Environmental archaeology at the Chengtoushan site, Hunan Province, China, and implications for environmental change and the rise and fall of the Yangtze River civilization

Yasuda, Yoshinori; Fujiki, Toshiyuki; Nasu, Hiroo; Kato, Megumi; Morita, Yoshimune; Mori, Yuichi; Kanehara, Masaaki; Toyama, Shuichi; Yano, Azusa; Okuno, Mitsuru; He, Jun; Ishihara, Sonoko; Kitagawa, Hiroyuki; Fukusawa, Hitoshi; Naruse, Toshiro

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2004.02.016

Cited by 81 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The pollen data from this area show that at the start of the Holocene the monsoon strengthened and dominated climate in east China, producing warm, wet conditions which continued until about 9000 cal BP, when weakening of the monsoon brought cooler and drier weather to the region. This persisted until about 7600 cal BP Yi et al, 2003Yi et al, , 2006, when the re-establishment of strong monsoonal dominance initiated very warm and wet 'mid-Holocene optimum' or 'megathermal' climate that lasted for the next few millennia until about 6000 cal BP Yasuda et al, 2004). These dates and climate fluctuations in the study area agree well with environmental data from other regions of southeast China (Zheng and Li, 2000).…”

Section: Vegetation History and Climatesupporting

confidence: 80%

“…A few recent studies have added palynology to phytolith 5 analysis, to reconstruct the local vegetation in which cultivation took place (Huang and Zhang, 2000;Yasuda et al, 2004;Itzstein-Davey et al, 2007b), adding an environmental context to human activity. In this paper we take this further, supplementing pollen and phytolith data with several other biological proxies, including fungal spores, algae, microcharcoal, diatoms and foraminifera, to reconstruct detailed wetland successions, define the precise natural palaeoecological context in which rice cultivation began and clarify the environmental changes the human activity caused.…”

Section: Palaeoecology and Rice Cultivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental history, palaeoecology and human activity at the early Neolithic forager/cultivator site at Kuahuqiao, Hangzhou, eastern China

Innés

Zong

Chen

et al. 2009

Quaternary Science Reviews

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The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractThe date and location of the adoption of rice cultivation by foraging cultures in China is of considerable current interest but its understanding is hampered by a lack of information regarding its palaeoenvironmental context. We present detailed multi-proxy palaeoecological research at the earliest-dated site of rice cultivation in the coastal littoral of east China which has revealed the precise environmental setting of this early Neolithic settlement and its incipient cultivation at c. 7750 cal BP. Regional and local environmental changes governed the character of the site and the duration of human activity. After an episode of marine conditions, natural hydrological succession and terrestrialisation of the site preceded fire clearance of marsh fen-carr alder scrub that prepared the ground for cultivation and then maintained a reedswamp-type wet grassland in which rice was grown. Cropping of Typha stands may have formed part of the subsistence base before the site was overwhelmed by marine inundation c. 7200 cal BP, after which rice cultivation spread to Neolithic sites of Hemudu type elsewhere in the coastal lowlands. We suggest that integrated multi-proxy palaeoecological studies are vitally important for the full understanding of such key wetland archaeological sites.

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Section: Vegetation History and Climatesupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Palaeoecology and Rice Cultivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental history, palaeoecology and human activity at the early Neolithic forager/cultivator site at Kuahuqiao, Hangzhou, eastern China

Innés

Zong

Chen

et al. 2009

Quaternary Science Reviews

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“…In the lower Yangtze River valley (Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces), the Liangzhu culture (5.3-4.2 ka BP) collapsed after about 4.3 ka BP (Stanley et al, 1999;Yu et al, 2000;Li et al, 2010). In a similar way, the Shijiahe culture (4.6-4.2 ka BP) in the middle Yangtze River valley (Liangzhu area of Hubei and Hunan provinces) declined and finally vanished between about 4.2 and 4.0 ka BP (Wu and Liu, 2004;Li et al, 2010;Yasuda et al, 2004). The same holds for the Shandong Longshan culture (4.6-4.2 ka BP) in the lower Yellow River valley (Liu, 1996(Liu, , 2000.…”

Section: Chinamentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Yasuda et al (2004) examined the cultures at the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and found evidence of four cultural transitions at the beginnings of the early Daxi (6.4-6.1 ka BP), middle Daxi (5.8 ka BP), Qujialing (5.3 ka BP) and Shijiahe (4.5 ka BP) cultures. All four transitions can be related with climate deterioration associated with a weakened EASM as are partly recovered in terms of abrupt dynamical changes in the Dongge and Lianhua records (Fig.…”

Section: Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-linear regime shifts in Holocene Asian monsoon variability: potential impacts on cultural change and migratory patterns

et al. 2015

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Abstract. The Asian monsoon system is an important tipping element in Earth's climate with a large impact on human societies in the past and present. In light of the potentially severe impacts of present and future anthropogenic climate change on Asian hydrology, it is vital to understand the forcing mechanisms of past climatic regime shifts in the Asian monsoon domain. Here we use novel recurrence network analysis techniques for detecting episodes with pronounced non-linear changes in Holocene Asian monsoon dynamics recorded in speleothems from caves distributed throughout the major branches of the Asian monsoon system. A newly developed multi-proxy methodology explicitly considers dating uncertainties with the COPRA (COnstructing Proxy Records from Age models) approach and allows for detection of continental-scale regime shifts in the complexity of monsoon dynamics. Several epochs are characterised by non-linear regime shifts in Asian monsoon variability, including the periods around 8.5-7.9, 5.7-5.0, 4.1-3.7, and 3.0-2.4 ka BP. The timing of these regime shifts is consistent with known episodes of Holocene rapid climate change (RCC) and high-latitude Bond events. Additionally, we observe a previously rarely reported non-linear regime shift around 7.3 ka BP, a timing that matches the typical 1.0-1.5 ky return intervals of Bond events. A detailed review of previously suggested links between Holocene climatic changes in the Asian monsoon domain and the archaeological record indicates that, in addition to previously considered longer-term changes in mean monsoon intensity and other climatic parameters, regime shifts in monsoon complexity might have played an important role as drivers of migration, pronounced cultural changes, and the collapse of ancient human societies.

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“…The supposed "Jomon civilization" is dated to about 5500−4500 BP and was based on chestnut production (e.g. Yasuda 2002a; Kitagawa and Yasuda 2003). Yan (2002:156) pointed out that "the origin of the state of China and Chinese civilization can be traced to the Longshan period around 5000 yrs.…”

Section: The Earliest East Asian Civilizations: Views Pro and Contramentioning

confidence: 99%

Major Patterns in the Neolithic Chronology of East Asia: Issues of the Origin of Pottery, Agriculture, and Civilization

2009

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General chronological frameworks created recently for the Neolithic complexes of China, Japan, Korea, and far eastern Russia allow us to reveal temporal patterns of Neolithization, origin of food production, and the emergence of civilizations. Pottery originated in East Asia, most probably independently in different parts of it, in the terminal Pleistocene, about 14,800–13,300 BP (uncalibrated), and this marks the beginning of the Neolithic. Agriculture in the eastern part of Asia emerged only in the Holocene. The earliest trace of millet cultivation in north China can now be placed at ∼9200 BP, and rice domestication in south China is dated to ∼8000 BP. Pottery in East Asia definitely preceded agriculture. The term “civilization,” which implies the presence of a state level of social organization and written language, has been misused by scholars who assert the existence of a very early “Yangtze River civilization” at about 6400–4200 cal BP. The earliest reliable evidence of writing in China is dated only to about 3900–3000 cal BP, and no “civilization” existed in East Asia prior to this time.

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Environmental archaeology at the Chengtoushan site, Hunan Province, China, and implications for environmental change and the rise and fall of the Yangtze River civilization

Cited by 81 publications

References 6 publications

Environmental history, palaeoecology and human activity at the early Neolithic forager/cultivator site at Kuahuqiao, Hangzhou, eastern China

Environmental history, palaeoecology and human activity at the early Neolithic forager/cultivator site at Kuahuqiao, Hangzhou, eastern China

Non-linear regime shifts in Holocene Asian monsoon variability: potential impacts on cultural change and migratory patterns

Major Patterns in the Neolithic Chronology of East Asia: Issues of the Origin of Pottery, Agriculture, and Civilization

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