This paper examines choices of earth-working tools made by Neolithic Chinese populations. In the Hemudu Culture (7000–5000 B.P.), bone (scapula) digging tools were used from the earliest times, whereas peoples in surrounding areas used stone spades. A range of experiments on manufacturing costs, durability, and use efficiency under realistic conditions show that bone and stone spades are functionally equivalent when soils are soft, but that stone implements provide significant and easily perceived advantages when working harder soils. The persistence of scapular spades in the Hemudu Culture would have constrained decisions about undertaking large construction projects under normal soil conditions. Our results show that, in addition to generalized labor for construction, labor demands for producing earth-working implements for large-scale prehistoric earthworks could have also been substantial. These findings not only help explain the processes of intensifying rice-agriculture and sedentary settlements in the Lower Yangzi Basin, but also create a solid foundation for further investigation of how the recruitment of both generalized and specialized laborers, the organization of craft production, and the relevant logistics for large-scale earthworks may have paralleled concentrations of political power in prehistory.
The South Yellow Sea (SYS) is a semi-closed epicontinental sea, where voluminous material input and regional tectonic subsidence facilitate preservation of depositional strata, making it an ideal place for studying the regional responses to global sea-level changes during the Quaternary. Based on high-resolution single-channel seismic data, we conducted a detailed study of the SYS shelf in terms of its stratigraphic architecture and seismic facies. In combination with borehole data, we analysed the depositional processes of the SYS shelf since the Quaternary. A minimum of 14 seismic sequences were identified on the seismic profiles, which primarily show four typical seismic reflection facies: progradational reflection facies, parallel reflection facies, chaotic reflection facies and incised valley facies, with the former two seismic facies usually alternating with the latter two vertically. Borehole and seismic data revealed that the SYS shelf has been basically controlled by global sea-level changes since the Quaternary, and three significant transgression events had occurred over the SYS shelf since the Middle Pleistocene (ca. 730 ka BP-Present), taking place in the early Middle Pleistocene, the early Late Pleistocene and at the end of the Late Pleistocene-Holocene, respectively, with their products corresponding to seismic sequences U90, U50 and U10, respectively. Seismic data showed that, in a previous division of the main boundaries for holes EY02-2, NHH01 and QC2, the Holocene and the Upper Pleistocene bottom boundaries are concordant, while the Middle Pleistocene bottom boundary is discordant, and our study indicated that the division scheme for the Middle Pleistocene bottom boundary related to holes EY02-2 and NHH01 is more reasonable. The turning point of variation in the depositional environment of the SYS is at the end of the Middle Pleistocene, before which global sea-level change and tectonic subsidence controlled the shelf deposition. The shelf was inclined westwards and the tectonic topography of the southern margin of the shelf-forced seawater to invade via passages during sea-level rise. This resulted in a limited stratigraphic distribution formed by shortduration transgression events with low-amplitude sea-level rise; thereafter, the shelf deposition was predominated by global sea-level and rivers, and the shelf sediments were mainly derived from mainland China on the west of the shelf and were primarily accumulated on the middle and western parts of the shelf.
(2015) Determining the lower limit of Liangzhu culture based on black carbon purification with hydropyrolysis technique. Quaternary Geochronology, 30 (A). pp. 9-17. ISSN 1878-0350Access from the University of Nottingham repository: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31873/1/Final%20Bianjiashan%20Liangzhu %20manuscript_Quat%20Geochron_2015.pdf Copyright and reuse:The Nottingham ePrints service makes this work by researchers of the University of Nottingham available open access under the following conditions. This article is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives licence and may be reused according to the conditions of the licence. For more details see: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ A note on versions:The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.For more information, please contact eprints@nottingham.ac.uk Located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Liangzhu Culture was one of the most 14 important Neolithic cultures at the dawn of Chinese civilization. However, uncertainty over the lower age 15 limit ending the Liangzhu Culture has resulted in a lack of consensus in defining its timespan. In order to 16 establish the lower age limit, a representative site of late Liangzhu Culture, the Bianjiashan wharf, located in 17Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, Eastern China, was selected for investigation. Wooden stakes in the wharf 18 and charcoals in the sediment profile near to the wharf site were collected for 14 C AMS dating. To remove 19 any contaminants, the charcoals were pre-treated by catalytic hydropyrolysis (HyPy) to isolate black carbon 20 fractions (BC HyPy ). 21 22The continuous charcoal age distribution along the vertical profile of the silt core suggests the continual 23 occupation of the Bianjiashan Site and that the site was developed soon after the river formed. The end of 24 river sedimentation indicates that the demise of the Bianjiashan Site occurred no later than Cal BC 2470 (95% 25 probability). The mean age of the more recent calendar calibrated age range BC 2525 for the BC HyPy residue 26 1 Corresponding author. Tel.:+86-571-87951336;Fax:+86-571-87951336.Email address: Zhang_xiaoyu@zju.edu.cn(Xiaoyu Zhang).is consistent with earlier evidence. The wharf, as a typical structure of the late Liangzhu Culture, was 27 established between Cal BC 2635 and 2890 (95% probability). The start of the river charcoal sedimentation 28 was found to have a very similar overall age span and, therefore, the river existed at the Bianjiasha Site for 29 no more than a maximum of just over 400 years, which is taken as the maximum period, it was occupied by 30 the Liangzhu population. In comparison to the fresh charcoal samples, the BC HyPy fractions and products 31 were ...
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