ATTANÉ, Isabelle, 2002, La Chine au seuil du XXI siècle. Questions de population, questions de société. Paris, Les cahiers de l’INED, 148, 601 p. Préface de Nathan KEYFITZ.

Abstract

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Spatiotemporal distribution patterns of archaeological sites in China during the Neolithic and Bronze Age: An overview

“…Extrapolating this relationship to the past, we come to a population increase in China from c. 1.4 million at c. 8000 BC to about 28 million people at c. 900 BC (Figure 6b). The latter number corroborates the population estimates for China c. 800 BC based on historical records (Cartier, 2002). Bearing in mind possible uncertainties and error bars occurring in both datasets, we, however, see the opportunity to use the archaeological site distribution data presented in the current study for the rough estimation of population densities within prehistoric China and its regions.…”

“…De Menocal, 2001;Leipe et al, 2014;Madella and Fuller, 2006;Wagner, 2006), caution is required in each particular case (Ruddiman et al, 2008). China is the best known example of a remarkable set of censuses dating from the start of the 'common era' (Biraben, 2003;Cartier, 2002), although we are not aware of prehistoric population estimates for its territory. However, comparison of the estimated world population (Figure 6b; Biraben, 2003), with the archaeological site numbers obtained in this study (Figure 6a), shows rather similar trends in both curves, suggesting a possible correlation between number/density of archaeological sites and prehistoric population numbers.…”

“…Discussing published population trends in China during historical times (Cartier, 2002), Biraben (2003) pointed out that periods of peace, in which the spread of technical progress and trade are easier, tend to be periods of prosperity, whereas destructive periods of war, which exacerbate severe food shortages and facilitate the spread of epidemic diseases, are frequently periods of economic and demographic decline. (p. 4)…”

“…Discussing published population trends in China during historical times (Cartier, 2002), Biraben (2003) pointed out that periods of peace, in which the spread of technical progress and trade are easier, tend to be periods of prosperity, whereas destructive periods of war, which exacerbate severe food shortages and facilitate the spread of epidemic diseases, are frequently periods of economic and demographic decline. (p. 4) Up to now, for a large part of Asia, including China, comparatively few studies on the health status and diseases of prehistoric populations have been carried out, although detailed palaeopathological analysis of human skeletal remains has a particularly high research potential in the western regions of China, where extremely arid environments favour the preservation of organic material (e.g.…”

“…Biraben, 2003). The latter study reports a significant population rise in China from 0.8 to 20 million people between 4000 and 2000 years before the Common Era (BCE or BC) and a slight drop to 19 million at 400 BC during the Warring States Period (Cartier, 2002). This estimated rapid population growth in ancient China around 3000 BC was explained (Li et al, 2009a) by improved agricultural practices and the expansion of rice cultivation within the Yellow River (Huang He) and Yangtze drainage areas (Ruddiman et al, 2008).…”