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An important feature of the ongoing debate about the acceptance of the Anthropocene as a formal chronostratigraphic unit with the same rank as the Holocene (epoch) has been either the existence or the lack of a Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP). In addition, the utility of the Anthropocene as a stratigraphic unit has also been questioned. In this paper, it is proposed that the discovery of the GSSP may not be a major problem and could only be a matter of time. However, the term Anthropocene itself, defined on the basis of the stratigraphic expression of human activities (e.g. large-scale agriculture and land clearance, accelerated release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere) may significantly impact the current stratigraphic framework guided by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). Indeed, the formal usage of this term can not only lead to stratigraphic and terminological inconsistencies but can also influence the future development of the established chronostratigraphic scheme. These points should be considered by the ICS Anthropocene Working Group before making a final decision. The stratigraphic status of the Anthropocene, however, is a formal issue that should not affect current and future research on human-induced environmental and sedimentary changes, including their stratigraphic imprint. The message is twofold: leave the formal chronostratigraphic aspects to the ICS, and keep producing and organizing knowledge independently of the formal debate. Doing so would require the development of a parallel and likely transitory chronological system without formal stratigraphic value, from which the term Anthropocene would be, at least temporarily, excluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a tool for long-term global change studies; it is an update of the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE) with estimates of some of the underlying demographic driving factors of global change. We estimate total and urban/rural population numbers, densities and fractions (including built-up area) for the Holocene, roughly the period 10 000 BC to AD 2000 with a spatial resolution of 5 min longitude/latitude. With a total global population increase from 2 to 6145 million people over that time span, resulting in a global population density increase of < 0.1 cap/km² to almost 46 cap/km² and a urban built-up area evolving from almost zero to 0.5 million km² (still only <0.5% of the total global land surface, but with a huge impact in terms of demands of food, services, building materials, etc.), it is clear that this must have had, and will continue to have, a profound influence on the Earth's environment and its associated (climate) change. We hope that this data base can contribute to the Earth System Modelers community to gain better insight into long-term global change research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lower Yangtze, eastern China, was colonized by several Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures giving rise to possibly the highest concentration of prehistoric sites in the world. Early Neolithic cultures in the delta region cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) and agricultural developments appear to have occurred throughout the Neolithic with abrupt socio-economic changes possibly associated with the terminal Neolithic. Given the extensive history of environmental exploitation and well-preserved archaeological sites, the Yangtze delta is an ideal setting to explore the complex interactions between humans and their environment. Multiproxies of environmental changes, namely pollen, charcoal and phytoliths, in a 14C AMS-dated sequence of sediments from an exposed profile at Qingpu, Yangtze delta, were investigated. 14C AMS dating indicates that the age range of the sedimentary sequence analysed is from c. 1800 to 6000 BP, and therefore encompasses the terminal Neolithic and subsequent Bronze Age in the region. This paper reviews this sediment-based evidence in the light of current understanding of human-environment interactions during a critical phase of the development of the Yangtze delta and associated human cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]