Rice Paddy Field in Archaeological and Natural Science

Abstract

In carrying out archaeological excavations and studies on remains of rice paddy fields, many problems cannot be solved without the help of the methods and techniques of natural science. Several such problems of considerable importance are detecting the sites, analyzing for what purpose they were used, clarifying the system for their utilization, establishing their chronology, estimating the harvest, determining the factors allowing for the existence of the rice paddy fields, their surrounding environment, and the effects of their cultivation on the natural environment.Observation of the soil section combined with pollen analysis has been successfully used in detecting the horizon of the site. Investigation of macro-remains of culture plants and other weeds contributed to recognition of the difference between rice paddy fields and dry agricultural fields, or to determining whether a rice field was dry or wet. Conventionally, in estimating a rice harvest, not only archaeological, but also bibliographical or agricultural methods have been applied. Analysis of plant opal, developed in recent years, reveals itself as a method superior to these conventional ones. To analyze the factors which made possible the establishment of the site, the methods mentioned above-for example, reconstruction of paleo-vegetation based on the pollen analysis-have been used. Recently, a method which could be referred to as micro-scale topographyenvironment analysis has been used successfully in investigating the relationship between rice field cultivation and topography and water supply.The number of branches of archaeology in which methods of natural science can be used successfully will increase also in the future. We should be aware, however, that analysis of archaeological material seldom yields any positive result unless the archaeologist, in consultation with the natural scientist, has a clear aim in utilizing such analyses. Establishing a data base to accumulate the archaeological data yielded by methods of natural science is necessary; such a data base may be useful for many disciplines in archaeological studies. More important, however, is the careful observation of sites in situ to establish the correct chronology of multi-layered archaeological sites and to estimate the time gap between succeeding layers, because the factors controlling the duration of cultivation of a rice field are multidimensional.