Remote sensing archaeology analysis of Liangzhu culture

Liangzhu culture is an important Neolithic culture located in Taihu Lake and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River which was about 5300-4100 years ago . The society during Liangzhu culture was a mature and early social civilization with a perfect management system and level. It´s meaningful to study the Liangzhu culture in order to trace the source of Chinese civilization. The multisource data including the aerial photographs, satellite photos, old topographic maps and the documentations about the climate and hydrology were employed to research spatial patterns and density distribution feature of Liangzhu culture sites around Taihu Basin by spatial analyst method. Environmental changes around Mojiaoshan could be detected using information extraction. In addition, the function and regional status of Mojiaoshan City was confirmed using site visibility analysis. According to the research, the choice of location for historical sites has common significant features which were interpreted as evidence for their life-style and environment. The sites were al ways locat ed in th e relatively highland where it was convenient to get water and away from the outlet of catchment basins which ensure the safety of people and a normal life during the rainy season and make the threat of flood less. According to the old aerial phot ographs after the image enhancement an d p rocessing, the traces of the r iver diversion could be recognized. Based on the vague traces and historical docu ments, the Dongti aoxi River diverted from eastwest to the north direction. And this change was related to the ground subsidence of Taihu Basin and the high tide of the Qiantang River, which might contribute to the disappearance of Liangzhu culture. The paper employed multi-discipline research methods, made macro analysis and deeper explanation about the Liangzhu cu lture an d Lian gzhu an cient city which combined archaeology, history, remote se nsing and GIS inste ad of traditional methods of archaeo- ogy.