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Long-standing arguments regarding the early cultural transition, the domestication of plants and the impacts of climate change on past Egyptian societies remain contentious. In this paper, we demonstrate that grazing started at our study site, Kom El-Khilgan in the NE Nile Delta, ca. 7000 years ago, which was several hundred years prior to crop farming. We examined pollen-spores and non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP) in a 1-m-deep sediment profile (KH-1) in the study site, defined archaeologically as the Pre-Dynastic (>5.9 ka) in age. Our results show that before ca. 7.0 ka, major floods prevailed in the Nile Delta, as highly-concentrated Podocarpus and Polypodiaceae were transported from the East African highlands and Cyperaceae of higher Nile flow indication. This humid phase was succeeded by a brief period of drying climate ca. 7.0–6.6 ka, allowing the entry of the first settlers who commenced grazing their animals on previously inundated wetlands. This change is indicated by the remarkable increase in fungal spores (Cercophora, Sordaria, Coniochaeta cf. Ligniaria) from accumulations of animal dung. At ca. 6.6 ka, the abrupt appearance of domesticated cereal pollen (Poaceae >35 μm) and cereal grass pathogens (Pericornia and Sorosporium) suggests an amelioration of the climate that allowed the introduction of cereal crops and related water management activities. Grazing and cropping co-existed for the remainder of the record during the time when there occurred a mega-tendency of climate drying towards recent time. A drought event recognized ca. 4.2 ka led to the collapse of the Old Kingdom. • Wet-humid climate occurred prior to 7 ka and followed by long-term drying climate tendency. • Non-pollen palynomorphs were firstly identified in the Nile delta, showing earliest herding ca. 7.0 ka. • Cropping-based farming proceeded several hundred years later than herding, in response to climate fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We review the state of research on human-environment interaction in Holocene China. • We demonstrate the benefits of a multidisciplinary, regionally focused approach. • We conclude datasets must be local and specific, and integrate data on multiple scales. • China is large, well-documented, and critical for understanding social-natural systems. This paper reviews recent archaeological research on human-environment interaction in the Holocene, taking continental China as its geographic focus. As China is large, geographically diverse, and exceptionally archaeologically and historically well-documented, research here provides critical insight into the functioning of social-natural systems. Based on a broad review of the field as well as recent advances and discoveries, the authors reflect on research themes including climate change and adaptive systems theory, spatial and temporal scale, anthropogenic environmental change, risk management and resilience, and integration of subdisciplines. These converge on three overarching conclusions. First, datasets relevant to climate change and ancient human-environment interaction must be as local and specific as possible, as the timing of environmental change differs locally, and the human response is highly dependent on local social and technological conditions. Second, the field still needs more robust theoretical frameworks for analyzing complex social-natural systems, and especially for integrating data on multiple scales. Third, for this work to contribute meaningfully to contemporary climate change research, effective communication of research findings to the public and to scientists in other disciplines should be incorporated into publication plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]