汉唐期间丝路先民的农业活动与环境适应—以新疆地区为例

Climate change gloablly is one of the most important challenges all over the world. It is important to get the ways to adapt the dry environment. To know how our ancestors to adapt the dry environment will be of great importance. Xinjiang is dry, and how did the people along the silk road do to adpat the dry climate more than one thousand years before? Little work has been done to resolve this question. . The famous Silk Road began at the Han Dynasty, and became prosperous during the Tang Dynasty. It played important roles during the past, as it was a bridge of different cultures between the East and the West. In the past several years, local archaeologists focused on the ancient potteries, clothes, as well as palaeographies. The studies of the ancient anthropology, paper making, etc., were also made during recent years, but the ancient agricultural activities was paid little attention to. Due to the very dry climate, plant remains were well preserved in the ancient tombs or archaeological sites of Xinjiang, which give us a chance to study them in detail.. Apart from the plant remains, there are also rich historial records about the ancient Xijiang during the Han to Tang dynasties. Some of the palaeographies contained information on the ancient agriculture, as well as ancient plant utilization about the local people of Xinjiang. The combination of the studies of plant remains as well as ancient writing record could reflect the life style and civilization process of the ancient Xinjiang people, but also help us to give a well understanding of the dry adaption of the local people during the Han to Tang dynasties in Xinjiang.. In the present project, we will study the plant remains discovered in several tombs and sites of the ancient Silk Road of Xinjiang, such as the Arstana cemetery, Lolan Site, Sampula cemetery, and Yingpan cemetery. Firstly the plant species, including wood as well as seeds/fruits, will be identified. Furthermore, the food remains such as the ancient cake, bread, etc., will also be studied by using starch and phytolith analysis. Combine the writen record, the origin of the plant remains will be traced. Based on the cereals remains and the other antiquities, the ancient agricultural activities and plant utilizations will be revealed eventually. . The present project will pay more attention to the ancient agricutural activities under hostile conditions. Furthermore, it will help us to understand the strategy that how the ancient people adapted to the dry environment, which will be benefit for the new strategic idea of "One Belt, One Road".

全球气候变化导致的重大影响之一是干旱地区的显著扩张。人类社会通过何种方式来适应干旱环境，是当前亟待研究的问题。以史为鉴，研究历史时期的先民对极端干旱环境的适应策略，对理解上述问题具有重要的学术价值。新疆气候干旱，生态脆弱，丝路沿线先民如何通过农业活动来适应干旱环境？丝路开通对先民的干旱适应策略有何影响？针对上述问题已开展的工作非常有限。本研究将以楼兰古城、阿斯塔那墓地、营盘墓地、山普拉墓地等一个遗址及三个墓葬群出土的植物种子、木材、食物遗存等为研究对象，结合文献考证，厘清汉唐期间新疆先民所栽培的农作物种类，明确其农业生产结构，探讨先民在干旱环境下的适应策略，以及丝路开通对干旱适应策略的影响。研究结果关系到我国北方干旱与半干旱区环境的发展，并可为“丝绸之路经济带”国家战略提供理论支持，具有重要的科学和现实意义。