Human adaptation and socioeonomic change in northeast China: Results of the Fuxin Regional Survey

Abstract

Northeastern China is one of the centers of early development of agriculture and sedentary life, as well as of the subsequent development of social complexity and distinct cultural attributes. While the outlines of this trajectory are clear, its important details are still elusive. Like all other regions of northern China, there is little data on the all-important transition from nomad hunter-gatherers to sedentary agriculturalists. The Fuxin Regional Survey was designed as the first step in accumulating new data and addressing the geographic and ecological contexts of these socioeconomic processes. Among the most remarkable results of this survey is the identification of early ceramics, which possibly predate the transition to agriculture. The systematic collection and analysis of stone tools was done in a way never before done in this region. Analysis of our findings, using GIS and other methods, sheds new light on the local trajectory of human adaptation in this area.

Northward extent of East Asian monsoon covaries with intensity on orbital and millennial timescales

“…In central China, Early Neolithic cultures were replaced by stratified and socially and politically complex Late Neolithic cultures (e.g., Longshan culture that existed from 5 to 3.9 ka) (27), and previously unoccupied areas on the eastern margin of the Tibetan plateau were populated (28). In contrast, northeast China experienced a sharp population decline represented by the Xiaoheyan culture, which existed between 5 and 4.2 ka (27,29). The sharp decline of north China rainfall amounts as recorded in Lake Dali, may have triggered contrasting reorganizations of north and central China cultures, causing a rapid population collapse in northern China and promoting structured complex societies in central China.…”

Medieval long-wall construction on the Mongolian Steppe during the eleventh to thirteenth centuries AD

“…The intensive survey was based on a well-established protocol previously used in north-east China (Shelach-Lavi et al 2016). Two groups were each assigned a different survey tract marked on a high-resolution satellite image.…”

Using the Maximal Entropy Modeling Approach to Analyze the Evolution of Sedentary Agricultural Societies in Northeast China

“…Rather than asking where new sites should be found based on the location of known sites, we ask what are the ecological and geographical parameters that define the location of the sites we know. We then compare the results of this analysis of sites from different subsequent periods, which were accurately recorded and chronologically defined by the Fuxin systematic archeological survey [ 32 , 33 , 34 ]. We are using the same research area and dataset from our previous paper, but in this study we apply the model to each archeological period separately, in order to distinguish between different locational strategies throughout the different stages in the evolution of sedentary society throughout the Neolithic and early Bronze Age periods.…”

“…This trajectory spans a period of roughly five thousand years, from c. 6000 BCE to c. 1200 BCE. Our project included systematic regional surveys [ 32 , 35 ] as well as test excavations at sites located during our survey [ 33 , 34 , 36 ]. All the data from the Fuxin regional project is openly available [ 37 ].…”

“…Consequently, we were able to identify and document many sites that were previously unknown. Locating sites inside the forested areas was more difficult, but using intensive sampling methods we were able to identify and rigorously assess the density of prehistoric human occupation in this ecologic niche as well [ 32 ].…”