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Over the past two decades, environmental studies in research on prehistoric China have been gaining popularity and importance. For Northwest China in particular, climate change, especially the so-called ~4.2k BP event has been seen as the main reason for an alleged collapse of Late Neolithic societies and a transition to pastoral-heavy economies and mobile lifeways. Yet, these explanatory models tend to rely on limited archaeological and environmental data and non-contemporaneous historical data, resulting in simplistic causal relationships between environmental changes and social response. This paper re-evaluates the Incipient Bronze Age in China's Northwestern region, discussing evidence for climate change and its exact dates, as well as textual and archaeological evidence. We argue that the old narratives perpetuating the image of a dichotomy between Steppe and Sown are inaccurate, while large-scale models of region-wide subsistence change in response to climate cooling tend to disregard local developments and group-specific responses as well as chronological issues. Focusing on the Xindian and Siwa archaeological phenomena, this paper provides a view into sub-regional responses to this climate event, warning against simplistic broad-brush reconstructions and calling for both a return to archaeological fundamentals and large-scale intensive fieldwork and interdisciplinary studies involving archaeologists, paleobotanists, zooarchaeologists, isotope specialists, and climate scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantifying the relative influences of anthropogenic activities and climate change on soil erosion and deposition during the Holocene, when both forces have been interacting is a complex problem. Analysis of long-term patterns in soil erosion and lake deposition in a basin can provide the basis for untangling the complexities of climate and anthropogenic forcings. In this paper, sedimentary sequences from Xingyun Lake are compared with simulated soil erosion rates in the basin to explore the relationship between river basin soil erosion and lake deposition during the Holocene in Yunnan, China. Modern soil erosion rates are calculated using RUSLE, while Holocene soil erosion rates are estimated using modern rates with reconstructed precipitation and vegetation cover sequences. Through this investigation, we found the following results. First, Holocene vegetation in the lake basin was mainly affected by climate change, and the vegetation experienced the same pattern of changes as the climate. Soil erosion and lake deposition rates, along with changes to vegetation cover, were synchronous with precipitation trends during the Holocene. Second, soil erosion and lake deposition have been exacerbated by human activities, such as deforestation and land reclamation in the Xingyun Lake basin. Finally, this study provides new insights into the effects by anthropogenic impacts and climate forcing on the processes of soil erosion and lake deposition on the millennium scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring prehistoric variation in human–environmental interaction is critical for understanding the historical patterns and mechanisms of long-term human–land evolution. In this paper we review the published radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) data from Late Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in China, analyze the spatial–temporal distribution of these sites, and compare it with the results of recent paleoclimatic and archaeological studies. We seek to study the trajectory and influencing factors of human–environmental interactions in late prehistoric China. We detect changing patterns in the relationship between humans and the environment during different phases of the prehistoric era in China. Climate change clearly affected the environment of hunter-gatherer groups between 50,000–10,000 BP (before present, defined as 1950AD), and variation in human population in Neolithic China (∼10,000–4000 BP) was likely influenced primarily by the development of agriculture, in addition to substantial climate events. The spatial scale of human settlements expanded in the Bronze Age (∼4000–2200 BP) in a period of cooling climate. During this time the impact of human activities on the environment increased significantly, primarily caused by technological innovations related to the onset of prehistoric transcontinental cultural exchange in Eurasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive and integrative view of East Asian monsoon evolution during the Holocene is still under debate, and additional high-resolution proxy records from climatically sensitive locations are requisite to solve this complex issue. In this paper, we present three well-dated mud/peat cores from a paleo-pingo depression in the Sanjiang Plain, a climatically sensitive region to monsoon variation, to reveal the paleoenvironmental history of the wetland and discuss the regional impacts from monsoon evolution. A paleolake developed in the study area before 5.5 ka BP, and a peatland initiated thereafter consequent upon the gradual shrinking of the paleolake. This transition lasted until 4.5 ka BP, when the paleolake changed entirely to a wetland. Considering the prevalent monsoon climate in the Sanjiang Plain, we suggest that the lake-to-wetland transition from 5.5 to 4.5 ka BP indicates a rapid decline of the East Asian summer monsoon in addition to autogenic basin infilling processes. Such a remarkable monsoon weakening event has been documented across northern China, and we associate this with ocean–atmosphere interactions throughout low-latitude regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]