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

Abstract

The lower reaches of the Minjiang River and its adjacent areas were among the most active prehistoric archaeological areas in Fujian Province. The accumulation types of Neolithic archaeological strata are roughly divided into dune sites and dune/shell mound sites. The sites can also be roughly divided into estuarine, coastal, and sea-island sites based on their geomorphic features. The cultural development of these prehistoric sites is of great significance for understanding the migration and spread of Austronesian civilization. Based on luminescence dating of typical Neolithic sites on Haitan Island, their quartz-OSL (optically stimulated luminecesence) burial ages were determined. Synthesizing previously published results, the temporospatial distribution characteristics of the sea-island sites on Haitan Island are discussed, and the relationship between Neolithic human activities and regional geomorphic processes is analyzed. The results show that: (1) the spatial and temporal distribution of the Haitan Island Neolithic sites are closely related to small-scale geomorphic features and are controlled by mesoscale geomorphic processes. The sites were mainly distributed in the foothills of two high hills along an NNE-SSW trend. With an increase in altitude, the features were distributed as "single site (I) -superimposed site -single site (II)" and appear successively. Single type sites (I) mainly appeared at low sea level, whereas single type sites (II) mainly appeared at high sea level. Superimposed sites were not subject to sea level changes. The relative elevation of the superimposed sites in the study area indicates the optimal residential area for human activities in the region. The single site with an elevation lower than the optimal residential area was mainly restricted by the lowest residential area, whereas the single site at a higher elevation than the optimal residential area was mainly

Chronology of drill cores and the inferred coastal environmental evolution on Haitan Island, South China

“…The decay curve shows that the signal rapidly reached the background value after 1 s of OSL stimulation. An F R value of 110 indicates that the fast component is responsible for most of the signal in the first channel (Jin et al, 2022). Furthermore, the component fitting result (Fig.…”

Differential Analysis of Island Mountain Plant Community Characteristics: Ecological Sensitivity Perspectives

“…Pingtan Island is located at the northeast terminus of the Changle-Zhao'an active fault belt, and the rock outcrop is mainly of igneous origin from the late Yanshanian. Approximately 66% of the total island area is covered by aeolian sand, contributing to the formation of a typical coastal aeolian geomorphic landscape in southern China [25].…”

OSL chronological evidence reveals one of the earliest island-type Neolithic sites in the coastal area of South China

“…Layer 6 is characterised by red fine aeolian sand and clay, chunky shell accumulation (Figure 2d) and several pieces of fragmented pottery (Figure 2g). From the point of view of the accumulation types of Neolithic archaeological strata, the JH site is a dune/shell mound site (Jin et al, 2022). The shellfish remains found so far are mainly two species: Arca granosa and Metrix lusoria (Figure 2f), which inhabit intertidal zones or sandy muddy seafloor in shallow seas.…”

“…According to the available data and statistics, the Neolithic sites of 7-5 ka BP in Haitan Island were all laid out on terraces 10 m above contemporary sea levels, which were formed by the accumulation of Old Red Sand or granite weathered shells from the late Pleistocene to the early Holocene; this is in agreement with the small-scale geomorphological living environment of the JH site in this study. In terms of cultural inheritance type, the JH site is classified as the second type of single type site in the context of high sea surface (Jin et al, 2022), and there is no follow-up palaeoanthropogenic activity after the Keqiutou culture. By examining the relationship between the sea surface changes and the number of sites in the corresponding period, we found that the spatial distribution range of ancient humans expanded to the southern end of Haitan Island during the relatively high sea level period and increased in numbers, such as the Keqiutou and Huangtulun culture periods.…”

“…In recent years, OSL dating methods have been successfully applied to many important prehistoric sites, solving a series of scientific problems such as the age of ancient human occupation of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau (QTP) (Ling et al, 2020;Sun et al, 2010). Numerous studies based on the OSL technology in the coastal area of Fujian Province have been published, including the chronology of Neolithic sites (Jin et al, 2017(Jin et al, , 2021, Holocene environmental evolution (Chen et al, 2016;Hu et al, 2013;Xu et al, 2017) and human-earth relationships (Jin et al, 2015(Jin et al, , 2022, thereby proving the reliability of luminescence dating in this area.…”