Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
protective.and.ecologically.balanced.perspective,.to.keep.adequate.areas.of.
rice.paddy.ields.in.the.Yangtze.River.Delta.in.order.to.achieve.sustainable.
development.in.both.urban.and.rural.areas.
OriginofIrrigatedRicePaddyFieldsandChinesePaddySoils
Archeologists.generally.accept.that.irrigated.wetland.rice.cultivation.origi-
nated.in.China,.where.numerous.excavated.sites.showed.suficient.evidence.
supporting. this. inding.. At. the. Caoxieshan. site,. for. example,. 22. pieces. of.
Neolithic.(Majiabang.culture).paddy.ields.were.jointly.excavated.by.Chinese.
and.Japanese.archeologists.in.1996.(Fujiwara.1996),.and.24.pieces.of.Neolithic.
paddy.ields.were.excavated.from.the.Chuodun.site.(located.only.15.km.away.
from.the.Caoxieshan.site)(Ding.2004,.Gu.2003,.Tang.2003)..Although.Korean.
archeologists. unearthed. paddy. ields. (ca.. 3500-2000. BC). in. the. Peninsula.
and. thought. they. dated. back. to. a. period. earlier. than. the. Caoxieshan. site.
(Bale.2001,.Crawford.and.Lee.2003),.the.Japanese.scientists.reconsidered.the.
time.period.for.rice.cultivation.of.the.Yayoi.period.and.believed.that.it.may.
be.as.early.as.the.Korean.Peninsula.(Tsude.2001)..A.team.of.soil.scientists.and.
archeologists. revisited. a. total. of. 11. sites. located. in. the. middle. and. lower.
reaches. of.the. Yangtze.River.valley,. where.there.were.reports.of.fossil. rice.
grains. being. previously. discovered;. 7. of. these. sites. were. sampled. or. reex-
cavated..During.the.sixth.excavation.of.the.Chuodun.site.(N31°24′.E120°50′).
on.November.5,.2004,.a.total.of.44.pieces.of.rice.paddy.ields,.consisting.of.
varying. sizes. and. shapes,. were. unearthed.. Each. piece. of. paddy. ield. was.
clearly. surrounded. with. ridges,. irrigation. ditches,. channels,. and/or. water.
pools.(Figure.18.1),.and.water.low.outlet/inlet.remains..More.than.400.fos-
sil. rice. grains. and. some. irrigation. tools. (Pottery. Jar,. Basin,. etc.). were. col-
lected. from. these. paddy. ields. (Cao. et. al.. 2006,. 2007,. Ding. 2004,. Lu. et. al..
2006)..In.addition,.24.pieces.of.paddy.ields.were.unearthed.during.the.last.
FIGURE 18.1
Forty-four.buried.ancient.paddy.ields.at.the.Chuodun.site.
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