Migration patterns of Neolithic settlements on the abandoned Yellow and Yangtze River deltas of China

Abstract

Archaeological records of the Neolithic settlements on the eastern China coast between 35°N and 30°N, an area covering the abandoned Yellow River and the Yangtze River delta plains, reveal that Neolithic people moved from the Yellow River basin onto the northern coast for fishing, hunting and dry-land agriculture ~ 7000 yr ago. Marine transgression interrupted their activities on the low-lying (2–5 m in elevation) coastal wetlands between 6000 and 5000 yr ago, after which they reclaimed their land near the river mouths. Their migration routes on the southern Yangtze delta plain indicate another scenario: early Neolithic communities moved onto the plain for wet-rice cultivation. Despite relative sea-level rise from 7000 to 4000 yr ago, a large number of settlements were established on the lowlands between the eastern Chenier Ridges and the western Taihu Lake depression. The Chenier Ridges, with ~ 1.0 m higher topography than the adjacent coastal area, played a role in sheltering the Neolithic people. Subsequently, settlements waned considerably, possibly due to further marine inundation combined with cold climate. The present study shows that migration patterns of the Neolithic settlements are closely associated with a gradually rising sea level between 7000 and 4000 yr ago.

Holocene environmental change and archaeology, Yangtze River Valley, China: Review and prospects

“…ka.B.P. (William and Liu, 1996;Wang et al, 2001a;Zhang et al, 2005;Zhao et al, 2007;Chen et al, 2008). During the pre-Ch'in period, the Taihu Lake area was recorded as the Zhenze marsh in the ancient geographic book Yugong (Wei, 1993).…”

“…ka.B.P. (Wang, 1982;Yang and Xie, 1984;Shao, 1987;Yan et al, 1993;Zhao et al, 1994;Yu et al, 1998;Chen et al, 2008;Xu et al, 2010), but it was not until the 1990s that a consensus on sea-level changes in the Yangtze Delta was reached (Table 1). However, since the middle of the 20th century, archaeological evidence for this has been contrary.…”

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

“…Climatic and sea-level fluctuations in the first half of the Holocene must have had major implications for the location of Neolithic settlements, their success and even survival in this area (Stanley and Chen, 1996;Chen et al, 2005Chen et al, , 2008Yu et al, 2000) as elsewhere in coastal eastern China (Jiao, 2006). With rising water tables and frequent flooding (Zhu et al, 2003) local topographic variability must have caused major differences in settlement potential over small spatial areas (Stanley and Chen, 1996;Zhang et al, 2004;Xin and Xie, 2006).…”

Impacts of sediment retention by dams on delta shoreline recession: evidences from the Krishna and Godavari deltas, India

“…River-borne sediments are the building blocks of deltas and coastal zones, with deltas alone representing 50% of the total sediment fl ux . As the Holocene sea levels stabilized about 7000 years ago, the coastal margin productivity increased leading to the emergence of civilizations (Day et al, 2007;Chen et al, 2008). Although constituting a mere 5% of the total landmass, coastal regions sustain almost three-quarters of the world's population and yield more than half of global gross domestic product (Vorosmarty et al, 2009).…”