Optically stimulated luminescence ages of the Hengyu site and their implications for anthropogenic activities in the Fuzhou Basin, South China

Abstract

The chronologies of few Neolithic sites in the lower reaches of the Min River of China have been well investigated for the middle to late Holocene. In this study, the Hengyu Neolithic site in Fujian Province, South China, which has significant archaeological remains, was dated using blue‐stimulated optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS14C) techniques. The results, comprising nine OSL and three AMS14C ages through the Neolithic sequence, provide new evidence towards understanding the relationship between environmental evolution and human activities in the middle to late Holocene in the Fuzhou Basin and coastal areas of South China. The ages of the site deposits vary from 6.83 to 1.67 ka and can be divided into two main phases: the Keqiutou–Tanshishan culture period and the Bronze culture period. In contrast, the persistent periods of ancient human activities at the Hengyu site seem to correspond to regional sea‐level changes and the East Asian winter monsoon as a secondary factor, which can affect human activities through sea‐level impacts. The warm and high sea level conditions provided a liveable environment for the ancient humans of Fujian and even South China. The ages of two building column bases are linked to the early stage of the Han dynasty, suggesting a potentially favourable habitation environment; that is, ancient humans occupied and settled this area for the long term within this time period, which is consistent with sea‐level changes and palynology records. Copyright © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Spatiotemporal distribution of sea-island prehistoric dune sites, Holocene sea levels, and aeolian sand activities in Fujian Province, China

“…Thus, the ubiquity of minerals such as quartz and feldspar in the cultural strata makes OSL a more suitable dating tool. OSL is a reliable dating method that has found widespread application in recent years, both in the sedimentary dating of coastal dunes (Jin et al, 2015;Jin et al, 2018a;Jin et al, 2019a) and in the archaeological dating of prehistoric dune/shell mound sites (Jin et al, 2017;Jin et al, 2018b;Jin et al, 2019b). These studies provide key data to solve the origin, propagation processes, and evolution of the prehistoric Chinese civilization and provide a powerful means to further explore the relationship between humans and the environment.…”

OSL dating of Zhuangbianshan site in the humid subtropical coastal region of China

“…The distribution range of this culture is centred on the lower reaches of Min River, reaching the boundary of Zhejiang and Fujian Provinces in the north, the coast of south of Fujian Province and the east of Guangdong Province in the south, and the Wuyi Mountains in the west (Lin 2011). A large number of archaeological excavations have provided information on maritime orientation, the development of seafaring (Rolett et al 2011;Ma et al 2016), the origin and spread of agriculture (Dai et al 2019) and Austronesian populations, all representing stages of human activity and human-earth interaction in this area (Lin 1998(Lin , 2011Wu et al 2018;Jin et al 2019).…”

“…Chronology is fundamental to exploring the cultural significance of archaeological sites (Duller 2008). In recent years, a series of 14 C and OSL data have been published, of great significance to our understanding of the cultural sequence of pre-Qin dynasty culture in the lower reaches of the Min River, and these data help to compensate for the relative lack of absolute ages in this area (Jiao et al 2004;Wu et al 2018;Dai et al 2019;Jin et al 2019). However, these results are not enough for a detailed study of the coupling between prehistoric human activity and the evolution of the environment of the region.…”

“…Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating represents an invaluable technique that can be used to date archaeological sediments (Arnold et al 2016;Frouin et al 2017;Guo et al 2017;Li et al 2017;Zhang et al 2019), and the precision and age range of this approach have been improved recently. Amongst others, this technique has been used to successfully date deposits at lithic sites in the humid subtropical monsoon areas (Jin et al 2019;Zhang et al 2019).…”