城子崖遗址植硅体反映的生业经济模式

龙山文化是中国史前社会形态演进的关键阶段,亦是农业强化生产的关键时期。城子崖遗址是鲁北平原史前区域中心城址,其生业经济研究有助于理解该地区社会复杂化及文明进程。本文对城子崖遗址龙山时期不同遗迹单位的15份土样进行了系统的植硅体分析,尝试探讨了该遗址龙山文化时期的社会发展和生业经济水平、农作物生产和加工方式、野生植物资源利用情况以及各遗迹堆积及其所反映的人类行为活动信息。结果显示,该遗址龙山文化时期已形成粟、黍、稻、小麦、稗(可能)的农作物组合方式;同时,广泛采集利用聚落周边的自然植物资源,是农业与采集业并存发展的生业经济模式。先民在作物栽培中进行了锄草、灌溉等较为精细的管理,其中,黍较粟更具耐旱抗病特性,加上田间管理需求较低而被优先选择栽培。先民在收获作物时,采用类似割穗、掐穗等方法以减少作物茎秆及杂草混入,随后在户外进行小规模地脱壳、扬场工作。此外,根据灰坑中植硅体的组合特征可将其分为生活垃圾、谷物加工、蓄水淘米三个类型,水井和墓葬内的植硅体则分别与生活环境和丧葬环节等信息相关。     

Subsistence strategies of two Bronze Age hill-top settlements in the eastern Alps—Friaga/Bartholomäberg (Vorarlberg, Austria) and Ganglegg/Schluderns (South Tyrol, Italy)

Up to now, archaeobotanical investigations of prehistoric sites in the eastern Alpine region have been rare. Recent palaeoethnobotanical investigations of carbonised plant remains from two Bronze Age hill-top settlements, one located north and the other south of the main Alpine range, contribute essentially to the knowledge of subsistence strategies and husbandry regimes in the Alps in prehistoric periods. The principal cereals were Hordeum vulgare (hulled barley), Triticum dicoccon (emmer) and Panicum miliaceum (broomcorn millet). In general, hulled barley was the most important cereal crop in the eastern Alps. Legumes such as Vicia faba (horse bean) and Pisum sativum (pea) also occurred regularly in both hill-top settlements. In addition to these field crops, a large variety of wild plants was still gathered and contributed considerably to the daily diet. The arable weed flora suggests that crops were sown in spring and autumn and it indicates crop rotation in this period. The results of the plant macrofossils imply a complex pattern of plant resource utilisation in the Alpine area during the Bronze Age.     

新石器时代关中地区人类生业模式演变的生物考古学证据

农业的起源与发展,改变了人类食物资源的获取方式。作为史前文化发展的中心,关中地区史前人类生业模式演变规律与影响因素的探索,将为北方地区农业的起源、发展与传播,文化交流对农业发展的影响,人类对环境变迁的适应等热点问题研究提供重要依据。本文对关中地区史前不同文化、不同遗址人与动物骨骼的稳定同位素以及动植物遗存进行了综合分析。结果显示,受文化的发展与交流、区域地理环境的差异、气候的演变等因素影响,关中地区史前先民生业模式呈现时空差异。老官台文化先民的生业模式中旱作农业与狩猎采集并重。仰韶文化早期,旱作农业成为先民生业模式的主体,但不同区域发展水平不同;另外,家畜饲养的发展速度要滞后于农作物。仰韶文化中、晚期至龙山文化早期,水稻与小麦先后传入,形成以粟、黍旱作农业为主,兼营水稻、大豆等的多元化农业结构;水稻对仰韶文化中期先民的食谱产生影响,而同时期家畜饲养主要依赖于粟黍类农作物。龙山文化,黍、粟农业比重下降,水稻含量相对增加,并对先民与家畜的食谱产生影响;肉食获取方式以饲养活动为主,渔猎活动为辅。     

Integrated pest management: the push-pull approach for controlling insect pests and weeds of cereals, and its potential for other agricultural systems including animal husbandry

This paper describes the 'push-pull' or 'stimulo-deterrent diversionary' strategy in relation to current and potential examples from our own experiences. The push-pull effect is established by exploiting semiochemicals to repel insect pests from the crop ('push') and to attract them into trap crops ('pull'). The systems exemplified here have been developed for subsistence farming in Africa and delivery of the semiochemicals is entirely by companion cropping, i.e. intercropping for the push and trap cropping for the pull. The main target was a series of lepidopterous pests attacking maize and other cereals. Although the area given to the cereal crop itself is reduced under the push-pull system, higher yields are produced per unit area. An important spin-off from the project is that the companion crops are valuable forage for farm animals. Leguminous intercrops also provide advantages with regard to plant nutrition and some of the trap crops help with water retention and in reducing land erosion. A major benefit is that certain intercrop plants provide dramatic control of the African witchweed (striga). Animal husbandry forms an essential part of intensive subsistence agriculture in Africa and developments using analogous push-pull control strategies for insect pests of cattle are exemplified.     

Crop water availability in early agriculture: evidence from carbon isotope discrimination of seeds from a tenth millennium BP site on the Euphrates

The analysis of carbon isotope discrimination (Δ) in crop plant remains from archaeological sites may help to assess water availability for early agriculture. This study presents the analysis of Δ in seeds of naked wheat (Triticum aestivum/durum), lentil (Lens orientalis/culinaris), and flax (Linum sp.) found at the archaeological site of Tell Halula in the valley of the Middle Euphrates (Syria). This Neolithic site is the oldest in this region of the Fertile Crescent where the cultivation of domesticated plants has been reported, with seed remains ranging from 9550 to 8465 BP. Most of the seeds analysed showed Δ values greater than 16 ‰, reaching 20 ‰ for some samples of flax. For wheat, Δ values were much higher than those reported in present-day (1996) durum wheat crops cultivated under rainfed conditions in north-west Syria under environments with somewhat higher rainfall than Tell Halula. Similarly, grains of present-day (1997) barley cultivated in the archaeological site also showed lower values than those found in archaeological kernels. An empirical relationship between Δ of mature kernels and total precipitation (plus irrigation where applicable) from heading to maturity (r² = 0.82, n = 11) was established for durum wheat, currently cultivated in different environments of the Mediterranean basin. The resulting relationship was applied to the data on Δ of wheat fossil kernels from Tell Halula to estimate the accumulated water inputs during the time (about 6 weeks) the kernels were produced. Calculated water inputs for wheat during early agriculture were (over 110 mm) at least 5 times higher than current-day rainfall accumulated in Tell Halula during the same phenological period. These results strongly suggest that early agriculture wheat was cultivated at Tell Halula under much wetter conditions than are currently to be found in the area. The presence of flax and its very high Δ values also support this conclusion. Whether such humid conditions during cultivation were due to moister conditions prevailing at this time, by planting in alluvial areas or by irrigation works is discussed.     

曲江县的牧草生产与养牛业发展关系的研讨

对曲江县养牛业发展有重要作用的几方面问题,如建立大面积的牧草生产基地,果园间种牧草和利用现有秸秆资源作饲料等进行了调查研究和分析讨论．此外,还阐述和讨论了农、牧业结合,相互促进、发展农村生产和经济等方面的问题。     

Macro-Process of Past Plant Subsistence from the Upper Paleolithic to Middle Neolithic in China: A Quantitative Analysis of Multi-Archaeobotanical Data

Detailed studies of the long-term development of plant use strategies indicate that plant subsistence patterns have noticeably changed since the Upper Paleolithic, when humans underwent a transitional process from foraging to agriculture. This transition was best recorded in west Asia; however, information about how plant subsistence changed during this transition remains limited in China. This lack of information is mainly due to a limited availability of sufficiently large, quantified archaeobotanical datasets and a paucity of related synthetic analyses. Here, we present a compilation of extensive archaeobotanical data derived from interdisciplinary approaches, and use quantitative analysis methods to reconstruct past plant use from the Upper Paleolithic to Middle Neolithic in China. Our results show that intentional exploitation for certain targeted plants, particularly grass seeds, may be traced back to about 30,000 years ago during the Upper Paleolithic. Subsequently, the gathering of wild plants dominated the subsistence system; however, this practice gradually diminished in dominance until about 6~5 ka cal BP during the Middle Neolithic. At this point, farming based on the domestication of cereals became the major subsistence practice. Interestingly, differences in plant use strategies were detected between north and south China, with respect to (1) the proportion of certain plant taxa in assemblages, (2) the domestication rate of cereals, and (3) the type of plant subsistence practiced after the establishment of full farming. In conclusion, the transition from foraging to rice and millet agriculture in China was a slow and long-term process spanning 10s of 1000s of years, which may be analogous to the developmental paths of wheat and barley farming in west Asia.     

Did Native Americans influence the northward migration of plants during the Holocene?

Abstract Long‐distance plant dispersal explains the rapid northward migration of plant species during the Holocene but the mechanisms by which it occurred are poorly understood. Given that Native Americans spread numerous cultigens over thousands of kilometres during the late Holocene, I examined historical literature for evidence of non‐cultigen dispersal or cultivation in North America's eastern woodlands. Cultivation references are included because a strong relationship between dispersal and indigenous flora husbandry is assumed. Sixty‐seven texts describing Native American lifestyle, cultural activities, and land management reported some form of plant use. Most accounts, however, focus on cultigen production or the use of indigenous flora for medicine or food without mention of dispersal. Twenty‐four of the texts described the trade, transport, or cultivation of plants indigenous to eastern North American woodlands. Most accounts focus on the informal production of food plants, especially trees and shrubs. Confounding these reports was clear evidence of observer bias, limited botanical knowledge, acculturation, and secrecy by Native American informants. Because of these shortcomings, the likelihood of widespread long‐distance plant dispersal by Native Americans could not be determined using historical literature. This activity was either not widespread or was not observed by, or revealed to, Europeans. To adequately test the Native American plant dispersal hypothesis, direct evidence from other sources (e.g. archaeobotancial data) will be required.     

Crania with mutilated facial skeletons: A new ritual treatment in an early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B cranial cache at Tell Qarassa North (South Syria)

The removal of crania from burials, their ritual use and their disposal, generally in cranial caches, are the most particular characteristics of the funerary ritual in the transition to the Neolithic in the Near East. Despite the importance of this ritual, detailed studies of cranial caches are rare. This funerary ritual has traditionally been interpreted as a form of ancestor‐veneration. However, this study of the cranial caches found at the site of Tell Qarassa North, South Syria, dated in the second half of the ninth millennium BC, questions this interpretation. The 12 crania, found in two groups arranged in two circles on the floor of a room, belonged to male individuals, apart from one child and one preadolescent. In 10 of the 11 cases, the facial skeletons were deliberately mutilated. In the context of the Pre‐Pottery Neolithic B, when the symbolism of the human face played a vital role in ritual practice, this mutilation of the facial skeleton could be interpreted as an act of hostility. In the absence of indicators of social stratification or signs of violence that might indicate more coercive forms of society, the veneration of ancestors has been explained as a mechanism for social cohesion, which would have been necessary in a context of rapid growth in the population of settlements. However, data on the negative nature of some funerary rites, of punishment or indifference rather than veneration, should make us question an over‐idealized view of the first Neolithic societies. Am J Phys Anthropol 149:205–216, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Wood charcoal and seeds as indicators for animal husbandry in a wetland site during the late mesolithic�Cearly neolithic transition period (Swifterbant culture, ca. 4600�C4000 b.c.) in NW Belgium

Analysis of wood charcoal and seeds from ??Doel sector M??, a Swifterbant site (ca. 4600?C4000 b.c.) from NW Belgium, provides information on the environment, plant food subsistence, animal husbandry practices and seasonality of this wetland camp site during the mesolithic?Cneolithic transition period. The results of the analyses of both charcoal and seeds show that the site was located on the top of a sand ridge covered by an upper riverbank forest with Quercus sp., Tilia sp., Ulmus sp. and Fraxinus excelsior, and surrounded by Alnus woodland. Seeds and fruits of Quercus sp., Cornus sanguinea, Corylus avellana, Malus sylvestris and Prunus spinosa probably represent food plants. High numbers of Viscum album charcoal fragments and Hedera helix seeds suggest the use of these plants as leaf fodder, and thus animal husbandry at the site. In terms of seasonality, the use of both Viscum album and Hedera helix is a strong indication that these wetland campsites were occupied during winter/early spring.     

Biotechnological perspectives of microbes in agro-ecosystems

In subsistence agricultural systems, crop yields are directly dependent on the inherent soil fertility and on microbial processes that govern the mineralization and mobilization of nutrients required for plant growth. An impact of different crop species that are used in various combinations is likely to be an important factor in determining the structure of plant beneficial microbial communities that function in nutrient cycling, the production of plant growth hormones, and suppression of root diseases. In addition, studies are needed to elucidate the signal transduction pathways that result from treatment of plants with plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria under stress conditions. In the present review an emphasis has been given on plant–microbe interactions and their mitigation under abiotic and biotic stresses.     

Proteomics as an approach to the understanding of the molecular physiology of fruit development and ripening

Fruit ripening is a developmental complex process which occurs in higher plants and involves a number of stages displayed from immature to mature fruits that depend on the plant species and the environmental conditions. Nowadays, the importance of fruit ripening comes mainly from the link between this physiological process in plants and the economic repercussions as a result of one of the human activities, the agricultural industry. In most cases, fruit ripening is accompanied by colour changes due to different pigment content and increases in sugar levels, among others. Major physiological modifications that affect colour, texture, flavour, and aroma are under the control of both external (light and temperature) and internal (developmental gene regulation and hormonal control) factors. Due to the huge amount of metabolic changes that take place during ripening in fruits from higher plants, the accomplishment of new throughput methods which can provide a global evaluation of this process would be desirable. Differential proteomics of immature and mature fruits would be a useful tool to gain information on the molecular changes which occur during ripening, but also the investigation of fruits at different ripening stages will provide a dynamic picture of the whole transformation of fruits. This subject is furthermore of great interest as many fruits are essential for human nutrition. Thus far different maturation profiles have been reported specific for each crop species. In this work, a thorough review of the proteomic database from fruit development and maturation of important crop species will be updated to understand the molecular physiology of fruits at ripening stages.     

A meta-analysis of the presence of crop plants in the Dutch and German terp area between 700 bc and ad 1600

There is a long tradition of archaeobotanical research in and around the dwelling mounds, known as terps or Wurten (among other names), along the Wadden Sea coast. The present paper presents an overview of crop plants retrieved from 1,389 samples, from a total of more than 100 sites, spanning the Iron Age to the Early Modern Period. Traditionally, the area has been more associated with animal husbandry than with crop farming. The crops that do occur are often mentioned in the form of a simple list, which is presented as being constant through time and space. Despite the large number of samples available, an overview looking at the potential diversity in crop plant composition in the area across time and space has been lacking until now. The present paper shows clear trends over time, starting long before the permanent embanking of the Wadden Sea salt marshes.

     

Comparing Norse animal husbandry practices: paleoethnobotanical analyses from Iceland and Greenland

The popular view of the Norse settlement across the North Atlantic describes colonies with similar subsistence practices being established from the Faroe Islands in the west to L'Anse aux Meadows in the east. The importance of plant resources to the Norse animal husbandry strategies implemented by settlers upon arrival are not well established, nor are the changes these strategies underwent, eventually resulting in different cultural solutions to varying environmental and social factors. This paper compares archaeobotanical samples from two Icelandic archaeological sites, Svalbare and Gj?gur, and one Greenlandic site, G?rden Under Sandet (GUS). Results of this comparison suggest that heathland shrubs were an important fodder resource for caprines in both Iceland and Greenland while apophytes ("weedy taxa") were part of the cattle fodder in Greenland. Further, the results indicate that mucking out of cattle barns to provide fertilizer was likely practiced at the GUS site in the Western Norse settlement of Greenland.     

Photosynthetic characteristics and productivity of spring rape plants as related to crop density

Optimal density of spring rape (Brassica napus L.) crop stand was determined by plant photosynthetic characteristics at the beginning of flowering. As crop density increased from 100 to 350 plants/m², leaf surface index (LSI) of the crop was found to increase by 18.2–80.2%, and LSI decreased by 38.8–67.3% as compared with the sparsest crop (50–100 plants/m²). LSI depended on the rate of incident PAR reaching 0.5 and 0.25 heights of the crop stand and to the soil surface. When crop density increased from 100 to 350 plants/m², the photosynthetic potential (PP) of the crop increased 1.8 times as compared with the sparsest crop. PP of the densest rape crop stand was 3 times lower than in the sparsest crop. When the crop density increased from 100 to 250 plants/m², the daily increment in biomass calculated per leaf surface unit increased by 27.0% as compared with the sparsest crop and depended on LSI. When leaf area decreased, the daily increment in biomass calculated per leaf surface unit declined; in the densest stand, this characteristic was by 58.3% lower than in the sparsest crop. Rape productivity at the flowering stage depended on the crop density, LSI of plants, rate of PAR reaching 0.5 and 0.25 heights of the crop stand and to the soil surface, PP, and the daily increment in biomass calculated per leaf surface unit. Crop productivity at the flowering stage and the rape seed yield were associated by a significant parabolic relationship. When crop density increased from 100 to 350 plants/m², seed yield per plant considerably decreased (by 33.1–78.5%) as compared with the sparsest crop. The greatest influence on seed yield per plant was exerted by LSI and the daily increment in biomass calculated per leaf surface unit. When crop density increased to 250–300 plants/m², the seed yield considerably rose (by 28.6–58.8%) as compared with the sparsest crop; when this index reached 300–350 plants/m², the seed yield decreased because plant growth was suppressed, with the productivity reduced. The results thus obtained suggest that the photometric characteristics of spring rape were at optimum at crop density of 100–250 plants/m². The agroclimatic conditions of Lithuania ensure potential for rapid accumulation of total biomass and high seed yield.     

Stature and robusticity during the agricultural transition: Evidence from the bioarchaeological record

The population explosion that followed the Neolithic revolution was initially explained by improved health experiences for agriculturalists. However, empirical studies of societies shifting subsistence from foraging to primary food production have found evidence for deteriorating health from an increase in infectious and dental disease and a rise in nutritional deficiencies. In Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture (Cohen and Armelagos, 1984), this trend towards declining health was observed for 19 of 21 societies undergoing the agricultural transformation. The counterintuitive increase in nutritional diseases resulted from seasonal hunger, reliance on single crops deficient in essential nutrients, crop blights, social inequalities, and trade. In this study, we examined the evidence of stature reduction in studies since 1984 to evaluate if the trend towards decreased health after agricultural transitions remains. The trend towards a decrease in adult height and a general reduction of overall health during times of subsistence change remains valid, with the majority of studies finding stature to decline as the reliance on agriculture increased. The impact of agriculture, accompanied by increasing population density and a rise in infectious disease, was observed to decrease stature in populations from across the entire globe and regardless of the temporal period during which agriculture was adopted, including Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, South America, and North America.     

农牧结合生态工程的基本理论与实践

农牧结合生态工程是一个复杂的农业生态、经济和技术系统工程,它由植物(种植业)、动物(养殖业)和微生物(连接种养业)3个子系统组成,其关键是建设一个以"四、三、二、一"畜牧业生产模式为主要内容的高效节粮型畜牧生态工程,它要求用尽可能少的自然资源,在尽可能短的周期内,生产尽可能多而优的农(牧)产品,以获取尽可能高的经济效益,达到或维持尽可能最佳的生态平衡.     

Assessing the levels of food shortage using the traffic light metaphor by analyzing the gathering and consumption of wild food plants, crop parts and crop residues in Konso, Ethiopia

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Humanitarian relief agencies use scales to assess levels of critical food shortage to efficiently target and allocate food to the neediest. These scales are often labor-intensive. A lesser used approach is assessing gathering and consumption of wild food plants. This gathering per se is not a reliable signal of emerging food stress. However, the gathering and consumption of some specific plant species could be considered markers of food shortage, as it indicates that people are compelled to eat very poor or even health-threatening food. METHODS: We used the traffic light metaphor to indicate normal (green), alarmingly low (amber) and fully depleted (red) food supplies and identified these conditions for Konso (Ethiopia) on the basis of wild food plants (WFPs), crop parts (crop parts not used for human consumption under normal conditions; CPs) and crop residues (CRs) being gathered and consumed. Plant specimens were collected for expert identification and deposition in the National Herbarium. Two hundred twenty individual households free-listed WFPs, CPs, and CRs gathered and consumed during times of food stress. Through focus group discussions, the species list from the free-listing that was further enriched through key informants interviews and own field observations was categorized into species used for green, amber and red conditions. RESULTS: The study identified 113 WFPs (120 products/food items) whose gathering and consumption reflect the three traffic light metaphors: red, amber and green. We identified 25 food items for the red, 30 food items for the amber and 65 food items for the green metaphor. We also obtained reliable information on 21 different products/food items (from 17 crops) normally not consumed as food, reflecting the red or amber metaphor and 10 crop residues (from various crops), plus one recycled stuff which are used as emergency foods in the study area clearly indicating the severity of food stress (red metaphor) households are dealing with. Our traffic light metaphor proved useful to identify and closely monitor the types of WFPs, CPs, and CPs collected and consumed and their time of collection by subsistence households in rural settings. Examples of plant material only consumed under severe food stress included WFPs with health-threatening features like Dobera glabra (Forssk.) Juss. ex Poir. and inkutayeta, parts of 17 crops with 21 food items conventionally not used as food (for example, maize tassels, husks, empty pods), ten crop residues (for example bran from various crops) and one recycled food item (tata). CONCLUSIONS: We have complemented the conventional seasonal food security assessment tool used by humanitarian partners by providing an easy, cheap tool to scale food stress encountered by subsistence farmers. In cognizance of environmental, socio-cultural differences in Ethiopia and other parts of the globe, we recommend analogous studies in other parts of Ethiopia and elsewhere in the world where recurrent food stress also occurs and where communities intensively use WFPs, CPs, and CRs to cope with food stress.