Human settlement and wood utilization along the mainstream of Heihe River basin, northwest China in historical period

In recent years, archaeologists have studied how ancient humans have shaped, and been shaped by, their surrounding environments in an effort to provide valuable insight into the patterns of human-environment interaction during prehistoric and historical periods. Along the Heihe River in Hexi Corridor of northwest China, archaeologists have found many ancient cities that are good places to explore changes in human settlement patterns in relation to environment change in historical periods. In this paper, we present our investigation of seven ancient cities to clarify the chronology of these cities and their strategy for wood use in the area through the application of radiocarbon dating and charcoal identification. Our results suggest that the ages of many cities are younger than previous estimates, and humans mainly used Tamarix and mixed Tamarix and broad leaf trees in the lower and middle reaches of the Heihe River basin between ∼ AD 240–1380 respectively, and roughly matches the modern spatial distribution of natural woody vegetation in the area. In comparison to the results of archaeological, paleoclimatic and historical studies in Hexi Corridor, we propose that ancient human strategies for wood use and their impact on environment of the Heihe Basin are primarily relevant to human lifestyles rather than climate change.