Precipitation in surrounding mountains instead of lowlands facilitated the prosperity of ancient civilizations in the eastern Qaidam Basin of the Tibetan Plateau

Guo, Dong; Li, Teng; Zhang, Shanjia; Ren, Lele; Li, Ruo; Li, Guoqiang; Xiao, Yongming; Wang, Zhongxin; Chen, Fahu

doi:10.1016/j.catena.2021.105318

Cited by 19 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…For instance, there was an abnormal wet period in Tian'E Lake near the 720s while the YQ series showed a relatively dry period. The altitude of the Tian'E Lake is 3012 m a.s.l., which is lower than that of our site, therefore, such disagreement may be explained by the differences in climatic implications and altitude, a difference of precipitation between mountain and lowland was can be found in eastern Qaidam Basin of the Tibetan Plateau (Dong et al, 2021). Both the JQ and QF series are in good agreement with our reconstruction on interannual-interdecadal timescales, with correlation coe cients of 0.86 (JQ, 1161-2010 CE) and 0.54 (QF, 455-2011CE), respectively.…”

Section: Comparisons With Regional Hydroclimate Reconstructionscontrasting

confidence: 71%

“…As mentioned above, the tree-ring-based reconstructions in northeastern TP show a good agreement among themselves, while some disagreements can be found between our reconstruction in high mountainous area and the lake sediment-based reconstruction in lowland. However, a latest research indicated that precipitation in the surrounding mountains instead of the lowland itself facilitated the prosperity of ancient civilization in a mountain-basin system (Dong et al, 2021). High precipitation from high mountains provided abundant runoff to nourish the oasis in the lowland, and facilitated agro-pastoral production and human settlement, which was more conducive to social stability and economic development.…”

Section: The Link Between Interdecadal Moisture Variations and Human Activities During The 3rd Through The 8th Centuriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Moisture variations during the first millennium CE and their linkage with social developments along the Silk Road in northwestern China

et al. 2021

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Moisture conditions, especially those that occur as multi-decadal anomalies, have profound impacts on society, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. However, the lack of high-resolution climatic data for the rst millennium CE greatly limits our understanding how moisture variations have in uenced history.Here, we present an 1882-year (134-2015 CE) tree-ring chronology developed from the Qilian juniper (Juniperus przewalskii Kom.) growing in the western Qilian Mountains, northwest China. The tree-ring index correlates signi cantly with the May-June self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (sc-PDSI)and could therefore be used to reconstruct May-June moisture variations since 241 CE. The reconstruction re ects moisture conditions at the annual to multi-decadal time scales over the past two millennia. During the period from the 3rd to 8th centuries, there were prominent interdecadal uctuations, with the 3rd century and the late 5th century being the wettest and driest periods in the reconstruction, respectively. The transition from the wet 3rd century to the dry 5th century corresponded with key events in Chinese history, namely the demise of the Western Jin Dynasty and the chaotic Southern and Northern Dynasties, as well as the fall of the ancient Loulan Kingdom in eastern Xinjiang. Thus, our reconstruction provides new evidence for the close linkage between abnormal climate conditions and social changes in ancient times.

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Section: Comparisons With Regional Hydroclimate Reconstructionscontrasting

confidence: 71%

Section: The Link Between Interdecadal Moisture Variations and Human Activities During The 3rd Through The 8th Centuriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moisture variations during the first millennium CE and their linkage with social developments along the Silk Road in northwestern China

et al. 2021

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“…Environmental factors such as climate, landform, hydrology, and soil are critical variables impacting changing agricultural systems (Zhang et al, 2014;Chen et al, 2015;Ren et al, 2016;Wang et al, 2017;Liao et al, 2019). Climactic change is regarded as a key factor for prehistoric agriculture changes and cultural evolution (e.g., Dalfes et al, 1997;Bawden and Reycraft, 2002;Staubwasser et al, 2003;An et al, 2005;Jia et al, 2013, Jia et al, 2016Dong et al, 2019, Dong et al, 2021. It is argued that a warm and humid climate was critical in promoting the large-scale development of millet farming on the Loess Plateau after 6,000 BP (An et al, 2004;Sheng et al, 2018;Dong et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural Transformations and Their Influential Factors Revealed by Archaeobotanical Evidence in Holocene Jiangsu Province, Eastern China

Liu

James

et al. 2021

Front. Earth Sci.

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The development and adoption of agriculture has been investigated for decades, and remains a central topic within archaeology. However, most previous studies focus on the crop’s domestication centers, leading to gaps in knowledge, particularly in transitional zones between these centers. This paper reviews published archaeobotanical evidence and historical documents to reconstruct the trajectory of agricultural systems in Holocene Jiangsu Province. Comparing these new results to paleoclimate information, historical documents, and archaeological data enables us to better understand the underlying influences of past agricultural development. Our results indicate that a warm and wet climate may have promoted ancient peoples to first settle in Jiangsu between 8,500 and 6,000 BP and adopt rice farming. The continuous warm and wet climate may have facilitated the rapid development and expansion of rice agriculture, ultimately contributing to large-scale human settlement in 6,000–4,000 BP in Jiangsu Province. Between 4,000 and 2,300 BP during a cooler and drier climate millet agriculture diffused southward, facilitating a mixed rice and millet agricultural system. This mixed farming supported a continuesd widespread settlement and population growth in Jiangsu. After 2,300 BP, political instability in north China resulted in further southeastward migration, advanced planting technology was brought about to south China, facilitating highly developed agricultural systems and rapid population expansion in Jiangsu. Population growth led to the establishment of Jiangnan as the regional economic center, where people chose high-yielding rice and wheat rather than millet.

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“…Exotic crops (wheat and barley) and livestock (sheep, cattle, etc. ) encompassed the dominant forms of human subsistence in northwest China during the second millennium BC (Chen et al, 2015;Zhou et al, 2016;Dong et al, 2021), whereas indigenous millet cultivation dominated in the Central Plains of North China until the late first millennium BC (Li et al, 2020). However, the spatial pattern of means of human livelihood in Yunnan Province in Southwest China, another important region for transcontinental exchange during the Bronze Age (Gao et al, 2020), remains unclear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Influences on Human Subsistence Strategies in Southwest China During the Bronze Age: A Case Study at the Jiangxifen Site in Yunnan

Wang

et al. 2021

Front. Earth Sci.

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The study of human dietary structures is an effective means of elucidating the subsistence patterns of our prehistoric ancestors and can highlight the processes through which humans interacted with the environment. We conducted stable isotope and archeobotanical analyses of human, animal, and plant remains at the Jiangxifen site, dated to ~900–400 BC, to explore human paleodiets and determine the environmental adaptation strategies adopted by humans in the middle valley of the Jinshajiang River in Yunnan Province. Humans predominantly consumed C4 foods (e.g., millet) and C4 food-fed animal protein sources, with smaller contributions from C3 food plants (e.g., rice) and C3 food-fed animal protein sources. We argued that the local dry-hot environment was the reason for the accessibility of C4 plants in the studied area. A comparison of our results with previously published archeobotanical data and isotopic evidence from human bones in other Bronze Age sites in Yunnan Province revealed high spatial variability in diets of human and subsistence strategies during this period. These differences were caused by the highly varying living environment of each region, which was related to fragmentation resulting from the geomorphological features of Yunnan Province.

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Precipitation in surrounding mountains instead of lowlands facilitated the prosperity of ancient civilizations in the eastern Qaidam Basin of the Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 19 publications

References 54 publications

Moisture variations during the first millennium CE and their linkage with social developments along the Silk Road in northwestern China

Moisture variations during the first millennium CE and their linkage with social developments along the Silk Road in northwestern China

Agricultural Transformations and Their Influential Factors Revealed by Archaeobotanical Evidence in Holocene Jiangsu Province, Eastern China

Environmental Influences on Human Subsistence Strategies in Southwest China During the Bronze Age: A Case Study at the Jiangxifen Site in Yunnan

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