Building the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site of Liangzhu City and its hinterlands was an enormous undertaking that required an unprecedented level of architectural innovations, clever logistic planning, and sophisticated labour organisation. We draw on environmental, archaeological and experimental data on the preparation and construction of grass-wrapped clay blocks at the Liangzhu City and investigate the importance of technological innovations to understand architectural energetics and labour organisation behind the unprecedented urbanisation at Liangzhu and beyond in prehistoric Yangtze Delta region. We estimate that each clay block took only around 5 min to prepare by 2–4 workers. Considering digging and other tasks, a small group of 3–4 workers would have been the most efficient arrangement in the preparation of grass-wrapped clay blocks. We reproduced different types of clay blocks, classified their sizes, and identified the standard sized (45x15 × 15cm) clay blocks that match with archaeological finds. Our results also show that standard-sized clay blocks had a more optimal grass-earth ratio which increased the drainage efficiency of the built clay-blocked structures and their resistance to weathering in wet conditions. The different architectural technologies applied by the Liangzhu builders constituted the Liangzhu builders’ earth-building toolkit. To maximize the efficiency, labour was divided and organised according to different construction tasks. The clay-blocked structures and stone beddings were mostly built by smaller groups, who were responsible for the preparation, transportation and construction tasks. Mobilization and division of labour during these construction activities might not follow the classical top-down process. Instead, the need to apply different architectural technologies, each restrained by availability of resources, convenience of transportation, and/or intrinsic engineering properties, at construction sites in a predominantly aquatic environment, prompted a creative form of labour organisation. Our study therefore provides fresh insights into understanding labour organisation, social structure and power relations at the Liangzhu Civilisation.

中文翻译：

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长三角地区良渚市新石器时代晚期的建筑技术与劳动组织


建设联合国教科文组织世界文化遗产良渚市及其腹地是一项艰巨的任务，需要前所未有的建筑创新水平、巧妙的物流规划和复杂的劳工组织。我们利用良渚市草包粘土块的制备和建造的环境、考古和实验数据，研究技术创新的重要性，以了解良渚及史前长江三角洲地区前所未有的城市化背后的建筑能量学和劳动力组织地区。我们估计，每块粘土块只需 2-4 名工人只需 5 分钟左右即可准备好。考虑到挖掘和其他任务，3-4 名工人组成的小组是准备草包裹粘土块的最有效安排。我们复制了不同类型的粘土块，对其尺寸进行了分类，并确定了与考古发现相符的标准尺寸（45x15×15cm）粘土块。我们的结果还表明，标准尺寸的粘土块具有更优化的草土比例，这提高了所建粘土块结构的排水效率及其在潮湿条件下的耐风化性。良渚建筑者所应用的不同建筑技术，构成了良渚建筑者的筑土工具箱。为了最大限度地提高效率，根据不同的施工任务对劳动力进行分工和组织。粘土块结构和石层大多由较小的团体建造，他们负责准备、运输和施工任务。这些建设活动中的动员和分工可能不会遵循经典的自上而下的流程。 相反，在主要是水生环境的建筑工地，需要应用不同的建筑技术，每种技术都受到资源可用性、交通便利性和/或内在工程特性的限制，从而催生了一种创造性的劳工组织形式。因此，我们的研究为理解良渚文明的劳动组织、社会结构和权力关系提供了新的见解。