Authors: Yun Zhang Cheng Zhu
Publish Date: 2008/05/29
Volume: 53, Issue: 1, Pages: 140-152
Abstract
Environmental archaeology of archaeological sites on both sides of the Dachang section in the Daning River the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River shows that riverbed evolution has a great influence on the distribution of archaeological sites during the prehistorical and historical period and it restricts human activity and the development of ancient culture Field investigation dating data paleocurrent analysis of 100 gravels on the riverbed and archaeological excavation reveal that the riverbed of the Dachang section developed in the Shuangyantang region during the early stage after about 30 kaBP it shifted westward gradually and reached the present place Along with the westward shift the focus of ancient culture changed for several times In the Western Zhou Dynasty’s period the east riverbank of the Daning River was the main residential area During the Han Dynasty along with the westward shift the living space of ancient people was no longer confined to the east riverbank and the focus of culture moved westward Then the Zhangjiawan site became the main dwelling district In the late Han Dynasty the villages were flooded and the ancients had to immigrate to a high place Tombs of the Han and the Jin Dynasties outcropped on the flood plain of the east bank because their surface sediments were eroded by several flood events and the westward shift of the riverbedSupported by the Key Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China Grant Nos 30590383 and 90411015 the National Natural Science Foundation of China Grant No 40601104 the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars Ministry of Education of China the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China Grant No 20050284011 the Foundation of Important Basic Research at Nanjing University Grant No 0209005206 the Open Foundation of the State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology from the Institute of Earth Environment Chinese Academy of Sciences Grant No SKLLQG0503 the Physical Geography of “985” Items and the Test Foundation of Modern Analyses Center of Nanjing University Grant No 0209001309
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