Landforms influence the development of ancient agriculture in the Songshan area, central China

Abstract

The environment exerts a strong influence on the development of ancient agricultural systems, however ancient environmental conditions are often poorly understood in comparison to the development of ancient agricultural systems. In this study, we investigated the temporal patterns of crop distributions from the Neolithic to Bronze Age (9000-2300 yr BP) in the Songshan Mountain area of Henan Province, China in relation to the landforms. Our results show that broomcorn and foxtail were widely distributed across all landforms, regardless of the time period, but more sites are located on hills and mesas and less on the plains. Rice remains dating to the Peiligang period (9000-7000 yr BP) are only found in the plains. While some rice sites are distributed in the hill and mesa areas during the Yangshao period (7000-5000 yr BP), the plains are still the major area where rice sites are found. During the Longshan period (5000-4000 yr BP), soybeans are found at sites located on both mesas and plains. Wheat first appeared during the Erlitou periods (3900-3600 yr BP or 1900–1600 BC) in the region, but the evidence is too limited to determine its landform preference. In the following Shang (3600-3046 yr BP or 1600–1046 BC) and Zhou (3046-2256 yr BP or 1046–256 BC) dynasties, this crop was widely distributed at sites in hills, mesas and plains. Our study reveals that different landforms provide preferred ecological conditions for certain types of agricultural development and played a key role in determining farming styles: dry-farming or rice-farming.