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

Abstract

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Foothills and intermountain basins: Does China's Fertile Arc have ‘Hilly Flanks’?

“…3f). Kuahuqiao lies at the boundary between the upland region to the south and west and the flat coastal plain around Hangzhou Bay to the east and north (Innes et al, 2009). This site is situated in a shallow depression between two lines of small hills, with an altitude around 4 masl.…”

“…This site is situated in a shallow depression between two lines of small hills, with an altitude around 4 masl. Numerous studies have shown that the sea level rose rapidly on the eastern coast in the early Holocene and that the present Hangzhou bay area, including the Kuahuqiao site, was inundated (Chen and Stanley, 1998;Zong, 2004;Innes et al, 2009).…”

Pollen evidence to interpret the history of rice farming at the Hemudu site on the Ningshao coast, eastern China

“…When sea level began to stabilize during the early midHolocene, it provided suitable conditions for human to move from surrounding mountainous areas onto the coast area (Chen and Stanley, 1998;Zong et al, 2007;Innes et al, 2009). They settled on the supra-tidal flat by means of collecting and fishing (Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute of Zhejiang Province, 2003), but rice farming came to be an important food source to support the increasing population at sites.…”

“…7000e5000 cal yr BP) (Chang, 1986;Liu, 2005;Liu and Chen, 2012;Ma et al, 2016;Yao et al, 2016). These developments included the migration of early collector/foragers from hills to coastal plain (Zong et al, 2007;Innes et al, 2009), as the climate ameliorated and the sea level stabilized in the early to middle Holocene (Zong, 2004;Xu et al, 2010). Hunting and gathering were the main sources of livelihood for the mountain-based cultures in the early Holocene, while the coastal settlers were engaged in fishing and rice cultivation since the middle Holocene (Zong et al, 2007;Mao et al, 2008;Huan et al, 2014;Jiao, 2015;Qiu et al, 2016).…”

Response of rice cultivation to fluctuating sea level during the Mid-Holocene

“…However, the understanding of the prehistoric rice cultivation is limited by the lack of palaeoenvironmental research. Therefore, multidisciplinary studies of the palaeoecology of archaeological sites are very important for studying the origin and development of rice cultivation, and its relationship to the diet of early societies [10]. The early and later rice fields of the Hemudu culture found in the Tianluoshan site, date from 7.0 to 6.4 ka BP and 6.3 to 4.6 ka BP, respectively [11].…”