Transmutation of ancient settlements and environmental changes between 6000–2000 aBP in the Chaohu Lake Basin, East China

Abstract

Based on the temporal-spatial distribution features of ancient settlement sites from the middle and late Neolithic Age to the Han dynasty in the Chaohu Lake Basin of Anhui Province, East China, using the methods of GIS combined with the reconstructed paleoenvironment by the records of lake sediment since Holocene, the transmutation of ancient settlements with response to environmental changes in this area has been discussed. Studies show that the main feature of transmutation of ancient settlements from the middle and late Neolithic Age to the Han Dynasty was that the distribution of settlements in this area changed from high altitudes to low ones and kept approaching the Chaohu Lake with the passage of time. These could be the response to the climate change from warm-moist to a relatively warm-dry condition during the middle Holocene, leading to the lake level fluctuations. The large area of exposed land provided enough space for human activities. These indicate that the above changes in geomorphologic evolution and hydrology influenced by climate conditions affected the transmutation of ancient settlements greatly. The distribution pattern of settlement sites was that the number of sites in the west was more than in the east. This pattern may be related to the geomorphologic conditions such as frequent channel shifting of the Yangtze River as well as flood disasters during the Holocene optimum. Therefore, climate change was the inducement of the transmutation of ancient settlements in the Chaohu Lake Basin, which exerted great influence on the distribution, expansion and development of the ancient settlements.

Holocene environmental change and archaeology, Yangtze River Valley, China: Review and prospects

“…ka.B.P., the climate was cold and dry with obvious fluctuations, and the natural environment was subjected to prolonged human influence. Based on geomorphology and remote sensing (RS) image analysis of this area, the 10 m contour above present Wusong elevation represents the maximum level of the Chaohu Lakeshore (Gao, 2006), which is also supported by archaeology Wu et al, 2010). However, contraction of the lake started around 5.0 cal.…”

“…The temporal-spatial pattern of regional climate and environment in the Yangtze River Valley is thought to be controlled by the dual influence of the East Asian monsoon and the Southwest monsoon. However, from previous research Yang et al, 1996;Cai et al, 2001;Shao et al, 2006;Yin et al, 2006;Zhao et al, 2007;Overpeck and Cole, 2008;Ma et al, 2009;Wu et al, 2010), it could also be concluded that Holocene climate change occurred in response to solar radiation changes that affected the whole Yangtze River Valley (Fig. 2).…”

“…ka.B.P. In contrast, the other core (CH-1) from the centre of the western Chaohu Lake (Zhang, 2007a;Wu et al, 2010) showed that there was a long warm and humid climate stage in the Chaohu Lake basin since the Holocene. From about 4.9 cal.…”

“…Similar studies in the Chaohu Lake Basin also indicate a compatible variation of the Holocene environment. Pollen records from the CH-1 and ACN cores (Wang et al, 2008a;Wu et al, 2008;Chen et al, 2009;Wu et al, 2010) suggest that the Holocene Optimum occurred at 8.0e5.0 cal. ka.B.P.…”

Relationship between archaeological sites distribution and environment from 1.15 Ma BP to 278 BC in Hubei Province

“…Many researches indicate that rapid change of Holocene environment includes natural environmental evolution and crossing influences of human activities. How to research compound influences on nature and humanity is a complicated and difficult scientific issue (Marchant and Hooghiemstra, 2004;Mercuri, 2008;Rosen, 2008;Hoffmann et al, 2010;Wu et al, 2010). One of the solutions is that, selecting a typical area with human activities and natural environmental evolution, and then combining temporal-spatial distribution of Holocene human sites with natural continuous sediment of lacustrine peat deposition for comprehensive and integrated comparison research.…”