Reviewing the Palaeoenvironmental Record to Better Understand Long-Term Human-Environment Interaction in Inner Asia During the Late Holocene

Abstract

The Middle to Late Holocene spread of agropastoralism throughout Eurasia not only subjected domesticated taxa to stressors associated with novel environments but also induced changes in these environments following the introduction of these social-ecological systems. The mountainous region of Inner Asia comprises various steppe, meadow, and forest landscapes where zooarchaeological evidence suggests occupation by herding populations as early as 7,000 years Before Present (BP). Recent archaeobotanical findings indicate the introduction of cropping and the development of agropastoralism around 4,500 BP. Here, we review and synthesize palaeoenvironmental studies and data to examine anthropogenic impacts and modifications of these landscapes. From around 4,000 BP, we find significant changes in palynomorph, charcoal, sediment, and other proxy data, related to the introduction of agriculture to the region, with later intensifications in land use indicators at around 2,000 and 1,000 BP. We note that these impacts are not uniform or continuous through and across the records and may be evidence of shifting phases of occupation and landscape management. This temporal and spatial variability may also be a response to shifts in moisture availability due to long-term Holocene changes in the intensity of the summer monsoon and Westerly circulation systems. Changes in arboreal pollen indicate the development of intensified use of forest resources in the region, which we identify as a topic for future investigation. Based on these data, we stress the long-term human paleoecology in the study area and argue that traditional agropastoralist systems should be considered in future programs of landscape conservation in the region. This study also emphasizes the importance of future local scale multiproxy studies into past anthropogenic changes within the Inner Asian landscape.

The resilience of pioneer crops in the highlands of Central Asia: Archaeobotanical investigation at the Chap II site in Kyrgyzstan

“…Paleoclimatic data from this part of the Tien Shan mountains show an increase in moisture at the onset of agricultural dispersal around 4000 BCE (Chen et al, 2016). Within the humid episodes that likely facilitated agriculture dispersal in the mountain highlands, several rapid cold episodes were detected at around ∼2200 BCE and ∼700 BCE (Leroy and Giralt, 2021;Spate et al, 2022). The identified cooling episodes roughly overlap with the abandonment of the Chap II and Chap I sites (Figure 9).…”

Late Bronze Age agriculture and the early westward transmission of rice at Luanzagangzi, Northern Xinjiang, China

“…Presently there is no evidence for irrigation infrastructure at the site, although this interpretation is limited by the lack of broader spatial data outside the excavated sounding. Given the relatively wetter environmental conditions (Ran and Feng, 2013; Spate et al, 2022; Tarasov et al, 1997) in Westerly dominated areas north of the Tien Shan during the Late-Holocene period around 3000 BP there may have been sufficient water availability for irrigated rice cultivation in the foothill regions below Luanzagangzi. This region has also had growing degree days (GDDs) above 3000 (Zhang et al, 2022) through the Late-Holocene, meeting another requirement of rice cultivation.…”

“…Li (2021) defines the 'intensification' of agriculture post-3300 BP as a greater involvement in and reliance on cultivation and irrigation, evidenced by the further spread of archaeobotanical materials, the proliferation of farming and cereal processing tools, and isotopic evidence for irrigation of plants or increased millet consumption by humans or animals. A palaeoenvironmental review (Spate et al, 2022) also identifies a number of perturbations in three northern Xinjiang records that may be associated with more intensive agricultural land use through this period.…”

“…These join a growing body of archaeobotanical research indicating the spread and diversification of domestic plant use through the Inner Asian mountains before 4000 BP (Doumani et al, 2015; Hermes et al, 2019; Motuzaite Matuzeviciute et al, 2020; Stevens et al, 2016; Yatoo et al, 2020). The past populations of this region have typically been characterised as ‘agropastoralists’, whose various settlement and mobility patterns, cultivation systems, and herd management practices allowed for the development of robust and long-standing adaptations to the environments of the Inner Asian mountains (Hermes et al, 2019; Motuzaite Matuzeviciute et al, 2022; Spate et al, 2022; Spengler et al, 2021b; Wang et al, 2021). Elsewhere, food production systems such as ‘agriculture’ and ‘pastoralism’ have been treated as discrete analytical categories with distinct material signatures (Chang et al, 2022).…”

Radiocarbon-Refined Archaeological Chronology and the History of Human Activity in the Southern Tarim Basin

“…Progress in speleothem and tree-ring studies over recent years has revealed new insights into the climate in order to interpret the region's historical human-environment interactions [10,11]. An increasing number of local paleoenvironmental reconstructions are becoming available to enable the better understanding of historical human activity patterns [12][13][14]. Archaeological and historical research has established a framework for the history of human activity in the Tarim Basin.…”