Stratigraphy as Behavior
A Systemic Approach to Complex Settlement Sequences and Land Use Transformation at the Daxie Site, Coastal China
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19217049 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Chong Liu (0009-0007-7425-8847, Xiamen University), Yijia Qiu (0000-0003-0529-0695, Xiamen University, corresponding author), Shao Lei (0000-0003-3214-1708, Ningbo Municipal Institute of Cultural Heritage Management), Lei Shao (0000-0002-6403-4985, Cultural Heritage Administration) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1-11 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-09 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Field Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0093-4690 • E-ISSN: 2042-4582 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00934690.2026.2681309 |
| OpenAlex | W7164021538 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 25 |
Discontinuous stratigraphy is often treated as an excavation and dating problem, especially in long-occupied coastal settlements where construction fills, refuse deposits, water-laid sediments, and reworked surfaces repeatedly overlap. This article argues that such deposits can instead reveal human action when read as outcomes of linked formation processes. Focusing on the Daxie site on China’s eastern coast, this article develops a systemic approach that connects layer description with construction, maintenance, dumping, infilling, sealing, and reuse. Two case studies are examined: the construction, expansion, and integration of Qianshanyang-period salt-production platforms, dated to ca. 4400–4100 b.p., and a Song–Yuan waste disposal sequence in which an inherited depression was transformed through retaining walls, repeated dumping, post-depositional sorting and silting, and final leveling. Together, these sequences show complex stratigraphy as a material record of labor, spatial regulation, production, settlement management, coastal exchange, and long-term land use change
Excavation · Human settlement · Land use · Sequence (biology) · Sequence stratigraphy · Settlement (finance) · Sorting · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology · Stratigraphy
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Entangled
| Highly cited | No |
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