Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-8mjnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-17T13:46:40.435Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Labor Costs for Prehistoric Earthwork Construction: Experimental and Archaeological Insights from the Lower Yangzi Basin, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Liye Xie
Affiliation:
University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario L5L1C6, Canada (liye.xie@utoronto.ca)
Steven L. Kuhn
Affiliation:
School of Anthropology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721
Guoping Sun
Affiliation:
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, 26 Jiashanxincun, Jiashan Road, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang 310014, China
John W. Olsen
Affiliation:
School of Anthropology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721
Yunfei Zheng
Affiliation:
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, 26 Jiashanxincun, Jiashan Road, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang 310014, China
Pin Ding
Affiliation:
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, 26 Jiashanxincun, Jiashan Road, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang 310014, China
Ye Zhao
Affiliation:
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, 26 Jiashanxincun, Jiashan Road, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang 310014, China

Abstract

This paper examines choices of earth-working tools made by Neolithic Chinese populations. In the Hemudu Culture (7000–5000 B.P.), bone (scapula) digging tools were used from the earliest times, whereas peoples in surrounding areas used stone spades. A range of experiments on manufacturing costs, durability, and use efficiency under realistic conditions show that bone and stone spades are functionally equivalent when soils are soft, but that stone implements provide significant and easily perceived advantages when working harder soils. The persistence of scapular spades in the Hemudu Culture would have constrained decisions about undertaking large construction projects under normal soil conditions. Our results show that, in addition to generalized labor for construction, labor demands for producing earth-working implements for large-scale prehistoric earthworks could have also been substantial. These findings not only help explain the processes of intensifying rice-agriculture and sedentary settlements in the Lower Yangzi Basin, but also create a solid foundation for further investigation of how the recruitment of both generalized and specialized laborers, the organization of craft production, and the relevant logistics for large-scale earthworks may have paralleled concentrations of political power in prehistory.

Este artículo examina las elecciones de herramientas de excavación en poblaciones chinas del neolítico. Las herramientas de excavación hechas de hueso (escápula) fueron utilizadas desde los inicios de la cultura Hemudu (7000–5000 A.P), a diferencia de los habitantes de las zonas aledañas, quienes utilizaron palas líticas. Una serie de experimentos sobre costos de manufactura, durabilidad y eficiencia bajo condiciones reales demuestran que las palas líticas y de hueso son funcionalmente equivalentes en condiciones de suelo blando, sin embargo las herramientas líticas proveen importantes y evidentes ventajas en condiciones de suelo más duro. El persistente uso de las palas de escápula en la cultura Hemudu habría limitado decisiones relacionadas con grandes proyectos de construcción bajo condiciones normales de suelo. Nuestros resultados demuestran que, además de la labor de construcción, la demanda de labor de producción de implementos de excavación de gran escala habría sido substancial. Estos resultados no solo ayudan a explicar los procesos de intensificación de la producción de arroz y los asentamientos sedentarios en la cuenca baja de Yangzi, sino también a establecer una base sólida para investigaciones futuras relacionadas con el reclutamiento de obreros especializados y no especializados, con la organización de la producción artesanal y con la logística de trabajos agrícolas de gran escala, que podrían asociarse con concentraciones de poder político en la prehistoria.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by the Society for American Archaeology.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Abrams, Elliot Marc 1984 Systems of Labor Organization in Late Classic Copán, Honduras: The Energetics of Construction. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Abrams, Elliot Marc 1987 Economic Specialization and Construction Personnel in Classic Period Copán, Honduras. American Antiquity 52:485499.Google Scholar
Abrams, Elliot Marc 1994 How the Maya Built Their World: Energetics and Ancient Architecture. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Abrams, Elliot M., and Bolland, Thomas W. 1999 Architectural Energetics, Ancient Monuments, and Operations Management. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 6(4):263291.Google Scholar
Arco, Lee J., and Abrams, Elliot M. 2006 An Essay on Energetics: The Construction of the Aztec Chinampa System. Antiquity 80:906918.Google Scholar
Ashbee, Paul, and Cornwall, Ian W. 1961 An Experiment in Field Archaeology. Antiquity 35:129134.Google Scholar
Atkinson, R. J. C. 1961 Neolithic Engineering. Antiquity 35:292299.Google Scholar
Baker, E. C. 1936 A Wooden Hoe from Majita Peninsula, Victoria Nyanza. Man 36:144.Google Scholar
Best, Elsdon 1976 Maori Agriculture: The Cultivated Food Plants of the Natives of New Zealand, with Some Account of Native Methods of Agriculture, its Ritual and Origin Myths. A. R. Shearer, Government Printer, Wellington, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Bengough, A. G., and Mullins, C. E. 1991 Penetrometer Resistance, Root Penetration Resistance and Root Elongation Rate in Two Sandy Loam Soils. Plant and Soil 131:5966.Google Scholar
Cobb, Charles R. 2000 From Quarry to Cornfield: The Political Economy of Mississippian Hoe Production. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar
Cunnar, Geoffrey Eugene 2007 The Production and Use of Stone Tools at the Longshan Period Site of Liangchengzhen, China. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven.Google Scholar
Curwen, E. Cecil 1926 On the Use of Scapulae as Shovels. Sussex Archaeological Collection 67:139145.Google Scholar
Clark, J. Desmond 1959 The Prehistory of Southern Africa. Penguin Books Ltd., Harmondsworth, U.K.Google Scholar
Dawson, R. J., Shewchuk, S., and Pritchard, J. E. 1982 Selection and Use of Hardfacing Alloys. Welding Journal 61(11): 1523.Google Scholar
Ding, Pin 1999 A Preliminary Discussion of the Relationships between the Late Neolithic Cultures on the Northern and Southern Margins of the Qiantangjiang River. In Festschrift in Honor of Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology’s 20th Anniversary, edited by ZPICHA, pp. 4958. Xiling Press, Hangzhou, China.Google Scholar
Ding, Pin, Zheng, Yunfei, Chen, Xugao, Zhong, Zhaobing, and Wang, Ningyuan 2010 The Maoshan Site at Linping, Yuhang, Zhejiang. China Cultural Relics News March 12. Beijing.Google Scholar
Ding, Pin, Zhao, Ye, Zheng, Yunfei, Lu, Wenbao, Zhong, Zhaobing, and Chen, Xugao 2011 The Most Important Discovery of the Second and Third Excavation Seasons at the Prehistoric Maoshan Settlement in Yuhang, Zhejiang. China Cultural Relics News December 30. Beijing.Google Scholar
Ding, Jinlong 2011 Rice Fields and Rice Agriculture during the Majiabang Cultural Period. In The Origin of the Jiangnan Culture (Vol. I), edited by ZPICHA. Institute of Archaeology in the Nanjing Museum, Jiaxing Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, TV, Press and Publication, and Jiaxing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau et al., pp. 162175. China Photography Publishing House, Beijing.Google Scholar
Erasmus, Charles J. 1965 Monument Building: Some Field Experiments. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 21(4):277301.Google Scholar
Evans, J. G., and Limbrey, Susan 1974 The Experimental Earthwork on Modern Bog, Wareham, Dorset, England: 1963 to 1972. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 40:170202.Google Scholar
Fuller, Dorian Q., and Qin, Ling 2009 Water Management and Labour in the Origins and Dispersal of Asian Rice. World Archaeology 41(1):88111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuller, Dorian Q., Harvey, Emma, and Qin, Ling 2007 Presumed Domestication? Evidence for Wild Rice Cultivation and Domestication in the Fifth Millennium BC of the Lower Yangtze Region. Antiquity 81:316331.Google Scholar
Gillette, Halbert Powers 1920 Earthwork and Its Cost: A Handbook of Excavation. 3 rd ed. McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Griffitts, Janet Lynn 2006 Bone Tools and Technological Choice: Change and Stability on the Northern Plains. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Gardner, Walter H. 1986 Water Content. In Methods of Soil Analysis, Part I. Physical and Mineralogical Methods. Agronomy Monograph No. 9, 2 nd ed., pp. 493544. American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America, Madison.Google Scholar
Hard, Robert Zapata, Jose J., Moses, Bruce K., Roney, John R. 1999 Terrace Construction in Northern Chihuahua, Mexico: 1150 B.C. and Modern Experiments. Journal of Field Archaeology 26(2):129146.Google Scholar
Hammerstedt, Scott William 2005 Mississippian Construction, Labor, and Social Organization in Western Kentucky. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, State College.Google Scholar
Hemudu Project Committee (HPC) 1999 Twenty Years of Recognition and Investigation of the Hemudu Culture. In Festschrift in Honor of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology’s 20th Anniversary (1979–1999), edited by ZPIACH, pp. 116. Xiling Press, Hangzhou, China.Google Scholar
Huang, Weijin 1996 Rethinking the Hemudu Bone si. Cultural Relics (1):6165.Google Scholar
Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences 2010 Chinese Archaeology: Neolithic. China Social Science Press, Beijing.Google Scholar
Jiang, Leping 1999 The Burials at Tashan Lower Layers and the Tashan Culture. Southeast Culture (6):2635.Google Scholar
Jiang, Leping 2006 Discoveries and Thoughts on the Neolithic Sites in the Puyang River Drainage. In selected Essays of the Zhejiang Province Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology VIII, edited by ZPICHA, pp. 439461. Science Press, Beijing.Google Scholar
Kirch, P. V., Coil, J., Hartshorn, A. S., Jeraj, M., Vitousek, P.M., and Chadwick, O. A. 2005 Intensive Dryland Farming on the Leeward Slopes of Haleakala, Maui, Hawaiian Islands: Archaeological, Archaeobotanical, and Geochemical Perspectives. World Archaeology 37(2):240258.Google Scholar
Liu, Li, Lee, GyoungAh, Jiang, Leping, and Zhang, Juzhong 2007 Evidence for the Early Beginning (c. 9000 cal. BP) of Rice Domestication in China: A Response. The Holocene 17:10591068.Google Scholar
Liu, Li, and Chen, Xingcan 2012 The Archaeology of China: From the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Luojiajiao Archaeological Team 1981 Excavation Report on the Luojiajiao Site, Tongxiang. In Collected Essays of the Zhejiang Province Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, edited by ZPICHA, pp. 156. Cultural Relics Publishing House, Beijing.Google Scholar
Martino, Daniel L., and Shaykewich, Carl F. 1994 Root Penetration Profiles of Wheat and Barley as Affected by Soil Penetration Resistance in Field Conditions. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 74:193200.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A. 1992 Agricultural Tasks and Tools Patterns of Stone Tool Discard near Prehistoric Maya Residences Bordering Pulltrouser Swamp, Belize, In Gardens of Prehistory: The Archaeology of Settlement Agriculture in Greater Mesoamerica, edited by T. W. Killion, pp. 184213. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar
Milner, George R. 1998 The Cahokia Chiefdom: The Archaeology of a Mississippian Society. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Milner, George R., Hammerstedt, Scott W., and French, Kirk D. 2010 Chert Hoes as Digging Tools. Antiquity 84:103113.Google Scholar
Muller, Jon 1997 Mississippian Political Economy. Plenum, New York.Google Scholar
Nakajima, T., Nakajima, M., Mizuno, T., Sun, G.-P., He, S.-P., and Liu, H.-Z. 2012 On the Pharyngeal Tooth Remains of Crucian and Common Carp from the Neolithic Tianluoshan site, Zhejiang Province, China, with Remarks on the Relationships between Freshwater Fishing and Rice Cultivation in the Neolithic Age. International Journal of Osteoar-chaeology 22:294304.Google Scholar
Pan, Yan 2011 Resource Production from 10,000 to 6,000 BP on the Yangzi Delta and Qiantangjiang Drainage: Paleoeth-nobotanical and Human Ecological Studies. Ph.D. Dissertation, School of Archaeology and Museology, Fudan University, Shanghai.Google Scholar
Qin, Ling 2013 The Liangzhu Culture. In A Companion to Chinese Archaeology, edited by A. P. Underhill, pp. 574596. Blackwell, Sussex, U.K.Google Scholar
Sinnett, D., Morgan, G., Williams, M., and Hutchings, T. 2008 Soil Penetration Resistance and Tree Root Development. Soil Use and Management 24(3):273280.Google Scholar
Shelach, Gideon 2013 Collapse or Transformation? Anthropological and Archaeological Perspectives on the Fall of Qin. In Birth of an Empire: The State of Qin Revisited, edited by Y. Pines, L. V. Falkenhausen, G. Shelach, and R. Yates, pp. 113138. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Sun, Guoping 2013 Recent Research on the Hemudu Culture and the Tianluoshan Site. In A Companion to Chinese Archaeology, edited by A. P. Underhill, pp. 555573. Blackwell, Sussex, U.K.Google Scholar
Sun, Guoping, and Huang, Weijin 2000 A Report on the Excavation at Xiangjiashan, Yuyao County. Prehistoric Studies, edited by the Xi’an Banpo Museum, pp. 385427. Sanqin Press, Xi’an, China.Google Scholar
Wang, Haiming 2009 The Neolithic Site of Siqianshan, Yangxunqiao, Shaoxing City: The Discovery of a Stone Fence of the Majiabang Culture. In A New Era of Zhejiang Archaeology, edited by ZPICHA, pp. 3637. Science Press, Beijing.Google Scholar
Webb, John, Ford, Anne, and Gorton, Justin 2007 Influences on Selection of Lithic Raw Material Sources at Huizui, a Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Site in Northern China. Indo-pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin 27:7686.Google Scholar
Webster, David, and Kirker, Jennifer 1995 Too Many Maya, Too Few Buildings: Investigating Construction Potential at Copán, Honduras. Journal of Anthropological Research 51:363387.Google Scholar
Wilson, Gilbert Livingstone 1917 Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians: An Indian Interpretation. Studies in Social Sciences 9, Bulletin of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Xie, Liye 2014 Early to Middle Holocene Earth-working Implements and Neolithic Land-use Strategies on the Ningshao Plain, China. Ph.D. Dissertation, School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Yang, Yongzhao, Li, Fuchun, Cao, Zhihong, Wang, Meinong, Jin, Zhangdong, Dai, Jingyu, and Ran, Wei 2007 Identifying Paleosol Parent Materials at the Chuodun Site in Kunshan Based on Soil Particle Size. Chinese Journal of Soil Science 38(1): 15.Google Scholar
Yu, Weijie. 1993 The Acquisition and Maintenance of the Hemudu Rice Field. Ancient and Modern Agriculture (4):3643.Google Scholar
Zheng, Jianming 2008 Environment, Adaptation, and Social Complexity: Prehistoric Cultural Changes in the Lake Taihu Area and the Ningshao Plain. Shanghai People Press, Shanghai, China.Google Scholar
Zheng, Leping, Hu, Xuefeng, and Fang, Xiaomin 2002 A Review of the Study of the Origin of the Xiashu Loess in the Middle and Lower Yangzi Regions. Bulletin of Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry 21(1):5457.Google Scholar
Zheng, Yunfei, Sun, Guoping, Qin, Ling, Li, Chunhai, Wu, Xiaohong, and Chen, Xugao 2009 Rice Fields and Modes of Rice Cultivation between 5000 to 2500 BC in East China. Journal of Archaeological Science 36:26092616.Google Scholar
Zheng, YunFei, Sun, GuoPing, and Chen, XueGao 2012 Response of Rice Cultivation to Fluctuating Sea Level during the Mid-Holocene. Chinese Science Bulletin 57(4):370378.Google Scholar
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology (ZPICHA) 1997 The Neolithic Site at Kuahuqiao, Xiaoshan. In Proceedings of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology II:621. Hangzhou, China.Google Scholar
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology (ZPICHA) 2002 A Brief Excavation Report of the Xiaodongmen Site, Cicheng, Ningbo. Southeastern Culture (9):1730.Google Scholar
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology (ZPICHA) 2003 Hemudu: A Neolithic Site. Cultural Relics Publishing House, Beijing.Google Scholar
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology (ZPICHA) 2005 Excavation Report on the Nanhebang Songze Culture Site. Cultural Relics Publishing House, Beijing.Google Scholar
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology (ZPICHA) 2008 Excavation of the Liangzhu Ancient City Site in Yuhang County, Hangzhou, in 2006–2007. Archaeology (7):310.Google Scholar
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology (ZPICHA) 2011 A Summary of Archaeological Field and Lab Work at Tianluoshan during the First Working Stage (years 2004–2008). In Integrated Studies on the Natural Remains from Tianluoshan, edited by the Center for the Study of Chinese Archaeology, Peking University and ZPICHA, pp. 739. Cultural Relics Publishing House, Beijing.Google Scholar
ZPICHA and XM (Xiaoshan Museum) 2004 Kuahuqiao. Cultural Relics Publishing House, Beijing.Google Scholar
ZPICHA and the Yuyao Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics 1997 Excavation Report of Liangzhu Altar-Cemetery at Huiguanshan in Yuhang, Zhejiang. In Collected Essays of the Zhejiang Province Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology II, edited by ZPICHA, pp. 7493. Changzheng Press, Beijing.Google Scholar
Zhao, Ye 2001 Excavation of the Mojiaoshan Site 1992–1993 at Yuhang. Cultural Relics (12):419.Google Scholar
Zhao, Ye 2007 The Vanished Capital of an Ancient Chiefdom: The Liangzhu Site. Zhejiang Photography Publishing House, Hangzhou, China.Google Scholar
Zou, Houben, Gu, Jianxiang, Li, Minchang, Tang, Linghua, Ding, Jinlong, and Yao, Qinde 2000 The Majiabang Culture Rice Fields at Caoxieshan, Jiangsu. In The Origins of Rice Agriculture, Pottery and Cities, edited by W. Yan and Y. Yoshinori, pp. 97113. Cultural Relics Publishing House, Beijing.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Xie et al. Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download Xie et al. Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 175 KB