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The rise and fall of the Liangzhu society in the perspective of subsistence economy

Bibliographic Data

ID22008069
AuthorsJing Yuan (0000-0002-4262-4116, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), Yan Pan (0000-0003-3164-5939, Fudan University), Ningning Dong (0000-0002-6361-5681, Fudan University), Michael Storozum (Fudan University), Michael J Storozum (0000-0002-3948-6074, Fudan University)
Year2022
Volume22
Issue1
Pages145-152
Publication date2022-11-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueChinese Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2160-5025 • E-ISSN: 2160-5068
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/char-2022-0011
OpenAlexW4308994257
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited3

Based on plant and animal remains unearthed from sites of the Liangzhu culture in the coastal area of eastern Zhejiang, the Taihu plain, and the eastern Jianghuai region, we conclude that the Liangzhu society was agriculture-based, practicing rice farming for grain food and animal husbandry for meat. However, the subsistence economy focusing on rice farming was unbalanced in the Liangzhu cultural area, as evidenced by the exceptionally high proportions of fishing and hunting in certain subregions. Unbalanced subsistence economy confined population growth to limited territories and may have been an obstacle to the formation of multiple centers in the Liangzhu cultural area. The collapse of Liangzhu society may also result from the absence of competitive communication between Liangzhu and other cultures. Confronting with natural disasters or social conflicts due to, for example, food shortage, the controlling elite of Liangzhu society, who had long maintained their power and prestige through a religious system, failed to cope with risks and challenges, eventually leading to the collapse of Liangzhu society (and thus the demise of Liangzhu culture)

Agriculture · Animal husbandry · Archaeology · Economics · Economy · Elite · Geography · Political science · Politics · Population · Sociology · Subsistence agriculture · Subsistence economy · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Demography · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

  • Food Production and Landscape Reconstruction of Liangzhu Culture Village (5000–4600 B.P.)—Archaeobotanical Evidence from the Site of Zhumucun, Southern China

    Open Access•Xiaodan Zheng, Fan Yang et al.•Quaternary•2025

  • A functional study of ground stone knives and sickles in the Lower Yangtze River Region during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age

    Open Access•Li‐ping Xue, Yong Xia et al.•Journal of Archaeological Science…•2024

  • Rethinking pig domestication in China

    Open Access•Ningning Dong, Jing Yuan•Antiquity•2020

  • Challenges to Reimagining China's Ecological Pasts

    Open Access•Jada Ko•American Anthropologist•2025

  • Middle Holocene coastal environment and the rise of the Liangzhu City complex on the Yangtze delta, China

    Open Access•Yan Liu, Qianli Sun et al.•Quaternary Research•2015

Unique citing works4
Citations per year0,67
Citation span2020 - 2025 (6)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 1
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