史前农业研究一直是过去人地关系研究中的重要科学问题。东南沿海的福建地区位于史前农作物从我国大陆向台湾省和太平洋岛屿地区扩散的关键节点，该区域的新石器农作物遗存有着十分重要的意义。目前大量考古证据发现该区域新石器遗址多为贝丘遗址，表明当时可能以渔猎经济为主，且由于亚热带湿热环境和酸性土壤不利于农作物遗存保存，该区域史前农业研究薄弱，早期农业出现和发展的历史仍不完全清晰。近几十年来随着植硅体分析技术的进一步成熟，植硅体是植物吸收土壤中的硅在体内形成难溶的硅酸形态，具有产量高、抗风化、原地沉积等特点，对禾本科的鉴定能力极强，为研究考古遗址农作物遗存提供了有效工具。

本文选取了福建沿海的壳丘头遗址和厚首遗址进行典型剖面采样和植硅体分析，遗址遗存在时间上涵盖了福建沿海地区最早的新石器文化即壳丘头文化（6500-5500 cal a BP）及新石器晚期的黄瓜山文化（4300-3500 cal a BP）。本研究发现了两个遗址的新石器农作物遗存，同时结合区域已有的农业考古记录，探讨了福建沿海地区新石器农业发展，得到以下几点认识：

(1) 在壳丘头遗址（6500-5500 cal a BP）发现了三种水稻特征型植硅体，找到了距今6000年前福建沿海地区水稻种植的确凿证据。这是福建沿海最早的新石器文化水稻遗存，也是目前我国东南岛屿最早的新石器水稻遗存。壳丘头遗址中水稻遗存的发现找到了水稻从长江中下游地区沿海岸带向台湾和东南亚地区传播路线上关键一环的证据。

(2) 在厚首遗址中发现了三种水稻特征型植硅体和少量的黍稃片η型植硅体，结合该地区黄瓜山和屏风山遗址发现的水稻和黍粟遗存证据，说明在黄瓜山文化时期，福建沿海地区普遍存在稻和黍混合耕作，丰富了该文化时期的植物考古研究工作。

(3) 福建沿海地区距今约6000年前已经出现了水稻，约5500年前出现了粟类作物。随着时间推移，农业遗存逐渐丰富，且农作物组合中一直都是以水稻为主，黍粟占据较小比例。然而新石器遗址丰富的咸水贝壳、海鱼和陆生动物骨骼、野生植物等遗存，以及发现的不少棕榈科植硅体，表明福建沿海地区史前人类还是以采集渔猎为主要经济活动，农业占比较小，这样的经济形式是对全新世高海平面时期缺乏适合耕作的平原地形和丰富海洋资源的生活环境的适应。

Prehistoric agricultural research has always been an important scientific problem in the study of human-land relationship in the past. The southeast coastal Fujian region is located in the key node of the prehistoric crops spread from mainland China to Taiwan Province and Pacific Islands. The Neolithic crops remains in this region are of great significance. At present, a large amount of archaeological evidence has found that the Neolithic sites in this region are mostly shellfish mound sites, indicating that the fishing and hunting economy may have dominated at that time. Moreover, the subtropical humid and hot environment and acidic soil are not conducive to the preservation of crop remains, so the prehistoric agriculture research in this region is weak, and the history of the emergence and development of early agriculture is still not completely clear. In recent decades, with the further maturity of phytolith analysis technology, phytolith is the plant absorbs silicon in soil to form insoluble silicic acid form in the body, with high yield, being durable, in situ deposition and other characteristics, strong ability to identifyPoaceae, providing an effective tool of the study of archaeological sites and sedimentary profiles of crop remains.

In this paper, sediment sampling and phytolith analysis were carried out at the sites of Keqiutou and Houshou in coastal Fujian Province, covering the earliest Neolithic culture in coastal Fujian Province, named Keqiutou culture (6500-5500 cal a BP) and late Neolithic culture in this region, named Huangguashan culture (4300-3500 cal a BP). This study found the remains of Neolithic crops at two sites, and combined with the existing agricultural archaeological records in the region, discussed the development of Neolithic agriculture in coastal areas of Fujian Province, and obtained the following insights:

(1) Three kinds of rice phytolith were found at the Keqiutou site (6500-5500 cal a BP), providing conclusive evidence of rice cultivation in coastal areas of Fujian 6000 years ago. This is the earliest remains of Neolithic rice culture along the coast of Fujian Province, and also the earliest remains of Neolithic rice in southeast islands of China. The discovery of rice remains at the Keqiutou site provides evidence for a key link in the rice transmission route from the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to Taiwan and Southeast Asia along the coastal zone.

(2) Three kinds of rice characteristic phytolith and a small amount of millet phytolith were found at Houshou Site. Combined with the rice and millet remains found at Huangguashan and Pingfengshan sites, the mixed cultivation of rice and millet was common in coastal areas of Fujian during the Huangguashan culture period, which enriched the plant archaeological research of this culture period.

(3) Rice appeared about 6000 years ago and millet crops appeared about 5500 years ago in Fujian coastal area. With the passage of time, the agricultural remains are gradually enriched, and the crop mix has always been dominated by rice, while millet occupies a smaller proportion. However, Neolithic sites are rich in saltwater shells, skeletons of marine fish and land animals, wild plants, and many palm-family phytolith, which indicate that the prehistoric people in coastal areas of Fujian still took collecting, fishing and hunting as their main economic activities, and agriculture was relatively small. Such an economy was an adaptation to the lack of plain landforms suitable for farming and a living environment rich in marine resources during the Holocene high sea level period.