The spatial pattern of farming and factors influencing it during the Peiligang culture period in the middle Yellow River valley, China

Abstract

The Peiligang culture is the earliest Neolithic culture in the middle Yellow River valley and represents the emergence of cereal farming in the region. Present records imply the concurrence of millet farming and mixed millet-rice farming in the Peiligang culture, but their spatial distribution pattern is still unknown, because of the there is a lack of comparative studies on crop remains from different sites. Here, we present the results of analyses of phytoliths and plant macroremains in archaeological sediments from four Peiligang culture sites, as well as an integration of crop records from nine other sites. These sites are classified into two types in terms of their geographical locations: those in alluvial plains and those in hilly lands. The results confirm the coexistence of millet and mixed farming in the Peiligang culture, rather than one or the other. Their spatial pattern involved millet farming in the hilly lands, with mixed farming done in the alluvial plains. Compared to the sites in the hilly lands, the sites in the alluvial plains have enough water sources and vast amounts of flat land, making it possible to cultivate rice and conduct mixed farming. In all Peiligang culture sites, regardless of any agricultural modes, common millet ( Panicum miliaceum ) was predominant among the crop assemblages. In the same climate background, the agricultural mode selection in different sites was mainly influenced by landform and hydrology. This spatial pattern of farming also reflects human adaptive subsistence practices, which respond to different natural circumstances.