Keywords
Rice agriculture
Rice-cultivation tillage tools
Bone spade
Operational process
Tool assemblage
Submitted : 2026-05-17
Accepted : 2026-06-01
Published : 2026-06-16
Abstract
A large number of bone spades, wooden spades, wooden shovels, and a small number of stone spades related to rice-cultivation tillage have been unearthed from sites of the Hemudu Culture. Existing studies have mainly focused on the forms, hafting methods, and functions of individual bone spades, while less attention has been paid to how different tools participated in continuous tillage processes and formed assemblage relationships. This paper examines Hemudu tillage tools under low-lying, waterside, and shallow muddy surface conditions, focusing on their material properties, working-end forms, hafting structures, and possible operational functions. The study argues that these tools were not scattered artifacts, but formed a basic tool assemblage through land opening, soil turning and lifting, and preliminary field-surface treatment. This assemblage was characterized by the dominance of bone spades, the supplementary role of wooden tools, and the transitional appearance of stone spades, showing preliminary division of labor and limited coordination. This perspective helps shift the study of Hemudu agricultural tools from artifact classification toward tool relationships within tillage processes.
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