Understanding the transport networks complex between South Asia, Southeast Asia and China during the late Neolithic and Bronze Age

Abstract

The emergence and intensification of transcontinental exchange during both the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age profoundly influenced the social history of Eurasia. While scholars have intensively discussed east-west long-distance communication along the proto-Silk Road, the north-south transport networks that connected China to South and Southeast Asia during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age have attracted much less attention in the scholarly literature based on archeological science data. In this paper, we find new radiocarbon dates from 11 Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in northwestern and central Yunnan in Southwest China, a key entrance into South and Southeast Asia from China. Combined with previously published archeological records and radiocarbon dates, we attempt to disentangle and understand the timing and routes of the networks linking China to South and Southeast Asia during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. We propose three north-south land routes that played essential roles in the cultural exchanges in addition to the proto-Silk Road and maritime routes. This includes the trans-Himalayan routes, trans-Hengduan Mountain routes, and the trans-Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau routes. The north-south exchange between China and South and Southeast Asia probably emerged in the fifth millennium BP (before the present) mainly through a low-frequency trans-Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau and trans-Himalayan routes. The exchange frequency significantly increased after the fourth millennium BP, with the synchronous development of the three primary north-south passageways. Trans-Hengduan routes might have been the most crucial artery connecting China and South and Southeast Asia during 3000–2200 BP, but more archeological records are needed to understand the detailed evolution of these transport networks.

Diverse subsistence strategies related to the spatial heterogeneity of local environments in the Hengduan Mountain Region during the Bronze Age

“…A total of four tombs were excavated, and some human bones were unearthed. Human bones allowed researchers to date the tombs to 2,850-2,450 BP (Ma et al, 2022b).…”

“…Modern-day residents mainly survive on agriculture and livestock (Haynes et al, 2013;Li, 2020): they plant (e.g., naked barley, wheat, corn) along the river banks and gentle slopes below 2,600 masl, and graze (e.g., yak, cattleyak) above 2,600 masl (Li, 2020). The Adong sarcophagus tombs were found by the Deqin County Cultural Relics Management Institute in 2020 and were dated to 2,750 BP -2,450 BP with human bones (Ma et al, 2022b).…”

“…The δ 13 C values (−15.7‰-−15.2‰) from M1 and M2 (at least two human individuals) indicate that humans consumed a mixed C 3 and C 4 diet and the δ 13 C values (−18.5‰-−17.8‰) from M3 (at least one human individuals) indicate a C 3 -based diet (Figure 2; Table 1). Three radiocarbon dates of human bones from those tombs ranged between 2,750 and 2,450 BP, indicating that these two groups (C 3 -based and C 3 -C 4 mixed) lived in the Adong area concurrently (Ma et al, 2022b). Previous studies indicated that C 4 plants in the flora gradually decreased or even disappeared when the altitude exceeds 2,000 m-3,000 m (Chazdon, 1978;Boutton et al, 1980;Rundel, 1980;Cavagnaro, 1988;Wang et al, 2004;, which suggests that individuals from M1 and M2 might consume a certain amount of C 4 crops.…”

“…The Hengduan Mountain Region (HMR) lies in the southeast of the Tibetan Plateau and has acted as an essential passageway for human migration and cultural exchange since the late Paleolithic period (Hein, 2014;Gao et al, 2021;Ma et al, 2022b;Huan et al, 2022). Humans engaged in hunting-gathering in the HMR until the arrival of Neolithic farming groups from the Yellow River Valley during the sixth Millennium BP (Chen and Chen, 2006;Zhao and Chen, 2011;Huan et al, 2022).…”

“…Recent archaeological investigations provided new radiocarbon data from Bronze Age sites in the HMR: Adong tombs (2,517 masl, 2,750 BP-2,450 BP) in mountain areas and Gaozhai tombs (2,080 masl, 2,850 BP-2,450 BP) in river terraces (Figure 1; Ma et al, 2022b). Thirty-one human bones were collected from these two contemporaneous sites, providing an excellent opportunity to examine human diet patterns across different HMR Bronze Age landforms.…”