中国环境考古学的兴起、发展和展望

环境考古学是一门介于考古学与第四纪环境学(或古地理学)之间的边缘学科。它出现于20世纪之初,经过近1个世纪的摸索和实践,在理论和方法上日趋成熟。中国环境考古学出现较晚,但发展迅速,已经形成以人类生态系统理论为依据,以聚落和遗址古环境分析为主要手段,以探讨古代人类行为及其文化的形成、发展和演变的环境背景为目标的新型交叉学科。目前,它已经逐渐得到了中国考古学家的广泛认同,并成为考古学研究的重要组成部分,在涉及人类起源、MIS3阶段旧石器晚期文化革命、旧—新石器文化过渡以及农业起源、文明起源等一系列关键问题的研究中发挥着重要作用。

The rise,development and outlook of Huanjingkaogu (environmental archaeology in China)

Environmental archaeology is an interdisciplinary subject between Archaeology and Quaternary environmental science(or palaeogeography). It appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century worldwide,which gradually matured in the theory and method after nearly a century's development. In China, environmental archaeology has emerged later than the West,but developed rapidly. Now a new interdisciplinary subject of Huanjingkaogu(environmental archaeology in China) has formed,which is based on the theory of human ecosystems,taking the settlements(sites)environmental analysis as the main method,and aiming at exploring the environmental background of the formation,development and evolution of ancient humans and their cultures. At present,Huanjingkaogu has gained wide recognition from Chinese archaeologists,and has became an important part of archaeological research. It plays an important role in the archaeological study of a series of key issues such as human origin,the late-Paleolithic cultural revolution in MIS3 stage,the Paleolithic-Neolithic transition,the Chinese agricultural origin and the Chinese civilization origin.