The rise and fall of the Liangzhu society in the perspective of subsistence economy
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Jing Yuan
Abstract
Based on plant and animal remains unearthed from sites of the Liangzhu culture in the coastal area of eastern Zhejiang, the Taihu plain, and the eastern Jianghuai region, we conclude that the Liangzhu society was agriculture-based, practicing rice farming for grain food and animal husbandry for meat. However, the subsistence economy focusing on rice farming was unbalanced in the Liangzhu cultural area, as evidenced by the exceptionally high proportions of fishing and hunting in certain subregions. Unbalanced subsistence economy confined population growth to limited territories and may have been an obstacle to the formation of multiple centers in the Liangzhu cultural area. The collapse of Liangzhu society may also result from the absence of competitive communication between Liangzhu and other cultures. Confronting with natural disasters or social conflicts due to, for example, food shortage, the controlling elite of Liangzhu society, who had long maintained their power and prestige through a religious system, failed to cope with risks and challenges, eventually leading to the collapse of Liangzhu society (and thus the demise of Liangzhu culture).
Postscript
The original article 良渚文化的生业经济与社会兴衰 was published in Kaogu 考古 (Archaeology) 2020.2:83– 92 with two figures. The abbreviated English version, translated by Tao Li 李涛, has removed the notes and added further readings.
Further readings
Chen, Ting et al. 2018. Mid- to late Holocene geomorphological and hydrological changes in the south Taihu area of the Yangtze delta plain, China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 498(1):127–142.10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.03.012Search in Google Scholar
Liu, Yan et al. 2015. Middle Holocene coastal environment and the rise of the Liangzhu city complex on the Yangtze delta, China. Quaternary research 84(3):326–334.10.1016/j.yqres.2015.10.001Search in Google Scholar
Wang, Zhuanghua et al. 2018. Middle Holocene marine flooding and human response in the south Yangtze coastal plain, East China. Quaternary science reviews 187(1):80–93.10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.03.001Search in Google Scholar
Yuan, Jing 袁靖. 2016. 中原地区的生业状况与中华文明早期发展的关系 (The relationship between subsistence and the development of early Chinese civilization in the Central Plains). In Xibu kaogu 西部考古 (Western archaeology). Beijing: Kexue chubanshe. pp. 1–12.Search in Google Scholar
Zhao, Zhijun 赵志军. 2018. 中国稻作农业起源研究的新认识 (New thinking on the study of rice agriculture origin in China). Nongye kaogu 农业考古 (Agricultural archaeology) 4:7–17.Search in Google Scholar
© 2022 Walter De Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- New archaeological discoveries
- The Excavation of a Neolithic site at Jingtoushan in Yuyao, Zhejiang
- The Neolithic Shuanghuaishu site in Gongyi, Henan
- The Shang dynasty remains at the Guoyuanzui site in Lutai Mountain, Huangpi District, Wuhan
- The Western Zhou Yaoheyuan site in Pengyang County, Ningxia
- Tang remains from the Keyak Khduk Beacon site in Yuli County, Xinjiang
- The excavation of the 2018 Xuewei tomb No. 1 in Reshui cemetery, Dulan County, Qinghai
- Reports
- The 2016–2017 excavation of the bronze foundry zone at the Guanzhuang site, Xingyang, Henan
- The excavation of tomb M12 at Hujiacaochang cemetery in Jingzhou, Hubei
- The excavation of Liao dynasty tomb of Han Derang in Beizhen, Liaoning
- Research
- Research on prehistoric 凸-shaped house remains on the Loess Plateau
- The rise and fall of the Liangzhu society in the perspective of subsistence economy
- Boot-shaped antler artifacts and prehistoric leather production
- Archaeological culture, document texts, and the construction of early Wu Yue history
- Portable lodge from the fifth century BCE: a study of the tent of the Marquis Yi of Zeng
- Additional niches and architecture added in the Tang dynasty to the Vairocana niche in the Fengxian Temple at Longmen
- Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of human and animal skeletal remains unearthed at Zengpiyan and Dayan sites in Guilin
