摘要
牛罵頭文化的命名，緣於1960年代張光直先生在臺灣西部地區的大坌坑遺址、營埔遺址及鳳鼻頭等三處重要的遺址發掘和1970年代濁大計劃的調查，和考古試掘所獲得有關地層文化堆積和絕對年代等重要的考古資料之時空背景下，對於牛罵頭文化內涵也有較多的理解，而以臺中市清水區牛罵頭遺址下層的繩紋紅陶層為代表，稱為「牛罵頭相」，隨後在1980年宋文薰等學者將之命名為「牛罵頭文化」，並作為中部地區新石器時代中期史前文化的代表。 由於近十餘年間，牛罵頭文化新的考古資料相繼的出土與發表，不但豐富了中部地區考古學的研究成果，也再次提供研究牛罵頭文化內涵的新契機。本文利用出土的石器和陶器遺物進行整理再分析外，進一步將出土的年代資料與遺址的海拔高度作排序比對，了解史前牛罵頭文化人群可能的分布與遷移。本文擬藉由新考古資料的再分析，對牛罵頭文化的內涵能夠有進一步的探討，希望對於現階段區域考古學研究能有所助益。
並列摘要
The naming of the Niu-ma-t’ou culture can be traced back to the excavations of three important sites in western Taiwan by archaeologist Kwang-Chih Chang in the 1960s: the sites of Tapenkeng, Yingpu, and Fengpitou. As a result of the Interdisciplinary Research of Natural and Cultural History in the Choshui and Tatu River Valleys in Taiwan conducted by Chang in the 1970s, as well as other important archaeological data such as layers of cultural deposits and absolute chronology, the changes in cultural ecology across time in Niu-ma-t'ou culture was gradually brought to light. The Red cord-marked ceramic layer “ Niu-ma-t'ou Phase” found underneath the Niu-ma-t’ou site in Qingshui District of Taichung City was representative of the area, and a group of scholars including Wen-Hsun Sung later coined the term “Niu-ma-t'ou Culture” in 1980 to describe the prehistoric culture of the Middle Neolithic Age in central Taiwan. Over the past ten years, new archaeological findings of Niu-ma-t'ou culture have been unearthed and published, which not only enriched the archaeological research of central Taiwan, but also provided new opportunities to study the cultural meanings of Niu-ma-t'ou culture. In this thesis, the unearthed stoneware and pottery relics are collated and analyzed, and the dates of unearthing are compared with the altitudes of the sites to examine the possible distribution and migration of the population during the prehistoric Niu-ma-t'ou culture. This thesis intends to re-analyze the new archaeological data, and further discuss the various connotations of Niu-ma-t'ou culture, thereby contributing to existing knowledge and literature on the subject.