Functionality and Morphology: Identifying Si Agricultural Tools from Among Hemudu Scapular Implements in Eastern China

J Archaeol Method Theory (2017) 24:377–423 DOI 10.1007/s10816-015-9271-x Functionality and Morphology: Identifying Si Agricultural Tools from Among Hemudu Scapular Implements in Eastern China Liye Xie 1 & Xuejiao Lu 2 & Guoping Sun 3 & Weijin Huang 2 Published online: 6 January 2016 # The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Most Chinese archaeologists assume that the scapular implements used in the Hemudu culture in eastern China (7000–5000 BP) were the si agricultural implements (tools for breaking ground and turning soils over to assist in seeding) recorded in ancient Chinese literatures and, accordingly, assume the Hemudu culture was a farming society. However, ethnographic and historical literatures worldwide have suggested inconclusive functions for similar implements. We conducted a range of experiments under realistic conditions, including hide and plant processing and earth-working, followed by use-wear analysis, to identify the functions of the Hemudu scapular implements. The results suggest that no more than half of the implements were employed as si and that their penetrability and durability were rather limited. These findings help explain why Hemudu should not be labeled as a farming society. Through experimentation and use-wear analysis, we produced relatively large datasets that make a significant contribution to the identification of soil-derived wear patterns on bone tools. We also included quantitative measurements of soil properties to ensure similarities in use contexts between our experimental and archaeological analogies in order to reach reliable functional identifications. Our approaches and results, therefore, provided a solid base for re-evaluating previous research as well as building a standardized database of scientific value for future evaluation and adjustment, even if that future research is done in isolation and in different soil contexts. * Liye Xie 1 University of Toronto, Mississauga, ON L5L1C6, Canada 2 Hemudu Museum, Yuyao County, Ningbo City, Zhejiang 315414, China 3 Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang 310014, China 378 Xie et al. Keywords Agricultural tool . Hemudu culture . Rice cultivation . Neolithic China . Usewear analysis . Experimental archaeology Introduction First discovered in the early 1970s, the Hemudu culture, dating to approximately 5000– 7000 BP (Sun 2013; Wu et al. 2011; ZPICHA 2003) in the Lower Yangzi Basin (Fig. 1), is the Chinese archaeological culture best-known outside of China because its waterlogged condition has yielded well-preserved organic remains. Hemudu had been regarded as the earliest farming society in East Asia until the early 1990s, when older rice remains were found in the middle Yangzi Valley (Crawford and Shen 1998). Ironically, however, the Hemudu culture was not the subject of much scientific investigation until the last 10 years, when new archaeological findings from the Lower Yangzi Basin again drew attention to this area as the center of the origin of rice agriculture. Results from recent research show that thousands of years separated the appearance of incipient rice cultivation and the well-established agricultural societies in the Lower Yangzi Basin (Fuller et al. 2007; Liu et al. 2007; Pan 2011; Zheng et al. 2012). Hemudu represents one of those societies in which rice cultivation was practiced over millennia, yet full-scale agriculture did not develop there spontaneously. Previous Fig. 1 Map of the study area showing the sites of Hemudu (HMD) and Tianluoshan (TLS) in the Ningbo City, the two major sites of the Hemudu culture, as well as Maoshan (MS) in the Hangzhou City, a non-Hemudu culture site where we conducted some of our earth-working experiments Identifying Si Agricultural Tools 379 research on the process of agricultural development has focused on a combination of ecological and economic perspectives (e.g., climate, environment, biological adaptations; see Fuller et al. 2009; Purugganan and Fuller 2009; Zheng et al. 2012). Our research focuses on agricultural implements, a perspective that has been largely neglected, to understand the prolonged process of the development of plant agriculture in the Hemudu culture. Farming implements are an indispensable component in agricultural practices. In the Hemudu culture, wooden digging sticks have been found in small numbers; spade-like implements were more common, mostly crafted from bone with a few made of medium-hard wood and stone (Xie 2014). The bone spades, crafted from large mammal scapulae, are frequently found at the sites of Hemudu and Tianluoshan, the only two sites of the Hemudu culture that have been systematically excavated. These bone spades are often uncovered together with artifacts and ecofacts for daily use and/or from daily refuse in the habitation area. Because these scapular implements are morphologically similar to descriptions of tilling or soil loosening tools in ancient Chinese text, or si (Chen 1980; Xu 1983), most archaeologists in China have labeled them as the si tools that represent an advanced Neolithic farming technology involving tillage (Chen 1980; You 1976). Together with the presence of abundant rice remains at the Hemudu site, this led researchers to assume the Hemudu culture was a farming society. New discoveries and excavations at Tianluoshan, a waterlogged site with 6.3 ha of rice fields lying west of a 3-ha village belonging to the Hemudu culture (Sun 2013; Zheng et al. 2009), have provided opportunities for systematic data collection and thorough research on Hemudu subsistence strategies. Results of the most recent research have led to the conclusion that the Hemudu communities consumed a broad-spectrum diet consistent with low-level food production (Pan 2011; Qin et al. 2006), thus inviting a scientific examination of the hypothesized si agriculture. In particular, we ask two questions. Were the scapular implements si? If so, how effective were they? This paper focuses mainly on the first question; detailed discussion regarding the second question can be found in another paper (Xie et al. 2015). To determine whether the scapular implements were si, we examined previous literature on similar implements, conducted experiments to test the major functions previously suggested for scapular implements, and then compared the use-wear patterns and morphological details of the experimental samples to the archaeological specimens. Methods The pre-industrial use of scapular tools is a global phenomenon. In addition to the Lower Yangzi Basin in eastern China (ZPICHA 2003; ZPICHA and XM 2004), scapular implements have been found in Neolithic and early Iron Age contexts in many world regions, including the Upper and Middle Yellow River Valleys in north China (Andersson 1925, p. 15; SPIA and BMAT 2006), southern England, southern Germany, Swiss lake dwellings (Curwen 1926; Ste (...truncated)