Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T17:44:36.873Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

In-site pollen record from the Dadiwan archaeological site and the human-environment relationship during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2018

Wei Peng
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou Gansu 730000, China
Xiaozhong Huang*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou Gansu 730000, China
Dongju Zhang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou Gansu 730000, China
Michael J. Storozum
Affiliation:
Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Ave, Block N2-01a-15, Singapore 639798
Fahu Chen
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou Gansu 730000, China Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang, Beijing 100101, China
*
*Corresponding author at: Ministry of Education (MOE) Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, South Tianshui Road 222, Lanzhou Gansu, China 730000. E-mail address: xzhuang@lzu.edu.cn (X. Huang).

Abstract

Climatic change that affects biological productivity is often argued to be a primary force influencing human activities during the glacial period. To test this assumption, we combine in-site pollen, paleoclimatic, and archaeological data from the Dadiwan site and nearby areas on the western Loess Plateau (WLP) that date to Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 3. Our comparison of multiple datasets suggests that regional human activities increased when the vegetation around the Dadiwan area shifted from forest steppe in the early MIS 3 (59–46.7 ka) to steppe in the middle to late MIS 3 (46.7–29.5 ka). Our results indicate that regional human activities increased again during the late MIS 3 when the amount of precipitation was higher, as indicated by the lower Artemisia proportion. We suggest that increased precipitation on the WLP enhanced the above-ground biomass production and may be responsible for an increase in human activity and population in this region.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abe, C., Leipe, C., Tarasov, P.E., Müller, S., Wagner, M., 2016. Spatio-temporal distribution of hunter-gatherer archaeological sites in the Hokkaido region (Northern Japan), an overview. The Holocene 26, 16271645.Google Scholar
An, C.B., Feng, Z.D., Tang, L.Y., 2004. Environmental change and cultural response between 8000 and 4000 cal. yr BP in the western Loess Plateau, northwest China. Journal of Quaternary Science 19, 529535.Google Scholar
An, C.B., Tang, L., Barton, L., Chen, F.H., 2005. Climate change and cultural response around 4000 cal yr BP in the western part of Chinese Loess Plateau. Quaternary Research 63, 347352.Google Scholar
An, Z., Kukla, G.J., Porter, S.C., Xiao, J., 1991. Magnetic susceptibility evidence of monsoon variation on the loess plateau of central China during the last 130,000 years. Quaternary Research 36, 2936.Google Scholar
Anderson, D.G., Goodyear, A.C., Kennett, J., West, A., 2011. Multiple lines of evidence for possible human population decline/settlement reorganization during the early Younger Dryas. Quaternary International 242, 570583.Google Scholar
Bai, Y., Han, X., Wu, J., Chen, Z., Li, L., 2004. Ecosystem stability and compensatory effects in the Inner Mongolia grassland. Nature 431, 181184.Google Scholar
Bai, Y., Wu, J., Pan, Q., Huang, J., Wang, Q., Fusheng, L.I., Buyantuyev, A., Han, X., 2007. Positive linear relationship between productivity and diversity, evidence from the Eurasian Steppe. Journal of Applied Ecology 44, 10231034.Google Scholar
Barton, L., Brantingham, P.J., Ji, D., 2007. Late Pleistocene climate change and Paleolithic cultural evolution in Northern China, implications from the Last Glacial Maximum. Developments in Quaternary Sciences 9, 105128.Google Scholar
Barton, L., Morgan, C.T., Bettinger, R.L., Zhang, D., 2008. The archaeology of archaic and early modern humans in northwest China, a report on the 2007 Paleolithic Survey Project in eastern Longxi Basin, Gansu (Unpublished). URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/23353.Google Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O., 2002. The Upper Paleolithic revolution. Annual Review of Anthropology 31, 363393.Google Scholar
Berger, A., Loutre, M.F., 1991. Insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years. Quaternary Science Reviews 10, 297317.Google Scholar
Bond, G., Broecker, W., Johnsen, S., McManus, J., Labeyrie, L., Jouzel, J., Bonani, G., 1993. Correlations between climate records from North Atlantic sediments and Greenland ice. Nature 365, 143147.Google Scholar
Büntgen, U., Myglan, V.S., Ljungqvist, F.C., McCormick, M., Di Cosmo, N., Sigl, M., Jungclaus, J., et al., 2016. Cooling and societal change during the Late Antique Little Ice Age from 536 to around 660 AD. Nature Geoscience 9, 318.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, A., 2009. Archaeological demography. Human Biology 81, 275286.Google Scholar
Chen, F.H., Bloemendal, J., Wang, J.M., Li, J.J., Oldfield, F., 1997. High-resolution multi-proxy climate records from Chinese loess, evidence for rapid climatic changes over the last 75 kyr. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 130, 323.Google Scholar
Chen, F.H., Cheng, B., Zhao, Y., Zhu, Y., Madsen, D.B., 2006. Holocene environmental change inferred from a high-resolution pollen record, Lake Zhuyeze, arid China. The Holocene 16, 675684.Google Scholar
Chen, F.H., Dong, G.H., Zhang, D.J., Liu, X.Y., Jia, X., An, C.B, Ma, M.M., Xie, Y.W., Barton, L., Ren, X.Y., Zhao, Z.J., Wu, X.H., Jones, M.K., 2015. Agriculture facilitated permanent human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau after 3600 BP. Science 347, 248250.Google Scholar
Chen, X.Y., Wu, N.Q., 2008. Relatively warm-humid climate recorded by mollusk species in the Chiness loess plateau during MIS3 and its possible forcing mechanism. [In Chinese.] Quaternary . Sciences 28, 154161.Google Scholar
Chen, Y.M., Rao, Z.G., Zhang, J.W., Chen, X.S., 2004. Comparative study of MIS3 climatic features recorded in Malan loess in the western part of the loess plateau and global records. [In Chinese.]. Quaternary Sciences 24, 359365.Google Scholar
deMenocal, P.B., 2001. Cultural responses to climate change during the Late Holocene. Science 292, 667673.Google Scholar
Deng, L., Shangguan, Z.P., 2012. Distribution of natural grassland biomass and its relationship with influencing factors in Shaanxi. [In Chinese.]. Acta Agrestia Sinica 20, 825835.Google Scholar
Dolukhanov, P.M., Arslanov, K.A., 2009. Ecological crises and early human migrations in the Black Sea area. Quaternary International 197, 3542.Google Scholar
Dong, G.H., Wang, L., Cui, Y.F., Elston, R., Chen, F.H., 2013. The spatiotemporal pattern of the Majiayao cultural evolution and its relation to climate change and variety of subsistence strategy during late Neolithic period in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, northwest China. Quaternary International 316, 155161.Google Scholar
Du, S., Liu, F., 2014. Loessic palaeolith discovery at the Beiyao site, Luoyang, and its implications for understanding the origin of modern humans in Northern China. Quaternary International 349, 308315.Google Scholar
Fang, J., Piao, S., Zhou, L., He, J., Wei, F., Myneni, R. B., Tucker, C.P., Tan, K., 2005. Precipitation patterns alter growth of temperate vegetation. Geophysical Research Letters 322, 365370.Google Scholar
Feng, Z.D., Tang, L.Y., Ma, Y.Z., Zhai, Z.X., Wu, H.N., Li, F., Zou, S.B., Yang, Q.L., Wang, W.G., Derbyshire, E., Liu, K.B., 2007. Vegetation variations and associated environmental changes during marine isotope stage 3 in the western part of the Chinese Loess Plateau. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 246, 278291.Google Scholar
Feng, Z.D., Tang, L.Y., Wang, H.B., Ma, Y.Z., Liu, K. B., 2006. Holocene vegetation variations and the associated environmental changes in the western part of the Chinese Loess Plateau. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 241, 440456.Google Scholar
Foerster, V., Vogelsang, R., Junginger, A., Asrat, A., Lamb, H.F., Schaebitz, F., Trauth, M.H., 2015. Environmental change and human occupation of southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya during the last 20,000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews 129, 333340.Google Scholar
Grimm, E.C., 2004. TILIA and TILIA.GRAPH v.2.0.2. Illinois State Museum, Springfield.Google Scholar
Heller, F., Liu, T.S., 1982. Magnetostratigraphical dating of loess deposits in China. Nature 300, 431433.Google Scholar
Henn, B.M., Cavalli–Sforza, L.L., Feldman, M.W., 2012. The great human expansion. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109, 1775817764.Google Scholar
Herzschuh, U., Kuerschner, H., Ma, Y., 2003. The surface pollen and relative pollen production of the desert vegetation of the Alashan Plateau, western Inner Mongolia. Chinese Science Bulletin 48, 14881493.Google Scholar
Hill, K., Barton, M., Hurtado, A.M., 2009. The emergence of human uniqueness, Characters underlying behavioral modernity. Evolutionary Anthropology 18, 187200.Google Scholar
Hovan, S.A., Rea, D.K., Pisias, N.G., Shackleton, N.J., 1989. A direct link between the China loess and marine δ18O records, aeolian flux to the North Pacific. Nature 340, 296298.Google Scholar
Hughes, P.J., Sullivan, M.E., Hiscock, P., 2017. Palaeoclimate and human occupation in southeastern arid Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews 163, 7283.Google Scholar
Imbrie, J., Hays, J.D., Martinson, D.G., Mcintyre, A., Mix, A.C., Morley, J.J., Pisias, N.G., Prell, W.L., Shackleton, N.J., 1984. The orbital theory of Pleistocene climate: support from a revised chronology of the marine δ18O record. In: Berger, A., Imbrie, J., Hays, J., Kukla, G., Saltzman, B. (Eds.), Milankovitch and Climate, Part I. Springer, New York, pp. 269305.Google Scholar
Ji, D.X., 2007. Environmental archaeological perspective, dispersal of anatomically modern human and origin of agriculture in Northern China- a case study in Gansu and Ningxia (in Chinese). (Doctoral dissertation, Lanzhou University).Google Scholar
Jiang, H., Ding, Z., 2005. Temporal and spatial changes of vegetation cover on the Chinese Loess Plateau through the last glacial cycle, evidence from spore-pollen records. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 133, 2337.Google Scholar
Jiang, H., Mao, X., Xu, H., Thompson, J., Wang, P., Ma, X., 2011. Last glacial pollen record from Lanzhou (Northwestern China) and possible forcing mechanisms for the MIS 3 climate change in Middle to East Asia. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 769781.Google Scholar
Jiang, W., Cheng, Y., Yang, X., Yang, S., 2013. Chinese Loess Plateau vegetation since the Last Glacial Maximum and its implications for vegetation restoration. Journal of Applied Ecology 50, 440448.Google Scholar
Jin, G., Liu, D., 2002. Mid-Holocene climate change in North China, and the effect on cultural development. Chinese Science Bulletin 47, 408413.Google Scholar
Jouzel, J., Barkov, N.I., Barnola, J.M., Bender, M., Chappellaz, J., Genthon, C., Kotlyakov, V.M., et al., 1993. Extending the Vostok ice-core record of palaeoclimate to the penultimate glacial period. Nature 364, 407412.Google Scholar
Kelly, R.L., Surovell, T.A., Shuman, B.N., Smith, G.M., 2013. A continuous climatic impact on Holocene human population in the Rocky Mountains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 110, 443447.Google Scholar
Kuper, R., Kröpelin, S., 2006. Climate-controlled Holocene occupation in the Sahara, motor of Africa's evolution. Science 313, 803807.Google Scholar
Li, C.H., He, C.L., 2004. Preparation technique of HF treatment for extracting pollen and spores from loess sediments. [In Chinese.]. Acta Micropalaeontologica Sinica 21, 346348.Google Scholar
Li, C.H., Tang, L.Y., Feng, Z.D., Wang, W.G., An, C.B., Zhang, H.C., 2006. A high-resolution late Pleistocene record of pollen vegetation and climate change from Jingning, NW China. [In Chinese.]. Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences 49, 154162.Google Scholar
Li, F., Chen, F.Y., Gao, X., Liu, D.C., Zhang, D.J., Wang, S., 2011. A report on the 2009 reconnaissance of Paleolithic remains in the Shuiluo and Qingshui river valley, Gansu province. [In Chinese.]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 30, 137148.Google Scholar
Li, F., ChenF.Y., W, H. F.Y., W, H., Liu, D.C., Wang, S., Zhang, D.J., Li, G., Zhang, X.L., Gao, X., 2012. A preliminary report on the 2009 excavaton of the Xujiacheng Paleolithic site in Gansu province, North China. [In Chinese.]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 31, 209227.Google Scholar
Li, H., An, C., Fan, W., Dong, W., Zhao, Y., Wang, H., 2015. Population history and its relationship with climate change on the Chinese Loess Plateau during the past 10,000 years. The Holocene 25, 11441152.Google Scholar
Li, X., Zhou, J., Dodson, J., 2003. The vegetation characteristics of the ‘Yuan’ area at Yaoxian on the Loess Plateau in China over the last 12 000 years. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 124, 17.Google Scholar
Li, Y.C., Xu, Q.H., Xiao, J.L., Yang, X.L., 2005a. Indication of some major pollen taxa in surface samples to their parent plants of forest in Northern China. [In Chinese.] Quaternary . Sciences 25, 598608.Google Scholar
Li, Y.C., Xu, Q.H., Xiao, J.L., Yang, X.Y., Zheng, Z.H., 2007. Relationship between surface pollen and vegetation in some shrub communities of Northern China. [In Chinese.]. Scientia Geographica Sinica 27, 205210.Google Scholar
Li, Y.C., Xu, Q.H., Yang, X.L., Zheng, Z.H., 2005b. Pollen assemblages of major steppe communities in China. [In Chinese.]. Acta Ecologica Sinica 25, 555564.Google Scholar
Liu, H., Cui, H., Pott, R., Speier, M., 1999. The surface pollen of the woodland–steppe ecotone in southeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 105, 237250.Google Scholar
Liu, T., Guo, Z., Wu, N., Lu, H., 1996. Prehistoric vegetation on the Loess Plateau, steppe or forest? Journal of Southeast Asian Earth Sciences 13, 341346.Google Scholar
Louderback, L.A., Grayson, D.K., Llobera, M., 2011. Middle-Holocene climates and human population densities in the Great Basin, western USA. The Holocene 21, 366373.Google Scholar
Lu, H., Liu, D., Guo, Z., 2003. Natural vegetation of geological and historical periods in Loess Plateau. Chinese Science Bulletin 48, 411416.Google Scholar
Lu, H.Y., Wu, N.Q., Liu, K.B., Jiang, H., Liu, T.S., 2007. Phytoliths as quantitative indicators for the reconstruction of past environmental conditions in China II, Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in the Loess Plateau. Quaternary Science Reviews 26, 759772.Google Scholar
Lu, H., Wu, N., Yang, X., Shen, C., Zhu, L., Wang, L., Li, Q., Xu, D., Tong, G., Sun, X., 2008. Spatial pattern of Abies and Picea surface pollen distribution along the elevation gradient in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Xinjiang, China. Boreas 37, 254262.Google Scholar
Ma, W.H., Yang, Y.H., He, J.S., Ceng, H., Fang, J.Y., 2008. The relationship between grassland biomass dynamics and the meteorological factors in Inner Mongolia. [In Chinese.]. Science in China Series C: Life Sciences 38, 8492.Google Scholar
Ma, Y., Zhang, H., Pachur, H. J., , B., Li, J., Feng, Z., 2004. Modern pollen-based interpretations of mid-Holocene palaeoclimate (8500 to 3000 cal. BP) at the southern margin of the Tengger Desert, northwestern China. The Holocene 14, 841850.Google Scholar
Maher, B.A., Thompson, R., 1991. Mineral magnetic record of the Chinese loess and palaeosols. Geology 19, 36.Google Scholar
Maher, L.A., Banning, E.B., Chazan, M., 2011. Oasis or mirage? Assessing the role of abrupt climate change in the prehistory of the southern Levant. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 21, 130.Google Scholar
Maier, A., Lehmkuhl, F., Ludwig, P., Melles, M., Schmidt, I., Shao, Y., Zimmermann, A., 2016. Demographic estimates of hunter-gatherers during the Last Glacial Maximum in Europe against the background of palaeoenvironmental data. Quaternary International 425, 4961.Google Scholar
McMichael, A.J., 2012. Insights from past millennia into climatic impacts on human health and survival. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109, 4730–4737.Google Scholar
Morgan, C., Barton, L., Bettinger, R., Chen, F., Zhang, D., 2011. Glacial cycles and palaeolithic adaptive variability on China's western Loess Plateau. Antiquity 85, 365379.Google Scholar
Munoz, S.E., Gajewski, K., Peros, M.C., 2010. Synchronous environmental and cultural change in the prehistory of the northeastern United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, 22008–22013.Google Scholar
Ni, J., 2004. Estimating net primary productivity of grasslands from field biomass measurements in temperate Northern China. Plant Ecology 174, 217234.Google Scholar
Ning, X.J., Qin, Y.C., Cui, Y.P., Li, X., Chen, Y.M., 2016. Hydrothermal China 1km 1951–2010. Global Change Research Data Publishing and Repository. http://dx.doi.org/10.3974/geodb.2016.01.07.V1.Google Scholar
North Greenland Ice Core Project (NGRIP) members. 2004. High-resolution record of Northern Hemisphere climate extending into the last interglacial period. Nature 431, 147151.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., 2001. Chinese loess record of monsoon climate during the last glacial-interglacial cycle. Earth Science Reviews 54, 115128.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., An, Z., 1995. Correlation between climate events in the North Atlantic and China during the last glaciation. Nature 375, 305.Google Scholar
Rao, Z., Chen, F., Hai, C., Liu, W., Wang, G., Lai, Z., Bloemendal, J., 2013. High-resolution summer precipitation variations in the western Chinese Loess Plateau during the last glacial. Scientific Reports 3, 2785.Google Scholar
Rosen, A.M., Rivera-Collazo, I., 2012. Climate change, adaptive cycles, and the persistence of foraging economies during the late Pleistocene/Holocene transition in the Levant. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109, 36403645.Google Scholar
Shennan, S., Downey, S.S., Timpson, A., Edinborough, K., Colledge, S., Kerig, T., Manning, K., Thomas, M.G., 2013. Regional population collapse followed initial agriculture booms in mid-Holocene Europe. Nature Communications 4, 2486.Google Scholar
Shi, Y.F., Yu, G., Liu, X.D., Li, B.Y., Yao, T.D., 2001. Reconstruction of the 30–40 ka BP enhanced Indian monsoon climate based on geological records from the Tibetan Plateau. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 169, 6983.Google Scholar
Sun, A., Feng, Z., Ma, Y., 2010. Vegetation and environmental changes in western Chinese Loess Plateau since 13.0 ka BP. Journal of Archaeological Science 20, 177192.Google Scholar
Sun, A., Guo, Z., Wu, H., Li, Q., Yu, Y., Luo, Y., Jiang, W., Li, X., 2017. Reconstruction of the vegetation distribution of different topographic units of the Chinese Loess Plateau during the Holocene. Quaternary Science Reviews 173, 236247.Google Scholar
Sun, X., Song, C., Wang, F., Sun, M., 1997. Vegetation history of the Loess Plateau of China during the last 100,000 years based on pollen data. Quaternary International 37, 2536.Google Scholar
Svensson, A., Andersen, K.K., Bigler, M., Clausen, H.B., Dahl-Jensen, D., Davies, S.M., Johnsen, S.J., et al., 2008. A 60 000 year Greenland stratigraphic ice core chronology. Climate of the Past 4, 4757.Google Scholar
Tallavaara, M., Seppä, H., 2012. Did the mid-Holocene environmental changes cause the boom and bust of hunter-gatherer population size in eastern Fennoscandia? The Holocene 22, 215225.Google Scholar
Tang, L.Y., Zhang, Y.P., Zhou, Z.Z., 2012. Morphological variation of Compositae pollen from Quaternary sediments of Eurasia. [In Chinese.]. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica 51, 6475.Google Scholar
ter Braak, C.J.F., Smilauer, P., 2003. Canoco for Windows v. 4.52. Biometris. Wageningen, the Netherlands.Google Scholar
Thompson, L.G., Yao, T., Davis, M.E., Henderson, K.A., Mosley-Thompson, E., Lin, P.-N., Beer, J., Synal, H.-N., Cole-Dai, J., Bolzan, J.F., 1997. Tropical climate instability: the Last Glacial cycle from a Qinghai-Tibetan ice core. Science 276, 18211825.Google Scholar
Voelker, A.H.L., 2002. Global distribution of centennial-scale records for marine isotope stage (MIS) 3, a database. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 11851212.Google Scholar
Wagner, M., Tarasov, P., Hosner, D., Fleck, A., Ehrich, R., Chen, X., Leipe, C., 2013. Mapping of the spatial and temporal distribution of archaeological sites of Northern China during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Quaternary International 290, 344357.Google Scholar
Wang, C., Lu, H., Zhang, J., Gu, Z., He, K., 2014. Prehistoric demographic fluctuations in China inferred from radiocarbon data and their linkage with climate change over the past 50,000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews 98, 4559.Google Scholar
Wang, F.X., Qian, N.F., Zhang, Y.L., 1995. Pollen Flora of China. [In Chinese.]. Science Press, Beijing.Google Scholar
Wang, Y., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Kong, X., Shao, X., Chen, S., Wu, J., Jiang, X., Wang, X., An, Z., 2009. Millennial- and orbital-scale changes in the East Asian monsoon over the past 224,000 years. Nature 451, 10901093.Google Scholar
Wang, Y.J., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., An, Z.S., Wu, J.Y., Shen, C.C., Dorale, J. A., 2001. A high-resolution absolute-dated late Pleistocene monsoon record from Hulu Cave, China. Science 294, 23452348.Google Scholar
Wang, Z.X., 2015. Loess Plateau Region. Global Change Research Data Publishing and Repository. http://dx.doi.org/10.3974/geodb.2015.01.09.V1.Google Scholar
Wei, H., Fan, Q., Zhao, Y., Ma, H., Shan, F., An, F., Yuan, Q., 2015. A 94–10 ka pollen record of vegetation change in Qaidam basin, northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 431, 4352.Google Scholar
Williams, J.W., Shuman, B., Bartlein, P.J., Whitmore, J., Gajewski, K., Sawada, M., Minckley, T., et al., 2006. An Atlas of Pollen-Vegetation-Climate Relationships for the United States and Canada. American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation Contributions Series, No.43. American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation, Dallas.Google Scholar
Wu, W.X., Liu, T.S., 2004. Possible role of the “Holocene Event 3” on the collapse of Neolithic Cultures around the Central Plain of China. Quaternary International 117, 153166.Google Scholar
Wu, Z., 1980. Vegetation of China. [In Chinese.]. Science Press, Beijing.Google Scholar
Xi, Y.Z., Ning, J.C., 1994. Pollen morphology for Arid-semiarid area, China. Yushania 11, 119191.Google Scholar
Xia, Z.K., Liu, D.C., Wang, Y.P., Qu, T.L., 2008. Environmental background of human activities during MIS3 stage recorded in the Zhijidong cave site, Zhengzhou. [In Chinese.]. Quaternary Sciences 28, 96102.Google Scholar
Xie, S., Evershed, R.P., Huang, X., Zhu, Z., Pancost, R.D., Meyers, P.A., Gu, Y., 2013. Concordant monsoon-driven postglacial hydrological changes in peat and stalagmite records and their impacts on prehistoric cultures in central China. Geology 41, 827830.Google Scholar
Xu, Q.H., Li, Y.C., Yang, X.L., Zheng, Z.H., 2005. Study on surface pollen of major steppe communities in Northern China. [In Chinese.]. Geographical Research 24, 394402.Google Scholar
Xu, Q.H., Li, Y.C., Yang, X.L., Zheng, Z.H., 2007. Quantitative relationship between pollen and vegetation in Northern China. [In Chinese.]. Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences 37, 192205.Google Scholar
Yan, S., Kong, Z.C., Yang, Z.J., Zhang, Y., Ni, J., 2004. Seeking relationship between vegetation and Picea pollen in surface soils of Xinjiang, northwestern China. [In Chinese.]. Acta Ecologica Sinica 24, 20172023.Google Scholar
Yang, B., Shi, Y., Braeuning, A., Wang, J., 2004. Evidence for a warm-humid climate in arid northwestern China during 40–30 ka BP. Quaternary Science Reviews 23, 25372548.Google Scholar
Zhang, D.D., Lee, H.F., Wang, C., Li, B., Pei, Q., Zhang, J., An, Y., 2011a. The causality analysis of climate change and large-scale human crisis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108, 1729617301.Google Scholar
Zhang, D.J., Chen, F.H., Bettinger, R.L., Barton, L., Ji, D.X., Morgan, C., 2010. Archaeological records of Dadiwan in the past 60 ka and the origin of millet agriculture. Chinese Science Bulletin 55, 16361642.Google Scholar
Zhang, D.J., Chen, F.H., Ji, D.X., Barton, L., Brantingham, P.J., Wang, H., 2011b. The age, lithics and paleoenvironmental study of the Sumiaoyuantou locality, Gansu province (in Chinese). Acta Anthropologica Sinica 30, 289298.Google Scholar
Zhang, H., Wunnemann, B., Ma, Y., Peng, J., Hans-J, P., Li, J., Qi, Y., Chen, G., Fang, H., Feng, Z., 2002. Lake level and climate changes between 42,000 and 18,000 14C yr B.P. in the Tengger Desert, northwestern China. Quaternary Research 58, 6272.Google Scholar
Zhang, L.Y., 2014. Palynological records from the Luochuan section of the Chinese loess plateau since S5 stage. [In Chinese.]. Journal of Jilin University, Earth Science Edition 44, 222229.Google Scholar
Zhang, P., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Chen, F., Wang, Y., Yang, X., Liu, J., et al., 2008. A test of climate, sun, and culture relationships from an 1810-year Chinese cave record. Science 322, 940942.Google Scholar
Zhang, Z., Zhao, M., Eglinton, G., Lu, H., Huang, C.Y., 2006. Leaf wax lipids as paleovegetational and paleoenvironmental proxies for the Chinese Loess Plateau over the last 170 kyr. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 575594.Google Scholar
Zhao, Y., An, C.B., Duan, F., Zhao, J., Mao, L., Zhou, A., Cao, Z., Chen, F., 2017. Consistent vegetation and climate deterioration from early to late MIS3 revealed by multi-proxies (mainly pollen data) in north-west China. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 244, 4353.Google Scholar
Zhao, Y., An, C.B., Mao, L., Zhao, J., Tang, L., Zhou, A., Li, H., Dong, W., Duan, F., Chen, F., 2015. Vegetation and climate history in arid western China during MIS2, New insights from pollen and grain-size data of the Balikun Lake, eastern Tien Shan. Quaternary Science Reviews 126, 112125.Google Scholar
Zhao, Y., Li, F., Hou, Y., Sun, J., Zhao, W., Tang, Y., Li, H., 2012. Surface pollen and its relationships with modern vegetation and climate on the Loess Plateau and surrounding deserts in China. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 181, 4753.Google Scholar
Zhao, Y., Yu, Z., Chen, F., Ito, E., Zhao, C., 2007. Holocene vegetation and climate history at Hurleglake in the Qaidam basin, northwest China. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 145, 275288.Google Scholar
Zhao, Y., Yu, Z., Chen, F., Li, J., 2008. Holocene vegetation and climate change from a lake sediment record in the Tengger sandy desert, northwest China. Journal of Arid Environments 72, 20542064.Google Scholar
Zheng, C.G., Zhu, C., Zhong, Y.S., Yin, P.L., Bai, J.J., Sun, Z.B., 2008a. Relationship between the temporal-spatial distribution of archaeological sites and natural environment from the Paleolithic Age to the Tang and Song Dynasties in the Three Gorges Reservoir of Chongqing area. Chinese Science Bulletin 53, 107128.Google Scholar
Zheng, Z., Huang, K.Y., Xu, Q.H., Lu, H.Y., Cheddadi, R., Luo, Y.L., Beaudoui, C., Luo, C.X., Zheng, Y.W., Li, C.H., Wei, J.H., Du, C.B., 2008b. Comparison of climatic threshold of geographical distribution between dominant plants and surface pollen in China (in Chinese). Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences 38, 701714.Google Scholar
Zhong, Y.X., 2008. A Study on Palaeoenvironmental Changes Recorded by organic Geochemistry Proxies of Loess in the Western Loess Plateau Since the Last-Glacial [In Chinese.] PhD dissertation, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou.Google Scholar
Zhou, L.P., Oldfield, F., Wintle, A.G., Robinson, S.G., Wang, J.T., 1990. Partly pedogenic origin of magnetic variation in Chinese loess. Nature 346, 737739.Google Scholar
Zhou, W., Xian, F., Du, Y., Kong, X., Wu, Z., 2014b. The last 130 ka precipitation reconstruction from Chinese loess 10Be. Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth 119, 191197.Google Scholar
Zhou, X., Li, X., Dodson, J., Yang, S., Long, H., Zhao, K., Sun, N., Yang, Q., Liu, H., Zhao, C., 2014a. Zonal vegetation change in the Chinese loess plateau since MIS 3. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 404, 8996.Google Scholar
Zhou, X., Li, X., Yang, S., Hao, L., Yang, Q., Zhao, K., Cui, J., 2016. Past changes in the vegetation density of the Chinese Loess Plateau revealed by variations in the size of Artemisia pollen grains. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 235, 7180.Google Scholar
Zhu, Y., Chen, F.H., Tang, L.Y., Shi, Q., Xie, Y.W., 2001. Environmental signals of Picea and Sabina of sediments in terminal lake of Shiyang river, arid area. [In Chinese.]. Journal of Desert Research 21, 141146.Google Scholar
Ziegler, M., Simon, M.H., Hall, I.R., Barker, S., Stringer, C., Zahn, R., 2013. Development of Middle Stone Age innovation linked to rapid climate change. Nature Communications 4, 1905.Google Scholar