Mismatches of scale in the application of paleoclimatic research to Chinese archaeology
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24085122 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Y Jaffe (0000-0002-4114-0910, University of Haifa), Lorenzo Castellano (0000-0003-4076-7145, New York University), Gideon Shelach-Lavi (0000-0002-1576-1844, Hebrew University of Jerusalem), R Campbell (0000-0002-4614-0055, New York University), Roderick B Campbell |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 99 |
| Pages | 14-33 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Quaternary Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0033-5894 • E-ISSN: 1096-0287 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/qua.2020.60 |
| OpenAlex | W3049180840 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 23 |
| References cited | 144 |
Issues surrounding the difficult task of correlating archaeological and climatic trajectories are directly impacting the study of human-environmental interaction in Ancient China. We have chosen to focus on the 4.2 ka BP event due to the widespread belief in recent Chinese archaeological publications that it brought about the collapse of Neolithic cultures in multiple regions of China. Following a literature review concerning the many issues surrounding the reconstruction of the 4.2 ka BP event in East Asia, we present three short case studies from the Lower Yangzi, the Shaanxi loess plateau, and the Central Plains detailing a number of problems with Chinese archaeological attempts at using climate change as a causal mechanism for sociopolitical change. We then focus on a common but highly problematic methodology—the growing use of archaeological data compiled in the Atlas of Chinese Cultural Relics to correlate with climate proxies in order to generate linear, causal models explaining sociopolitical collapse. We follow with an example from Northeast China, where work from the past three decades has provided ample data with which to begin answering these questions in a more productive manner, and end with a set of suggestions for archaeologists and climate scientists going forward.
Archaeological record · Archaeology · Cartography · China · Climate change · Geography · Loess · Loess plateau · Physical geography · Plateau (mathematics) · Scale (ratio) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · History · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Paleontology
Extreme events and the spread of Uralic languages
Food in Ancient China
Annual Bibliography
Towards an antifragility framework in past human–environment dynamics
The Evolving Landscape of Inquiry
Feeding Shimao
Environmental change and the timing of the settlement of the Bronze Age Andronovo culture, in far northwest Xinjiang, China
Considering change with archaeological data
From statistical correlations to dynamic models in the study of past human resilience to climate change
Holocene landscape evolution in northern Henan Province and its implications for archaeological surveys
Direct dating of the earliest domesticated cattle and caprines in northwestern China reveals the history of pastoralism in the Gansu-Qinghai region
Collapse Studies in Archaeology from 2012 to 2023
Complex Pathways Towards Emergent Pastoral Settlements
Re-examining the Chronological Framework and Human Occupation Pattern of the North Loess Plateau Using Bayesian Modelling
Intra- and interregional interactions contributed to the emergence of herding in the late prehistoric Upper Yellow River region (2500–1500 BCE)
The 4.2 ka event
Reply from Jaffe, Campbell, and Shelach-Lavi
The origins of multi-cropping agriculture in Southwestern China
The Majiayao to Qijia transition
Millet cultivation strategies and changing agropastoral economies in ancient Chifeng, northeast China, 4000-1800 BP
Exploratory surveys of prehistoric highland herding facilities in Tibet
Theory and methods of settlement archaeology - the Chinese contribution
Shimao and the Rise of States in China
Early–middle Holocene ecological change and its influence on human subsistence strategies in the Luoyang Basin, north-central China
Middle Holocene coastal environment and the rise of the Liangzhu City complex on the Yangtze delta, China
Mid-Holocene climate change and its effect on prehistoric cultural evolution in eastern Qinghai Province, China
Complexity of factors influencing the spatiotemporal distribution of archaeological settlements in northeast China over the past millennium
Stable isotopic investigations of modern and charred foxtail millet and the implications for environmental archaeological reconstruction in the western Chinese Loess Plateau
A Pronounced Dry Event Recorded Around 4.2 ka in Brine Sediments from the Northern Red Sea
Concepts of Collapse and Regeneration in Human History
A Study of Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in China
Climate Change and the Course of Global History
Questioning Collapse
Archaeological Theory in the New Millennium
Persistent Solar Influence on North Atlantic Climate During the Holocene
Climate challenges, vulnerabilities, and food security
History meets palaeoscience
Realising consilience
The variation of summer monsoon precipitation in central China since the last deglaciation
Social and economic impacts of climate
Structure and origin of Holocene cold events
Holocene climate variability
Years of European Climate Variability and Human Susceptibility
The Holocene Asian Monsoon
Critical perspectives on historical collapse
Years of Cosmic Radiation and Solar Activity From Ice Cores and Tree Rings
Holocene moisture evolution in arid central Asia and its out-of-phase relationship with Asian monsoon history
The Genesis and Collapse of Third Millennium North Mesopotamian Civilization
A Test of Climate, Sun, and Culture Relationships from an 1810-Year Chinese Cave Record
Quantification of Holocene Asian monsoon rainfall from spatially separated cave records
Archaeology
Sociopolitical Change from Neolithic to Bronze Age China
The Liangzhu Culture
The Qijia Culture of the Upper Yellow River Valley
Archaeology of the Chinese Bronze Age
A Companion to Chinese Archaeology
The Archaeology of China
Changes in regional settlement patterns and the development of complex societies in southeastern Shandong, China
The spatiotemporal pattern of the Majiayao cultural evolution and its relation to climate change and variety of subsistence strategy during late Neolithic period in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, northwest China
Mapping of the spatial and temporal distribution of archaeological sites of northern China during the Neolithic and Bronze Age
Increases of population and expansion of rice agriculture in Asia, and anthropogenic methane emissions since 5000BP
Temporal-spatial variations of human settlements in relation to environment change during the Longshan culture and Xia-Shang periods in Shanxi Province, China
Holocene geomorphic evolution and settlement distribution patterns in the mid-lower Fen River basins, China
Human-environment interactions within the West Liao River Basin in Northeastern China during the Holocene Optimum
Human settlement and wood utilization along the mainstream of Heihe River basin, northwest China in historical period
Holocene environmental change and its influence on the prehistoric culture evolution and the formation of the Taosi site in Linfen basin, Shanxi province, China
Environmental and social factors influencing the spatiotemporal variation of archaeological sites during the historical period in the Heihe River basin, northwest China
Human impact and climate changes—synchronous events and a causal link
Multicultural responses to environmental changes of the Holocene in the Nihewan-Huliu Basin of North China
Human settlement and its influencing factors during the historical period in an oasis-desert transition zone of Dunhuang, Hexi Corridor, northwest China
Possible role of the “Holocene Event 3” on the collapse of Neolithic Cultures around the Central Plain of China
The linkages with fires, vegetation composition and human activity in response to climate changes in the Chinese Loess Plateau during the Holocene
Settlement distribution and its relationship with environmental changes from the Paleolithic to Shang–Zhou period in Liyang Plain, China
Zooarchaeology, ancient mtDNA, and radiocarbon dating provide new evidence for the emergence of domestic cattle and caprines in the Tao River Valley of Gansu Province, northwest China
Anthrosols and ancient agriculture at Sanyangzhuang, Henan Province, China
Life cycle of a moat
Food between the country and the city
Environmental risk buffering in Chinese Neolithic villages
The first Neolithic urban center on China's north Loess Plateau
Recent Major Themes and Research Areas in the Study of Human-Environment Interaction in Prehistory
The Earliest States in China
Prehistoric trans-continental cultural exchange in the Hexi Corridor, northwest China
A dramatic climatic transition at ~4000 cal. yr BP and its cultural responses in Chinese cultural domains
Holocene variability of the East Asian summer monsoon from Chinese cave records
The development of agriculture and its impact on cultural expansion during the late Neolithic in the Western Loess Plateau, China
Archaeology of the Anthropocene in the Yellow River region, China, 8000–2000 cal. BP
Holocene agriculture in the Guanzhong Basin in NW China indicated by pollen and charcoal evidence
Relative sea level rise, site distributions, and Neolithic settlement in the early to middle Holocene, Jiangsu Province, China
Water management and agricultural intensification of rice farming at the late-Neolithic site of Maoshan, Lower Yangtze River, China
Early wheat in China
Long-term association between climate change and agriculturalists’ migration in historical China
Spatiotemporal distribution patterns of archaeological sites in China during the Neolithic and Bronze Age
A high-resolution stalagmite record of the Holocene East Asian monsoon from Mt Shennongjia, central China
Rising waters
Inundation, sea-level rise and transition from Neolithic to Bronze Age cultures, Yangtze Delta, China
Dietary reconstruction, mobility, and the analysis of ancient skeletal tissues
Spatial–temporal distribution and geographic context of Neolithic cultural sites in the Hanjiang River Basin, Southern Shaanxi, China
Was the drought really responsible? Assessing statistical relationships between climate extremes and cultural transitions
Spatial and temporal variety of prehistoric human settlement and its influencing factors in the upper Yellow River valley, Qinghai Province, China
Predictive modeling for archaeological site locations
The origins of Chinese domestic cattle as revealed by ancient DNA analysis
Mapping Qijiaping
Human adaptation and socioeonomic change in northeast China
Spatial and temporal changes of prehistoric human land use in the Wei River valley, northern China
Economic Change in the Prehistoric Hexi Corridor (4800–2200 bp ), North‐West China
Adaptation to Variable Environments, Resilience to Climate Change
Understanding Collapse
The climate-smart village approach
Crisis in Context
Phytoliths and rice
Recent archaeometric research on 'the origins of Chinese civilisation
When peripheries were centres
The emergence of complex society in China
Subsistence and persistence
China's major Late Neolithic centres and the rise of Erlitou
The Social Consequences of Climate Change in the Central Mesa Verde Region
Resilience Theory in Archaeology
A 5,500-Year Model of Changing Crop Niches on the Tibetan Plateau
| Unique citing works | 23 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,83 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 22 |