition of sediment can illustrate the depositional dynamic environment, telling you if there used to be a lake or a river, land, or a swamp. Microfossils in the soil, such as phytoliths and sporopollen, record the vegetation at that time. The wood dust, plant remnants, and even bones in the soil can tell us the age of their death by means of dating. Besides, soil is also the graveyard of some microorganism. These microorganisms (such as diatom, foraminifera, etc.) require specific living conditions, based on which to speculate the environment of that time. For example, foraminifera generally live in the ocean, and the distance from the living area to the sea surface varies in accordance with the foraminifera’s species, which enables us to deduce the sea-level height back then. Some isotopes of sediments are concerned with the early forming environment. Hence, they can also be traced to explore their roots. To carry out these studies, top on the agenda is to take samples and bring the soil back to the laboratory for analysis and testing. Although different analysis purposes dictate different sampling processes, generally there are two main methods: profile sampling and drilling sampling.

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The profile sampling, as literally described, is to collect samples on the cutaway section of soil. If you are in the field, you would need to find the profile. The deeper the profile is, the better it can serve the study. And the profile must be natural or a natural section exposed after manual excavation (the four walls of the excavation unit are also ideal as sampling objects). It should be noted that taking samples in the stratum that had been artificially deposited is not allowed due to the disordered stratum sequence with substances from different layers mixed, which denies acquisition of effective information.

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In process of profile sampling, there are several different sampling methods. If it is to take dating samples, there are generally two cases—carbon 14 dating and photoluminescence dating. Carbon 14 dating detects the time of biological death (usually when trees are cut down, plant seeds are discarded or buried). To take the carbon 14 dating samples, you just directly pick out the ones that need to be dated from the profile (it’s for the best that the samples are annual plant seeds or weeds, etc.), record the sampling location (longitude and latitude) and sampling depth, as well as the profile conditions observed by the naked eye. If you fail to pin down any sample qualified for dating with your own sight, you can take a large piece of soil back to the laboratory for elutriation and may have unexpected harvest. Photoluminescence dating is applied to detect the last exposure time of sediments,

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reflecting the span of buried time in the deposition process. When taking samples in this manner, you take a hollow steel pipe, and smash it into the layer to be measured, and then fill the other end that is exposed to the ground with a black plastic bag or opaque filler. After you extract the pipe from the layer, fill the other end, and wrap up the entire pipe with tin foil paper. Since it is the last exposure time of the sediment that the photoluminescence test aims to find out, No.1 rule to bear in mind is that the sample must be kept away from light. Laboratory analysis is mainly carried out in the darkroom (like the environment for photo washing), and the middle part of the steel pipe is taken out for analysis. Though carbon 14 dating and photoluminescence dating are both dating methods, the error range of carbon 14 dating is generally lower than that of light-emitting dating, normally dozens of years, while the latter may reach hundreds of years. In addition, when the grain size of the sediment is bigger, there might have been some light penetrated in the process of burial, which will also affect the results of the photoluminescence dating test. However, it does not mean that the carbon 14 dating outdoes the photoluminescence dating. If the test object of carbon 14 dating is not selected properly, for example, carbon bits are selected, and since carbon bits are relatively stable, it is likely that they had been around for many years before they got buried, which will make the test result give false seniority to those carbon bits. Therefore, it is proposed to take annual plants or seeds, along with the organic matter in the sediments for carbon 14 dating.

Drilling sampling

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Directly digging out a few bulk samples can well do the job if the purpose of profile sampling is only to analyse the chemical elements or isotopic composition of the sediment. Of course, field description, recording, and photographing of samples are steps that cannot dispense with. While if we are to analyse diatom, grain size and sporopollen, it’s required that we collect bulk samples from bottom to top at a certain distance (generally 2 cm or 5 cm). In addition, analysis of the soil micromorphology is usually a necessary station along the path of analysing the deposition process of ancient soil, or the stacking process of artificial platform. When sampling, take the whole soil with a width of 10–20 cm at the intersection of two strata without any splitting and deformation. Now there is another method of profile sampling that one smashes steel channels into the flatted section in a way that all the channels can link together and then pulls all the channels out to cut off the whole section and carry it back to the laboratory. Although section sampling is the better solution, a perfect section is always difficult to come by. At this point it’s time for the other method—drilling sampling to come in handy. It mainly refers to drilling down several metres to tens of metres with drilling rig, then take out the drilling core, pack it, and take it back to the laboratory for observation, description, photography, and sampling. In the field, the process would be carrying out simple observation and sample packaging, and then photographing and recording the drilling location and the surrounding environment. There are many articles describing it as “one hole, one worl”, but this description is problematic. High chances are that a single hole is drilled at a relatively special position and thus not qualified to represent the whole area. The best way is to drill several holes, consolidate the strata, and select several representative holes for experimental analysis. There exists error in measuring the depth due to the compressing and stretching that readily happen during drilling and taking out the core. Hence, it is necessary to record the drilling depth as well as the length of the drilling core when it is extracted. Regardless of sampling methods you take, one rule must be kept in mind: pollution prevention of samples. When sampling, you must wear gloves, and at the intervals of taking the next sample, you need to clean the gloves and sampling tools to avoid contamination between samples. Be it profile sampling or drilling sampling, they provide a way or us to tear off one page from the vast book of the earth and study each letter on it. The story in it nees to be interpreted and recorded by readers themselves.

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1.3.2 Magical Chemical Elements and Isotopes After returning to the laboratory, the samples collected earlier will be tested and analysed, sometimes analysis of macro-elements, microelements and isotopes will be involved. Macro-elements, also known as major elements or rock forming elements, refer to elements whose mass fraction is greater than 1% or 0.1% in rocks; while microelements refer to the elements left in the earth’s crust after excluding nine elements including O, Si, Al, Fe, CA, Na, K, Mg, and H, and the mass fraction in rock is generally lower than 1% or 0.1%. With resort to macro- and microelements, we can analyse the salinity and redox conditions of sedimentary environment, so as to distinguish sea water, fresh water, river and land; in addition, the changes of paleoclimate in temperature and humidity can be studied with the ratio of certain elements. The atoms, units of matter, are composed of the nucleus and extranuclear electron. The nucleus that determines the properties of the atom consists of protons and neutrons. Protons are positively charged, carrying the same number of electric charges with the extranuclear electron (with negative charges). Neutrons are not charged. An atom with the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons is an isotope. The properties of isotopes are basically identical, but because of the difference in neutron number, there will be slight differences in mass. In nature, the main reasons for the change of isotopic composition are radioactive decay and isotopic fractionation. Enduring natural decay, radioisotopes are converted into isotopes of other elements, which leads to the decrease of the original element isotopes and the increase of the generated element isotopes, thus changing the ratio of isotopes of parent and daughter elements. It is a characteristic of radioactive element nucleus, immune from influence of the external physical and chemical changes. However, the isotopic fractionation effect generally occurs in the process of geological process, and the relative abundance of light stable isotopes (the number of protons < 20, i.e. the top 20 elements in the periodic table) is changed due to the mass difference.

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Schematic diagram of 14C dating 树木通过光合作用，从空气中吸收 14C 原子 Trees absorb 14C atoms from the air through photosynthesis 动物通过食物链吸收 14C Animals absorb 14C through the food chain 树木被砍伐后，不再吸收 14C After trees are cut down, they no longer absorb 14C

动物死后不再吸收 14C Animals stop absorbing 14C after death 木头、骨头中的 14C 发生衰变，不断减少 14C

in wood and bone decays and decreases continuously

土壤 Soil

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There are many interesting things enabled by these two variations of isotopes. The decays of radioisotopes can be used for dating. At present, the most widely adopted method is 14 C dating. The decay process of radioisotopes is spontaneous, incessant, and holds a certain proportion; the decay reaction is not affected by any temperature, pressure, physical and chemical conditions, and the changes are only related to time. Besides, because the variation of isotopic composition is subject to the environment and its own properties, it can be used to indicate the environmental conditions of its formation, so that the source of substance can be traced. For example, the detection of isotopes in sediments can be used to deduce the origin of the rocks. Sediments are generally formed after weathering, denudation, transportation, and deposition of rocks. Of course, there are also some organic remains blended within, in a nutshell, sediments are basically converted from rocks. Throughout the conversion, the isotopes will remain unchanged, so that we can trace them. Isotopes can be used not only as timers and indicators, but also as thermometers. In geology, oxygen isotopes can be applied to measure the temperature of ancient seawater. In addition to these, some people use carbon, oxygen, sulphur, and other isotopes to study fluctuation of global sea levels. In recent years, the application of isotopic methods in archaeology has been on increase mainly in the following aspects. First, dating, with C isotopes (14 C) and AR isotopes as the major approach; then, source tracing. For example, Sr isotopes in human and animal bones have a bearing on their living environment, while δ 180 in bone collagen can reflect the source of drinking water of the former residents. In addition, the Pb and Cu isotopes in bronzes can be used to analyse the source of ore and propagation route; finally, agricultural research. The C (δ 13 C) and N isotopes in human and animal bone collagen can reflect their dietary structure, paving the way for the study of domestication of livestock. The analysis of C and N isotopes remaining in plants also played an important role in the study of the origin and development of early agriculture in China.

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Analysis of material sources with resort to isotopes 浙江花岗岩 Granite in Zhejiang Province 东海沉积物 Sediments of the East China Sea 长江沉积物及悬浮物 Sediments and suspended matters of the Yangtze River 东苕溪 Dongtiao River

文化层 Cultural layer 黄粉土 Yellow silt 钱塘江中上游沉积物 Sediments in the middle and upper reaches of Qiantang River 钱塘江下游沉积物 Sediments in the lower Qiantang River 古坝体 Ancient dam 大遮山 Dazhe Mountain

Previously Isotopic analysis was conducted on the “Yellow Silt” (yellow silt) above the cultural layer of Liangzhu Site, and the result showed that it was not the sediment in the nearby mountains, which ruled out the possibility of mountain torrents. Analysis on chemical elements was also carried out with a purpose to find out the source of the material used to produce Liangzhu Jade. The analysis

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revealed that its jade material was different from Xiaomeiling jade mine in Liyang, Jiangsu Province. In addition to lithological identification, the analysis of macro- and microelements was also adopted to confirm the source of the supporting pad stones of Liangzhu City’s wall.

1.3.3 “Invisible” History Cuneiform, the oldest writing ever discovered on earth dates to 5000–6000 years ago; Oracle Bone writing, the earliest writing of China, was found about 3000 years ago. These writings are the earliest traceable historical records. Even earlier are more primitive inscribed symbols or patterns. However, in comparison with the long history of mankind, these records are too few to count. As for prehistoric civilization without being recorded with concrete writings, the current interpretation mainly depends on archaeological excavation. The task of archaeologists, especially prehistoric archaeologists, is to excavate and interpret the history that lacks records. Some of these histories are void of records; some may originate from early myths and legends; some may overthrow the existing historical records. The most significant value of the tomb of Liu He, the emperor with the shortest reigning period in the history of Western Han Dynasty, does not lie in gold and silver, but in the unearthed bamboo slips. These bamboo slips make Qi Lun, which has been lost for a long time, come to light again. Early archaeological work mainly focused on the classification of artefacts, namely sorting, and classifying artefacts according to their styles, and categorizing stages of development and evolution. Archaeology, as a subject of studying ancient human society, is highly integrated. With the influx of many subjects in recent years, the research objects of archaeology are becoming increasingly diversified and meticulous. The foraminifera buried in the soil seemed to roam in the sea water thousands of years ago. The resting sporopollen once permeated the air of the old days. The remaining phytolith after the decay of the plants savoured the warmth of the world. The starch grains in the pottery could vaguely smell the flavour of the food at that time…These small remains of life are not directly visible to the naked eye, many of which need to be processed and extracted before they can be seen under the microscope. However, they are always there, guarding one story after another till the very day they are discovered and interpreted by people. The elements and isotopes are more microscopic as they can only be known by means of instruments that translate them into a string of numbers. Decoding these numbers can also reveal the story residing behind them. And these stories, one connecting another, show us the invisible, intangible, but real history.

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Thanks to these means, it is found that prior to the emergence of Liangzhu culture (about 5000 years ago), the transition from tidal flat to land was completed at Liangzhu’s area. The water level of the region gradually decreased, with gradually reduced water area size, becoming suitable for human habitation. In the early days of Liangzhu culture, the land was mainly freshwater wetland which fostered early rice farming and planting, laying the material foundation for the prosperity of Liangzhu culture. After that, the land proportion began to rise. Liangzhu people began to plant rice on a large scale, and human activities was on the increase. In the late period of Liangzhu, aquatic plants surged, reflecting the expansion of water area and the increase of marshes and wetlands. As the ancestors of Liangzhu people were giving up on the land, Liangzhu culture gradually declined. In addition, there is another interesting detail. Someone once took some soil samples from the ancient river way site in the ancient city of Liangzhu, analysed the parasites in them, and found that Liangzhu people might have discharged some excrement into the river way at that time, which also indicates that this river way is not the source of drinking water. Water wells have been found in some Liangzhu Sites. Considering that the altitude of this area is relatively low, and the groundwater level is relatively high, Liangzhu people may only need to dig two or three metres to get groundwater. The water is relatively clear after being filtered by finer soil. If the sea level in the later period of Liangzhu rises by a small margin, the area may also be affected due to its proximity to the sea, with salt content in the groundwater increased and turned undrinkable. Of course, these are only my personal guesses, and no relevant supporting evidence has been found yet. Rives are incessantly flowing, and many things will straight to oblivion as time flies by. Some people or things that seem not that significant tend to be hardly recorded in the book of history. Nevertheless, the land beneath our feet embraces and incorporates everyone and everything regardless of high and low status, allowing the new generations to come a glimpse at some moments of the history. This invisible history, in many cases, is more objective and comprehensive than the history written by people. It never stops.

Chapter 2

Animal World of Liangzhu Site

The history of animals far outlasts that of mankind. If we compare the progression of all living creatures on the earth to a continuous line, human history is no more than one dot on it. After years of research on animal morphology, anatomy, ethology, and genetics, we found that chimpanzees and bonobos are primates with the closest blood relationship with human. It is safe to say that the evolution of species never rests. The reason why human beings are hardly aware of this process is that we are luckily able to neutralize the external influence on ourselves with wisdom. Such “self-help behaviour” empowers us to overcome many of our own shortcomings and obtain more natural resources and a broader living space in the progressive civilized society. Nowadays, human beings have been the most widely distributed species under the sun for a long time, and never has been the close connection between animals and human beings broken off. In the process of human conquering the world, in addition to the utilization of animal resources, a sharp decrease or even extinction of some species has been incurred. Especially in the past few hundred years, with the expansion of industrialization, the extinction rate of species is 1000 times that of natural conditions, and 1 million times that of the generation rate of new species. Despite sharp claws and teeth or huge bodies some animals are equipped with, they are not blessed with human’s ingenious ability to transform nature. They still fall prey to natural and man-made calamities. However, in the animal world of Liangzhu period, the relationship between man and nature was apparently more harmonious. It’s universally known that China boasts expanse of land and territory with a vertical span of nearly 50 latitudes, disparate climates between the south and north, and a variety of geological features across different regions. Diverse natural factors, such as topography, longitude and latitude, hydrogeology, meteorology, vegetation, and climate, determine the difference of faunas in different areas. In palaeogeographic and climatic terms, Liangzhu culture dating back to 5300–4300 years ago belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate zone in Holocene. Since the Holocene Megathermal, the climate in this area has been warm and humid to a higher degree than that of modern times. Due to the influence of climate zonal change, the zonal soil in the © Zhejiang University Press 2021 X. Ji et al., The Paleoenvironment, Plants and Animals of Liangzhu, Liangzhu Civilization, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3872-5_2

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mountains of Taihu lake Basin, including yellow-brown soil and red soil, is acidic, which does disservice to the preservation of relics; while the non-zonal soil includes coastal plain salt soil, alluvial plain meadow soil, and Taihu lake plain swamp soil. Among them, swamp soil is the best fit to transform into paddy field. Liangzhu City Sites are distributed in the Dongtiaoxi alluvial plain between the Daxionshan hills and Dazhashan hills, the two branches of Tianmu Mountain. The continuous green hills, the densely distributed rivers, and the widely spanned wetlands are ideal habitats for wildlife. This favourable natural environment also provided Liangzhu ancestors with an abundance of water, timber, and mineral resources. Blessed with the advantageous natural environment, Liangzhu people kept developing and expanding, with the population soaring at an unimaginably rapid speed, large buildings and water conservancy systems established in succession, the social stratum getting increasingly rigid, and the technology of handicraft and agriculture growing with every passing day. Now, though what we unearthed is merely fragmented and broken bones, the ongoing progress of zooarchaeology allows reappearance of their lively and fresh looks in former times. By means of identification of animal species and genera, we found Bellamya quadrata, Bellamya purificata, Hyriopsis sp., Unio douglasiae, Acuticosta chinensis, Arconaia lanceolata, Cuneopsis pisciculus, Lanceolaria sp., Lamprotula leai, Corbicula fluminea, Carcharhinus sp., Cyprinus carpio, Ctenopharyngodon idellus, Silurus asotus, Channa argus, Rafetus swinhoei, Chinemys reevesii, Phasianus colchicus, Anster sp., Anas sp., Grus sp., Acciter sp., Macaca arctoides, Mus sp., Canis familis, Panthera tigris, Lutra lutra, Sus scrofa, Sus scrofa, Sus scrofa domesticus, Muntiacus sp., Water Cervus unicolor, Cervus nippon, Elphurus davidianus, Bubalus mephistopheles, and other 34 species of animal remains. The archaeological studies on many of the Liangzhu Sites show that the ancient Liangzhu people took rice farming as their main mode of production and livestock raising, hunting, fishing and collecting as their way for food supplement, forming a relatively reasonable diet structure. In addition, Liangzhu ancestors used animal resources in a variety of ways. The value of animals is not only for food, but also for decorations, daily necessities, or other practical tools with animals’ bones, teeth, and horns.

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A wide array of faunas became part of Liangzhu people’s life. You can spot them chasing after wild animals along the wetlands, grasslands, and reeds on both sides of the river, leaving tracks on the fine sand after they finished catching fish and clam, and grazing pigs on the forest trails echoing with their laughter.

2.1 Zooarchaeology in Liangzhu In recent years, great achievements have been made in zooarchaeology of China, but there remain voids of research. The foundation of zooarchaeology in Zhejiang area is very weak, and it’s the same case with the research condition of Liangzhu Sites. There are two major reasons: one is the chronic deficiency of professional researchers; the other is the poor preservation of animal bones unearthed in many sites. So far, more than 600 Liangzhu Sites have been found in the area around Taihu lake, covering an area of 36,500 square kilometres. However, only about 20 sites are known to have animal remains discovered. The number of unearthed animal bones is gravely unbalanced across the sites: a small portion of the sites merely have a couple of animal bones; hundreds of animal bones can be found at the majority of the sites; there are also one special case of Zhangjia Port Ancient Riverway Site where tens of thousands of animal bones were discovered. The preservation of animal remains is also uneven across the sites. So far, there are only a few sites that have undergone systematic animal archaeology research, and most of the sites are offered only with simple sorting and species identification. Although presently we have a preliminary understanding of the available animal resources in Taihu lake Basin at that time, there are still many problems that are not fully explored in the past research, and many of the research results still need to be reviewed.

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2.1.1 What is Zooarchaeology? Whenever I keenly open a news page about archaeological reports to update myself with the recent advances, I always see some irrational messages at the comment column due to people’s ignorance of the significance of archaeological work. I think many may have misunderstood the archaeology in one way or another. Since I majored in archaeology at college, people scrambled to me in an attempt to let me help them identify treasures or work geomancy for them. However, I know neither of these things. How can a real archaeologist serve as a treasure collector? By the way, fans for dinosaur fossils, please kindly leave me alone. I’ve listed here a small part of those questions that give me headache in form of live commenting.

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How to put every bone back after making a set of specimens? Obviously, the urgent problem to be solved at present is the popularization and education of archaeological knowledge for the public, so that those who are interested in archaeology can get to know the subject in an actual way, making this “out-of-the way” subject accessible. Thought it may be a fool’s errand, we have the responsibility and obligation to tell the public about “the truth of archaeology”. Zooarchaeology is globally regarded as a branch of archaeology under the social sciences, with slight differences in classification due to different academic traditions. Because of the influence of the historical view of Chinese traditional epigraphy, archaeology has always been inextricably linked with history, and not until recent years did it become a first-class discipline independent of history. In the vast majority of countries, archaeology is subordinate to anthropology; a small number of countries put archaeology into the study of art history, however, in the same purpose of research that is to study ancient human society based on the materials left over from various activities of ancient people. Rooted in the same concept, zooarchaeology narrows

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down the research material to animal remains1 and aims at studying human activities and human society. In other words, we go to all lengths to touch the soul through the bones. By the way, here I’d like to introduce an American TV drama Bones. Perhaps it’s because the playwright once worked as forensic anthropologist that many of the plots are reasonably set and the autopsy methods and laboratory work shown in the drama are similar to those of physical anthropology, if reviewed from the criteria for TV dramas rather than documentaries, regardless of some intended ignorance of science to serve the plot. Yet, it far outperforms those rampant grave-robbing Internet dramas. It is said that Bones is the trigger for many girls to choose archaeology as their college major. (in China, archaeology includes physical anthropology, while in other countries, physical anthropology and archaeology are both subordinate to human science).

1

Animal remains: including unearthed animal bones, horns, teeth, mollusc shells, bone products, various by-products, footprints, urine, feces, etc.

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Zooarchaeology takes the animal remains unearthed in the site as the main research object. After collecting the remains scientifically and systematically, it comprehensively uses the theoretical methods of anatomy, biology, geology, burial, morphology, statistics, genetics, molecular biology, and other disciplines to explain the role of animals in diet, resources, environment, economy, etiquette, and other aspects. Therefore, people engaged in this research should have multi-disciplinary learning background. Zooarchaeologists play multiple roles in the research process, such as palaeontologists, zoologists, geologists, agronomists, geneticists, ethnologists, anthropologists, even forensic experts, veterinarians, hunters, travellers, gourmets, chefs. The goal of archaeology is to “see human through research materials”, and in research process, the most important thing is to “put human first”. Then, zooarchaeology is to explore human behaviour and everything related to human beings through animal remains. If animal remains are found in the site, to zooarchaeologists, there’s as much of research value as that of pottery, stone tools, and even articles of gold and silver or ancient jade. With the ongoing development and improvement of research methods and theories, there will be an increasing number of secrets that can be seen from the huge database left to us by ancient animals. Despite difference between zooarchaeology and palaeontology, they share parts of research contents. In archaeological excavation, extinct animals can be occasionally unearthed, whose appearance in life can only be known by scientific approaches such as bone morphology and DNA detection. The muscles of any organism are attached to the skeleton, so the skeleton is an important basis to restore the appearance of animals. To accomplish the restoration of extinct animals, it required more than simply simulating based on the shape of bones as muscle attachment to bones is also a crucial and highly professional issue to consider. The stronger the muscles are, the more obvious the traces of ligament attachment will appear. Let alone, the restoration of the colour and texture in later steps. By no means can one dispense with technical know-how. Of course, we can’t say that restoration work contains no imaginary speculations in it, given the limited information that can be extracted from the bones. At present, there are two breeds of extinct animals unearthed in

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Liangzhu Site, one is Bubalus mephistopheles and the other is giant yellow-spotted turtle. The former has been extinct for long, and scientific means are required for restoration; while the wild species of the latter went extinct but fortunately, there are two survivors preserved in the zoo, with a certain amount of graphic data collected. These two animals are to be presented in detail in the following chapters. Back to the days when human was not endowed with the knowledge of anatomy, many skeletons were interpreted as animals that only appeared in myths. Many animal related works emerged in ancient China. Among them, Book of Documents: Yugong, Erya, the Classic of Mountains and Rivers, Ocean Creature Atlas, the Dream Rivulet Diary, and local chronicles can be the leading examples. In the realistic or absurd ancient books, the understanding and utilization of animal resources at that time can be vaguely identified, among which there are some ancient lives that vanished long time ago, or some magical species that originated from fabrication. Some of the animals’ images gradually came into light with the constant exploration of human beings, while some disappear forever in the depths of our imagination. It seems that the knowledge of the ancient is not tantamount to what now we call science, but it can still provide important clues for the study of the relationship between human activities and animals. Up till now, there are still a great many legends of mysterious animals around the world, such as the Chinese Dragon, the Kappa in Japan, the Nessie in Britain, the Yeti in the Himalayas, and various monsters in ancient Greek mythology. In vast ancient civilizations, the images of animals have many facets, carrying a variety of meanings, and they are even revered as “gods, ghosts, spirits, and monsters” by human beings. The illustration below shows the skull of an elephant, which is like the one-eyed giant depicted in ancient Greek mythology in shape. The hole, which is misunderstood as one eye, leads to the elephant’s nasal cavity, and the orbital bone is on both sides of the nasal bone. Ivory products have also been unearthed in Liangzhu Site, but no bones of other parts of the elephant have been found yet. Hence, neither can we conclude whether it’s a local animal, nor can we rule out the possibility that ivory products can be circulated through trade or other channels. However, Liangzhu area was indeed a suitable habitat for elephants at that time.

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The skull in the picture below is from muntjac, a small deer. Some people think its fangs, small horns, and long mouth hold resemblance to the dragon in myths. Only male has short bifurcated horns on head, female has none, and upper jaw is equipped with long and sharp canine teeth. Muntjac is a typical herbivore. It often lives in desert, woodland, shrub, and swamp areas. It swims well. Some muntjac skeletons have also been found in Liangzhu Site.

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Does the platypus’s skull look like the octopus man in Pirates of the Caribbean? In fact, it’s just a cute platypus. The two slender bones at the front of the skull are not the tentacles of octopus, but the skeletons on both sides of the platypus’s mouth. In addition, octopus belongs to mollusc in animal taxonomy, and thus there is no supporting bones in their agile tentacles.

Therefore, imagination alone is far from enough, and a command of zooarchaeology is required to know the true identity of bones.

2.1.2 Field Sampling Almost every museum visitor will be amazed by the numerous remains of ancient man, but few know the hardship of archaeological excavation. For the colleagues who work in the archaeological institute, field excavation is one of the essential processes, and some even devote their enthusiasm and youth to cultural stratum2 one year after another. Every archaeologist is versatile, good at communication and fast to changes, which enables them to get along with all parties. The project reporting, ground investigation and drilling, compensation for young crops, coordination of migrant workers, excavation and arrangement are all undertaken by the team leader, and the basic necessities including “food, clothing, shelter and transportation” are also provided by themselves. Since I joined the team in July 2016, I have nearly been an everyday walker along the dirt road in the wilderness to Zhangjia Port Ancient Riverway Site for excavation 2

Cultural stratum: the accumulation layer formed by the remains and relics left over from ancient human activities. The cultural pattern in a certain historical period will form a cultural layer. Through the comparative study between the overlapping cultural layers, we can see the development and evolution sequence of culture.

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and washing work. This site is located to the east of the palace area of Liangzhu City, which is the main north–south road inside the city. Liangzhu City boasts a dense network of rivers, and ship was the main means of transportation at that time. As the inner-city river, Zhangjia Port River also undertakes the role of providing both living and manufacturing water. Our excavation experience tells us that apart from utilizing ash ditch or ash pit3 to dispose of garbage, the ancient people who highly revere nature also tend to stack domestic garbage on both sides of the river, believing that the water can take them away. In the eyes of the ancients, the purification ability of the river was overblown infinitely, or even mythologized. Zhangjia Port channel is an artificial channel connected with natural river, and its mobility is limited by contrast. Apparently, dumping garbage to the point that overwhelms its selfpurification capacity is one of the major reasons for the abandonment and even the final filling of the river course in the late Liangzhu period.

As the subject of zooarchaeological research, lots of animals remains make their appearance at Zhangjia Port Ancient Riverway Site, which stir up passion of every zooarchaeologist present on the spot. These complex and changeable situations dictate the difference in the burial conditions of relics. The soil in the south is relatively acidic, rendering human bones unearthed in Liangzhu culture tombs usually poorly preserved. Most of the bones are gone with only dregs left, which poses severe barrier to the sampling and research work. While the bones buried in the ancient river 3

Ash ditch, ash pit: a kind of relic, which contains many relics left by the ancients for a purpose or not. It is generally used for garbage pit, cellar, and sacrificial pit.

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course are preserved in a relatively extreme environment—the gap between soil and rock is filled with groundwater water, driving out oxygen, which accidentally makes the bones well preserved up till now. It corresponds to the burial environment of some arid areas in the north. Extreme water shortage will also inhibit the decay of organic remains4 to a large extent. The excavation rate of animal bones in the river course grow at a surprisingly fast speed. It seems that only a few days is long enough to fill one corner of the warehouse with unearthed bones. In the river, the animal bones present a free state of disordered distribution, mixed with various relics (pottery, plant seeds, stone tools, jade materials, etc.). Especially in the north and south section of Zhangjia Port excavation area, the excavation rate is maintained at the point of one bone found out of several pieces of pottery. The team member seems to have some special ability in finding bones, as if they could make the bones grow legs and jump from the mud right into our hands.

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Collecting data as comprehensively as possible is of great help to the zooarchaeological research, namely when sampling, you are not allowed to “give cold shoulders” to the samples with poor preservation and high degree of weathering, or turn a blind eye to the broken bones. This kind of undifferentiated collection includes not only fractured, small bones, but also intact and hard ones. Usually, because many archaeological sites are not equipped with scientific and technological personnel specializing in zooarchaeological research, when confirming the sampling plan of animal remains, the excavation personnel need to provide the site sampling experts with 4

Organic remains: bones, wood, plants, or other remains correspond to the remains of stones, metals, pottery, and other inorganic matters. Organic substances are more likely to rot than inorganic substances. But in theory, if kept in proper burial conditions, any artefacts can be preserved.

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as much detailed excavation information as possible, and then reach the conclusion after careful discussion.

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There are two collection methods of animal remains adopted in Zhangjia Port Ancient Riverway Site: all-around manual sorting and sampling selection. 1.

Manual sorting: manual sorting does not entail any special skills. All you need to do is to clean up the layers in the sequence of stratum during the excavation process, and collect, number, and label the animal remains of each layer for later sorting. This method is generally applied to the large animal bones unearthed in the site with good preservation. Given the relatively light weathering degree of such bones, it is unnecessary to consider on-site reinforcement when the bones are being extracted. For some poorly preserved bones or a complete set of skeletons or samples with requirements for relative placement, they need to be packed into one with boxes. Generally, the samples are collected in wooden boxes together with the surrounding soil, then the boxes get filled and reinforced with gypsum, brought back to the laboratory for further work after getting sealed. Therefore, you only need to prepare some basic tools before getting down to sampling. First, record, draw, take photos, and measure the basic information such as the basic excavation location on the site, then select the appropriate tools to pick up the remains according to the preservation conditions, and finally write labels and put the sample into bags. A detailed sampling record helps us to recall the field information when we sort out collected samples indoors.

2.1 Zooarchaeology in Liangzhu

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Pen and X-pattern record book: it is used to record the basic information of bone specimen on site, mainly including the location coordinates, preservation

2.1 Zooarchaeology in Liangzhu

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➈

levels, excavation conditions, on-site identification results, etc. Simple drawing can also be carried out if time allows. Label paper: the “birth certificate” of each bone specimen, including the site name, excavation unit, number, name, collection method, excavation location, recorder, and date. Sealing pocket: a “temporary place” for bones. Put the specimen and label together and take them back to the laboratory for further arrangement. Camera: take photos of unearthed bones and field work. Scale: a good assistant for photographing to intuitively understand sample size Band tape: measure the coordinates of the position based on the excavation units. Hand Shovel and bamboo stick: the shovel is used to clean the firmer bones, or to collect bones together with soil, and you can do further cleaning after returning to the lab; the bamboo stick is used to clean more fragile bones, or you can also bring the bones with soil back to the lab and do further cleaning Clothing: wear loose clothing and trainers suitable for sports, pay attention to skin protection from Sun, and wear rain boots if there is water in the detection area Water: for drinking; it can also be used to rinse unearthed relics

2.

Sampling selection:

➁ ➂ ➃ ➄ 6. ➆

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Considering the high viscosity of the soil in the site, the wet sieving method is adopted for washing. The size of the elutriation grid is 4 mm × 4 mm, which makes it possible for many small animals remains mixed in the soil that are not detectable by naked eye to be screened out. First, select key units for elutriation by sampling, and stack the soil in the selected excavation or site units near the elutriation shed layer by layer, and mark them with labels respectively, so as to avoid confusion on their stratum information during elutriation. The reason why unearthed relics obtained by archaeological excavation hold important research value is that they are clear in “origin” which is the very advantage over many handed down objects. We take the volume of a handcart as the unit to calculate the amount of soil to be washed. Every day, migrant workers will report the number of carts, and women cleaners wearing aprons, will hold square mesh screen in their left hand, and brush in their right hand, washing the soil blocks just transported by the small cart. About 1–2 cm of the sieve immersed in the water, washed gently, the soil block is broken and flows into the pool through the mesh, while the smaller parts of the soil are left on the sieve. Use a bamboo strainer to gather these small remains, put them on gauze, and dry them in the ventilated place. Finally, box them according to stratum classification and bring them back to the room for research.

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Washing pool: generally, a pool made of bricks and cement or a large plastic box made of vulcanized rubber can do the job. As a thick layer of silt will soon accumulate at the bottom, water must be drained every few days for cleaning. Mesh screen: cut the wire mesh into square shape, make four frames with planks, wear ropes on both sides, and hang it on the iron frame above the washing pool for convenient movement. Brush: soft brush or pot brush made of plant stems are both applicable. Its role is to remove the soil on the surface of unearthed relics. Dustpan: an object used to contain soil or washed relics. Bamboo strainer: kitchen ware, used to pick up some floating things such as carbon dust and seeds during washing process.

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➅

Gauze: with thickness and texture close to screen window, for drying the washed findings, reusable. Shift box: to prevent the soil from getting too hard before washing, you can first add water to the box to make it soft, which can greatly improve the efficiency of washing. Handcart: a magic tool for calculating the amount of soil to be washed.

➆ ➇

Systematic collection and preliminary statistics reveal that the number of animals remains unearthed in Zhangjia Port Ancient Riverway Site is the largest among Liangzhu Sites that has been excavated at present. After being packed, the unearthed relics shall be stored by different categories to prevent mixing with other types of remains such as pottery, stone ware, etc., and exposure to intense sunlight or rain shall also be avoided. The remains shall be left to professionals for management, to facilitate the sorting and research work in the future.

2.1.3 Laboratory Work After completing the field sampling, we can finally enter the laboratory for preliminary sorting. The laboratory work mainly includes three aspects: cleaning, matching, and numbering, identification and specimen production, and comprehensive research. Here the first two aspects will be briefly introduced considering the professional boundaries.

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Zooarchaeology laboratory at Liangzhu workstation. (1)

Cleaning, matching, and numbering

Zooarchaeologists deem each piece of animal remains as a collection worthy of gentle treatment. During the cleaning process, the bones are washed with great care. There are a lot of soil stuck on the surface of the animal remains unearthed at Zhangjia Port Ancient Riverway Site, which poses a severe barrier to the following identification and research. Therefore, it is entailed to clean the dust on the surface of animal remains with clean water and soft brush, so as to more clearly observe skeletons and traces left on the surface by nature or human, and it also facilitates the pairing of bones with new fragments, making up for the damage to the remains in the excavation process and restoring the actual status after the burial process. In addition, for animal skeletons that can be matched but have old fragments, we can infer the cause and process of fracture by the fractured section and other traces left on the surface, and judge whether it’s caused by nature or human, whether the skeletons belong to the same individual, and whether they can represent a certain human behaviour, etc.

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When it comes to numbering, the original label record shall be strictly followed. The numbers of the animal remain should be distinguished from other human remains and numbered separately to make it easy for later specimen description and analysis.

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Numbering method for animal skeleton: this pig calcaneus was unearthed at Erdaojingzi Site, which is in Erdaojingzi village, Wenzhong Town, Hongshan District, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The unearthed bones are usually numbered according to the excavation time, place name, and excavation unit. 09-2009-Excavated in September 2009; C-Chifeng City, W-Wenzhong Town, E-Erdaojingzi Site, F-house address, 102—the 102nd house in the site, 18-the 18th skeleton found in the house site. (2)

Identification and specimen production

Besides the command of theoretical knowledge of zooarchaeology, we should also have a solid identification ability. The identification scope includes species identification, gender identification, age identification, measurement, trace and fragmentation observation, pathological phenomenon analysis, etc. Species identification of animal skeleton lays the foundation for all the work like the ground of a house. In lack of accurate judgment, the subsequent work become meaningless. The industry standards of cultural relic protection of the People’s Republic of China: specimen collection and laboratory operation rules of animal remains unearthed in field gives a comprehensive summary to the scope of identification and analysis for animal specimens.

2.1 Zooarchaeology in Liangzhu

Record of animal specimen identification and analysis 骨骼编号 Bone number 出土遗址 Unearthed sites 出土单位 Unearthed unit 采集方法 Collection method 动物种属 Animal species and genera 骨骼名称 Bone name 左/右 Left / right 骨骼部位 Skeletal site 破碎程度 Degree of fragmentation 骨骼数量 Number of bones 骨骼重量 Bone weight

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In daily identification, we can resort to illustrators of animal skeletons, documents, specimen photos, three-dimensional animal skeleton scanning map, etc., but none is as intuitive as real specimens. As a matter of fact, identification mainly serves to master the shape and major characterizes of animal bones. When learning how to identify animal species and genera, we usually observe modern specimens first and summarize the rules. Once some children asked me if there was any magical instrument that could help zooarchaeologists identify bones, like a CT machine or something that can broadcast the results with a beep after you push in the bones to be examined. I just want to say that this kind of machine does not and will not exist. Regardless of the immeasurable amount of data to be accumulated, characteristics of animal bones are widely disparate to the extent that far exceeds the capability of a machine. Hence, manual identification remains the most accurate and scientific method, the accuracy of which only depends on the calibre of the researcher. It takes a long time to accomplish the gathering for a comparative specimen repository of real bones. If granted with ample funds, one can place an order from bone specimen manufacturers. However, the purchased specimens are made to meet the

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teaching needs of medicine, biology, and other disciplines. Most of them are not real animal bones but made of plastic. Although not clumsily produced, these specimens fail in delivery of details far beneath the standard of species identification on bone features. Few are specimens made of animal bones, and limited is the specimen variety that cannot meet the needs of zooarchaeologists. Most of the precious comparative specimens cannot be bought with money. Therefore, zooarchaeologists tend to make their own specimens.

2.2 Long Misunderstood Liangzhu Animals I believe you all know the Chinese idiom “Wu Gu Feng Deng (a bumper grain harvest)”, and “Liu Chu Xing Wang (six kinds of thriving domestic animals.)”. The six animals refer to “horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, and chickens". Until now, they are still closely connected with Chinese daily life. Hence, consistent efforts have been made by zooarchaeologists to explore the origin of Chinese livestock. In the Neolithic Age, all six kinds of animals appeared in northern China and ended up raised in captivity. However, studies on skeletal morphology, molecular biology, and genetics prove that there were no horses, sheep, and chickens in Zhejiang area during the Liangzhu period. In other words, these three domesticated animals were introduced from somewhere else. According to the current research results, horses and sheep were gradually introduced into the Yellow River Basin from West Asia, while chickens were originated from Southwest Asia. Although only “three animals” rather than “six animals” reached Zhejiang area in the Neolithic Age, it turned out there were many exclusive animals that were not found in the northern sites. The species of birds and fishes are significantly more abundant, while mammals include many typical subtropical animals that the North doesn’t have. From 2016 to 2017, I participated in the washing and excavation of the Zhangjia Port Ancient Riverway Site. Through the preliminary observation of many unearthed animals’ remains, I managed to summarize some basic conclusions: ➀ ➁ ➂ ➃

➄ ➅

Most of the animal skeletons are found in the north and south of the excavation area. Mammal groups show significant subtropical characteristics. Most birds are from lakes and swamps. Most the unearthed aquatic creatures are freshwater fishes and molluscs from rivers and lakes. Only a few shark teeth are found as the remains of marine animals. Based on their conditions when unearthed, it’s possible that they belong to the category of tools or decorations, circulating from the coastal areas. It’s the very first time that several special animals unearthed in Zhangjia Port Site were found in Liangzhu culture. The unearthing rate of pig bones towers above all other mammals, followed by that of deer and other wild animals. At that time, there was a breeding industry

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mainly for domestic pigs (only pigs and dogs can be confirmed as domestic animals), and hunting was used as a way of meat supplement. Lots of natural and artificial traces were found on the surface of bones, including saw, chop, smash, split, burn, grind, drill, and carve. At that time, there was bone processing industry. Currently, only parts of some relatively fine bones and leftover materials, as well as bone arrowheads, bone hairpins, bone cones, bone chisels, bone ornaments, angle cones, angle hoes, etc., are sorted out, most of which are small bone products, mainly processed in ways of smashing, sawing, and grinding. Many human bones have also been unearthed in the site, with abundant artificial traces on the surface.

At present, the excavation of Zhangjia Port Ancient Riverway Site is still under way, and a systematic zooarchaeological research has just taken off. However, many recent research results can indeed renew people’s entrenched understanding of Liangzhu animals.

2.2.1 Wild Boar or Domestic Pig? According to the current unearthed animal remains, pig is most closely related to Liangzhu people’s life among all animals. Pigs were found quite early in Zhejiang Province, with several remains of pig bones unearthed in the Shangshan Site which dates to about 8000 years ago. The following table demonstrates the data of the area around Taihu lake from the period of Kuahuqiao culture to Qianshanyang and Maqiao cultures. By integrating the data in each site, the average value of the proportion of pig bones in all mammals unearthed in each site was calculated. It can be said that during the past thousand years from the discovery of pig bones at Shangshan Site to the development of Songze culture, the proportion of pigs in mammals has been growing at a slow rate. But in this period, pigs were not the main source of meat resources, and wild animals such as cattle and deer occupied a more obvious advantage. While the utilization rate of pigs as meat resources in the Yellow River Basin was much higher than that in the Yangtze River Basin.

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At present, the emphasis of archaeological work in Zhejiang Province is laid on the research of Neolithic Age. After decades of archaeological work, a complete mapping of cultural development has been established. The basic development sequence to the south of the Qiantang River is “Shangshan culture–Kuahuqiao culture–Hemudu culture”, and the remains of Haochuan culture are discovered. To the north of the Qiantang River, there are five development stages of “Majiabang culture–Songze culture–Liangzhu culture–Qianshanyang culture–Guangfulin culture”. It is remarkable that in Liangzhu period, the unearthing rate of pig bones reached a peak, far surpassing those of previous periods. In most sites of Liangzhu culture, the proportion of pig bones accounted for more than half of the unearthing probability of identifiable mammals. The average probability of pigs to be discovered out of mammals in various sites reached about 80%, and the spikes were discovered in Bianjiashan Site and Zhangjia Port Ancient Riverway Site, which was close to 90%. However, after Liangzhu culture, namely, during the periods of Qianshanyang and Maqiao culture, the proportion of pigs dropped to the levels of Kuahuqiao and Hemudu culture at about 12%, which represented the tremendous shift of human life mode, with pork ceasing to be the main resource of meat. The pig bones unearthed in Liangzhu Site were formerly identified as boar bones from the perspective of morphology by lots of scholars. Although morphological identification can help us distinguish species and genera, it alone cannot serve as the solid and comprehensive evidence to determine whether the same kind of animal is domesticated or wild. It takes a long time for wild animals to become domesticated and show morphological changes. The changes may not be that obvious in domestic pigs during Liangzhu period, and the measurement data of upper and lower jaw M3 cannot explain the issue.

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Despite of the emergence of slight dentition distortion, individual differences among some male domestic pigs remain significant. (The dentition distortion is mainly caused by the changes of living environment and dietary habits imposed by human, which gradually leads to the morphological changes of the skulls. The changes of mandible are mainly shown in the distortion of dentition. The bone degeneration that shortens the length of dentition, and the invariant quantity of teeth conspire to make the dentition grow in a distorted manner, showing the shape of a gentle “s”. This is exactly like human’s wisdom teeth which grow at the end of the alveolar bone. Despite the bone degeneration of modern human, the tooth bud of our wisdom teeth remains. Due to the lack of sufficient space for wisdom teeth to grow, and the obstruction of adjacent teeth and soft tissue, the wisdom teeth tend to crop up at improper position, direction, and height.) Therefore, the quantitative statistics of age and gender and the analysis of pathological phenomena caused by artificial feeding become particularly important. Domestic pigs become adult when they are about one and a half years old. Butchering at this time or before can maximize the use of meat resources. The results of sampling analysis of 55 specimens in this site basically conform to this rule. In terms of quantity statistics, the number of pigs is far more than that of hunting. But there’s no denying that wild boars do exist, but mostly likely not on a large scale, and obtained through hunting or accidental events.

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Linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) is a kind of defect in enamel thickness during the formation of dental crown of mammals, typically shown as one or more lines, pits, and grooves formed on the surface of the tooth crown. Enamel secretion of ameloblasts is very sensitive to physiological interference. Generally, this pathological phenomenon is caused by physiological stress during animal growth, and it is common in the pig teeth unearthed at Liangzhu Site. In addition, there are also cases of fracture and hyperosteogeny. Pathological phenomena of domestic animals are closely related to human breeding practices. From wild to farmed, domestic animals altered their living habits and underwent physiological changes at the same time. A series of pathological changes related to malnutrition, such as osteoporosis, can also be observed on human bones. During zooarchaeological research, animal bone pathology can also be used as one of the evidences of domestication. In fact, not only in Liangzhu Sites, but also in Songze culture sites including Xiantan Temple site, the morphological data of domestic pigs are very close to that of wild boars. This is quite common in prehistoric sites around Taihu lake. Thought presently many measurement standards

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are effective in the Yellow River basin or Inner Mongolia areas, they seem to fizzle out in the areas around Taihu lake. Hence, it is a must to seek clues from multiple perspectives.

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The way Liangzhu people raise pigs is different from that of modern people, which may still be in the state of “free-range breeding". It refers to that the herdsmen drive pigs to the wild to eat plants or leftovers from villages, and then rush them back to the pen. This kind of pig raising method was kept as the mainstream feeding habits to the Qin and Han Dynasties, and recorded as “grazing pigs” in many documents. It was not until the Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, southern and Northern Dynasties that pigs gradually began to be raised in captivity instead of grazing. Even in modern times, this primitive feeding mode is adopted in some ethnic minority areas, which can save food to a great extent. Many historical books have recorded the scenarios of “grazing pigs”. In Han Dynasty, there was a child named Chenggong, who lost his father at eight years old and grazed pigs for others. There was a man named Xu Zisheng in the

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village who taught Chunqiu Jing to hundreds of students. Chenggong passed by his study house, envied the students who were studying, so he came close to the schoolhouse to take the class. Noticing Chenggong, Xu Zisheng invited him to join the class on the condition that Chenggong took the job of collecting firewood for his classmates. ——Biography of Chenggong in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty. Liang Hong used to graze pigs in Shanglin garden. He once forgot to quench the fire, which caused damage to other people’s houses. ——Biography of Liang Hong in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty. Qiu Zijin, a merchant in Han Dynasty, was a pig herder. He did not marry a wife even when he was 70 years old, and neither did he ever grow old. He only ate Acorus root and drank water. In the Jin Dynasty, Zhu jiweng kept more than ten chickens, all of which had names. They were released in the morning and returned to the cage at night. The chickens can respond and come to him when their names were called. ——The Whip and Spur, Volume 28. Sun Qi’s family was very poor, but he was filial to his mother. He grazes pigs by lakes to sustain his mother. ——Biography of Sun Qi in 26 Histories. From wild to domesticated, the shift of animal’s diet and lifestyle is the biggest cause of morphological change, which needs to go through a relatively long process. The phenomenon of “grazing pigs” mentioned above changed the life of pigs as wild animals to some extent, but it did not go to length of “keeping pigs in captivity” that means feeding pigs on a regular basis in closed space, which may slow down the “morphological changes “of wild boars towards domestic pigs. Compared with conditions of the northern sites, some domestication characteristics of domestic pigs in Liangzhu period were not that obvious. Some zooarchaeologists were surprised when they looked at the pig bones unearthed in Liangzhu Sites and claimed that it was the first time they saw such rugged-looking domestic pigs. The analysis of death age, gender, statistics, pathology and other phenomena, together with isotopic evidence points to the loose (free-range) management of the pigs whose bones were found at the sites, indicating that a large number of wild boars people believed to exist in Liangzhu Site for many years are actually wild-looking domestic pigs.

2.2.2 Bubalus mephistopheles  = Modern Buffalo Zhejiang areas have long been a typical “land of fish and rice” since ancient times. For a long time, domestic buffalo has been tightly linked with rice farming in people’s mind. In some sites of Liangzhu culture, “stone plough” (a kind of thin and fragile triangular grinded stone tool, which some scholars believe is used by human traction

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or is not a farming tool), has been found. Therefore, some scholars follow a logical train of thought that Liangzhu society with developed rice culture domesticated Buffalo that time. However, the domesticated Buffalo, as a resource of animal power, may appear much later than we think. Various research results show that there is no link between buffalo living in Asia and Bubalus mephistopheles. The cause of the extinction of Bubalus mephistopheles once widely distributed across China remains a mystery till today.

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In many sites of Liangzhu culture, the proportion of unearthed bovid animals is not high, and among them the only one animal that can be identified to genus is Bubalus mephistopheles, which was first discovered in Anyang by A. T. Hopwood in 1925, written as “Bubalus mephistopheles” in Latin. (In zooarchaeology, Latin is commonly used to name animals. The skeletons that have been identified are usually recorded by phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. When discussing on the animal remains in the site, zooarchaeologists use the binomial nomenclature to divide the species by scientific classification methods according to their commonality, including different levels of taxons. This method was formally proposed by Swedish researcher, Carl Linnaeus in the Natural System.) We can take apart the Latin name of Bubalus mephistopheles and find that “Bubalus” stands for buffalo, while “Mephistopheles” refers to the devil in medieval mythology. In Goethe’s Faust, we can also see the name

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of the devil, Mephisto, to whom Faust mortgaged his soul. I guess A. Hopwood was probably inspired by that pair of short, thick, devilish horns, and created the name “Mephistopheles". During the excavation of Yin Ruins in Anyang from 1928 to 1936, archaeologists found many bones of this buffalo. De Rijin and Yang Zhongjian translated it into “saint-buffalo”, and the estimated total number of individuals reaches more than 1000. As mentioned in Supplement to the Mammalian Fauna of the Yin Ruins in Anyang written by Yang Zhongjian and Liu Dongsheng: “however, given the great reserves of the three largest species groups (pig, elk, and saint-buffalo) in Anyang, their sources must not be far away if they are not bred locally; the fact that there were a good many saint-buffaloes proves climate difference between now and then”, perhaps under the influence of the “six domestic animals” (horse, cow, pig, sheep, dog and chicken) concept, some palaeontologists bracket saint-buffalo into domestic animals. Although till now there remain some scholars believe that the saint-buffalo belongs to domesticated buffalo family, the increasingly abundant data and research results contribute to a more objective understanding of it. The morphological identification of Bubalus mephistopheles is mainly oriented to its skull, which can tell a highly visible difference from the buffalo living in China today. The anatomical characteristics of the skull are listed as follows: the horn cores are incredibly short and thick, the cross section of each part takes the form of a isosceles triangle, the front and upper sides are flat, and the lower side is slightly protruding downward; the edges of the horn core are very sharp, especially the far end; the two horns greatly extend backward, and at the same time slightly bend inward. From the top view, the two horn cores relate to the frontal bone into a narrow crescent shape, and the upper surface of the horn core is in parallel with the maxillary teeth. The horn bone looks quite big when compared with the horn core. The occipital bone is rather prominent behind the horn. The frontal bone concaves downward between the horn cores and the eye sockets. The occipital bone is broad and sturdy, and the accessory occipital is lofty and thick. These are the main basis for many sites in China to identify the unearthed cattle bones as Bubalus mephistopheles.5 In addition, the buffalo’s horns are long and slender, the metacarpal and metatarsal bones are also very thin, and the phalanges are quite small. The skeleton remains of Bubalus mephistopheles are found in Kuahuqiao site, Hemudu site and Luojiajiao site in Zhejiang Province. It can be classified from other Buffalo species by morphological observation. Through the study of the death age and trace of the bones of the Bubalus mephistopheles unearthed in Zhangjia Port site, the information about the butchering mode can be extracted. Based on the disordered distribution of age, it’s safe to deduce that the Bubalus mephistopheles here was obtained by hunting. Besides, the haplotype diversity of the DNA suggested that it was a wild animal. Bubalus mephistopheles went extinct before it was domesticated

5

Institute of Paleovertebrate and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Chinese Vertebrate Fossil Manual compilation group: Chinese Vertebrate Fossil Manual, pp. 610–616, Science Press, 1979.

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by human beings. The buffalo used as animal resources in the south is not their offspring.

2.2.3 Yellow-Spotted Giant Turtle, Taihu Lake Turtle, Lump-Head Turtle, Sishi Turtle, or Spotted Turtle? Turtles and dinosaurs are contemporary reptiles. Having experienced the catastrophe caused by crustal movement and climate change, and witnessed the extinction of dinosaurs, turtles managed to survive till today. Throughout hundreds of millions of years of evolution, they upgrade so slowly in morphological characteristics, that even today, we can vaguely recognize the looks of ancient creatures from them. During development, human beings gradually generate a deeper thinking on some of the species beyond simple demand on symbiotic flowers, trees, birds, and beasts for livelihood. It’s the similar case with people’s attitude toward turtles, from “eating turtles” to “revering turtles for divination". Abdomen and back both equipped with hard armour, head, tail, and limbs able to retract into the shell, resistant to hunger and thirst, turtles boasts of incredibly long life span, far outlasting ancient people who are only given several decades to live. What’s the spell cast on turtles that endows them with longevity? Perhaps it’s the human’s ardent pursuit after life and confusion for the unknown things that put turtles on pedestals in Chinese culture. In the Liangzhu culture period, there was no sign of turtle worship but common practice of “eating turtles". The shells and skeletons of some turtles (mostly small freshwater turtles) have been unearthed in Liangzhu Sites. Dozens of abdominal carapaces remain of yellow-spotted giant turtles (Rafetus Swinhoei) have been found in Zhangjia Port Ancient Riverway Site. The giant turtle is one of the largest turtles in the world, whose wild species in China are now extinct, with only one in Suzhou Zoo and one in Changsha Zoo alive. The “yellow-spotted giant turtle” has been addressed in many ways and not until recent 10 years did its taxonomic name finally get confirmed. There are many names for this animal, such as “Taihu lake turtle”, “lump-head turtle”, “Sishi turtle” and “spotted turtle” as we can find in documents. The volume of the giant turtle is enormous, as a 100-year-old giant turtle can be like a small bathtub in size. They have been around on Earth for 270 million years and can live for more than 400 years. The deck armour unearthed from Luojiajiao Site in Tongxiang, whose owner was identified to be a Taihu lake turtle at that time, belongs to the yellow-spotted giant turtle.

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In ancient times when there was no systematic classification of animals, only turtle was called by general term. The Book of Rites is the first book to mention “Yuan (Pelochelys cantorii)". Tuo (Chinese alligator), Gui (turtle), and Yuan at that time all appeared as individuals. The emperor stands in the main hall of the Palace. He walks on the red road, rides the red horse, carries the red flag, wears red clothes, and wears red jade. He eats Shu (ancient general term of beans) and chicken, and he drinks with high and rough vessels. He ordered the fisherman to hunt dragon and Tuo, and catch Gui and Yuan, and people residing at lakes to collect reed. ——Yue Ling, The book of Rites. The explanation of turtle in the past dynasties is nothing more than the word “Da Bie (big soft-shelled turtle)”, which is very general. The mission of modern zooarchaeology is to distinguish each species of Bie and Yuan. Yuan, as the largest among all turtles, it’s named after the word used to address “big”, Yuan. ——Shuo Wen Jie Zi (the first Chinese dictionary) compiled by Xu Shen in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

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Yuan, big Bie. —Record of fantasies: exceptional dragon by Du Guangting in the late Tang and Five Dynasties. The size of a Yuan can reach 12 Zhang (Chinese ancient unit) in width. ——Er Ya Yi by Luo Yuan in Song dynasty. Yuan lives in rivers and lakes of the south, and the big individual can reach one or two Zhang in size. Southerners catch and feed on them. ——Compendium of Materia Medica: Jijie by Li Shizhen, Ming Dynasty. Yuan can parallel to Bie in size and there are individuals that weigh as much as 40 or 50 Jin (a unit of weight). As Lumps can be found on Yuan’s head, it is commonly known as the “lump-head turtle". Today, it can be found in open ponds. ——Wu County Annals of the Republic of China. According to the investigation, it was once widely distributed in the Yellow River, Yangtze River, Taihu lake, Qiantang River, Red River, Majiang Basin and Penghu waterway in Taiwan. In fact, giant yellow-spotted turtles preponderate in all the turtle species recorded in the history of these areas. The wild species in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Qiantang River and Taihu lake in China went extinct at the end of the twentieth century. Today, the giant turtle is listed in the red list of endangered species of the International Union for the conservation of nature (IUCN) and joins the first-class protected wild animals in China. The historical change of this animal is very similar to that of Chinese alligator and elk. The gradual decline of their living range and quantity is mainly caused by poaching and ecological damage. Although it is not as famous as the South China tiger and panda, increasing media attention, including the US public television network and National Geographic magazine, has been attached to the giant turtle in recent years due to the enhancement of animal protection awareness. Represented by Conservation Society of Amphibians and Reptiles (CSAR) and Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), academic institutions and organizations also pay heed to the giant turtle, with the former focused on public welfare animal protection, and the latter on academic research.

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Reports on the Yellow spotted giant turtle

Despite lots of attention, it is difficult for the four living giant turtles left in the world to reclaim the prosperity of their species in the former times. In addition to continuing artificial reproduction for the survivors in the zoo, animal conservationists need continue searching and protecting the wild populations of the giant turtle, and there is still hope left in the Red River Basin. Besides, two were found in Hoàn Kiem in Ha Noi, Vietnam and Dongmo Reservoir.

2.2.4 Chicken or Pheasant? Domestic chicken is the most popularized poultry in the world and the most economical and effective source of animal protein for human beings. Perhaps there is no other domesticated animal that will be raised by human so widely as chicken as one of the most important sources of meat. However, scholars still can’t give a clear answer about when and where this poultry became domesticated. The earliest evidence of the breeding of domestic chickens is provided by Harappa culture in the Indus River Basin (about 2500–2100 B.C.), and till today there are still a good many Gallus gallu (ancestor of domestic chicken). Some scholars speculate that at first chickens were domesticated for entertainment, which is fully illustrated by the images drawn at

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that time. Until about 1000 B.C., chickens were still forbidden to eat and played an important role in religious ceremonies. At present, the site where the earliest unearthing of domestic chicken took place can be confirmed to be the Yin Ruins of Anyang in Shang Dynasty. No doubt, there was no domestic chicken during Liangzhu period. However, in some research materials on zooarchaeology of Liangzhu (Caojieshan site and Maqiao site), it is mentioned that there were manually raised chickens at that time, or pointed out that Liangzhu people fed on chickens, ducks, and geese. As a matter of fact, it’s also the case with many other sites besides Liangzhu. For example, there is a researcher who once carried out stable isotope analysis on the so-called chicken bones in a site dating back to more than 5000 years ago in the north and seal the conclusion that chickens were domesticated that time. Nevertheless, probably due to negligence of work, based on the pictures in the paper, it’s dog bones that had been tested; another example is that in the study on mitochondrial DNA of early domestic chickens conducted by another research, the chicken bones sampled in the three sites actually all belonged to pheasants (wild chickens). There are many other similar missteps that creates the illusion of domestic chickens spreading all over China in prehistoric sites. The main cause is the very ignorance of the foundation of identification work. How can correct conclusion be reached when the research object is even misplaced? It’s not worth boasting about that you use fancy instruments, or you pull off some testing in process of researching. Important as scientific and technological means are, they are useless if you fail to do basic work well and lack a proper research methodology and ability of analysis and demonstration.

Birds in Liangzhu period (ducks, geese, and swans in the upper row; pheasants, cranes, and eagles in the lower row)

From the animal classification, we know that domestic chicken originates from Gallus gallu that shares the root of Galliformes with pheasant, and thus has many similarities in morphology. But as chicken and pheasant are animals of two different species and genera, through morphological observation, it is easy to capture the differences. Besides, poultry is highly sensitive to the natural environment. Southeast Asia presently holds a bigger proportion of Gallus gallu, and based on the current living environment, the distribution range is confined to the south of the Tropic of

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Cancer. Hence, it’s safe to say that possibilities are low for Gallus gallu to exist during the Liangzhu period. Even if Gallus gallu does exist in the Taihu lake Basin, it needs to be verified with more unearthed data. It takes a prolonged period of domestication for Gallus gallu to finally turn into chicken. So far, I don’t think there is any strong evidence to prove the existence of poultry in Liangzhu Site. Then what are the wild birds that can be identified in Liangzhu Site? It mainly includes wild duck, wild goose, pheasant, swan, eagle, crane, and so on. Among them, wild ducks and geese take up a larger number. In terms of species composition, it is typically oriented towards lake and swamp. Compared with mammals, birds account for less than 1% of the total according to the current statistics.

2.2.5 Sheep, Goat, or Capricornis sumatraensis? Some time ago, I read a promotional article sent by an official account of a restaurant on WeChat. The main message is that the restaurant had designed several special dishes inspired by Liangzhu people’s diet. Some of the dishes were normal, such as fried water chestnut and beef. Then poultry like chicken and duck appeared on the menu, which I can grind my teeth and let it go. However, my jaw almost dropped to the ground when the last dish braised mutton came to my sight. Although it’s just a marketing tool to attract customers, I have to say it is ill-prepared. Since it’s during the Longshan period (about 4000 years ago) that the sheep were introduced into northern China, the ancestors of Liangzhu were denied a taste of sheep for sure. However, in the prehistoric site (Hemudu site) in Zhejiang Province, a close relative of sheep, Capricornis sumatraensis, was discovered. It is also a goatantelope, with the look of a long-legged black goat, but its skeleton may be mistaken for sheep bone. However, it is not known yet whether C. sumatraensis will also be found in Liangzhu Site with the unfolding of excavation. According to the current research data, it’s in Song dynasty that sheep made first appearance in Zhejiang Province. Song Dynasty enjoyed a diversity of domestic animals benefiting from the improvement of breeds and the introduction of new species. The successful case of introducing the northern species to the south, without any doubt, is Hu sheep that is the most representative animal in Zhejiang Province. Hu sheep has been bred and raised in Taihu lake Plain for more than 800 years. The influence of natural conditions and artificial selection conspire to make Hu sheep a unique breed. At the beginning, Hu sheep entered what now are Changxing and Anji mainly because of the similar geomorphic environment to the north with hills, mountains, and grasslands; while Huzhou area embodies the typical landscape of Jiangnan, belonging to the subtropical monsoon region, which is not a fit for sheep accustomed to the arid, northern areas to live. Through continuous domestication and breeding, the local people have gradually adapted the northern sheep into Hu sheep that is suitable for locally growing. As an ideal economic animal, Hu sheep not only provide meat and milk resources, but also produce wool by-products of excellent quality.

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As the old saying goes: “The unique features of a local environment always give special characteristics to its inhabitants.” It’s also the same case with sheep. Although the ancestor of Hu sheep is the northern sheep, I can’t connect the two without a check at their bones even though my tongue is used to northern mutton. At least in terms of taste, they have completely diverged into two species.

2.3 Liangzhu People Keep up with Animals Records of the Grand Historian · biography · biography of merchants said: “Chu Yue covers a vast territory but is thinly populated. People feed on rice and fish. They carried out slash–and–burn farming and weeding with water so that they become self–sufficient in fruits, vegetables, snails and clams, with no need to purchase from merchants.” Even till today, “feed on rice and fish” is still the signature of diet culture in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. With the ongoing comprehensive researches integrating various subjects, an increasing number of scholars describe the scenes of Liangzhu life as “feed on rice and fish". Even though rice and aquatic products can provide daily energy and nutrients for human survival to a certain extent, they are weaker in dietary nutritional composition when compared with the meat resources and by-products brought by mammals and birds. According to the analysis of pig bones unearthed from many Liangzhu Sites, there is no doubt that domestic pigs were raised at that time. Hunting wild animals, especially deer, has become one of the important supplement forms of meat resources. The knowledge of modern nutrition tells us that protein is the main component of human body structure, and muscle and nervous system have the highest amount of protein. The kinds and proportion of amino acids contained in animal protein are more in line with the needs of human body than those in plant protein. The existence of breeding and hunting economy reflects that Liangzhu ancestors take the pursuit after food quality to a new height. More importance may have been attached to balanced nutrition of diet, which is a sign of primal cognition of nutrition knowledge. Therefore, if our understanding of Liangzhu people’s diet remains paused at the stage of “feed on rice and fish”, apparently it wouldn’t suffice. At least, “feed on pigs and deer” shall be added.

2.3.1 See Big Through “small” One of the important aspects of animal archaeology is the study of microscratch. When it comes to the tiny scratches on the surface of bones, the concept of bone remodelling must be mentioned. Bone remodelling refers to the changes of normal morphology and structure of bones and teeth caused by various factors, which can be divided into two situations: fracture and trace. According to the causes of formation, the traces on the surface of bones can be classified into three types:

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(1) physical weathering that poses damages to bones by nature (wind blowing and sun drying, water erosion, sand erosion, etc.) and chemical weathering (acid soil erosion, plant root growth, bacteria and acid rain corrosion, etc.) and various protective effects on bones (leaching); (2) animal effects. It mainly includes traces of bites, scratches, digestion and corrosion by carnivores, bites of rodents, trampling and bites of ungulates, etc.; (3) human action, including smashing, chopping, cutting, sawing, splitting, gouging, scraping, grinding, burning, baking, drilling and dyeing, which is closely connected with human’s hunting, slaughtering, skinning, dismembering, flesh-picking, eviscerating, cooking, and making bone implements. A profusion of various animal remains have been unearthed in Liangzhu Site. Be it due to burial conditions or complex human behaviour, surfaces of bones are vulnerable to different types of traces. When the bones are kept buried, natural factors cast the most extensive influence on bones. If viewed from the angle of natural influence, the majority of the bones buried in Liangzhu tombs or production and life sites are not that well preserved, as the acid soil is highly corrosive, which can be even more destructive in hot and humid areas; while the bones in the ancient river channel are preserved in better conditions thanks to the long-time absence of oxygen caused by saturation of water, so that many artificial traces left on the bones can stay. Besides, the traces formed by animals on the surface of bones tend to be easy to observe. Among all animals, the gravest damage causer is carnivores, followed by rodents. From the past zooarchaeological research, we found that most of the traces formed on the surface of bones were bites, followed by scratches and trampling marks. Trampling marks are the most difficult to distinguish from man-made fragmentation. Meanwhile, we should not neglect the transport function imposed by animals on bones, which seriously affects the analysis and research of bone unit distribution. The bite marks of rodents are the most common animal traces found in Liangzhu Site. Rodents, such as all breeds of rats and porcupines, have the habit of grinding teeth because of their permanent growth of incisors. The incisors of rodents look like cylinders, and the cross section of teeth marks is U-shaped. The teeth marks are paralleled and distributed in groups, with each group placed from shallow to deep, and then from deep to shallow. Teeth marks generally remain on the surface of the bone without penetrating through the bone wall and usually are fine and dense.

2.3 Liangzhu People Keep up with Animals

Smash marks on the humerus of pigs 2016 钟家港北段 COCO 区 I 块 T2234⑦B2 家猪左侧肱骨远端

2016 the north section of Zhangjia Port Site COCO Area I Block T2234⑦B2 Far end of the left humerus of domestic pig

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Cut marks on deer tibia

Aside from the influence of the above-mentioned natural and animal factors, studying the traces caused by various human factors via observation and research of microtraces is of great significance to explore the ancient human behaviour and restore the ancient human society. The artificial traces found on the animal remains in Liangzhu Site mainly include saws, cuts, smashes, cuts, splits, gouges, burns, holes, abrasions, scratches, etc. In summary, these traces can be caused by various reasons, but there are two reasons are the most common. Most of the traces are caused by slaughtering and eating, and in another case, the traces are left due to the production of bone products. Listed here are some common artificial traces that can be spotted in Liangzhu Site: (1)

Smash marks: caused by hitting the bone with a blunt instrument. If the purpose is to gain bone marrow, the middle of the diaphysis is most usually smashed; if to cut material from the bone to make tools, the smash will usually be targeted at the two ends of the epiphysis. When hitting the bone wall, there will be bone pieces falling off the inner wall of the bone, leaving obvious striking traces with fractures in irregular shapes; while a lot of consecutive and structured traces will be left in the process of modifying bone material and repairing bone implements, which are much more delicate and regular than those caused by smashes

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(2)

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Cutting marks: cutting generally serve three purposes: peeling, dismembering, and flesh-picking. When specialized personnel for slaughtering and dismembering animals come to existence, these cuts will become highly regular, including the location and frequency of those cutting traces. This is a relatively fixed technique gradually formed by the accumulation of long-term experience.

Saw marks on the near end of the cattle’s tibia

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Saw marks, drill holes and bite marks by rodents on the elk’s horn 2016 钟家港北段：2016 the north section of Zhangjia Port Site COCO 区 N 块 T2234⑦B2:1：COCO Area N Block T2234⑦B2:1

麂角：Elk’s horn

(3)

Saw marks: narrow and deep, formed by back and forth movement in vertical directions between the tool and long axis of the bone. Saws are generally divided into hard saws and soft saws. There are great differences in the forms of bone fractures with different types of saws. In Liangzhu Site, it is often used for cutting of materials and processing of decoration.

The fracture caused by the hard saw is even and generally found on the thick and hard bones of mammals. There are two common situations: sawing the bone off in one direction and changing directions continuously during sawing. Small scratches will be left on the fracture surface in parallel. We can deduce the way the bone was sawed according to the directions of the scratches. Some bones are not sawed off at a stretch, with parts of them sawed off first, and the rest broke off next. Soft saws are mostly made from the skin of animals and are generally used for production of decorations. It is easier to control the force and create the desired shape than the hard saw. The traces left are relatively smoother, basically without edges and corners, and rounded and blunt grooves with radian will be left on both sides of the aggregate. (4)

Drilling: it often appears on ornaments, which can be threaded with rope for easy wearing, or it can be applied to combine the blade and handle tightly for easy using. There are many tools and methods for drilling, classified into

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common forms of grinding, digging, and drilling. The gradually developed technology through ceaseless practice enables the hole to be quite round with highly regular edges. Generally, there are two types of drilling: single-side drilling and double-sided drilling. In Liangzhu Site, both have been discovered.

Bone products unearthed in Zhangjia Port Site 骨制品 Bone products 1.骨锥 bone-awl 2.骨簪 bone-hairpin 3.骨镞 bone-arrowhead 4.骨饰片 bone-sequin 5.骨凿 bone-chisel

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2.3.2 From Bones to Tools Production of bone, horn, and mussel ware, as one of the earliest forms of human’s handicraft industry, is common in residential areas, processing and manufacturing workshops and tombs. The bone, horn, and mussel products were widely used and diverse in categories, which played an important role in people’s production and daily life that time. In Zhangjia Port Ancient Riverway Site, through washing and preliminary sorting, some relatively fine bones and horn materials, as well as bone arrowheads, bone hairpins, bone cones, bone chisels, bone ornaments, horn cones, horn hoes were discovered, most of which were small, grinded bone products, including tools, weapons and ornaments, mostly made of long bones of large- and mediumsized mammals or antlers. The basic principle of selecting materials for bone products is to minimize input of time and materials and reduce labour intensity. Given the limited living conditions of ancient Liangzhu people, they tend to decide on the selection and utilization of raw materials in pragmatic light. Long bones of large mammals, or antlers of deer and large hard teeth, are usually picked. However, through long-term observation and practice, they have gradually learned to make a skilful use of bone materials in special shapes. For example, horn cones are mostly made of tips of the animals’ horns which are cut off directly and simply trimmed. Almost for sure, the most suitable materials and the simplest processing technique can guarantee the best-made bones. Splitting, smashing, and wedging are three common ways to modify aggregates into smaller sizes according to the needs; (1) splitting: to use a sharp tool to split longitudinally from one end of the bone tube to obtain a regular slice with even fracture and no scar; (2) smashing: to place the middle part of the bone tube on a stone anvil and hit with a stone hammer. The shell of the bone tube will be broken into sharp bone pieces with irregular ends. There are two big striking points and peeling scars left on the inner wall of fracture; and (3) wedging: firstly to divide the aggregate previously cut into several parts according to the bone product to be made, then carve a wide and deep groove on the outer wall of the long bone with a sharp tool, and crack it with a wedge to obtain the part of the aggregate to be processed. The aggregate will be further trimmed to form the basic shape of the tool to be made. When the basic shape is finalized, the tool is ready to use. Grinding and repairing is the extra step to make tools sharper and more durable or make decorations more agreeable. The grinded bone products will have smooth surface without highly visible grinding traces. Based on the unearthed aggregate and bone products, it can be seen that the processing of bone products by our Liangzhu ancestors once reached a fixed scale and had a relatively standardized production line, but at that time only some articles for production and daily use were processed, with single categories and simple shapes.

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2.3.3 Animal Images (Animal Images Applied to Jade Ware and Other Artworks) Liangzhu jade is a kind of jade culture with decorative patterns as its main connotations and characteristics. The half-human-half-monster face patterns and their variant forms can be found across Liangzhu areas, which run through the development of Liangzhu culture and act as the theme of the most jade designs. In addition, the main patterns of Liangzhu jade ware also include bird and dragon-head patterns. The patterns together with shapes of jade ware constitute the special cultural significance of Liangzhu jade. The animal images in Liangzhu period are usually expressed in three ways: animals carved in jade, symbols of animals carved on pottery, and animal sculptures in pottery. Animals carved in jade are more realistic, which can be divided into two main categories: solid sculpture and plane carving. Animals in solid sculpture include birds, cicadas, fish, turtles, etc., while the subject of plane carving is mainly birds. Most animals in jade are unearthed in the tombs of Liangzhu culture (Zhangling Mountain, Fan Mountain, Yao Mountain, etc.). Animals in solid sculpture features a bulging front and a flat back with holes on it, through which can accessories be attached. Compared with animals carved in jade, the craftsmanship of animal symbols appears to be more casual, and most of them are akin to stick figures by kids. However, the animals expressed are more diverse in shapes, including birds, deer, crocodiles, turtles, dragons, and many other animals that are difficult to identify. Animal pottery figurine is few. Only little pottery elephants and pigs have been unearthed.

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Animal images of Liangzhu 鸟 Bird 鸟 Bird 鸟 Bird 蚕 Silkworm pupa 鱼 Fish 龟 Turtle 雕刻鸟纹 Carved birds 鹿 Deer 鳄鱼 Crocodile 玉璧上的“鸟立高台” The pattern of “bird perched on a platform” on jade 鸟 Bird

龟 Turtle 龙虾？鱼？Lobster? Fish? 老虎？Tiger?

Overall, bird is the most abundant in subject matters among all the Liangzhu animal images, and it is the second commonest patterns only next to the humanized figures of animals, generally found at the subordinate position of the humanized figures of animals, with one divine badge corresponding to two bird patterns. As part

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of the pattern of the humanized figures of animals, bird patterns hold no worship significance to its own and can be found mainly on jade Cong, crown-shaped decoration, jade Huang, and trident-shaped articles. Jade birds and artistic bird patterns or symbols can be regarded as the inheritance and development of bird worship tradition in the Eastern coastal areas and Southeast China. Compared with the images of bird of prey, such as hawks and falcons found in other Neolithic cultures (Hongshan, Lingjiatan, and Shijiahe), the bird image of Liangzhu appears milder as the beaks of the birds are short and straight, showing the images of sparrows and pigeons. Although we can’t determine the species of birds by these artistic creations, they do reflect the real characteristics of animals to a certain extent. The frequency at which other animal images appear in Liangzhu period was not high, but it also reflected a tight connection to the life of Liangzhu people. During the long-term life together, human beings hunt all kinds of wild animals to ensure their survival. Beyond the acquisition of flowers, trees, birds, and animals for livelihood, human beings gradually developed a deeper level of thinking about some of the species and started artistic creation. This might explain why an abundance of animal images could be preserved to later generations.

Chapter 3

Plant Paradise of Liangzhu Site

When unfolding the scroll of human civilization, we’d find man and nature the underlying theme, and culture the unique invention created by mankind. The interactions between nature and culture plucked human from billions of species to the status of paragon of all animals… During the long farming period, humanistic culture that inspires personality and arts with nature, with rural vibes created and nurtured. Nature at that time is the physical world that accommodates mankind on one hand, and mental endowment that inspires mankind to follow their personality on the other hand. Human back then was in awe and love of the natural world, and full of longing for the spirit of nature. ——Zhou Guangzhao: Creating cultural Ecology, Man and Nature Series (General Preface). The necessities of life, such as clothing, food, housing, and transportation, are all derived from nature. ——Ji Xianlin: Towards the Unity of Man and Nature, Man and Nature Series (General Preface).

3.1 Generation of Archaeobotany Human beings cannot afford to dispense with the generous nature in any aspects of life since their birth. Be it for our ancient ancestors thousands of years ago, or modern people in the developed society, food, and clothing are essential. The only difference would be the alleged backward and advanced forms. We often see people’s clothes in prehistoric times in the illustrations of various books—topless or with a piece of mottled fur or dense green leaves around their waists. Even now, some primitive tribes only wear fur and leaves. In the days before agriculture came into being, in order to survive, ancient people familiarized themselves with all kinds of natural resources and made use of them: strong males to hunt and obtain delicious meat, © Zhejiang University Press 2021 X. Ji et al., The Paleoenvironment, Plants and Animals of Liangzhu, Liangzhu Civilization, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3872-5_3

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while women with weaker physical strength to pick ripe wild fruits in groups. A rich dinner was born. Of course, the ancients who could not build houses and did not have a settled life would not clean up every day like modern people. After a feast, the site was left in a mess. The campfire in the middle was still flickering with yellow flames. The “masters” of nature had already gone to sleep. The next morning, they would be singing all the way to the next place with plenty of water and lush grass. Years of running around sowed the seeds of settling down in ancestors’ mind, and finally they built home in places with abundant water and resources. Experience passed down from generation to generation and accumulated on their own taught them which plants were edible and which plants could be cultivated for more harvest. Slowly, the initial agriculture took shape. Having settled down at a fixed place, people could no longer leave piles of garbage after meals as before. Instead, they started to clean up and dig pits especially for storing garbage. In hot summer, food residues would stink if left aside for long. Fire plays an important role in avoiding such situations. Throw a fire into the garbage pit, and everything would be gone. Because of the differences of material composition, there are always survivors that are not burned to ashes, but to carbon, and thus preserved. “Carbonization” is how it is addressed. The temperature and duration of time for different materials to be carbonized are different. As revealed by the current simulation experiment, the carbonization temperature of rice is about 180–210 °C, and that of wheat is 215–315 °C.1 With the increase of temperature, the carbonization time is shortened correspondingly. Like fossils, the carbonized stone and seeds lose vital signs, no longer able to germinate and reproduce. Lying down there quietly and waiting for the rise and fall of the tide and the vicissitudes of the sea for thousands of years are all that they can do. They will remain silent until archaeologists bring them back to the public sight, recording and telling their stories thousands of years ago. Carbonization is not the only reason why fragile plant remains can stay. Extremely arid and humid environments can also pull it off. For example, in the 1950s, ancient lotus seeds were found in the peat soil layer of Paozitun, Xinjin County, Liaoning Province. As shown by the carbon 14 dating result, the seeds dated back to around 1000 years ago and blossomed into lotus2 after cultivation. Besides, dried human bones and plant seeds were also discovered in Xinjiang Region during archaeological work.

1

Wang Qi, Chen Xuexiang, Jiang Zhilong, etc.: Significance of Carbonization Simulation Experiment in Archaeobotany Research, Southern Cultural Relics, 2015, issue 3, page 197. 2 Ma Xun: Ancient Lotus Seeds in China, Proceedings of the 15th Symposium of Botanical Garden Branch of Chinese Botanical Society, 2000, p. 221.

3.1 Generation of Archaeobotany

Uncarbonized noodles discovered at the Lajia Site (about 4000 years ago)

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The process described above actually outlines the content and purpose of archaeobotany that is to study the plant remains connected with ancient human beings and explain the development and shifts of ancient society. Same as zooarchaeology, archaeobotany is also a branch of archaeology and thus shares the same problems to be solved, only with resort to knowledge and means of Botany. In the USA, archaeology subordinates to anthropology, due to the focus initially placed on the study of Indian history, and away from the history of its own. While in Asian and European countries, archaeology belongs to the major subject of history as their long history justified archaeologists’ need to sort out the social development and evolution over thousands of years, and the emphasis is put on the daily utensils closely related to human life. In the 1960s, American archaeologist Lewis Binford published an article entitled “Archaeology as Anthropology” on American Antiquity, which advocated that the archaeological materials should be interpreted in a large cultural system, and that all kinds of archaeological materials should be carefully studied to understand the original appearance of the environment that no longer existed, and to explain the development and change of society.3 Research on the plant remains in ancient sites, for sure, was indispensable. It was in this context that the “flotation method” was invented.4 3

Lewis Binford: Archaeology as Anthropology, American Antiquity, 1962, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 217– 225. 4 Zhao Zhijun: Brief History of Archaeobotany, China Cultural Relics Daily, December 25, 2009, 007 edition.

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Flotation method, as literally described, refers to a method of extracting tiny relics from ruins by utilizing the dissolving and separating the effect of water on soil.5 In a nutshell, it is “washing soil". Pour the soil collected from the site into a container filled with water, the carbonized materials will float on the water surface due to their lightweight and then collect them. This is the basic operation procedure of flotation method. Stuart Streuver, an American archaeologist, was the first to adopt flotation method. He obtained rich plant remains in the excavation of the “Lower Illinois River Archaeological Project” in 1962. Slowly, western scholars mastered the “key” to extracting plant remains in the sites and began preparations for setting up archaeobotany laboratories and training professionals. Then archaeobotany was born in the West. As the western new archaeology movement was in full swing, Chinese archaeologists were pulling out all the stops for the domestic field archaeological work. However, they were rarely influenced by international archaeology due to their little contact with the outside world. Fuhao tomb in Yin Ruins, the pit of Terracotta Warriors, Mancheng Han tomb, and Mawangdui Han tomb were all discovered in that period. Since plant remains rot away easily, it’s common for archaeologists to skip them. Yet there are still some preserved plant remains discovered by archaeologists, such as millet unearthed from Banpo Site in 1955. However, Chinese archaeology archaeobotany didn’t start until Mr. Zhao Zhijun returned from abroad in 1992, vigorously promoted flotation method and introduced the theoretical knowledge of archaeobotany.

5

Liu Changjiang, Jin Guiyun, Kong zhaochen: Archaeobotany: Study of Seeds and Fruits. Science Publisher, 2008, p. 20.

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Archaeobotany starts with sampling, which can be divided into full-area, partialarea, and purposive collection. Since it is impossible to fully cover a certain site or conduct sampling for the entire exposed area, partial-area, and purposive collection are most adopted. Each time we discover a house, a storage pit or a garbage pit left by the ancients; we will collect a sample of the soil of about 5–10 L for floatation. There are three kinds of flotation equipment, and the ripple flotation instrument improved by Gary Crawford in 1983 is now commonly used. Though sounding like a complicated instrument at first, it is a machine with automatic water filling and drainage function.

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The operation method is as follows:

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Seal the drain hole at the bottom of the water tank, connect the water inlet with the water pipe, open the valve, and turn on the water tank. When the water tank is full, scatter the soil sample evenly into the water tank, and turn the nozzle in the water tank upward to increase the buoyancy of water. The carbonized seeds and charcoal in the soil sample will float on the surface due to their lightweight, and flow out of the overflow tank onto the fine screen, which is called “light floating”; while relatively heavier broken pottery pieces, small stone tools, and fractured bones will sink into the coarse screen placed in the tank, which is called “heavy floating”.6 The waste mud water will be discharged through the drainage hole; then, the remains on the fine screen and the coarse screen will be collected, respectively. After being dried in the cool and ventilated place, the light and heavy floating remains will be, respectively, sent to the laboratories of archaeobotany and zooarchaeology for further selection, identification, and analysis.

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6

Liu Changjiang, Jin Guiyun, Kong zhaochen. Archaeobotany: a study of seeds and fruits. Science Press, 2008, p. 22.

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After the dried samples arrive at the laboratory, more detailed selection and research work are started. The common tools are microscope, sample screen, electronic balance, culture dish, soft tweezers, dissecting needle, small brush, small centrifuge tube, self-zip bag, registration form, etc.

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After registering the information of plant remains for all the relic units in the site, we are to carry out the next step: take photographs of the unearthed plant remains, record, and measure the size of each species to the best of our ability, so as to facilitate the comparative study by the professionals. Since most of the plant remains are small and shattered, it takes a different approach from ordinary photography that requires caution to prevent the seeds from being pinched or lost. Usually, the smaller seeds are photographed at 8- or 10-times magnification to reflect the identification characteristics.

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Listed below is the process demonstration: 1.

Pick out a few “good-looking” samples, that is, intact and undeformed, from a pile of carbonized millet.

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Position them. Take clear pictures.

Then come professional analysis and research work. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of the plant remain unearthed in the site will enlighten us on what kinds of plants the ancients used, what their daily staple food was, whether there were planting activities, the differences in agricultural structure between the South and the North, and the origin of agriculture and civilization, etc.

3.2 Archaeobotany of Liangzhu Site Located in Zhejiang Province, Liangzhu Site has been blessed with humid climate and advanced water network since ancient times. Therefore, in addition to carbonized plant remains, there are many water-saturated and non-carbonized plant remains. The continuous archaeological work on Liangzhu Ancient City in recent years allows us a better understanding of the life of our ancestors 5000 years ago.

3.2.1 Rice Farming Food is the first necessity of the people. The prosperity of Liangzhu cannot dispense with the solid material foundation. After years of research on archaeobotany, the consensus is reached across the academic community that the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are the very origin of Japonica rice. Rice made its appearance during the time of Shangshan culture at Pujiang, which is the easiest civilization in Zhejiang Province. However, most of them were mixed in pottery in the form of rice husk to improve the burning resistance of pottery during cooking, and only two grains of rice were found. Therefore, it is difficult to judge whether rice was systematically grown at that time. By the time of the Kuahuqiao culture 8000 years ago, the number of rice unearthed increased, and the form of rice showed significant difference from its wild counterpart in the direction closer to Japonica rice. Another 1000 years later arrived the Majiabang culture period, and small paddy fields emerged. At present, more than 100 paddy fields have been found. Generally, one paddy field is only a few square metres in size, and the large ones can reach more than 100 square metres. The fields were connected to small ditches and water storage pits. Paddy fields at that time were not a strict rule keeper in forms and took shapes in strips, ovals, and irregular figures. Due to the underdeveloped irrigation facilities, most were excavated near the water source, and there were also water storage wells discovered in the paddy fields of some sites. Some wooden or bone-made farming tools and pots for irrigation were unearthed in some of the paddy fields. After analysis, a lot of fan-shaped phytoliths of rice were also found. According to the observation results of the plan opal, the domestication of rice was basically formed in the late

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Majiabang period (about 6500 years ago). In the late Songze culture, stone ploughs were created and put into use gradually. Most of the ploughs were buried in male tombs along with the dead and were not large, usually 20–30 cm long. Then in Liangzhu period, stone ploughs grew much larger, with a length of 50 cm. Among them there was one with a wooden base unearthed from the Zhuangqiaofen Site that reached more than 1 m in total height, indicating that large farmland already existed at that time, and thus large stone ploughs were created for farming needs.

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Maoshan Site is located in the north of Shanghuanqiao Village, Xiaolin Street, Linping Town, Yuhang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. Maoshan Mountain is a natural mountain with an altitude of 48.8 m, and it’s long and narrow from east to west. The sites are distributed on the south slope, covering an area of 30,000 m2 . From 2009 to 2010, archaeologists excavated the sites and found the living area on the slope and the paddy fields area under the slope during the middle and late Liangzhu culture. In the middle period, the paddy fields took the shape of strips, and 26 of them were discovered and cleared up on both sides of the ditch. The fields were relatively small, with an average of about over ten square metres. There were paddy fields also found in the southwest area. There should be a certain area of paddy field in this period. In the late period of Liangzhu, an east–west ditch G2 was excavated by Liangzhu residents, separating the northern living area from the southern farmland. According to the excavation situation, the width of each section of G2 is not consistent, which might have multiple functions such as water storage and drainage, irrigation, and supply of drinking water at that time. In the late stage, great changes happened to size and scale of the paddy field. Five ridges and canals divided the paddy field into four regular blocks, each covering an area of 1000 m2 , with the largest reaching nearly 2000 m2 , and a total of 5.5 ha, about 83 µ. The ridges were paved with red burnt earth, 0.6–1.2 m in width, and the longest ridge can reach 83 m in length. In form, the paddy fields evolved from small blocks in the middle period to joint large-scale fields, and in layout, for the convenience of rice farming, the ancestors of Liangzhu began to excavate irrigation channels with a plan. It is estimated that the rice yield in the late Liangzhu period of Maoshan Site reached about 141 kg.7 From 2010 to 2012, archaeologists set up a row of 12 exploration units from west to east on the eastern slope of Mojiao Mountain for anatomical excavation to understand the boundary scope and piling process of Mojiaoshan Site. A total of 12 ash pits, 9 ash ditches, 3 house sites, 2 pillar holes, 1 tomb, and 1 ancient river channel in the Liangzhu culture period were found. In addition to understanding the construction process of Mojiaoshan platform, the discovery of H11 is another delightling result.

7

Zheng Yunfei, Chen Xugao, Ding pin: Research on the Ancient Paddy Field Farming Relics of Maoshan Site in Yuhang, Zhejiang Province, Quaternary Research, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2014, p. 94.

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H11 spans across four exploration units and extends southward and northward. It is nearly 30 m long, 17 m wide, and 0.8 m deep. The ash pit consists of three layers. The first layer is grey black soil, the second layer is light grey sand soil, and the third layer is grey black soil, which contains large amounts of charcoal, carbonized paddy (rice), burnt soil blocks, plant ash, straw rope, and ashes, which are obviously left after the big fire. A large amount of carbonized paddy (rice) was obtained by flotation after the soil sample of H11 was taken back.

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According to the observation, a large proportion of these carbonized rice were not yet hulled as there were also many ear stems and rachillae (located at the bottom of the husk and connects the rice stalk with rice grain, serving as a channel to transport nutrition to the grain during the growth process. One rachilla corresponds to one grain of rice.), which proves that they were not left by Liangzhu people after cooking and burning, but that there happened to be a fire before they got eaten. In addition, sections of ropes were found, which was alike to the hemp rope we have today, and thus we speculate that these ropes should be used to bind rice. It’s calculated that the average density of paddy (rice) is 3778 grains/L, the distribution range is about 900 square metres, the average distribution thickness is 24 cm, and the total amount of paddy (rice) is 816 million grains. The weight of 1,000 grains of modern rice is 18-34 g. Taking 15 g per 1000 grains as the reference value, we can estimate that 816 million grains weigh about 12,240 kg, about 24,000 jin. The rice ended up dumped here as garbage after being cleaned up and burned due to the granary fire near the palace area.

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The eastern slope of Mojiao Mountain is not the only spot where this kind of carbonized rice was hoarded. In July 2017, another carbonized rice accumulation was found at Chizhong Temple Site. At present, in the city there are six places already discovered for storage of carbonized rice, among which Chizhong Temple takes up the largest volume. Located in the south of Mojiao Mountain, Chizhong Temple could hold an amount of 200,000 kg, which is 8 times as much as H11 by the same method of estimation. There should be a large granary, which served as the main food source for ancient city residents. According to the findings of archaeological excavation and drilling, during Liangzhu period, the west and south sides of Chizhong Temple were low-lying water surface, the east side was the artificial reservoir, and in the middle there was a causeway built to connect Maowu Ridge in the north and Huangfen Mountain in the south. Pure with no domestic waste, the artificial lake should be an important water source in the city. From the perspective of the city layout, that the large granary was established here could be the best option if the factors of fire and moisture prevention, and the short distance to the palace area were considered.

3.2 Archaeobotany of Liangzhu Site

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Given such a huge amount of carbonized founded in the ancient city, and the fact that people living in the city were kings, nobles, and handicraftsmen who did not engage in farming, we can calculate that the daily rice consumption could reach 20,000 jin, with an estimated population of about 20,000 of a city,8 at the consumption rate of 1 jin per person per day. It’s thanks to the advancement of rice farming during Liangzhu Period that the food needs of the ancient citizens were met. According to the investigation results of the agricultural relics around Liangzhu City, no large paddy fields were found, so there should have been many villages like the Maoshan Site, which continuously transported food to the ancient city by boat.

3.2.2 Fruit and Vegetable Cultivation Sometimes the life of our ancestors was not that boring as we assume, especially in the aspect of diet. In the era of no environmental pollution and pesticide residues, wild fruits on the sides of roads, by the streams, and in the valleys were edible at will. The closer the plant is to human beings, the higher the probability of being brought back to the site and getting unearthed. By means of archaeological excavation, we can explore the relationship between a certain plant and human beings and its historical changes. By archaeological exploration and excavation, there were 51 ancient rivers found in Liangzhu City, with three main courses in the shape of “工” (a Chinese character). Today only Liangzhu port in the south is still open to navigation, while the rest of the ancient waterways ended up filled and levelled. For the alignment with the construction of the relic site park and for the purpose of dredging the rivers in Liangzhu period, the southern section of Zhongjiagang, one of the main rivers, was excavated in the second half of 2015. To obtain more information, we carried out archaeological excavation and at the same time, we floated all the excavated soil. The results took us aback. Because of the long-term airtight condition of the river course, things discarded in the river by the Liangzhu ancients were well-preserved even without being carbonized.

8

Wang Ningyuan: From Village to Palace, Hangzhou Press, 2013, page 194–195.

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In the process of excavating Zhongjiagang, archaeologists piled up the soil obtained from each stratum by different cultural layers and exploration units and then carried out floatation. Different from ordinary soil that is dry and loose, the soil in the river is sticky and easy to stick together in form of silt, and harden after getting dried; the amount of a sample goes far beyond 5–10 L, so the flotation method mentioned above can no longer work out. Therefore, it’s time for washing method— as the improved version of flotation method for Liangzhu Site to take off. Having been applied in Tianluo Mountain Site of Hemudu culture, washing method proved to be remarkably effective. The steps are as follows: 1.

2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

Set up the water tank for washing and tie the customized stainless-steel wooden frame screen with a diameter of 4 mm to both sides of the wooden frame with ropes and suspend it above the pool. Soak the soil sample to be washed in the blue turnover box for one night and wait for the cohesive soil blocks to dissolve. When the pool is full of water, scoop out the soaked soil sample with a small iron dustpan, and then shake and wash the samples. Lightweighted plant remains such as charcoal and seeds will float on the water surface, and small stones and pottery pieces will be left on the screen. Use a spoon-shaped string bag with about 1 mm in mesh spacing to pick up the light floating objects and put them on the gauze. Put the heavy floating objects on another piece of gauze and dry them in the shade. Collect the dried light and heavy floating samples, respectively, in the turnover boxes. Sort out the samples by categories of charcoal, sawdust, seeds, animal bones, burnt clay, and pottery pieces. Store the selected samples by category.

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In the process of washing, we found a good many peach pits. Lying quietly in the ancient river channel of Zhongjiagang for 5000 years, they were not carbonized because of the water-saturated and airtight environment. Therefore, when unearthed, they were plump with clear grooves on the surface as their modern counterparts, but the colour was darker. Since the peach pits were saturated water when they were unearthed, their size would shrink to a certain extent when they were dried. In order to keep their original size, we tried to create a burial environment similar to the

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storage conditions prior to excavation and put the cleaned peach pits into a box filled with water rather than adopt the general steps of drying in the air. As the preliminary observation reveals, there should have been many peach trees growing on both sides of the riverbank in the south section of Zhongjiagang. Peaches at that time were already the main fruit for residents of Liangzhu City. They feasted on the delicious peaches in summer and threw peach pits into the river. Some ripe peaches also fell into the river before being picked, thus lying at the bottom. It is not a rarity for Liangzhu people to eat peaches, as peach pits were also discovered in some other sites or cultural layers of Liangzhu culture, such as Meirendi Site in the northeast of Liangzhu City, Bianjia Mountain Site in the south bulwarks, Mao Mountain Site in Linping, Shuitianfan Site in Hangzhou, Qianshanyang Site in Huzhou, Jianshanwan Site in Zhuji, and Guangfulin Site in Shanghai,9 testifying to the fact that peach was a common fruit back then. In Botany, Amygdalus belongs to Rosaceae, which can be divided into two subgenera: Subgen. Amygdalus and Subg. Persica. As the name suggests, Subgen. Amygdalus family consists of “flat” peaches. The most common member is A. communis var. communis, also known as “Badan apricot” in Uighur. However, it does not belong to apricot family, but to Subgen. Amygdalus. Its flesh is very thin and will crack when it matures, leaving only the kernel, which is the part we usually eat. Warm and dry areas are suitable home to Subgen. Amygdalus, so the Badanmu, a kind of Subgen. Amygdalus growing in Xinjiang is particularly famous for its cheap price and delicious taste.

9

Chen Jie: Palaeoenvironment of Liangzhu Culture, Hangzhou press, 2014, pp. 127–131.

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摝䞮㹪㫒

Wild Amygdalus persica (L.) Batsch

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A. davidiana var potanini

⼀㫒

A. davidiana var. davidiana

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Amygdalus kansuensis (Rehd.) Skeels

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Modern Amygdalus persica (L.) Batsch

㠿䠕㫒

Amygdalus ferganensis

⏘㫇㫒

Amygdalus mira (Koehne) Yu et Lu

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The rest belong to Subg. Persica, such as Amygdalus persica (L.) Batsch, A. davidiana var. davidiana, Amygdalus ferganensis, and Amygdalus kansuensis (Rehd.) Skeels. According to the grooves and holes on the peach pit, it can be divided into Sect. Mirae Yu et Lu and Sect. Persicae Yu et Lu. Sect. Mirae Yu et Lu: Amygdalus kansuensis (Rehd.) Skeels andAmygdalus mira (Koehne) Yu et Lu. There are no holes but only grooves on the peach pits (4 and 7 above). Sect. Persicae Yu et Lu: Amygdalus persica L., A. davidiana var. davidiana, and Amygdalus ferganensis. There are not only grooves but also small holes (1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 above).

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Peach (Amygdalus persica): including Amygdalus persica (L.) Batsch, Amygdalus persica L. var. aganopersica Reich, Amygdalus persica Linn. var. scleropersica (Reich.) Yü et Lu and Amygdalus persica L. “Compressa”. They are all later varieties of Amygdalus persica. The peach pit is generally oblong or slightly round, flat on both sides, with sharp tips on the top, grooves in different directions and depths and holes on the surface. We are all familiar with the looks of Amygdalus persica (L.)Batsch as commonest at market; When eating Amygdalus persica L. var. aganopersica Reich, we will find it easy to separate flesh from the pit, and even to split the whole peach into halves; opposite to the former, it’s difficult to separate the flesh and the core of Amygdalus persica Linn. var.scleropersica (Reich.) Yü et Lu;Amygdalus persica L. “Compressa” is different from all, with a flat shape. Amygdalus davidiana can be divided into A. davidiana var. davidiana and A. davidiana var. Potanini. Both A. davidiana var. davidiana and A. davidiana var.Potanini are varieties of Amygdalus davidiana. The only difference would be that the latter mainly grows in Shaanxi and Gansu. Amygdalus davidiana is resistant to cold and drought climate. It can grow well even on hills and can reach 10 m in height, much higher than ordinary peach trees. Yet, its flesh is very thin and dry, not agreeable to people’s taste bud. Generally, it’s inedible. The peach pits are round and small, with no tip on top, and very hard. Therefore, they are washed, polished, and made into hand strings for sale by some merchants. Cultivated in Xinjiang, Amygdalus ferganensis is too vulnerable for transportation, so its main market is confined to Xinjiang. It’s also oblong in shape, but has a long tip at the top, and the grooves on the surface are generally distributed vertically in parallel, with few small holes, which are the main differences from Amygdalus persica. Peach is divided into exocarp, mesocarp, endocarp, and seed. Exocarp is the thin outer layer, mesocarp is the flesh, endocarp is the peach pit and what endocarp embraces is the seed. The size and shape of the peach pit determine the thickness of the mesocarp, that is, the size of the peach. The bigger the peach bit is, the bigger the peach can grow; the flatter and longer the peach pit is, the bigger the peach will be. Therefore, cultivated peaches are bigger than wild ones, with a flatter and longer peach pit inside.

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The peach found in the relic site is not intact even though preserved in good conditions. Only the peach pit is retained. To observe the changes of peach across 4000 years from Kuahuqiao culture to Maqiao culture, we would need to study the shape and size of peach pits, and regard it as the important approach. After measuring and comparing the peach pits from the sites of Kuahuqiao, Tianluo Mountain, Mao Mountain, and Qianshanyang, the researchers found that the peach stones underwent great changes during the period between 8000 years ago and 3700 years ago: (1)

(2)

The size was on increase, and the volume almost doubled. Though the size of Xiaoshan peach and Yuyao peach is almost the same, that of Linping peach visibly increased, and Huzhou peach was the largest. Flatter and longer in shape. At early periods like Kuahuqiao culture and Hemudu culture, Amygdalus persica (L.) Batsch appears round and plump when compared with its counterparts from later periods like Maqiao culture which looks flat and long. Although Liangzhu peach is the transition from Kuahuqiao and Hemudu culture to Maqiao culture, it has already become much bigger in comparison with the former two.

Prior to the research on peach, the leading explanation about peach’s ancestor was that it originated in Gansu, Shaanxi, and other regions in Northwest China based on the fact that even till today there are still a large number of wild peach trees. However, the English version of Flora of China says that “the ancestor of peach is lost”; there is also a saying that the ancestor of peach was originally Amygdalus davidiana, and later gradually evolved into what it is now. Nevertheless, judging from the peach stones unearthed in Zhejiang prehistoric sites, we can find that almost all of them belong to Amygdalus persica (L.) Batsch, and there is an obvious sequence of development from early to late stages. Therefore, Zhejiang region should be one of the origins of modern Amygdalus persica (L.) Batsch, and the saying that the ancestor of Amygdalus persica (L.) Batsch is Amygdalus davidiana proved to be ill-founded.

3.2 Archaeobotany of Liangzhu Site

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With the ongoing archaeological excavation and washing of Zhongjiagang Site, the fruits on the Liangzhu people’s diet list were deciphered one by one. These fruits include Nansuan jujube[Choerospondias axillaris (Roxb.) Burtt et Hill.], peach, plum, apricot, plum, persimmon, melon, grape, Wulian Berry[Cayratia japonica (Thunb.) Gagnep.], etc. Besides, there were a lot of plums unearthed in Liangzhu Site. Moreover, it’s likely that plum trees were cultivated at that time as well since plums were relatives to peaches.

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Persimmon is an important breed of fruit trees in China. There were few persimmons unearthed from Liangzhu Site, but the utilization of the Diospyros had been initiated in Shangshan Site during Kuahuqiao period. There is no research yet to reveal whether the persimmons unearthed at prehistoric sites are wild or domestic.

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Nansuan jujube[Choerospondias axillaris᧤Roxb.᧥Burtt et Hill.]

The number of Nansuan jujube unearthed in Liangzhu Site is tremendous. The cultivation of Nansuan jujube requires high technology, and it generally takes 10 years for it to bear fruit. However, the utilization of Nansuan jujube emerged in Kuahuqiao Site 8000 years ago, making it a common fruit in the prehistoric sites in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

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Cucumis melo L.

Latest at 7000 years ago at Hemudu period, our ancestors in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River started to feed on melon. The Liangzhu period was an important period for cultivation and domestication of melon. The morphological characteristics of stone cells on the surface of seed coat unearthed from Bianjiashan Site showed that there were two types of seeds, one similar to modern melon and the other to C. melo var. conomon, a variant from modern melon, in the Liangzhu period. The fact that significant changes had happened to the size of the seeds revealed that our ancestors had been melon growers and began to care about melon’s taste and size. Melon for fruit and for vegetable was, respectively, bred in accordance with different food needs.

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Grape and Cayratia japonica.

Grape (Vitis vinifera L) seeds were unearthed from both Bianjiashan and Meirendi sites, which could be divided into Vitis davidii (Roman. du Caill.) Foex and Vitis amurensis Rupr by morphological character, indicating the consumption of grapes by our Liangzhu ancestors. Therefore, we did not lose to Europe in the “who ate grape first” race. Just the grape systems were different. Cayratia japonica is also a vine of grapevine family. Small and turning purple and black when it matures. It grew mostly at shrubs in hillsides, and it was also one of the wild fruits that our ancestors often eat.

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The utilization of gourd began from Kuahuqiao period mostly in form of container or swimming tool at first, and its tender leaves and fruits could be taken as vegetables. Despite the high technological accessibility, it should not have been planted on large scale but in front of and behind the houses, as part of “garden” agriculture. The results of skin thickness measurement of Hugua [Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl. var. depressa (Ser.) Hara, a kind of gourd] unearthed at Bianjiashan Site showed that they had been artificially cultivated.

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Mei (Armeniaca mume Sieb)

Mei (Armeniaca mume Sieb), same as peach, apricot, and Li (Prunus salicina Lindl), belongs to rose family, with a long history as food. In the pre-Qin period, people seemed to favour sour taste. Eating raw Mei could help produce saliva and quench thirst and using Mei for seasoning could remove the fishy smell of meat.

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Qianshi (Euryale ferox) and Lingjiao (Trapa bispinosa Roxb)

That the advanced rice farming provided Liangzhu ancestors with ample starch resulted in the sharp decrease of other starchy foods such as Lingjiao, Qianshi and acorn that once were abundant during Hemudu culture. These plants found in Liangzhu Sites are now all cultivated artificially and established as the traditional categories of melons, fruits, and vegetables in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

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3.2.3 Processing and Utilization of Wood Utilization of wood can trace back to prehistoric times, especially when there was no reinforced concrete, and thus, bridges, ships, houses, floors, and tableware could not dispense with wood. In Taihu lake Plain over 7000 years ago, blessed with warm and pleasant climate and abundant resources, an ancient human group chose to breed here and became the ancestors of Majiabang culture. They built houses with wooden skeletons and made roofs of thatch. The walls were usually woven with branches, and then plastered with mud inside out. When the house caught fire, traces of wood could be seen on the burnt mud bricks, which was later called as “Wooden skeleton and mud wall” in archaeological terms. This technique was applied and preserved for thousands of years. Liangzhu period ushered in a great leap in wood processing technique. From an integrated geographic view, Liangzhu Site is located in a C-shaped basin with an area of about 8 million square kilometres, about 20 km from north to South and 42 km from east to west. It is embraced by the branches of Tianmu Mountain in the south, west, north, and southeast. In the northwest, there are a group of mountains mainly composed of Daxiong Mountain and scattered with isolated hills such as Yao Mountain, Huiguan Mountain, Zhi Mountain, Qianshan Mountain, Feng Mountain, Yangshan Mountain, Quanshan Mountain, Shushan Mountain, Wushan Mountain, Maoshan Mountain, Jinding Mountain and Xun Mountain. This 800square-kilometre plain wetland was the foundation of rice farming, collecting, and fishing economy that Liangzhu City depended on. The vast mountains in the West and North were abundant in timber, wild animals, and fruits. With the continuous excavation of Liangzhu City, wood was found in multiple places.

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In the latter half of 2002, remains of docks were found at Bianjiashan Site. The dock was composed of over 140 woodpiles in 3 rows, distributed in an east–west direction. The woodpiles extending out were built into the pile foundation of the trestle bridge, and the relics such as wooden paddles and wooden mortars were found nearby. The wooden boards found in Damojiao Mountain were positioned in all directions at the boundary of the base, and above the lime soil at the bottom. They should serve as buffer to prevent the subsidence of the platform foundation.

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There are 3 rows of woodpiles in east–west direction and 2 rows in south–north direction found in Mojiaoshan Site. The northernmost row of woodpiles was the longest up to about 11 m and connected to one another with mortise and tenon joints. The bottoms of the piles were sharpened so that they could be inserted into the soil to form a large frame, and then space in the middle was filled with straw-wrapped mud.

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The remains of revetment found at Zhongjiagang Site were close to the eastern edge of the soil base. The exposed section was about 32 m in length and made of bamboo and wooden piles. The construction solution was to attach bamboo-braided fabric closely to the soil base, and then to lay woodpiles outside the bamboo fabric. There were 63 wood posts exposed, with the diameter of 7–16 cm and spacing of 30–40 cm. The bamboo fabric is mainly braided with many vertical bamboo strips with 1–2.5 cm in length and 1–5 transverse bamboo strips.

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The bottom of the board remains at Meirendi Site was based on silted soil in the river channels, and the north side was closely attached to the base. Overall, they were distributed from east to west with a total length of 8 m and composed of 44 boards. According to the composition structure, it can be roughly categorized into three parts. The bottom is north–south sleeper, on which east–west bedding wood is placed, and wood board is erected on bedding wood. The top of the board has been corroded, with the rest reaching about 1 m in length. In the middle of Meirendi Site is a river channel, and on both sides are strip-shaped residential platforms, which is the earliest form of dwelling mode of Jiangnan.

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The wooden component in the previous picture is 9.5 m long and 25 cm wide. There are 39 square mortise holes chiselled on it with a spacing of 13 cm.

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The square timber in the middle is 14.6 m long and 50 cm wide; the one on the left is 17 m long, 44 cm wide and 20 cm thick; the log on the right is 17.2 m long and can reach 57 cm in maximum diameter. From the wood being processed, we can have a peek at the magnificence of Mojiaoshan Palace.

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There is a gripper at the end of the square timber in the middle, and the rope woven by rattan is also found there, which facilitates packaging and transportation. Identification of tree species reveals that the material used comes from Altingia chinensis which mainly grows in mountains with an altitude of 600–1000 m. The nearest mountain around the ancient city is Jing Mountain, with a straight-line distance of no less than 20 km. Hence, the timber has undergone a long-distance transportation before arriving at Mojiao Mountain. In addition to the usage as building materials, wood plays an indispensable role in Liangzhu people’s daily life, such as tools and articles for daily use. The warmer and wetter climate, together with the dense water network around the city made shipping the main travel mode of Liangzhu people. Despite the void of wheeled vehicle at that time, the abundance of waters that south features made it the most convenient to travel by rowing. However, boats of Liangzhu people had not been found by archaeologists until the excavation of Maoshan Site in Linping, Yuhang in 2009. For the first time in Maoshan Site, the canoe of Liangzhu ancestors was found. It was chiselled from a whole section of huge wood, and the material was identified as pine wood. This is the longest and best-preserved prehistoric canoe ever unearthed in China. The canoe is 7.35 m long, up to 0.45 m at the widest, about 0.23 m deep, and around 0.02 m thick. The Department of Computer Science of Zhejiang University scanned the canoe from inside out and established a three-dimensional model, based on which the canoe’s displacement can be analysed and the final calculation result can be achieved that the maximum cargo capacity of the canoe is about 300 kg.

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Like today’s wooden spade, Mucha was applied by Liangzhu people as a tool for digging soil. It was found in the filling of the foundation trench of Zhongjiagang river channel and Fengminong Dam. In the experiment of restoring the production of straw-wrapped mud, we once made imitation of Liangzhu Mucha to dig out the mud.

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The most common wooden containers include wooden plates and basins, some of which are coated with vermilion paint. The shape of the wooden plates can be oval or round. The plates are generally shallow, with a diameter of more than 20 cm; the interior of the basin is relatively deep. In the river channel of Zhongjiagang Site, raw materials were found, some of which were in the shape of a dustpan with half of the body gone, some of which were just cut off from a round thick trunk, yet with the inner circle already drawn; there was also a kind of square wooden plate/basin with hollowed bottom, and most of the holes were triangular.

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Around the edge of the blank, the demonstration line can be clearly seen. The wooden base should be hollowed out inwards from the line to make implements like wooden basins.

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The earliest wood-based lacquerware in China was found in Kuahuqiao culture10 and Hemudu culture.11 The phenomenon that lacquer was applied on the surface of black pottery was observed in time of Songze culture. At Liangzhu period, lacquerware took steps towards maturity. Liangzhu lacquerware featured patterns and artistic expression in red and black. A considerable number of pieces of lacquered cups were unearthed from the garbage accumulation in Liangzhu City River, and in the Bianjiashan Site to the south of Liangzhu City, a good many pieces of lacquered cups were discovered. In contrast, there were few in vast ordinary sites. The tombs where lacquerware was found mainly belonged to the nobles of Fanshan and Yaoshan culture.12

10

Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology: Kuahuqiao, Cultural Relics Press, 2004. Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology: Hemudu, Cultural Relics Press, 2003. 12 Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology: Comprehensive Research Report on Liangzhu City, Cultural Relics Press, 2019. 11

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Besides, more than 20 children’s toy wooden tops were unearthed in Liangzhu Site. There are one or two circles of concave spiral patterns on the body, which are basically made of core material of wood. On the screw, traces of axe and chisel processing can be noticed. There are no differences between ancient and modern tops in shape and structure. When purchasing wooden furniture, we will consider the material of functional furniture such as bed, wardrobe, table, and chair. It’s even the same case with funerary utensil. Chinese people, who are particular about affairs related to life and death, would go to the length of selecting materials that are antiseptic and mothproofing. Our Liangzhu ancestors also fell in line. Circles of life sharpened their understanding of wood and finally equipped them with the know-how of making the best use of timber. However, before the identification of wood in Liangzhu period is carried out, it’s impossible for ordinary people to tell the differences at one simple glance.

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Each discipline has its own research methodology and so does archaeology. With the rapid development of archaeology in recent years, some methods that can be applied to archaeological research have been absorbed, such as zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, geoarchaeology, art archaeology, and music archaeology. The identification of tree species is one of the vast directions of archaeobotany. Generally, there are macro- and micro-identification of wood. Macroidentification is to overserve with the aid of magnifying glass under the naked eye and identify wood according to the observed macro-structural characteristics. Usually, only the timber category can be distinguished. To zero in on the wood species, we need to observe the microcharacteristics of wood cell tissue under a microscope, based on which to carry out identification. This is what is called wood micro-identification or timber identification, which consists of three steps: sampling, sectioning, and identification.

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1.

Wood sampling

As the old Chinese saying goes, handy tool makes a handyman. There is also a set of standard tools for sampling. Generally, the branches and stems of the existing trees are harder than the other parts, so when sampling, you had better take tools including saws, chisels, knives, etc. Portability and accessibility matter more than style and shape. The general purpose of taking modern samples is to observe the structure of trees to compare and identify the wood unearthed from the site. It is proposed that you cut off the sample from the normal part of growth rings near the junction of sapwood and heartwood, with a general size of 20 mm × 20 mm × 20 mm. 2.

Wood sectioning

Wood sectioning consists of three sections: transverse section, longitudinal section, and chord section. The three-dimensional morphology of wood cells and the relationship between them can be observed on the three sections of wood, which is also a necessary means of wood microscopic identification. Based on the comprehensive figure of the three sections, the complete microstructure characteristics of a certain wood can be obtained. Wood sectioning requires three sections to be cut straight as the cutting skill directly affects the results of observation and identification on wood characteristics in the later stage. ➀

Sectioning tool

The tools for sectioning are much more delicate than the saws used for sampling. The professional tools include wood slicer, slice cutter (generally replaced with Gillette razor), knife grinder; thermostat water bath, electric stove, culture dish;

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dissecting needle, tweezers, brush; glass slide, cover glass; alcohol, glycerin, iron vitriol, Safranin O, clove oil, TO solution, Xylenes, and neutral gum. ➁

The manufacturing method of sectioning

To soften the samples, adopt different methods depending on hardness of wood. For the soft, light wood such as pine, poplar, willow, spruce, or other tree species, generally to boil it right way until the sample sinks. For heavy and hardwood, such as mahogany, golden plum, etc., to heat it with the mixture of alcohol and glycerin or to soak it. Sometimes the wood can be sliced directly without softening. Sectioning: Sectioning of wood requires the slices to be large and uniform in thickness. First, tighten the sample in the holder of the slicing machine, so that the cut surface is parallel to the blade, and then adjust the thickness regulator according to the requirements. When slicing, one should hold the sliding wheel handle with the left hand to push the slice, and with the right hand use a brush to collect the slices and put them into the culture dish containing distilled water. In practice, wood unearthed at the relic sites can be sliced directly with a razor blade, sparing the need for a slicer because of the higher softness than that of modern wood caused by saturation of water. Before slicing, use a sharp knife to level the three sides of the sample to make sure the transverse section, longitudinal section, and chord section perpendicular to each other. Then put the slices into the culture dish containing distilled water. Production of sample: first, dye the slices into red with Safranin O solution (a kind of mixed filtrate containing 1 g saffron and 100 ml, 50% concentration alcohol solution) to facilitate observation under the microscope, and it’s also ok to skip this step; after washing the slices, dehydrate them with alcohol successively at the concentration of 50, 70, 85, 95, and 100%; then make the slices transparent with TO solution or xylenes; finally, place the slices on the slide with tweezers, drop neutral gum onto it, and then seal it with cover glass; attach a label and dry it in the shade or at a low temperature for observation. Or you can seal it directly with glycerin, skipping the processes of dehydration and transparency. Temporary sealing: take one slide and put a drop glycerin or water on its central position. Place the slice on the glycerin or water with tweezers. Cover the slide and observe. If permanent sections are to be made, they should be sealed with neutral resin, labelled, and dried in the shade or at a low temperature. 3.

Photographing and identification

Photograph the prepared sections with 4X objective lens under digital biological microscope and record the most typical structural features for identification and reference. The photographs are usually overserved under 40-fold microscope. The same method was used to take photographs and record the relevant information of tangential section and cross section. For tangential section, take photographs with 10X objective lens, the magnification is generally at 20 times, and for cross section, 40X objective lens is used, and the magnification is generally at 100 times. The magnification can all be set up by the scale placed in the micrograph system.

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The next step is to carry out identification with comparison to professional wood maps and other reference books. From the end of 2003 to the beginning of 2004, Mr. Zheng Yunfei numbered all the wooden piles in the dock area of Bianjiashan Site. Samples were extracted according to the numbers. The piles were covered with plastic film and soaked in a large water tank to keep the piles wet. Waterproof labels were customized to record the information of the unearthed wooden piles. Then piles were cleaned, photographed to record the data of shape, size, length, and diameter as well as the preservation status. In addition, Mr. Zheng also implemented material identification on the remaining 170 pieces of woodwork including wooden oars, architectural components, wooden clogs, lacquered wooden articles, and wooden tops in the Bianjiashan Site, and 88 pieces of tree remains such as revetment boards and bedding wood unearthed from the Meirendi Site and wooden piles in the site. 22 families and 40 species of tree remains were identified in Bianjiashan Site, including 26 species of deciduous broad-leaved trees in 16 families, 10 species of evergreen broad-leaved trees in 4 families, and 4 species of evergreen conifers in 2 families; 16 species of trees belonging to 9 families were identified in the Meirendi Site, including 11 deciduous broad-leaved trees, 4 evergreen broad-leaved trees, and 1 evergreen conifer. In terms of the composition of tree properties, the most numerous tree remains in Bianjiashan Site were deciduous broad-leaved trees, with 98 pieces found, accounting for about 57.6%; then came evergreen broad-leaved trees, with 60 pieces found accounting for about 35.3%; the third place went to evergreen coniferous trees, with 12 pieces found, accounting for about 7.1%. While for Meirendi Site, the champion went to evergreen broad-leaved trees, with 41 pieces found, accounting for about 46.6% of the total, followed by deciduous broad-leaved trees accounting for about 42.0%, with 37 pieces found. And masson pine is the only member found in conifers, whose proportion is small, accounting for about 11.4%.

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There is an interesting phenomenon across the identified wood species from the Bianjiashan Site: The construction components were generally made of wood with lightweight but great tensile strength, such as China fir and mulberry. Among the 15 living utensils, 9 were made of neem, 3 of katus, 1 of camphor tree, 1 of yellow tiller, and 1 of mulberry, which showed obvious material preference. In particular, lacquered wooden articles such as Gu-shaped utensils, wooden plates, and wooden containers for flavourings unearthed in the site were all made of wood with delicate texture and low hardness for easy carving, such as neem, and camphor tree, so that the containers could be beautifully and exquisitely made in a labour-saving way. While for making wooden shovels and oars to be used with high frequency, Liangzhu people usually chose wood with high hardness as well as great compression and bending resistance, such as sawtooth oak and oriental white oak. However, Liangzhu people were not particular about the material choice for toy production. A variety of wood materials were used to make toy tops. Based on crossbars and sleepers, Meirendi Site shows distinct characteristics in material selection. As the foundation of a building, the sleeper not only bears the weight of the upper building components, but also directly accesses the wetland foundation. Thus, it has high requirements for corrosion and compression resistance. As the decay-resistant pine wood with high compression strength meets the needs for the sleeper, the timber choice of the four sleepers goes to masson pine.

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Since the pressure imposed on the crossbars over the sleepers comes from the upper boards, there are lower requirements for corrosion resistance but higher requirements for compression and bending resistance. Equipped with great compressive and flexural strength, sawtooth oak serves the job and is chosen for the three crossbars. The vertically placed wood boards which may mainly play the role of fence face lower stress intensity and thus less strict requirements for the building material. The diversity of the timber used for building vertical boards is shown, including camphor tree, mulberry, hickory, sawtooth oak, Juglans mandshurica, spring elm, brown leaf tree, masson pine, Magnolia, red vertebrae, birch, and other tree species. That our Liangzhu ancestors already acquired perceptual knowledge on the features of various kinds of wood and were able to select suitable wood in correspondence to the usage of artefacts, technological requirements, load-bearing characteristics of buildings and environmental conditions is well-reflected in the traits of the materials used for wooden articles unearthed in Bianjiashan Site and the wooden buildings in Meirendi Site.

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3.2.4 Ingenious Building Material—Straw-Wrapped Mud The name “straw-wrapped mud” was later invented by archaeologists to give a vivid account of the “thing” which had escaped the archaeological radar at the beginning.

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Straw-wrapped mud is also called as “straw covered with mud”. As the name implies, it is bunches of straw-wrapped with pieces of mud. Covered with the layers of soil above, the negligible piles of straw-wrapped mud spread all over the places where Liangzhu people had been to.

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It was not until 2009 when the mountains in Ganggongling, Penggong Village, Pingyao Town, Yuhang District, Hangzhou, were dug to obtain soil that the strawwrapped mud came to light. At the first sight, archaeologists had no idea what it was, because they hadn’t seen anything like it before. The reason why it could be discovered at Ganggongling was that the grass outside did not rot, forming welldefined lines on the surface, which were the very exposed fresh grass in bright colours, as if immune to the time, but turned black immediately in the air. From the section left by soil sampling, it could be clearly seen that the soil in the lower part was green silt, and the upper part was loess. According to the piling method and soil structure, archaeologists reached the preliminary conclusion that Ganggongling was a water retaining dam built by Liangzhu people. Some pottery pieces of Liangzhu period were also collected at the scene. To verify this assumption,

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the archaeologists took three samples of the grass blade and sent them to the Archaeological Chronology Laboratory of Peking University for carbon 14 dating. The outcome was that the samples dated back to about 4900 years ago, which sealed the fact that Ganggongling was a man-made dam constructed in Liangzhu period. After the discovery of the straw-wrapped mud in Ganggongling, archaeologists began to pay heed to this kind of special remains. Having acquired the experience of finding dams and straw-wrapped mud, they managed to discover the Liangzhu dams, such as Laohuling, Liyushan, and Shizishan in succession, and found all of them built with straw-wrapped mud. It occurred to the archaeologists that the vast straw-wrapped mud they saw was not newly discovered but previously ignored in Bianjiashan Site. To have a clear understanding of the structure and production method of strawwrapped mud, archaeologists took some samples from the west slope and brought them back to the laboratory for research. The methods of plant macro-remains and phytolith analysis were adopted. (1)

(2) (3)

Select plant stalks in relatively well-preserved shapes externally coating strawwrapped mud, carefully dip and clean them in the water, and then carry out observation and identification with stereomicroscope. Choose 3 soil samples for flotation and put the obtained plant seeds under the microscope to identify the species. Clean, dry, weigh, and dry-ash the plant stalks outside the straw-wrapped mud; take and dry some of the soil inside, pestle the dried soil into powder with grinding rod, weigh 1 g of each sample into 12 ml glass bottle, add 300,000 glass beads (weighing 0.0225 g) and 30% hydrogen peroxide solution, and then vibrate them in the ultrasonic cleaning tank for 20 min; Take out the sample, wash and settle it repeatedly (12 times) with a vacuum filter bottle to exclude particles less than 20 microns in diameter. After the supernatant is clarified, put the residue in the glass bottle into the oven for drying; after the completion of glass specimen, observed and identify it under microscope with magnification of 200 and 400 times to count the number of phytoliths and glass beads in the same field of vision and then calculate the phytolith density per gram of soil.

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The stem nodes of the external layer of the straw-wrapped mud are swollen, and there seem to be root nodes and axillary buds. After comparison, it’s found that it was Triarrhena lutarioriparia. There were not so many plants remains obtained from the interior straw-wrapped mud samples. The main findings included carbonized rice and some wetland plants such as Triarrhena lutarioriparia, Scirpus triangulatus, and Rumex. In addition to plant seeds, traces left by shells and snails were found. By the analysis of phytoliths in the interior mud samples, large amounts of phytoliths of Miscanthus, silvergrass, rice, and reed were found, which indicated that the mud, in all likelihood, were derived from the area close to water where the aforementioned plants grew. The phytoliths found in the external layer of the mud sample belonged to Miscanthus and silvergrass, which suggested that the grass outside had been collected from the area where these 2 plants grew abundantly. Having grasped the structure of the straw-wrapped mud, we can try to restore it. Under the guidance of archaeologists, the local masters of Pingyao town managed to produce a batch of straw-wrapped mud. The steps are as follows: 1.

2. 3. 4. 5.

Extract the mud from the marsh with Mucha (a kind of ancient digging tool, like wooden spade) (made as a replica to the real ones unearthed from the site to simulate the scenario at Liangzhu times). Wrap the mud into the grass that has been cut in advance. Peel the thin bamboo into strips as binding materials. Use bamboo strips to tie up the grass and pack the mud. The straw-wrapped mud is made and ready to be piled up.

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These simple and accessible materials were all that Liangzhu people needed to manufacture straw-wrapped mud. Covered with blades of grass, the mud would not get stuck to one another during transportation and thus was convenient to transfer and transport.13 We can see clearly on the section of the Laohuling Dam in Penggong the traces of piling up of the straw-wrapped mud. Since Liangzhu water conservancy system has the function of retaining water and storing water, the upstream face of the dam was built with straw-wrapped mud that would hold on to each together more tightly as the water invaded, turning the external grass blades into reinforcing bars to prevent collapse. The sandbags used for flood control today are the equivalent. If soil was only used for construction tamping, the loose soil could not get stabilized in a short time, and the engineering quantity would be greatly increased. That the straw-wrapped mud can be made in various places beforehand and then transported by water greatly saves the time of raw materials shipping and unified production. Since silvergrass, the raw material of straw-wrapped mud can be seen everywhere at wet places such as marshes and river sides, one can quickly make a piece of strawwrapped mud simply by cutting a bundle of grass during mud digging. The steps of decentralized production, transport in batches, and construction were proved to be workable as shown on the section of Laohuling Dam.

13

Wang Ningyuan: From Village to Palace, Hangzhou Press, 2013, P. 159.

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At the first sight of the section, the 5000-year-old grass stalks had already decayed into black. With the attention captured by the marvellous, dazzling layers of the strawwrapped mud stacking on top of each other, it’s easy to fail to notice more of the details. Later when the section was cleared up, it was suddenly found that although the whole “wall” was covered with straw-wrapped mud, there appeared the patterns of “divided ridges” like large padding stones in the city wall. The implications cannot be more explicit—the soil or the straw-wrapped mud is not from one place but transported in batches from different spots. The straw-wrapped mud in each small block should stand for the loading capacity of each boat. By means of the flotation method of archaeobotany, we found seeds of silvergrass in the straw-wrapped mud. That silvergrass matures and produces seeds in October demonstrates that autumn is the time to cut silvergrass and make straw-wrapped mud. In this case, the construction of dams should take place during autumn and winter, the slack time of the year. As recorded in Guanzi·Dudi (a chapter of Guanzi written in the form of Guan Zhong’s answer to the questions of Duke Huan of Qi to show his understanding of the relationship between the establishment of a country and geography as well as water conservancy.), Duke Han of Qi once made inquiries to Guan Zhong on the prevention of five disasters: flood, drought, wind–fog–hail–frost, plague, and insect infestation. In Guan Zhong’s opinion, flood topped the disaster list. He said: “you ought to set up the post of flood-control official and appoint an experienced professional to the task”. “The tools for flood control should be prepared in slack winter”. “You should send soldiers to take turns to collect firewood and store them by the water during the slack wintertime”. “In March of spring, dry days arrive with and water decreasing into small streams. At this time, rivers in mountains will begin

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to dry up as the weather is getting warmer, the coldness is leaving, and creatures are waking. The last year’s farming has been finished, but the farming for the upcoming year is not yet started, and the sprouts of grass and trees already become edible. The temperature gradually settles down, and the length of the day and night starts to divide evenly. After point of division is reached, the night will become shorter and the day will become longer. At this time, it is beneficial to carry out geotechnical engineering as the soil of embankment will become increasingly solid”. China has a monsoon climate, with plenty of rain in summer and little rainfall in spring in the north areas. However, the south of China is rainy in spring. In autumn and winter when people are less active in farming, all kinds of materials need to be prepared so as not to delay agricultural production. Before spring ploughing, the construction of water conservancy facilities should be initiated. At this point when the rivers are dried up with water flowing in trickles, basically stranded in the state of shallow water or no water, it’s conducive to embark on geotechnical engineering.