The impact of mid-to-late Holocene climate change, particularly the 4.2 ka BP event, on the social transitions toward complex societies in the Central Plains of China (CPC)—a key area for the early development of Chinese civilization—remains poorly understood and controversial. This study integrates geoarchaeological and archaeological investigations in the Sha-Ying Rivers floodplain in southeastern CPC, an area particularly sensitive to climate fluctuations. We employ a multi-disciplinary approach, including: 1) grain size, magnetic susceptibility, and pollen analysis of natural sediments; 2) archaeological surveys assessing settlement numbers and sizes, combined with 14C-based simulations of regional populations; and 3) carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis of plant, animal and human remains. Our findings indicate that after 6000 BP, the climate shifted to cooler and drier conditions, marked by more frequent river flooding, greater shrinkage of lakes and marshes, and shifts in local vegetation. Millet agriculture began to expand into the floodplain, fostering population growth and societal development. In conjunction with dramatic climatic and environmental fluctuations around 4.2 ka BP, this trend accelerated, creating more land suitable for millet cultivation and facilitating a significant influx of immigrants. Compared to other regions in CPC, particularly around Mount Song, this study suggests that when confronted with abrupt climate changes, CPC societies demonstrated strong resilience by accommodating migrant population, diversifying subsistence strategies, and experiencing frequent shifts in socio-political centers. The sustained growth of early civilizations in the CPC can be attributed to the dual factors of long-term climate change promoting millet agriculture and the effective social resilience facilitated by adaptive socio-political strategies.

Prehistoric humans seem to have preferred inhabiting small river basins, which were closer in distance to most settlements compared to larger rivers. The Holocene landscape evolution is considered to have played a pivotal role in shaping the spatiotemporal patterns of these settlements. In this study, we conducted comprehensive research on the relationship between landscape evolution and settlement distribution within the Huangshui River basin, which is a representative small river in Central China with numerous early settlements, including a prehistoric city known as the Wangjinglou site (WJL). Using geoarchaeological investigations, optically stimulated luminescence dating, pollen analysis, and grain-size analysis, we analyzed the characteristics of the Holocene environment. The results indicate the presence of two distinct geomorphic systems, namely the red clay hills and the river valley. The red clay hills, formed in the Neogene, represent remnants of the Songshan piedmont alluvial fan that was eroded by rivers. There are three grades of terraces within the river valley. T3 is a strath terrace and formed around 8.0 ka. Both T2 and T1 are fill terraces, which were developed around 4.0 ka and during the historical period, respectively. The sedimentary features and pollen analysis indicate the existence of an ancient lake-swamp on the platform during 11.0-9.0 ka. This waterbody gradually shrank during 9.0-8.0 ka, and ultimately disappeared after 8.0 ka. Since then, the development of large-scale areas of water ceased on the higher geomorphic units. River floods also cannot reach the top of these high geomorphic units, where numerous prehistoric settlements are located, including the Xia-Shang cities of the WJL site. Our research demonstrates that landscape stability supported the long-term and sustainable development of ancient cultures and facilitated the establishment of the WJL ancient cities in the region.

The application of remote sensing in archaeology has recently gained widespread recognition, leading to the discovery of numerous significant cultural remains. However, the lack of theoretical data on spectral classification severely constrains the practicability of remote sensing archaeological investigations. In this study, we have collected a comprehensive dataset comprising over 15,000 spectral curves acquired from eight distinct categories of typical archaeological remains in Central China. Machine learning is utilized to conduct an in-depth analysis and classification of the hyperspectral attributes of cultural remains. The feature spectra are preprocessed using the Standard Normal Variable Transform (SNV) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). A spectral classification model is proposed to improve the accuracy of typical archaeological remains using Support Vector Machines (SVM). The evaluation demonstrated that the SVM exhibited the highest classification accuracy of 99.82%. It was ultimately determined that the most distinguishable bands from ancient cultural remains were in the ranges of 524-553 nm, 663-686 nm, 974-1000 nm, 1092-1114 nm, and 2161-2185 nm. The research provides an important theoretical basis and a scientific method for remote sensing archaeology investigations, which is of great significance in understanding the past and facilitating present sustainable development.

In recent decades, a large number of houses from the Late Yangshao period have been excavated in Zhengzhou. They are basically single-level buildings with wood skeletons and mud walls and use a huge amount of timber resources. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of questions about the uncertain relationship between plants, architecture, and human activities. In this study, we complete the reconstruction of a Holocene vegetation community around the Dahecun site via pollen analysis of the Z2 core. We take house F1 in Dahecun as an example to estimate the wood consumption of a single house and collect the published data of all houses from the Late Yangshao period in the study area to estimate the wood consumption of houses built in Zhengzhou during this period. Combining the above two approaches, this study explores the relationship between plants, architecture, and human activities in Zhengzhou in the Late Yangshao period, as well as the history of land use. The results are as follows: (1) After 4.9 ka BP, the number of trees and shrubs such as Pinus (falling from 58.8% to 46.9%) decreased rapidly, and the number of herbaceous plants increased. (2) Excluding the influence of the Holocene climate change, the large-scale decline in trees and shrubs in the region is likely to have been human-driven. The number of excavated houses in 11 of the 236 Late Yangshao sites in the Zhengzhou area reached 362, while the minimum wood consumption reached 1270.62 m3. In addition, the rapid expansion of the population size and the large-scale development of new arable land and forest clearance in the Late Yangshao period show that humans had a strong influence on the surrounding vegetation and land cover/use. The trend of regional deforestation was so obvious and irreversible that the inhabitants had to adopt techniques using less wood or no wood to build houses during the subsequent Longshan culture period.

As a significant emblem of human culture, the emergence and evolution of early cities represent a pivotal milestone in the chronicles of human history. However, the environmental mechanisms underlying the rise of early cities are still ambiguous. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive investigation of early cities and their landform basis in the upper Jialu River basin of Central China. By field surveys, OSL dating, and grain size analysis, we reconstructed the fluvial geomorphic evolution since the late Pleistocene and examined how landforms influenced the distribution of early city sites. The results showed that the water system pattern, including the Jialu River and its tributaries, had been established during the early Pleistocene. At 80-16 ka BP, there was continuous accumulation in the area. From 15 to 9.8 ka BP, the river incision resulted in the formation of the expansive T3 terrace. Between 9.8 and 2.5 ka BP, the regional geomorphology stabilized. Around 2.5 ka BP, river downcutting resulted in the formation of the T2 terrace. Following a minor accumulation phase, the T1 terrace emerged during the late historical period. The region's distinctive through-shaped landform was instrumental in the emergence and evolution of early cities. The landscape stability resulting from the river incision facilitated early urbanization and the expansion of urban areas. The river incision also fixed river channels in the plain areas, which were previously occupied by swamps and wetlands that gradually transformed into land, providing a foundation for the establishment of Zhengzhou Shang City, the capital of the early Shang Dynasty.

The diversity of human mortuary practices and treatments in prehistory is widely recognised, but our understanding of the purpose and manner of corpse manipulation in many regions is limited. This article reports on unusual aspects of funerary archaeology at the Neolithic site of Dingsishan, southern China. Anatomical consideration of cutmarks on human bones and the positioning of bodies and body parts within burials suggests that mortuary treatments at this site included strategic and systematic disarticulation, evisceration and excarnation. Rather than signalling social differences, these practices may have resulted from the very practical need to save space.

The interaction between climate, hydrological environment, and human activities in prehistoric times has consistently attracted significant interest. However, the process and mechanism of this interaction remain unclear due to a lack of detailed materials that provide information on both human activity and environmental evolution. Here we present a comprehensive dataset of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating and pollen analysis derived from lacustrine facies deposits in the vicinity of the Dongzhao Site in Central China, which is a key region for the origin and development of Chinese civilization. These data have revealed the existence of multiple cycles of environment-human interaction during prehistoric periods. The gradual improvement in the climate and minor fluctuations facilitated the settlement of prehistoric populations in the region, fostering uninterrupted cultural development for millennia since the early Holocene. The increase in population and intensification of human activities significantly affected regional vegetation, resulting in a decrease in the number of trees around 4.0 ka BP. Environmental changes influenced the prehistoric architectural style, resulting in a decrease in houses with "wood bone and mud walls" that were prevalent during the Yangshao periods (7.0-5.0 ka BP) due to a lack of trees. Our research once again highlights the perpetual cycle of interdependence and interaction between natural environments and human activities.

Submicron particulate matter (PM1) poses significant risks to health risks and global climate. In this study, secondary organic aerosols (SOA) and inorganic compositions were examined for their physicochemical characteristics and evolution using high-resolution aerosol instruments in Changzhou over one-month period. The results showed that transport accompanied by regional static conditions leaded to the occurrence of heavy pollution. In addition, regional generation and local emissions also leaded to the occurrence of light and moderate pollution during the observation period in Changzhou. Organic aerosols (OA) and nitrate (NO3-) accounted for 45 % and 23 % of PM1, respectively. The increase in PM1 was dominated by the contribution of NO3- and OA. SOA was dominance in OA (63 % with 40 % MO-OOA), which was higher than primary organic aerosols (POA). Besides, photochemical reactions and the high oxidizing nature of the urban atmosphere promoted the production of OA, especially MO-OOA in Changzhou. Our results highlight that secondary particles contribute significantly to PM pollution in Changzhou, underlining the importance of controlling emissions of gaseous precursors, especially under high oxidation conditions.

Catchment erosion not only plays an important role on landscape evolution, but also determines the exposure of rock debris in the regolith profile, and therefore impacts the chemical weathering and associated CO2 absorption and ultimately global climate. But climate also modulates erosion and complex interaction loops, especially at large scale can hamper a clear understanding of these processes. Here we mainly use Uranium-series Comminution Age (tcom) of core sediments from Changjiang estuary to reconstruct the catchment erosion, and the relationship with climate changes and human activities during the last 14 kyrs. Since 14 ka, the sea level has been rising continuously until current highstand system tract in the East China Sea where the Changjiang estuary is located. The sediments in the Changjiang estuary mainly come from the upper reaches erosion zone during this period, but the sediment supply from the middle and lower reaches has gradually increased since the Late Holocene. The period can be divided into two modes. The first mode happens from the Bolling-Allerod period to the Mid-Holocene when the sea level rose rapidly, and the tcom of sediment recorded the residence time in the upper reaches erosion zone, with a periodic pattern of tcom in a good agreement with climate changes. During the cold and dry periods, the longer tcom (average 460 kyrs) is consistent with less precipitation resulting in shallower erosion with transported material mainly coming from the soil with longer residence time. In contrast, during the warm and wet periods, the tcom is shorter (average 290 kyrs), with the more abundant precipitations that contribute to deeper erosion in the upper catchment, and more fresh material transported to the estuary through stronger hydrodynamic forces. The second mode is more chaotic and corresponds to 0 to 4 ka, when climate was warm and humid and stable sea level, but tcom fluctuated from 200 kyrs to 650 kyrs. The increasing river flooding caused by abundant precipitation leads to lateral migration of the river channel in the middle and lower reaches, and the sediments deposited in the floodplain were eroded and mobilized again. In addition, the rapid development of human activities since 2 ka has accelerated deforestation and agricultural cultivation, leading to localized erosion of the floodplain. These remobilized sediments were transported to the estuary and deposited, resulting in a larger tcom value. This study overall indicates that, in the millennial scale, the tcom of fine detrital fraction shows a sensitive and quick response to catchment erosion, and provides new insights into quantifying the time scale of sediment source to sink processes and inferring the paleoenvironment accurately climate changes.

As a key region for the origin and development of Chinese civilization, the relationship between the Holocene environment and human culture in the Luoyang area has garnered significant attention. However, the lack of long-term and multi-factor studies impedes our understanding of the overall characteristics of environmental systems and their interactions with human cultures. Based on extensive field investigations, we conducted a comprehensive study of the BZ profile, which exhibits continuous sedimentation and abundant paleoenvironmental information. The Holocene evolution of climate, deposition, hydrology, and landforms was analyzed, and the human-environment interaction was also examined. The findings demonstrate that the regional Holocene climate also exhibits fluctuations, albeit within a relatively narrow range. The regional sediment was predominantly composed of aeolian loess-paleosols during the early to middle Holocene, while the process of alluviation gradually intensified in the late Holocene. The moderate climatic fluctuations have facilitated the sustainable development of ancient cultures. The intensification of anthropogenic activities may contribute to the increased alluviation during the late Holocene. Ancient humans effectively adapted to this adverse condition by constructing city walls with flood control functions. Our study is significant for enhancing the comprehension of the operational characteristics inherent in human ecological systems.

The emergence of the"Ancient State"is considered an important stage in the discourse on human civilizations.Based on its complex and hierarchical social structure,the Shuanghuaishu site of Henan Province is regarded as an"Ancient state",specifically the"Heluo Ancient State".The site is situated in the middle reaches of the Yellow River region and played a key role in prehistoric China.However,the reasons behind its decline are unclear.Here,we conducted an integrated investigation of the archaeological excavations and archaeoseismic analyses at the Shuanghuaishu site.We identified paleoseismic remains within paleo-artificial moats,which were formed owing to off-fault structures of soil liquefaction,hillslope landslides,and related ground fractures,along with shake-related wall disruption and building collapse in the residential zone.Charcoal dating was conducted to constrain the age for this earthquake event,which was determined to be approximately 5.0 cal kyr BP.Furthermore,based on the practical curve for earthquake-induced liquefaction,the preliminary estimate of the magnitude of this paleoseismic event is greater than Ms5.9-6.0.We propose that the Shuanghuaishu site experienced a recession after the earthquake event,which may have influenced the continuous development of the"Heluo Ancient State"as a regional center settlement.

In contrast to primary animal products(meat,hide,blood,and bone)which can be extracted only once in the lifetime of an ani-mal,secondary animal products are defined as those which can be exploited without slaughtering animals,for example milk,wool,power and dung.In the secondary products revolution model,the appearance of secondary animal products created a new type of human-animal relationship,increased the productivity and mobil-ity of Neolithic farmers,and eventually facilitated the rise of com-plex societies in the Near East[1].

Xilinguole grassland in Inner Mongolia is one of the four major grasslands in China, which not only provides a large amount of livestock industry for the country but also prevents soil erosion and plays a key role in the regulation of ecological climate. To ensure the sustainable development of grasslands, this paper provides prediction data for the grassland grazing system optimization model by using LSTM multivariate time series prediction method to predict soil moisture, chemical properties, and desertification degree of grasslands under different grazing strategies to ensure the sustainable development of grasslands.

Geostatistics has become a powerful method for investigating complex spatial variations of prehistoric settlements in floodplains and other geomorphological settings. A geoarchaeological drilling program that covers most of the Sha-Ying River Basin provides a rare opportunity with unusually detailed environmental data to contest and develop the geostatistics method, which proves to be essential, in combination with archaeological data, to understand long-term (9000-2500 B.P.) patterns of human inhabitation and adaption to volatile floodplain environments in eastern Central China. We analysed the variography and multivariate ordination of the borehole data and explored the complexities of landform evolution, with reference to sedimentation processes and soil development in the floodplain of the Sha-Ying River. The recurrent impact of river floods on regional landforms is manifested by spatial-autocorrelated properties over distances up to 10 km, sometimes with directional trends. We then developed a model of landform evolution through kriging and compared the model with detailed reconstruction of archaeological settlement patterns. Our results illustrate long-term socio-environmental dynamics by which human communities first populated and then adapted in diverse ways to the changing floodplain environments from the early to middle Holocene. This improved method will have far-reaching implications for future studies on similar geomorphological settings across vast floodplains of Central China and other global regions.

The continuous development of the Neolithic to Bronze-Age cultures on China’s Central Plains is well contested by archaeological and historical research. Environmental factors that sustained such an exceptionally long cultural continuity are, however, poorly understood. The evolution of fluvial landscapes and its relationship with cultural developments are key to disentangle the close interaction between the environment and civilizational discourse on the Central Plains. Here, we present OSL and AMS 14C ages and other environmental data collected from a range of representative geomorphic locations in the Shuangji River valley, which is situated at the heartland of the Central Plains and long considered to be one of the most important regions for understanding the rise of Chinese civilization. Combining the OSL and 14C dates, results of particle size and soil micromorphology, and geoarchaeological field observations, we reconstruct the evolution of Holocene geomorphological landscape in the Shuangji River valley. The results show that the Neogene alluvial fan was incised to a wide valley during the early Pleistocene. Subsequent alluvial processes were constrained within this general framework of regional landform. About 20 ka BP and 10-8 ka BP saw two episodes of basin-scale alluvial incision, which created two alluvial terraces (i.e., T4 and T3), respectively. Despite the occurrence of episodic floods and some large-scale alluvial siltation during 8-3 ka BP, these alluvial terraces experienced a prolonged period of surface stability and thus provided optimal environments for prehistoric inhabitation. We argue that the geomorphological foundation and prolonged landscape stability were instrumental to the continuous cultural developments on the Central Plains as seen in the representative Shuangji River valley. Our geoarchaeological survey in the valley for the first time reveals basin-scale evidence on the mechanism responsible for this distinctive relationship between alluvial landscape and cultural development, in which the terrace stability profoundly shaped the celebrated cultural continuity on prehistoric Central Plains.

嵩山地区是华夏文明的重要发祥地,与早期人类活动关系密切的区域植被全新世演化研究也备受关注,孢粉分析是此类研究的重要手段.分析嵩山地区已有的16处地点的19套孢粉数据,梳理出区域晚更新世以来的植被演化历史.结果表明,10ka B.P.之前,区域乔木花粉极少,为草地植被景观;10～7ka B.P.,乔木花粉增多,丘陵、台地地区为疏林草地,平原地区乔木分布较多,为森林草地;7～5 ka B.P.,乔木花粉含量继续增加,丘陵地区仍为疏林草地,台地地区已经具有森林草地景观特征,平原地区则为针阔混交林植被景观;5～2.5 ka B.P.,乔木花粉含量逐渐减少,区域又转变为疏林草地植被景观.区域早期植被研究存在沉积样品孢粉含量少,地层年代分辨率低,自然沉积剖面较少,山地、丘陵区域数据不多等问题.未来研究需要有效引进信息技术,在孢粉提取与鉴定方法不断改进的基础上,开展多种地貌类型的高分辨率研究.研究思路也需要从孢粉数据重建气候演变向植被特征与人类活动交互作用所延伸.

Central China is one of the key regions of the world that sees the transition from early Neolithic urbanization into the social complexity of Bronze Age civilizations. Previous evidence had indicated that the diets of humans and the feeding strategies of livestock in Central China during the Longshan Period (4.5–3.8 kaBP) became more complex and diverse, including the widespread introduction of cattle and sheep, and the coexistence of different human dietary groups within several settlements. Within this paper new and pre-existing stable isotope analyses from human ( n = 31) and animal bones ( n = 76) recovered from Wadian and Haojiatai, two important Longshan sites in the southeast of Central China, are integrated with multiproxy data from archaeological, environmental, and cultural contexts to interpret the social conditions behind dietary complexity from an interdisciplinary perspective. We suggest that the feeding strategies of cattle and sheep from Western Asia were successfully adapted to the pre-existing local millet farming subsistence regimes, and that the different human dietary groups seen corresponded to continuing diversified subsistence strategies that included millet farming, rice farming, and hunter-gathering. This dietary complexity is considered as a reflection of different patterns within the cultural interactions in Central China during the Longshan Period that saw the mixing of populations with diversified cultural backgrounds. This is represented by the introduction of extraneous livestock and the coexistence of millet and rice farmers at Wadian, and the continued expansion of millet agriculture within Central China indicated by the coexistence of millet farmers and hunter-gatherers at Haojiatai.

A recent suggestion of the existence of an enormous ancient waterbody in Central China had been associated with the intensifying water management that led to the rise of early states. However, the evolution of regional alluvial landscapes remains unclear. Through intensive geoarchaeological surveys and careful field examination of typical sedimentary sequences, we reconstructed Late Pleistocene-Holocene landscapes in the northeastern Songshan Region and identified three distinctive models of landscape evolution. In the loess hills and tablelands areas, rivers were characterized by the large-scale alluvial aggradation during the terminal Late Pleistocene. Following a slight river incision during the Early Holocene, a pronounced alluvial aggradation resumed throughout the Middle Holocene. This gave way to another episode of river downcutting during the Late Holocene. The platform-type plains area witnessed a similar process of landscape evolution. However, the amplitude of the Early Holocene river-incision was smaller, whilst the large-scale Middle Holocene aggradation filled up the valleys, which also led to the formation of buried terraces. The eastern plains area was marked by continuous alluvial-lacustrine aggradation from the Late Pleistocene onwards. Many lakes, marshes and wetlands were formed during the Middle Holocene river aggradation. These waterbodies were separated by the high-elevation landforms, creating a mosaic-like aquatic landscape. The Late Pleistocene-Holocene landscape supported mixed farming of rice and millets from the Neolithic to Bronze Age. After 4000 BP, with another event of river incision, the wetlands shrank, and the extensive area of drylands emerged in the east plains. This change coincided with the emergence of large-scale urban centers in the region.

碧村遗址是蔚汾河流域龙山晚期的一处石城聚落,其所在的黄土台地高于附近的河床近百米.对于这种颇具特色的聚落形态,我们从地貌背景的角度进行了考察.对碧村遗址及其周围地貌的系统调查以及光释光测年结果表明,龙山时代遗址区的整体地貌格局和特征与现在的状况大体相同.在此基础上,从聚落用地、生产生活、安全和交通等方面对不同地貌单元的自然资源条件进行了剖析,进而阐释了聚落选址的合理性.