Holocene environmental change and Neolithic rice agriculture in the lower Yangtze region of China: A review

Abstract

In this paper, we summarize the Holocene environmental history of the lower Yangtze region, east China, based on the sedimentary records and microfossil diatom, pollen, fungal and charcoal data that were published in the past two decades. We then examine the linkage between changes in the coastal environment and the development of rice agriculture in the region, with reference to the available archaeological evidence and historical archives. Based on the sedimentary and archaeological evidence, we conclude that during the early Holocene sea-level movements and sedimentary processes significantly changed the region’s landscape from an open, brackish water environment to a largely enclosed, wetland system. This newly established freshwater marsh environment provided a habitat favourable to rice agriculture. The early Neolithic farmers took the opportunity presented to them and started rice cultivation in locations where freshwater wetland systems were established. During the middle Holocene, environmental conditions were largely stable, and the coastal wetlands evolved slowly. Environmental change was only a supportive player in the Neolithic cultural processes, because the Neolithic people were able to adapt to these changes and took advantages of the newly emerging marsh land for food collection and production. Around 4200 years ago, the prosperous Liangzhu society fell, but there is no evidence to suggest the fall was related to a significant environmental change. The coastal environment continued to evolve slowly during the late Holocene. But this period saw rapid technological development in irrigation and flood protection, and the environmental factor was reduced to background noise. Throughout the Holocene, the main strategy taken by the Neolithic people to cope with environmental change was migration to find better food sources. Along with this strategy was the development of technology in landscape management to ensure a more reliable food production in addition to food collection through hunting, gathering and fishing.

Earliest hydraulic enterprise in China, 5,100 years ago

“…As it is known today, the Yangtze Delta thereafter formed with a steady supply of marine deposits coupled with river-transported sedimentation (16). During the time of the Liangzhu site occupation, however, the low-lying landforms mostly were inundated, and they were habitats for hydrophilic and salt-tolerant vegetation (17). In the sedimentary layers beneath and predating the Liangzhu settlement, deep marine deposits of grayish clay suggest that the area was estuarine marshes before the Liangzhu period (18).…”

Holocene vegetation, environment and anthropogenic influence in the Fuzhou Basin, southeast China

“…The overall expansion of arboreal taxa during Zone 3 and Zone 4, particularly the expansion of certain evergreen trees such as Castanopsis and Quercus (Figure 6), support this reconstruction of a thermal maximum in this region. This hypsithermal condition is widely reported from many areas of east China, including Yangtze and Pearl River deltas regions (Zheng and Li, 2000;Zong et al, 2012;Innes et al, 2014).…”

Water management and agricultural intensification of rice farming at the late-Neolithic site of Maoshan, Lower Yangtze River, China

“…This transformed the regional landscape from an "open, brackish water environment" to a "largely enclosed, wetland system" and/or freshwater marsh environments (Zong et al, 2011). It then experienced continued sea-level rise (reaching -2.5m at 7000 BP and then at an average of c.0.36 mm/yr from 7000 BP onwards) (Zong et al, 2011) during the middle Holocene, roughly between c. 7000-4200 cal. BP.…”