Abstract:

Study of charred cereal seeds collected by sieving and floating from Chengzis han and Xiajiadian sites in Western Liaoning Province indicated that the agriculture was dominated by rain- fed crops in the Middle Bronze Age in the Chengzishan site; as well, the proportion of cultivated foxtail millet was higher than that of broomcorn millet. The Xiajiadian site was a mixed economy of agriculture and pastoralism in the Late Bronze Age. The agriculture in the Xiajiadian site was also dominated by rain-f ed crops of foxtail and broomcorn millet, but the proportion of cultivated broomcorn millet was higher than that in the Chengzishan site (Middle Bronze Age). Drought may be responsible for the increase in broomcornmillet during the Late Bronze Age in the Xiajiadian area. The agriculture systemmay have differed in the Chengzishan and Xiajiadian sites during the Late Bronze Age, but more work is needed to determine the exact time of this differentiation.

Key words: agriculture activity, Bronze Age, broomcorn millet, climate change, foxtail millet, Western Liaoning Province