Temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of the Liangzhu Culture settlement and its relationship with environmental changes
Background,aim,and scope Liangzhu settlement is one of the most important prehistoric sites in the lower Yangtze River region and an important source of Chinese civilization.Liangzhu settlement is mainly distributed in the Taihu Lake region,including the Liangzhu area and the Jiaxing area in northern and southeastern Zhejiang Province respectively,Suzhou and Wuxi in Jiangsu Province,as well as Shanghai.Currently,most research is based on archaeological methods to explore the human-environment relationship of the Liangzhu settlement,while that based on geographical modeling methods is relatively weak.Based on data on archaeological sites of the Liangzhu settlement and its surrounding environment,through GIS spatial analysis techniques,spatial evolutionary features of the Liangzhu settlement are analyzed.Materials and methods The data for this study is mainly from The Macroscopic Study on the Settlements of Liangzhu Culture and excavation reports from various areas in the region.The spatial distribution characteristics of the Liangzhu settlement are analyzed using kernel density estimation(KDE),standard deviation ellipse and Thiessen polygons.Results The distribution characteristics of the Liangzhu settlement are as follows:(1)based on KDE analysis,the Liangzhu settlement is denser in the south and sparser in the north,changing from a dual-core to a single-core distribution pattern and decreasing in the number of sites with time,which indicates that the Liangzhu settlement went through stages including budding,development,prosperity and decline.(2)Results of the standard deviation ellipses analysis reveal that the Liangzhu settlement continued migrating northwards.(3)The Thiessen polygon analysis shows that the development scale of the Liangzhu settlement changed from a balanced distribution at both sites during the first and second period to more settlements in the north and fewer in the south during the third and fourth period,forming a development pattern surrounded by multiple settlements resembling stars.Discussion These results are consistent with research on the natural environment and human factors during that time.Both natural and human factors play essential roles in the distribution characteristics of the Liangzhu settlement.(1)The spatial aggregation of the Liangzhu settlement is generally characterized as"densely populated in the south and sparsely populated in the north".The development of the settlement went through four stages:the budding stage,the development stage,the prosperous stage and the declining stage,which were mainly affected by climate changes from warm and humid to cool and relatively humid,and then to warm and dry.The Liangzhu settlement developed due to humid and warm climates,but ended due to floods.(2)The main force for the spread of the Liangzhu settlement was from the north.(3)The spatial distribution pattern of the Liangzhu settlement mainly changed from dual-core to single-core.During the first and second period,the Liangzhu settlement showed a core-to-edge diffused distribution pattern,while during the third and fourth period,it showed a dense core-corridor distribution pattern.In terms of settlement size,during the first and second period,both settlements developed in a variety of ways.During the third and fourth period,the territory of the north settlement gradually increased with the south becoming a single territory,showing a situation where stars surrounded the settlement.That was mainly due to the combined effects of unequal productivity,natural factors and the northward migration of the settlement.Conclusions The Liangzhu settlement illustrates an expansion at the first stage,then reduced and moved towards the north.At the end of the Liangzhu Culture,the north settlement expanded,and the south weakened obviously.The spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of the Liangzhu settlement are closely related to the climate and the extreme natural disasters,which lead to a series of socio-economic changes such as tribal war,environment deterioration,population and settlement decline,and ultimately vanishing of Liangzhu settlement.Recommendations and perspectives Currently,research that relies mostly on published data from archaeological excavations remains insufficient.What is worse,there are certain restrictions on the original data information,which includes all kinds of cultural relics atlas,archaeological excavation reports,local cultural relics and local chronicles.For instance,whilst the geographical space of each site can currently be determined,the precision of its spatial coordinates is still skewed.These initial conclusions must be further depicted and verified in the follow-up work.
万方数据
维普
