Spatial and temporal variety of prehistoric human settlement and its influencing factors in the upper Yellow River valley, Qinghai Province, China

Dong, Guanghui; Jia, Xin; Elston, Robert; Chen, Fahu; Li, Shuicheng; Wang, Lin; Cai, Linhai; An, Chengbang

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2012.10.002

Cited by 107 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The 14 C date of unidentified charcoal in the site (LUG10-185) is evidently older than that of other Majiayao sites in the region (Dong et al 2012b), which might have been induced by the old-wood effect. The chronology of the Majiaoyao culture (5900-4000 cal BP) is determined on the basis of 39 conventional 14 C dates from unidentified charcoal (Xie 2002), which may be inaccurate considering the impact of the old-wood problem, for only two calibrated 14 C dates from Majiayao sites are older than 5500 cal BP (IA, CASS 1991).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…Humans mainly settled on the terraces of the big rivers to engage in agricultural production, and it might not have been convenient to utilize primary forest resources. Though the Kayue (3600-2600 cal BP) and Xindian cultures existed almost synchronously, many Kayue sites are distributed on slopes and ridges of mountains where big trees could be obtained, in east Qinghai Province (Bureau of National Cultural Relics 1996; Dong et al 2012b), probably for sheepherding, which has been suggested was an important strategy during the Kayue period (Shang 1987;Xie 2002).…”

Section: G-h Dong Et Almentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Comparative Study of ¹⁴C Dating on Charcoal and Charred Seeds from Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Sites in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, NW China

Dong

Wang²,

Ren³

et al. 2014

Radiocarbon

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The chronology of the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures in Gansu and Qinghai provinces, northwest China, is mainly based on conventional radiocarbon dates from unidentified charcoal, which may be inaccurate in view of the possible "old wood" problem of 14 C dating. To discuss the reliability of the chronology of those prehistoric cultures, accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates of short-lived charred seeds were compared to conventional 14 C dates of unidentified charcoal from the same flotation samples in 15 Late Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in the area. The results show that 14 C dates of unidentified charcoal are obviously older than those of charred seeds in 5 of the 15 flotation samples. This work suggests that the old-wood problem of 14 C dating might be related to human subsistence strategies and local vegetation variation during different prehistoric cultural periods in Gansu and Qinghai provinces, which should be discussed before establishing the chronology of Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures in the area.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Section: G-h Dong Et Almentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparative Study of ¹⁴C Dating on Charcoal and Charred Seeds from Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Sites in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, NW China

Dong

Wang²,

Ren³

et al. 2014

Radiocarbon

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“…A number of studies have highlighted the 4.2 ka (∼2200-2100 BC) event as a potential driver for culture change in East Asia (64), as well as elsewhere in Eurasia (65)(66)(67). A 5,500-y model of changing crop niches on the Tibetan Plateau (68) created by downscaling a hemispheric record of climate revealed that this event had a substantial effect on early agricultural systems in this area.…”

Section: Climate and The Spread Of Farming In Asiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Twenty-first century approaches to ancient problems: Climate and society

Guedes

Crabtree

Bocinsky

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

112

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By documenting how humans adapted to changes in their environment that are often much greater than those experienced in the instrumental record, archaeology provides our only deep-time laboratory for highlighting the circumstances under which humans managed or failed to find to adaptive solutions to changing climate, not just over a few generations but over the longue durée. Patterning between climatemediated environmental change and change in human societies has, however, been murky because of low spatial and temporal resolution in available datasets, and because of failure to model the effects of climate change on local resources important to human societies. In this paper we review recent advances in computational modeling that, in conjunction with improving data, address these limitations. These advances include network analysis, niche and species distribution modeling, and agent-based modeling. These studies demonstrate the utility of deep-time modeling for calibrating our understanding of how climate is influencing societies today and may in the future.climate change | archaeology | computational modeling | agent-based modeling

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“…During the 2nd millennium BC, these crops also move into China (see summaries in An et al, 2013;Betts et al, 2013;Chen et al, 2015;Crawford and Lee, 2003;Crawford et al, 2005; D'Alpoim Guedes et al, 2013;Dodson et al, 2013;Dong et al, 2013;Flad et al, 2010;Lee et al, 2007;Li et al, 2007;Zhao, 2009).…”

Section: Subsistence Patterns In Post-2nd Millennium Bc Tibetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the spread of agriculture to the Tibetan Plateau

Guedes

2015

The Holocene

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New data from the Tibetan Plateau allow us to understand how populations dealt with the challenges of moving crops into altitudinally constrained environments. Despite the interest in explaining the timing and the mechanisms via which agricultural products spread to the roof of the world, current models for the spread of agriculture to this region have been simplistic and the presence of crop domesticates is often straightforwardly interpreted as indicating the existence of an agricultural system at the site. This is largely due to a fundamental lack of understanding of where crops could be grown in prehistory on the Plateau. Although it has generally been assumed that moving agriculture into this area was challenging, little work has specifically addressed the constraints imposed on humans as they moved crops into this area. Employing an agro-ecological niche model, I formally model the constraints that were faced by humans as they moved a series of crops into the Tibetan Plateau between the 4th and 1st millennium cal. BC. Based on the results of this analysis, I argue that the end of the climatic optimum meant that millet agriculture was no longer a viable strategy in many parts of the Eastern Himalayas. The arrival of frost tolerant crops in the 2nd millennium BC provided new opportunities in the cooler post climatic optimum world. These models further reveal that sites that have been previously considered as engaged directly in agricultural production may have been more distantly connected to an agricultural lifestyle than previously thought.

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Spatial and temporal variety of prehistoric human settlement and its influencing factors in the upper Yellow River valley, Qinghai Province, China

Cited by 107 publications

References 21 publications

A Comparative Study of ¹⁴C Dating on Charcoal and Charred Seeds from Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Sites in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, NW China

A Comparative Study of ¹⁴C Dating on Charcoal and Charred Seeds from Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Sites in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, NW China

Twenty-first century approaches to ancient problems: Climate and society

Rethinking the spread of agriculture to the Tibetan Plateau

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Spatial and temporal variety of prehistoric human settlement and its influencing factors in the upper Yellow River valley, Qinghai Province, China

Cited by 107 publications

References 21 publications

A Comparative Study of 14C Dating on Charcoal and Charred Seeds from Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Sites in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, NW China

A Comparative Study of 14C Dating on Charcoal and Charred Seeds from Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Sites in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, NW China

Twenty-first century approaches to ancient problems: Climate and society

Rethinking the spread of agriculture to the Tibetan Plateau

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A Comparative Study of ¹⁴C Dating on Charcoal and Charred Seeds from Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Sites in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, NW China

A Comparative Study of ¹⁴C Dating on Charcoal and Charred Seeds from Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Sites in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, NW China