Shell Mounds in the Jiaodong Peninsula: A Study in Environmental Archaeology

Abstract

This paper discusses the results of an environmental archaeology research project on Neolithic period shell mound sites of the north and south coasts of the Jiaodong Peninsula of eastern Shandong Province, China. This study included investigations of the geology, topology, and archaeology of the shell mound sites and their environs, with data derived through site survey, coring, and test excavations, as well as zooarchaeological analyses, palynological analysis of soil samples, and radiocarbon determinations on shell samples from the shell mounds. When joined with previous research on the archaeological cultures and natural environment of the Shandong Peninsula, the results of this project can be used to gain further insight into such issues as the relationship between the environment and human activities and subsistence strategies at the shell mound sites, human adaptation to the environment and impact on the environment, and the possible cultural and natural causes for the abandonment of the shell mound sites.