The Site Selection and Subsistence of Ancestors in the Taihu Lake Basin in the Neolithic Age:A Focus on the Majiabang and Songze Culture
People in the Neolithic Age tended to choose the location where resources were most concentrated through spe-cific feeding methods for making their livings.Majiabang culture and Songze culture are significant components of prehistoric ar-chaeological cultures in the Taihu Lake basin in the Neolithic Age,which have provided abundant research materials for explor-ing the prehistoric subsistence economy,the origin of rice farming and other topics.Meanwhile,the practices of subsistence found in two cultures could reflect the influences from their feeding abilities and site resource conditions.In the early stages of the Majiabang and Songze cultures,whether there was a wide enough aquatic environment around is the primary consideration for people engaged in fishing,hunting and gathering when choosing a site to make a living.This kind of circumstance provided them with innate convenience for attempting to transform natural low-lying areas or shallow pits into small rice paddies.In the middle and late stage of Majiabang culture,rice could only be cultivated in those small pits with fertile and impermeable soil.As a result,the infant paddy cultivation was at risk of disappearing at that time.However,by the middle stage of Songze culture,an-cestors had already mastered the methods of stable paddy cultivation,and rice became the staple food for some ancestors.Based on the development of rice farming economy and the invention of artificial soil stacking skill,the Songze ancestors had a stronger subjective initiative when choosing a site to live in the low-lying plain area,which objectively promoted their exploiting towards the Taihu Lake basin.
the Majiabang culturethe Songze culturesubsistencefeeding abilitiesresource conditions
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