Centennial-scale climate-human interactions provide critical insights into societal adaptation to environmental change, yet their dynamics in East Asian coastal systems are still poorly understood. Here we analyze 1,008 radiocarbon dates from Neolithic to Bronze Age archaeological sites across the lower Yangtze River and adjacent coastal region to reconstruct 10,000 years of population dynamics using summed probability distributions. Our demographic record reveals prominent similar to 500-yr cycles superimposed on long-term trends, with 14 population maxima occurring at around 9,700, 9,200, 8,600, 8,000, 7,200, 6,700, 6,300, 5,800, 5,200, 4,700, 4,300, 4,000, 3,500, and 3000 calendar years before present (cal yr BP). Time-series analysis demonstrates that these demographic cycles lag East Asian summer monsoon fluctuations by similar to 60-170 yrs, indicating systematic climate-driven population responses mediated by ecological processes. Unexpectedly, weakened monsoon phases increased regional precipitation, enhanced food resource availability, and supported demographic expansion, while intensified monsoon conditions reduced precipitation and constrained population growth via food resource limitations. This climate-population coupling temporarily broke down between similar to 7,800 and similar to 5,500 cal yr BP, coinciding with reduced monsoon variability and enhanced societal resilience during the Kuahuqiao-Hemudu/Majiabang-Songze transitions. Our findings demonstrate a persistent centennial-scale link between monsoon variability and prehistoric demography, offering new insights into climate-societal dynamics across monsoon Asia.

As the cradle of the Hemudu Civilization, the Ningshao Plain underwent substantial vegetation change during the Holocene, influenced by climatic fluctuations, sea-level changes, and anthropogenic activities. Understanding long-term vegetation responses to environmental dynamics is crucial for assessing ecosystem resilience under future climate scenarios. High-resolution pollen records from the HMD13 core in the Yaojiang Valley are used here to reconstruct early-mid Holocene vegetation change, with particular attention to biodiversity patterns and rates of turnover. The study reveals a number of important insights as follows: (1) During 8600-8400 cal yr BP, algal indicators suggest a sea-level rise near the study area, followed by a second phase of marine influence between 7800-7300 cal yr BP. (2) Between 7900-7100 cal yr BP, vegetation shifted from mixed forest dominated by deciduous oaks and pines to subtropical evergreen-deciduous broad-leaved forest dominated by evergreen oaks. (3) After 7100 cal yr BP, arboreal pollen declined and Poaceae (>38 mu m) and charcoal concentrations increased, reflecting intensified human activity. However, between 5900-5500 cal yr BP, Poaceae (>38 mu m) decreased sharply, possibly due to extreme climatic events such as floods. (4) Rates of vegetation change were primarily climate-driven prior to 7100 cal yr BP, peaking between 7100-6000 cal yr BP before gradually declining. Vegetation diversity also decreased following the emergence of the Hemudu culture. (5) Strong positive correlations are observed among vegetation change rate, diversity indices, and arboreal pollen percentage, while Poaceae (>38 mu m) pollen shows a negative correlation.

This study focuses on ancient proteins preserved as carbonized food residues on pottery from East Asian archaeological sites associated with plant use. Food residues on pottery vessels were carbonized hundreds to thousands of years ago when plant and animal materials were heated; so, only trace amounts of proteins and other biomolecules are expected to remain. Paleoproteomic analysis showed that many peptides derived from cupin superfamily proteins of plant origin, such as the glycinin proteins of the genus Glycine, the 11S globulin protein from the Juglandaceae family, and the glutelin protein from the genus Oryza, were detected in the charred food residues. Lipid and isotope data were consistent with the proteomic results. Furthermore, 3D protein structure mapping showed that the detected peptides fall within β-barrel regions of the proteins, the structurally stable cores of these seed storage proteins. Thus, pottery foodcrusts preserved plant cupin proteins over 7,900-2,500 years.

Paddy fields are central to the origin and spread of rice agriculture and their development ultimately underpinned the formation of complex societies in Asia. Here, the authors report on the stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating and archaeobotanical record from Shiao, including one of the earliest and largest paddy fields yet identified (c. 6700 cal BP). As at nearby sites, paddy fields were successively overlaid with peat and marine sediments as sea level vacillated. With each iteration, the fields evolved from strip-like to 'hash'-shaped configurations, representing growing labour input and, crucially, a corresponding increase in sustainable population size.

Crocodylia, a group of semi-aquatic predators, comprises approximately 30 extant species distributed across tropical and subtropical regions. Despite significant ecological diversity, the group’s limited morphological variation poses challenges for species identification in archaeological research, particularly when dealing with fragmentary remains. Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS), a method utilizing collagen peptide fingerprinting, has emerged as a powerful tool for species identification. This study introduces the first application of ZooMS to crocodylian bones. Modern references included three specimens of Alligator sinensis, two of Tomistoma schlegelii, and two of Crocodylus porosus. Among these, Alligator sinensis is the only extant alligator species outside the Americas, coexisting in East Asia with Tomistoma schlegelii and Crocodylus porosus. Collagen extraction protocols tailored for ZooMS were implemented, followed by analysis using time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Collagen peptide fingerprinting via TOF-MS and LC-MS/MS provided detailed taxonomic resolution for modern and ancient crocodylian specimens. Species-specific biomarkers were identified, with considerations for post-translational modifications and diagenetic alterations. The results highlight the potential of ZooMS for resolving the diversity of crocodiles in East Asia and analyzing archaeological specimens’ relationship with humans. Future efforts should focus on expanding the ZooMS reference database, exploring diagenetic mechanisms, and applying the approach to older samples. By refining this methodology, ZooMS can offer new insights into the evolutionary and paleoecological history of Crocodylia.

Water buffaloes (Bubalus spp.), currently confined to South and Southeast Asia, were once widespread across Eurasia during the Pleistocene. While multiple fossil species have been morphologically defined, their phylogenetic relationships remained unclear due to the absence of molecular evidence. This study obtained 32 mitochondrial genomes of Bubalus mephistopheles, the hypothesized wild progenitor of domestic water buffaloes that persisted in temperate Eurasia until the Holocene, and B. wangsjoki, a presumed cold-adapted Late Pleistocene species from Northeast Asia. Phylogenetic reconstruction revealed that these morphologically and spatiotemporally distinct animals are actually conspecific with high phenotypic and ecological plasticity. This extinct lineage was a sister taxon with Indonesian anoas, despite their disjunct geographical distributions, rather than linking directly to domestic water buffaloes. Our findings demonstrate that the widespread species survived Pleistocene climatic oscillations before a mid-Holocene extinction, potentially driven by intensified human activities. This study provides insights into water buffalo evolution, and highlights the importance of palaeogenomic data for accurately classifying extinct species.

Perennial woody crops play crucial roles in global food security and food system diversification, yet they have long been overlooked in archaeobotanical research, constraining our understanding of their domestication trajectories, dispersal pathways, and the social-ecological conditions underlying these processes. The peach (Prunus persica), with its abundant archaeobotanical record and established genomic resources, provides an ideal model to address this challenge. Here, we conduct an integrated analysis of similar to 1,000 well-preserved endocarps from the Jingtoushan site (8.0-7.7 ka BP) in the Lower Yangtze, combining ecological and paleoenvironmental approaches to demonstrate early utilization within its suitable range. Variations in endocarp morphology and abundance correlate with environmental changes and subsistence shifts, suggesting that ecological suitability and human strategies shape the early peach use as a seasonal nutritional supplement. Coefficients of variation in peach endocarp metrics suggest incipient management as early as 8000 years ago. A synthesis of multidisciplinary evidence reconciles competing genetic and archaeological perspectives on peach origin, thus establishing a domestication process that includes a prolonged pre-domestication management phase. These findings provide one of the oldest and most continuous pre-domestication utilities of perennial crops, enabling insights into human-environment interactions shaping early crop management and domestication. They also provide an interdisciplinary perspective on agricultural origins and germplasm resource conservation for future investigations.

Lacquer coatings of lacquerware excavated from four Neolithic sites in Zhejiang Province of eastern China were analyzed with Py-GC/MS analysis. The studied lacquered objects were recovered at the Tianluoshan, Liangzhu-Bianjiashan, Liangzhu-Zhongjiagang, and Kuahuqiao sites. We also carried out radiocarbon dating of seven objects. In 14 of 17 lacquer coating samples, the pyrosis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) had the highest intensity in 3-nonylphenol and revealed existence of alkylphenols with 17 carbons in the side chains. These features in the Py-GC/MS results are characteristic of laccol composing the lacquer obtained from Toxicodendron succedaneum. Radiocarbon dating of six studied lacquer coatings and three wooden bodies from these sites ranged from 80 0 0 to 4650 cal BP and indicated that, during the Neolithic period, the lacquer of Toxicodendron succedaneum was used for lacquerware manufacture for nearly 30 0 0 years in eastern China. The obtained results conformed with the present distribution of Toxicodendron succedaneum and T. vernicifluum in China, T. succedaneum in the southern to eastern parts and T. vernicifluum in the central to northeastern parts. This finding, however, disagreed with the traditional understanding about the Neolithic lacquerware manufacture in China that the lacquer from Toxicodendron vernicifluum was solely used for the manufacture. (c) 2025 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.

The construction of rice fields represents a milestone development in humans' continuous effort to modify and transform their environments for rice framing. They appeared very early in the Yangtze Delta region and continued to develop into diverse forms and structures, becoming essential parts of the expanding rice-farming economies and stimulating great social structural changes in prehistoric and historic times. This paper examines the physical environmental conditions, field construction and modification, and water management of prehistoric rice fields that were excavated recently in the Yangtze Delta and Huai River regions through geoarchaeological surveys of excavated fields and detailed micromorphological and sedimentation analyses of collected samples. We sketch out the broad developmental trajectory of rice fields from the preliminary field modification to systematic landscape transformation during the intensification process of rice farming with macro-scale environmental evidence and micro-morphological evidence. Our results show that alongside the macro-scale morphological changes of the rice fields with a noticeable trend of size increase over the long-term period, are more intensive field management practices as evidenced by the increasing presence of diagnostic soil micromorphological features such as concentric clay textural features and redoximorphic features caused by frequent wet-dry alternations from more sophisticated manipulation of field hydrologies and soils. We also compare the similarities and differences in the scale, structure, and soil and environmental conditions of rice fields in different regions and discuss their significance to understand different intensification processes and interactions with rice-farming societies in prehistoric Yangtze Delta and Huai River regions. We suggest that constrained by regional soil, hydrological and topographic differences, these regions might have undergone intensification and extensification processes. Typically, small fields or field-like structures in the Upper-andMiddle Huai River and around Taihu-Lake regions remained unchanged for a relatively long time until the late Majiabang when systematic transformation of local environments for large-scale rice farming began. This is in contrast with the Ningshao Plain where Hemudu-period rice fields were without field bunds and other facilities. However, the divergent regional trends in the scale and practices of rice farming around the Taihu Lake and Ningshao Plain regions might have converged during the Liangzhu period, leading to a significant expansion in rice fields, as vividly represented by the Shi'ao and Maoshan examples discussed in our paper.

The domestication of pigs ( Sus scrofa ) has had profound socioeconomic and ecological consequences. Although pigs are believed to have been independently domesticated in South China, the timing and initial mechanisms of this process remain debated. This study presents a microfossil analysis of pig dental calculus from two early Neolithic sites in the Lower Yangtze River region: Jingtoushan (8,300 to 7,800 cal. BP) and Kuahuqiao (8,200 to 7,000 cal. BP). Analyses of starch, phytolith, and parasite remains indicate that pigs consumed human-associated foods and waste, including cooked starchy plants and human whipworm ( Trichuris trichiura ) eggs, likely derived from food preparation and fecally contaminated materials. Identified plant taxa include acorns (Fagaceae), rice ( Oryza sp.), underground storage organs such as yam ( Dioscorea sp.), and wild grasses (Triticeae and Panicoideae), all present in the local botanical assemblages. Coefficients of variation in dental metrics further indicate the coexistence of both domestic and wild populations. Together, these lines of evidence point to multiple modes of human–pig interaction, including early domestic pigs under human management, pigs scavenging near settlements, and free-ranging individuals foraging beyond human influence. Pig domestication in the Lower Yangtze had begun by 8,000 y ago, likely following both commensal and prey pathways, in parallel with the development of rice cultivation and sedentary lifeways. This study also demonstrates the value of dental calculus analysis for revealing early human–animal relationships before the appearance of clear morphological markers of domestication in the archaeological record.

AbstractAccording to the archaeological discoveries, Zhejiang Province yields the most typical and well-preserved prehistoric wetland settlements in China. In this region, the development of prehistoric cultures is closely related to the natural environment and climate changes. The earliest settlements of the Shangshanculture appeared at about 10,000–8500 BP, probably accompanied by rice cultivation. Whereas rice cultivation was subsequently established, the followingKuahuqiao and Hemuducultures show strong maritime characteristics. In the Liangzhu period, the huge Liangzhu City and the peripheral water management system were built, which must be understood as symbols of complex society and early state. At the end of the Liangzhuculture, floodssubmerged most of the land, leaving behind thick sediment deposits. Only after 2000 years, in the Warring States Period (475–221 BC), this land became habitable again. With the establishment of a prehistoric chronology in Zhejiang province, a lot of multidisciplinary research has been carried out, and natural science and advanced technologies are increasingly applied. The current archaeological research in Zhejiang Province includes the origins of rice cultivation and the emergence of civilisation, geological formation processes and climate change, the spread of maritime cultures and further topics.

This article examines the abundant marine mollusc, and fish remains at the Jingtoushan shell midden (8,300 to 7,800 cal a BP) in Zhejiang Province, China, to investigate the fishing economy, community development, the palaeoenvironment, and their interactions among the prehistoric populations in the lower Yangtze River Basin and southeastern coastal China. It also attempts to explore the prosperity and decline of coastal settlements in China during the Neolithic Age and the potential reasons for their rise and fall, respectively. Based on the ecological and biological principles of marine animals, standard zooarchaeological methods and radiocarbon dating analysis are used for sampling, identification, measurement, and quantification. Results show that at least 11 mollusc taxa and 14 fish taxa can be identified from the Jingtoushan faunal assemblage. The ancient Jingtoushan residents possibly lived in a settlement close to the coast and engaged in inshore and offshore fishing, hunting, and gathering as their primary subsistence strategies, with low-level rice cultivation as a supplementary means of sustenance. Eventually, the changes in the coastal environment could be one of the reasons why the Jingtoushan residents abandoned their settlement. The research contributes to Chinese Neolithic archaeology with new evidence of the exploitation of marine resources around 8000 a BP in the eastern coastal areas and the relationship between Neolithic community development and environmental changes.

Recent studies have suggested that dogs were domesticated during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in Siberia, which contrasts with previous proposed domestication centers (e.g. Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia). Ancient DNA provides a powerful resource for the study of mammalian evolution and has been widely used to understand the genetic history of domestic animals. To understand the maternal genetic history of East Asian dogs, we have made a complete mitogenome dataset of 120 East Asian canids from 38 archaeological sites, including 102 newly sequenced from 12.9 to 1 ka BP (1,000 years before present). The majority (112/119, 94.12%) belonged to haplogroup A, and half of these (55/112, 49.11%) belonged to sub-haplogroup A1b. Most existing mitochondrial haplogroups were present in ancient East Asian dogs. However, mitochondrial lineages in ancient northern dogs (northeastern Eurasia and northern East Asia) were deeper and older than those in southern East Asian dogs. Results suggests that East Asian dogs originated from northeastern Eurasian populations after the LGM, dispersing in two possible directions after domestication. Western Eurasian (Europe and the Middle East) dog maternal ancestries genetically influenced East Asian dogs from approximately 4 ka BP, dramatically increasing after 3 ka BP, and afterwards largely replaced most primary maternal lineages in northern East Asia. Additionally, at least three major mitogenome sub-haplogroups of haplogroup A (A1a, A1b, and A3) reveal at least two major dispersal waves onto the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in ancient times, indicating eastern (A1b and A3) and western (A1a) Eurasian origins.

The lower Yangtze River valley has widely been regarded as centres of rice domestication, tracing back to 10,000 cal a BP or even earlier in the late Pleistocene. Despite recent advances in both evidence of genetics and archaeology had shed light on the process of rice domestication, including its initiation, acceleration, and completion, the spatial pattern and intra-regional differences of rice domestication in the lower Yangtze River remain unclear. Here, rice bulliform phytoliths were selected as a proxy of the domestication trait and applied to Jingtoushan, Hemudu, Yushan and Xiawangdu sites, ranging from 8000 to 5000 cal a BP in the Ningshao Plain, along with accumulated phytolith data in the Jinqu Basin and Taihu Plain. Rice domestication in the lower Yangtze River exhibited a geographic mosaic pattern rather than the presumed synchronous process among different regions. Rice domestication was initiated during the Shangshan culture (10–8.5 cal ka BP) in the Jinqu Basin and increased rapidly, which reached even higher level than the subsequent Jingtoushan culture (8.3–7.8 cal ka BP) in the Ningshao Plain. During the middle Holocene, rice domestication in the Taihu Plain was generally higher than that in the contemporaneous Ningshao Plain which may finish hundreds of years later. In contrast to the accomplishment of rice domestication around 6000 cal a BP in the Taihu Plain, the delayed process of rice domestication in the Ningshao Plain may result from frequent marine inundation induced by sea-level fluctuation during the Jingtoushan and Hemudu cultures (7–5 cal ka BP).

Coastal regions play a significant role in human migration, population growth, and social interactions. However, the transition of subsistence strategies from foraging to farming at the onset of the Neolithic Age in such regions remains obscure. Here, we analysed microfossil data of phytoliths and diatoms and morphological and morphometric data of rice bulliform phytoliths at the Jingtoushan site in the lower Yangtze River to investigate the relationship between rice cultivation and marine exploitation during the early Holocene. Our research showed a delayed rice domestication process at the Jingtoushan site owing to environmental and social factors induced by sea level rise; this remained in the initial stages of domestication. Contrary to the previous notion that the shell middens of southern coastal China merely relied on marine adaptation without evidence of rice farming, our research suggests that rice cultivation was integrated into marine adaptation at the Jingtoushan site around 8000 cal. BP and subsequently dispersed to southeast China around 5000 cal. BP. Thus, the Jingtoushan site may not only serve as an ancestor of the Hemudu culture but also as a precursor to the Neolithic expansion of maritime Austronesian.

The study of Holocene vegetation diversity changes and mechanisms in the Ningshao Plain is of great significance for understanding their responses to the coupled relationship between climate, sea level, and human activities. In this study, we analyzed pollen and charcoal from the Tianluoshan and Jingtoushan sites (TLS1402 and JTS1501) to represent the regional vegetation history, particularly changes in vegetation diversity during the early to mid-Holocene. The findings show that after 7.5 cal kyr BP, arboreal pollen (AP) declined significantly and that subtropical evergreen deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest replaced deciduous broad-leaved forest as the predominant vegetation type. The increase in Poaceae (>38 mu m) and charcoal corresponds well with the decrease of AP (mainly manifested as deciduous species), suggesting that vegetation change may be related to human activities and that coniferous taxa (mainly Pinus) are more sensitive to fire response. Vegetation diversity based on the Hill numbers (N0, N1, N2 and Evenness) is shown to decline three times, viz. at 8.5, 8.2, and 7.5 cal kyr BP, among which the decrease around 8.5 and 7.5 cal kyr BP corresponds to two regional sea level rise events. The decrease in Jingtoushan diversity at 8.2 cal kyr BP may have superimposed signals of human interference beyond the influence of climate. The development of the Jingtoushan Culture commenced after the first sea level rise events (around 8.3-7.8 cal kyr BP), but was then interrupted by the second sea level transgression. Thereafter, the sea level became relatively stable, and the emergence of fire-assisted agriculture marked a new stage in the relationship between humans and the environment. Changes in vegetation diversity are closely related to regional fires and human activities. In addition, during the Jingtoushan and Hemudu cultures, the impact of human activities on AP diversity was significantly greater than that on non-arboreal pollen (NAP) taxa.

Paleopathological investigations of human remains from the Neolithic Hemudu culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in southern East Asia were conducted to clarify the health status of people in early rice-farming societies. Our results show that the occurrence ratios of cribra orbitalia and enamel hypoplasia did not differ significantly between early rice farmers and hunter-gatherers. By contrast, the occurrence ratios of periosteal reactions, dental caries, and antemortem tooth loss in adults were higher among the early rice farmers. Based on these findings and the results of archaeological research on the Hemudu culture, it was suggested that: 1) the Hemudu culture adopted a diversified livelihood strategy that was not overly dependent on rice as a food resource, which did not lead to an extreme decline in health status, 2) the work in the rice fields or the working environment caused stress to the workers, and 3) the rice-farming society’s dietary habits led to a decline in oral health. Our results provide new paleopathological insights into the health status of early rice farmers in East Asia. However, the sample size of early rice farmers used in this study was small, and more data are needed to verify the validity of the views presented here.

The Jingtoushan Site (8300–7800 BP), located in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, is of great value for the in-depth understanding of China’s prehistoric coastal culture. At this site, numerous valuable wooden relics showing past human civilization have been discovered. Multiple approaches were taken, including wood anatomy and physicochemical analyses, to assess the preservation state of waterlogged archaeological woods (WAWs), while using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) to explore their microbial diversity and composition as well as that of the surrounding soil. The secondary walls of WAWs showed to be severely degraded, whereas the compound middle layer and cell corner were well preserved. Bacteria were the main microorganisms causing the biodegradation of WAWs, and 85.6

Maritime adaptation plays a significant role in the dispersal of modern humans and the transition of subsistence strategies. The real timing of the worldwide intensification of maritime adaptation has been debated mainly because of the presumed inundation of archaeological sites (prior to 7000 cal yr BP) by early Holocene sea-level rise. In this study, we present a coastal shell midden submerged -8 m below the present sea level at the Jingtoushan site, containing robust evidence of the earliest Neolithic occupation and maritime adaptation on the West Pacific. Bayesian modelling of 15 14C dates, cultural deposits, and microfossils (pollen, phytolith, and diatom) indicated that the Jingtoushan site was an anthropogenic deposit originally accumulated on the coastline during the stable sea-level period (8000-7600 cal yr BP) and subsequently submerged by sea-level jumps. In addition to being largely dependent on marine food resources, humans also utilised the stable sealevel window of meltwater pulses and began rice cultivation. This study not only pushed back the timing of maritime adaptation to 8000 cal yr BP but also provides promise for future investigations of coastal underwater settlements, shedding new light on the understanding of the West Pacific coastal environment and cultural succession.