Charcoal evidence for environmental change ca. 3.5 ka and its influence on ancient people in the West Liao River Basin of northeastern China

Abstract

Fossil charcoals from archaeological sites provide direct evidence for the relationship between environmental change and ancient peoples’ livelihoods in the past. Our identification of 5811 fossil charcoal fragments from 84 samples suggested temperate deciduous and mixed conifer-broadleaved forests as the dominant vegetation at the Erdaojingzi site in northeastern China ca. 3500 cal yr BP; the major representative taxa were Quercus, Pinus, and Ulmus. Four woody plants probably supplied humans with food resources at the Erdaojingzi site, including Quercus, Ulmus, Amygdalus/Armeniaca, and Ziziphus. The nuts of Quercus were utilized as staple foods because of their rich starch content. The leaves of Ulmus may have been used by humans because of their massive dietary fibre. Amygdalus/Armeniaca and Ziziphus probably provided fruits for humans. Based on the coexistence approach (CA) used on the fossil charcoals, we found that the MAT anomaly was 7.9 ± 5.9°C at ca. 3500 cal yr BP, which is almost the same as the modern one (7.8°C), while the MAP was halved from 772 ± 301 mm at ca. 3500 cal yr BP to 370 mm currently. The wet climate might have facilitated significant development of rain-fed agriculture, promoted the emergence of large settlements, and eventually facilitated the birth of civilization.

Investigating the Plant Microremains on Ceramic Li Tripods to Ascertain Their Function and the Plant Resource Exploitation Strategies During the Lower Xiajiadian Culture Period in Chifeng, Northeast China

“…There were comparatively fewer starch grains from the tribe Triticeae (n = 16; 70%) and from roots and tubers (n = 2; 20%). These results are consistent with those of previous research that suggest that the dry farming structure during the Lower Xiajiadian cultural period was dominated by foxtail and broomcorn millets (Sun et al, 2014;Jia et al, 2016a;Jia et al, 2016b;Ma et al, 2016;Jia et al, 2017b;Jia et al, 2021).…”

The “2.8 ka BP Cold Event” Indirectly Influenced the Agricultural Exploitation During the Late Zhou Dynasty in the Coastal Areas of the Jianghuai Region

“…After crops were first domesticated, people transported them all around the world (Jones et al, 2011 ). Many of the hypotheses regarding origins and diffusion of domesticated crops put climate change as a crucial role (Dalfes et al, 1997 ; Bawden and Reycraft, 2002 ; Staubwasser et al, 2003 ; Bar-Yosef, 2011 ; Jia et al, 2016 , 2021a ; Dong et al, 2019 ). Technological innovation played an important role in accelerating social transformations and human-environmental interactions during the period between the third and first millennium BCE (Diamond and Bellwood, 2003 ; Chen et al, 2015b ; Dong et al, 2017a ).…”