Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-31T23:12:15.264Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

HUMAN RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE LATE PREHISTORIC WESTERN LOESS PLATEAU, NORTHWEST CHINA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2020

Tingting Chen
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental System, College of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China
Menghan Qiu
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental System, College of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China
Ruiliang Liu*
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, OxfordOX1 3TG, United Kingdom
Haiming Li
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental System, College of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China
Hongwei Hou
Affiliation:
Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Lanzhou, 730000, China
Philly Howarth
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, OxfordOX1 3TG, United Kingdom
Samantha Bowring
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, OxfordOX1 3TG, United Kingdom
Aifeng Zhou*
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental System, College of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China
*
*Corresponding authors. Emails: ruiliang.liu@arch.ox.ac.uk; zhouaf@lzu.edu.cn.
*Corresponding authors. Emails: ruiliang.liu@arch.ox.ac.uk; zhouaf@lzu.edu.cn.

Abstract

In order to assess late prehistoric human responses to climate change in the Western Loess Plateau (WLP), we investigated 13,567 charred plant seeds and 19 radiocarbon (14C) dates obtained from 41 late prehistoric sites in the upper Wei River valley. Based on these new dating results as well as their cultural attributes, these sites could be confidently divided into four chronological phases (Phase 1: Late Yangshao and Majiayao culture; Phase 2: Qijia culture; Phases 3 and 4: Siwa culture) but a significant gap was identified at ca. 3600–3000 cal yr BP in this region. Comparison of this interval to high-resolution paleoclimate records from Tianchi Lake suggests it could be attributed to the dramatic drop in temperature at this time. Accordingly, archaeobotanical evidence with a refined chronology shows the adoption of cold-tolerant subsistence cereal grains such as barley on the NETP (Northeast Tibetan Plateau). Drawing from various lines of knowledge (chronology, palaeoclimate, archaeobotany, and archaeology), it is reasonable to conclude that, even when confronting a similar magnitude of climate change, local human societies could vary tremendously. Different subsistence strategies were brought in by the trans-Eurasia culture exchange of prehistoric times.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2020 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

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

REFERENCE

Bai, YJ, Zhang, PZ, Gao, T, Yu, RZ, Zhou, PC, Cheng, H. 2017. The 5400 a BP extreme weakening event of the Asian summer monsoon and cultural evolution. Science China Earth Sciences 60:11711182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baltensperger, DD. 1996. Foxtail and proso millet. In: Janick, J, editor. Progress in new crops. Alexandria: ASHS Press. p. 182190.Google Scholar
Bhattacharya, T, Byrne, R, Böhnel, H, Wogau, K, Kienel, U, Ingram, BL, Zimmerman, S. 2015. Cultural implications of late Holocene climate change in the Cuenca Oriental, Mexico. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA 112: 16931698.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bureau of National Cultural Relics. 1996. Atlas of Chinese cultural relics-fascicule of Qinghai Province. Beijing: China Cartograghic Publishing House Press. In Chinese.Google Scholar
Bureau of National Cultural Relics. 2011. Atlas of Chinese cultural relics-fascicule of Gansu Province. Beijing: Surveying and Mapping Press. In Chinese.Google Scholar
Cai, YJ, Tan, LC, Cheng, H, An, ZS, Edwards, RL, Kelly, MJ, Kong, XG, Wang, XF. 2010. The variation of summer monsoon precipitation in central China since the last deglaciation. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 291:2131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, D, Wu, Q, Jiang, GX, Dai, XL. 2016. Projected shifts in Köppen climate zones over China and their temporal evolution in CMIP5 multi-model simulations. Advances in Atmospheric Sciences 33:283293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, FH, Dong, GH, Zhang, DJ, Liu, XY, Jia, X, An, CB, Ma, MM, Xie, YW, Barton, L, Ren, XY, Zhao, ZJ, Wu, XH, Jones, MK. 2015. Agriculture facilitated permanent human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau after 3600 BP. Science 347:248250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, TT, Jia, X, Li, HM, Dong, GH. 2019. The analysis of spatiotemporal transformations of agricultural and its influence factors during Qijia culture period in Gansu-Qinghai region. Quaternary Sciences 39:132144. In Chinese.Google Scholar
Cui, YF, Liu, YJ, Ma, MM. 2018. Spatiotemporal evolution of prehistoric Neolithic-Bronze Age settlements and influencing factors in the Guanting Basin, northeast Tibetan Plateau. Science China Earth Sciences 61:149162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D’Alpoim Guedes, J, Lu, HL, Li, YX, Spengler, R, Wu, XH, Aldenderfer, M. 2014. Moving agriculture onto the Tibetan plateau: the archaeobotanical evidence. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 6:255269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D’Alpoim Guedes, J, Lu, HL, Hein, AM, Schmidt, AH. 2015. Early evidence for the use of wheat and barley as staple crops on the margins of the Tibetan Plateau. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA 112:56255630.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
D’Andrea, WJ, Huang, YS, Fritz, SC, Anderson, NJ. 2011. Abrupt Holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in West Greenland. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA 108:97659769.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodson, JR, Li, XQ, Zhou, XY, Zhao, KL, Sun, N, Atahan, P. 2013. Origin and spread of wheat in China. Quaternary Science Reviews 72:108111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dong, GH. 2018. A new story for wheat into China. Nature Plants 4:243244.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dong, GH, Jia, X, Robert, E, Chen, FH, Li, SC, Wang, L, Cai, LH, An, CB. 2013. Spatial and temporal variety of prehistoric sites and its influencing factors in the upper Yellow River valley Qinghai Province China. Journal of Archaeological Science 40:25382546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dong, GH, Wang, ZL, Ren, LL, Matuzeviciute, GM, Wang, H, Ren, XY, Chen, FH. 2014. 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. Radiocarbon 56:157163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dong, GH, Ren, LL, Jia, X, Liu, XY, Dong, SM, Li, HM, Wang, ZX, Xiao, YM, Chen, FH. 2016. Chronology and subsistence strategy of Nuomuhong culture in the Tibetan Plateau. Quaternary International 426:4249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dong, GH, Liu, FW, Chen, FH. 2017a. Environmental and technological effects on ancient social evolution at different spatial scales. Science China Earth Sciences 60:20672077.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dong, GH, Yang, YS, Han, JY, Wang, H, Chen, FH. 2017b. Exploring the history of cultural exchange in prehistoric Eurasia from the perspectives of crop diffusion and consumption. Science China Earth Sciences 60:11101123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dong, GH, Yang, YS, Liu, XY, Li, HM, Cui, YF, Wang, H, Chen, GK, Dodson, J, Chen, FH. 2018. Prehistoric trans-continental cultural exchange in the Hexi Corridor northwest China. The Holocene 28:621628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dong, GH, Li, R, Lu, MX, Zhang, DJ, James, N. 2019. Evolution of human–environmental interactions in China from the Late Paleolithic to the Bronze Age. Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment 0309133319876802.Google Scholar
Flad, RK, Yuan, J, Li, SC. 2007. Zooarcheological evidence for animal domestication in northwest China. Developments in Quaternary Sciences 9:167204.Google Scholar
Finkelstein, I, Langgut, D, Meiri, M, Sapir-Hen, L. 2017. Egyptian imperial economy in Canaan: Reaction to the climate crisis at the end of the Late Bronze Age. Ägypten und Levante/Egypt and the Levant 27:249259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiorentino, G, Caldara, M, De Santism, V, D’Oronzom, C, Muntoni, IM, Simone, O, Primavera, M, Radina, F. 2013. Climate changes and human–environment interactions in the Apulia region of southeastern Italy during the Neolithic period. The Holocene 23:12971316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S, Kindler, L. 2012. Research perspectives for the study of Neandertal subsistence strategies based on the analysis of archaeozoological assemblages. Quaternary International 247:5968.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hageman, JB, Goldstein, DJ. 2009. An integrated assessment of archaeobotanical recovery methods in the Neotropical rainforest of northern Belize: flotation and dry screening. Journal of Archaeological Science 36:28412852.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, YQ, Cao, XY, Zhao, ZJ, Li, YY, Sun, YG, Wang, H. 2016. The palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstruction and the relation with the human activities during the early and middle Holocene in the upper western Liao River region. Quaternary Sciences 36:530541. In Chinese.Google Scholar
Jia, X, Dong, GH, Li, H, Brunson, K, Chen, FH, Ma, MM, Wang, H, An, CB, Zhang, KR. 2013. The development of agriculture and its impact on cultural expansion during the late Neolithic in the Western Loess Plateau China. The Holocene 237:8592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jia, X, Sun, YG, Wang, L, Sun, WF, Zhao, ZJ, Lee, HF, Huang, WB, Wu, SY, Lu, HY. 2016. The transition of human subsistence strategies in relation to climate change during the Bronze Age in the West Liao River Basin, Northeast China. The Holocene 26:781789.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, GA, Bestel, S. 2007. Contextual Analysis of Plant Remains at the Erlitou Period Huizui Site Henan China. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 27:4960.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lespez, L, Glais, A, Lopez-Saez, JA, Le Drezen, Y, Tsirtsoni, Z, Davidson, R, Biree, L, Malamidou, D. 2016. Middle Holocene rapid environmental changes and human adaptation in Greece. Quaternary Research 85:227244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, XQ, Zhou, XY, Zhou, J, Dodson, J, Zhang, HB, Shang, X. 2007. The earliest archaeobiological evidence of the broadening agriculture in China recorded at Xishanping site in Gansu Province. Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences 50:17071714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, XY, Jones, PJ, Matuzeviciute, GM, Hunt, HV, Lister, DL, An, T, Przelomska, N, Kneale, CJ, Zhao, ZJ, Jones, MK. 2019. From ecological opportunism to multi-cropping: Mapping food globalisation in prehistory. Quaternary Science Reviews 206:2128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ma, MM, Dong, GH, Lightfoot, E, Wang, H, Liu, XY, Jia, X, Zhang, KR, Chen, FH. 2014. Stable isotope analysis of human and faunal remains in the Western Loess Plateau approximately 2000 cal BC. Archaeometry 56:237255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ma, MM, Dong, GH, Jia, X, Wang, H, Cui, YF, Chen, FH. 2016. Dietary shift after 3600 cal yr BP and its influencing factors in northwestern China: Evidence from stable isotopes. Quaternary Science Reviews 145:5770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcott, SA, Shakun, JD, Clark, PU, Mix, AC. 2013. A reconstruction of regional and global temperature for the past 11300 years. Science 339:11981201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marshall, MH, Lamb, HF, Huws, D, Davies, SJ, Bates, CR, Bloemendal, J, Boyle, J, Leng, MJ, Umer, M, Bryant, C. 2011. Late Pleistocene and Holocene drought events at Lake Tana the source of the Blue Nile. Global and Planetary Change 78:147161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michczyńska, DJ, Pazdur, A. 2004. Shape analysis of cumulative probability density function of radiocarbon dates set in the study of climate change in the Late Glacial and Holocene. Radiocarbon 46:733744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Páldi, E, Szalai, G, Janda, T, Horváth, E, Rácz, I, Lásztity, D. 2001. Determination of frost tolerance in winter wheat and barley at the seedling stage. Biologia Plantarum 44:145147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pokharia, AK, Kharakwal, JS, Srivastava, A. 2014. Archaeobotanical evidence of millets in the Indian subcontinent with some observations on their role in the Indus civilization. Journal of Archaeological Science 42:442455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE, Burr, GS, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Hajdas, I, Heaton, TJ, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, McCormac, FG, Manning, SW, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Southon, JR, Talamo, S, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J, Weyhenmeyer, CE. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 Radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51:11111150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE, Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Haflidason, H, Hajdas, I, Hatte, C, Heaton, TJ, Hoffmann, DL, Hogg, A G, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, Manning, SW, Niu, M, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Scott, EM, Southon, JR, Staff, RA, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J. 2013. IntCal 13 and Marine 13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55:18691887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riehl, S, Zeidi, M, Conard, NJ. 2013. Emergence of agriculture in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains of Iran. Science 341:6567.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ren, LL. 2017. A study on animal exploitation strategies from the late Neolithic to Bronze Age in northeastern Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding areas China [doctoral dissertation]. Lanzhou: Lanzhou University 70–96. In Chinese.Google Scholar
Spengler, RN, Frachetti, M, Doumani, P, Rouse, L, Cerasetti, B, Bullion, E, Mar’yashev, A. 2014. Early agriculture and crop transmission among Bronze Age mobile pastoralists of Central Eurasia. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281:20133382.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Staubwasser, M, Sirocko, F, Grootes, PM, Segl, M. 2003. Climate change at the 42 ka BP termination of the Indus valley civilization and Holocene south Asian monsoon variability. Geophysical Research Letters 30:17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staubwasser, M, Drăguşin, V, Onac, BP, Assonov, S, Ersek, V, Hoffmann, DL, Veres, D. 2018. Impact of climate change on the transition of Neanderthals to modern humans in Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA 115:91169121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sun, HL. 2011. Palaeoenvironment reconstruction of the Middle to Late Holocene in a high-resolution sediment core from Tianchi lake on Liupan Mountain [doctoral dissertation]. Lanzhou: Lanzhou University. p. 77–89. In Chinese.Google Scholar
Sun, HL, Bendle, J, Seki, O, Zhou, AF. 2018. Mid-to-late Holocene hydroclimatic changes on the Chinese Loess Plateau: evidence from n-alkanes from the sediments of Tianchi Lake. Journal of paleolimnology 60:511523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Timmermann, A, Friedrich, T. 2016. Late Pleistocene climate drivers of early human migration. Nature 538:92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, YR. 2017. Identifying the beginning of sheep husbandry in western China [doctoral dissertation]. University of Cambridge. p. 134–233.Google Scholar
Weiss, H, Courty, MA, Wetterstrom, W, Guichard, F, Senior, L, Meadow, R, Curnow, A. 1993. The genesis and collapse of third millennium north Mesopotamian civilization. Science 261:9951004.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wu, WX, Zheng, HB, Hou, M, Ge, QS. 2018. The 5.5 cal ka BP climate event population growth circumscription and the emergence of the earliest complex societies in China. Science China Earth Sciences 61:134148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, Q, Li, XQ, Liu, WG, Zhou, XY, Zhao, KL, Sun, N. 2011. Carbon isotope fractionation during low temperature carbonization of foxtail and common millets. Organic Geochemistry 42:713719.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, Y. 2014. The analysis of charred plant seeds at Jinchankou Site and Lijiaping Site during Qijia Culture Period in the Hehuang Region, China [master’s dissertation]. Lanzhou: Lanzhou University. p. 28–30.Google Scholar
Ye, ML. 2015. Ecological adaptation of Qijia cultural agricultural development: Preliminary exploration of originagrass-agriculture: Taking the Lajia site Qinghai Province as an example. Agricultural Archaeology 6:1926. In Chinese.Google Scholar
Yuan, J, Flad, R, Luo, YB. 2008. Meat-acquisition patterns in the Neolithic Yangzi river valley China. Antiquity 82:351366.Google Scholar
Zeder, MA. 2008. Domestication and early agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin: Origins, diffusion, and impact. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA 105:1159711604.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, C, Pollard, AM, Rawson, J, Huan, LM, Liu, RL, Tang, XJ. 2019. China’s major Late Neolithic centres and the rise of Erlitou. Antiquity 93:588603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, SJ, Dong, GH. 2017. Human adaptation strategies to different altitude environment during mid-late Bronze Age in northeast Tibetan plateau. Quaternary Sciences 37:696708. In Chinese.Google Scholar
Zhao, ZJ. 2010. Paleoethnobotany: Theories methods and practice. Beijing: Science Press. In Chinese.Google Scholar
Zhao, ZJ. 2011. New archaeobotanic data for the study of the origins of agriculture in China. Current Anthropology 52:S295S306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, BX. 1999. Animal remains from the sites of Shizhaocun and Xishanping. In: Institute of Archaeology Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, editors. Shizhaocun and Xishanping. Beijing: The Encyclopedia of China Publishing House. p. 335339. In Chinese.Google Scholar
Zhou, XY, Li, XQ, Dodson, J, Zhao, KL. 2016. Rapid agricultural transformation in the prehistoric Hexi corridor China. Quaternary International 426:3341.Google Scholar