Shenglun Du

The nature of Neolithisation has long been a matter of considerable debate in prehistory archaeology, and this research revisits the topic from an environmental and human ecological perspective, assisted by computational and statistical modelling, to compare and contrast Neolithic transition processes, with a focus on subsistence, in two key study areas on opposite sides of the Eurasian continent – the Low Countries and the Lower Yangtze region (China) , in order to explore coupled interactions between humans and their surrounding landscapes over a period of major change.

To be specific, this research is seeking answers for the following questions:

1.Firstly, in what ways do the spatial distributions of Neolithic sits vary, within each study area over different chronological phases and between the two study areas? How and to what extent do these distributions corelate with the changing local landscape?

2.Secondly, is there any pattern underlying the subsistence practice in terms of exploiting resources and surrounding landscape within the reach of a settlement? To what extend is the range of mobility of hunter-gatherers different from early farmers? Is there any specific preference on certain species that have to acquire from particular type of terrains, and is there any seasonality in the subsistence activities that requires coordination in labour distribution?

3.Finally, why rooting on similar environment backgrounds that these two study areas have taken on very different trajectory of economic intensification during the Neolithisation processes? Would it back up the theory that such processes are largely driven by environmental factors or is directed by human agency instead?

Education

• BA, Archaeology, Peking University, 2018
• MA, Archaeology, University College London (UCL), 2019

Zhuang, Y. and Du, S., 2021. Holocene sea-level change and evolution of prehistoric settlements around the Yangtze Delta region. In Carson, M.T. (Ed.). (2021). Palaeolandscapes in Archaeology: Lessons for the Past and Future (1st ed.). Routledge: London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003139553-8