Search

Based on compilation of a large number of archaeological and palaeosol 14C-ages, the Summed Probability Method is used to reconstruct population history and climatic patterns on the Chinese Loess Plateau during the period 8.5–3.5 cal. ka BP. During this period, the population experienced two major expansion periods and several climatic fluctuations. The first population expansion began at around 7.8 cal. ka BP, and the second at around 5.8 cal. ka BP. During the first period, although already in combination with cultivation of broomcorn millet the population growth was supported mainly by hunting and gathering. With the switch from broomcorn millet to foxtail millet, plant cultivation became the major factor promoting a second population increase. In this paper, we demonstrate that, initially, suitable climate and agriculture both can facilitate population growth and climate events had a significant influence on demographic fluctuations. However, when reaching the threshold of land capacity, population became increasingly more sensitive towards climate fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vast Dongting Lake in the middle Yangtze River basin, China, was occupied by Chinese Neolithic settlements starting 10 000 years ago, and rice cultivation there is probably the earliest in the world. The numerous Neolithic settlements identified by previous archaeological surveys represent the five major Neolithic cultural stages, i.e. the Pengtoushan (9000–7900 cal. yr BP), Zaoshixiaceng (7900–6800 cal. yr BP), Daxi (6800–5500 cal. yr BP), Qujialing (5500–5000 cal. yr BP), and Shijiahe (5000–4000 cal. yr BP). Using sedimentological and geoarchaeological approaches, this paper analyses the drivers of basin-scale settlement relocation in relation to lake-level fluctuations and monsoon climate variations in the Holocene. The relocation of Neolithic sites around the lake shoreline and on the adjacent floodplain, together with radiocarbon-dated stratigraphy, clearly indicates that the shape of the lake basin was an incised and elongated valley occupied by a lake in the early Holocene, which became a broader and shallower depression in the mid to late Holocene. The established lowest habitable base of the settlements positioned on the lake shore assists reconstruction of the change in lake level from 22 m at 9000 cal. yr BP to 26 m at 5500–4000 cal. yr BP, although higher and lower lake levels occurred during the intervening cultural stages. The pollen spectra reveal a warming trend throughout the Holocene with at least four major temperature cycles, driven by monsoon variations between temperate- and warm-humid conditions. In the early Holocene the climate changed from cool-dry to warm-humid, and this played a key role in developing the earliest Pengtoushan culture in the region. Subsequent climate fluctuations fit well with the advance and retreat of the lake shore, also coevally with Neolithic site movements in the lake region. In this study we show how geoarchaeological evidence can be used in environmental reconstruction during the Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]