Geoarchaeology

Luchsinger, Heidi

doi:10.1016/b978-012373962-9.00119-9

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Machine drilling and systematic section sampling are amongst the most common methods applied in geoarchaeological field surveys. Alongside a reliable chronological framework, high‐resolution geoarchaeological data acquired from such systematic surveys are vital to the study of environmental change, landscape evolution and human activities at multiple temporal and spatial scales (Branch, 2015; Canti, 2001; Luchsinger, 2008; Stafford, 1995; Weisler & Love, 2015). However, there are persisting methodological challenges with regard to how to better evaluate and integrate multiple environmental proxies that exhibit complex spatial‐temporal variations for a more holistic understanding of long‐term geomorphological processes and human–environmental dynamics (Boyer et al, 2006; Brown, 2002; Ferring, 2001; Stafford, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geostatistical and geoarchaeological study of Holocene floodplains and site distributions on the Sha‐Ying River Basin, Central China

Zhang

Bevan

et al. 2023

Geoarchaeology

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Geostatistics has become a powerful method for investigating complex spatial variations of prehistoric settlements in floodplains and other geomorphological settings. A geoarchaeological drilling program that covers most of the Sha‐Ying River Basin provides a rare opportunity with unusually detailed environmental data to contest and develop the geostatistics method, which proves to be essential, in combination with archaeological data, to understand long‐term (9000–2500 B.P.) patterns of human inhabitation and adaption to volatile floodplain environments in eastern Central China. We analysed the variography and multivariate ordination of the borehole data and explored the complexities of landform evolution, with reference to sedimentation processes and soil development in the floodplain of the Sha‐Ying River. The recurrent impact of river floods on regional landforms is manifested by spatial‐autocorrelated properties over distances up to 10 km, sometimes with directional trends. We then developed a model of landform evolution through kriging and compared the model with detailed reconstruction of archaeological settlement patterns. Our results illustrate long‐term socio‐environmental dynamics by which human communities first populated and then adapted in diverse ways to the changing floodplain environments from the early to middle Holocene. This improved method will have far‐reaching implications for future studies on similar geomorphological settings across vast floodplains of Central China and other global regions.

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