白洋淀地区史前环境考古初步研究

作为典型的冲积低平原与浅湖沼地貌形态的白洋淀地区,是研究全新世环境变迁及古环境与古文化相互关系的重要地域。全新世气候的变化,不仅影响着白洋淀地区的自然环境,同时也影响着史前人类的生存模式。多年来该区域考古发现的资料证实,全新世气候暖湿与冷干的交替变化,直接影响到遗址分布的数量和所处的地貌位置,亦即影响到人类对居住点的选择,与此同时也影响着史前文化的经济生活类型。     

淮河中游地区史前人类文化演化过程的环境考古学观察

淮河中游地区位于我国东部地理、气候等自然条件多重过渡地带,又是长江流域与黄河流域、东部沿海与西部腹地之间古文化相互交流、碰撞和融合的重要区域,也是中华文明孕育和发展的重要地区之一。淮河中游地区新石器时代考古学文化的演化过程与全新世气候环境的变迁密切相关。暖干型气候条件有利于史前人类文化的发展,而冷湿型气候环境则不利于人类的生存繁衍。该地区文化的演化过程充分反映了史前人类对全新世气候环境变化的适应性和主观能动性。     

新石器时代初期人类生存环境的初步考察

一、前言第四纪在距今1万年左右进入全新世时期,这个时期是在经历了一个第四纪第四次冰期(大理冰期)后的一个间冰期,气候日趋转暖,也称冰后期,在这样的环境背景下,人类迎来了新石器文明。据历史气候地理的研究表明,从距今     

马家窑类型文化变迁的环境因素探索

以秦安大地湾为中心的西支仰韶文化,从发生初始到发展中期与以“宝鸡——华县——陕县”为中心的中支仰韶文化保持文化交流,文化相似度较高。在距今5500年左右大地湾仰韶文化兴盛发展,自成一体,具有鲜明的地方特色,同时也走向文化分流,经由石岭下类型文化过渡为马家窑类型文化,历经变迁。有趣的是这种新石器时代文化变迁轨迹与当时的气候变迁轨迹大致相符,甚至可以寻到特定的气候突变事件带来的影响痕迹。文章立足于学者对全新世世界气候、中国气候变化,中国区域性气候差异,甘青地区气候敏感性,甘青境内冷气候事件以及气候突变对古文化发展的影响等研究,探讨中全新世甘青地区气候变化趋势与冷事件如何影响马家窑类型文化的产生、发展以及影响为何。     

甘青地区全新世环境变迁与新石器文化兴衰

我国北方大部分地区,距今8000年前后的降温事件之后,才真正意味着人类的全新世气候适宜期的开始.距今5500年前后降温以及由此带来的干旱,使甘青地区这一时期人口与资源之间的矛盾的激化,甘青地区葫芦河流域仰韶文化中晚期出现的社会复杂性,可能是在资源紧张状态下的一种人类文化行为的生态调整.甘青地区距今4500年气候转变可能首先促进或刺激了齐家文化的发展.但随着气候转变的幅度增加,环境条件渐趋恶劣并超过了当时人类所能承受的极限,西北地区史前农业体系不可避免的发生彻底地解体和衰落.长期的干旱环境可能是导致齐家文化的衰落以及齐家文化之后较长时间农业文化的低潮的重要原因之一.     

河北及京津地区早中全新世文化的时空分布及其气候环境因素

本文根据考古学14C年代数据和考古遗存情况,结合高分辨率的地层和古气候研究资料,分析了河北及京津地区早中全新世文化的时空分布格局以及影响遗址分布的地貌和气候因素。该地区早中全新世文化时间序列为:早期新石器时代文化(10,000~8,800 yr BP)、新石器早中期之间的文化缺环(约8,800~7,300 yr BP)、7,300~6,500yr BP的磁山.兴隆洼.北福地一期三大文化系统并立发展时期以及6,500~6,000 yr BP的前仰韶文化时期。文化序列与气候序列对比发现:文化发展很大程度上受到气候条件的制约。从文化分布空间来看,具有如下特征:首先,早中全新世时期的文化分布在与当时海岸线平行的弧形地带上,这种分布格局与气候和地貌条件有关。在排除了地势高亢和海侵影响地区后,太行山东麓到古海岸线之间的弧形地带成为最佳选择。其次,从遗址分布高度来看,当时人仍居住在较高地貌面上,海侵及众多湖沼阻止了人类向东部平原腹地迈进的步伐。     

原始农业都起源于山地吗

农业是人类社会发展到一定阶段的产物。它出现于一万年前全新世时期的新石器时代初期,是人类从消极地依靠自然,转向积极地改造自然的历史性飞跃.从而大大加速了人类社会前进的步伐。恩格斯指出:“蒙昧时代是以采集现成的天然产物为主的时期;人类的制造品主要是用作这种采集的辅助工具。野蛮时代是学会经营畜牧业和农业时期,是学会靠人类的活动来增加天然产物生产的方法的时期。”因此,原始农业和畜牧业的出现,便成为划时代的事件。     

全新世时期河南的地理环境与气候

全新世时期河南的地理环境与气候周锋全新世从距今约１００００年到现在。由于１００００年至８０００年之间,也就是旧石器文化向新石器文化过渡阶段的考古材料缺乏,我们无法探讨这一阶段的环境与气候,而周代及其以后的自然环境与气候,已有大量文献记载,本文也不冉叙...     

中全新世内蒙古东南部和中南部环境考古对比研究

全新世(Holocene)是第四纪最后冰期结束至今的这一段时间,又被称为冰后期(Postglacial)。地球上不同区域的气候变化具有各自的特点,最后一次冰期不可能是统一的,国际第四纪委员会将全新世的起点确定为距今10000±300年。一般将全新世划分为早、中、晚三期,各地就自身的气候特征     

西安地区全新世土壤的演变

野外调查和室内实验资料表明 ,西安临潼全新世发育了 4层土壤。其中有两层发育在较温湿的气候条件下 ,两层发育在较冷干的气候条件下。温湿条件下发育的土壤为棕色土与淋溶褐土 ,冷干条件下发育的土壤为典型褐土与粘化黑垆土。临潼与长安全新世土壤结构及粒度成分指示 ,自全新世中期的大暖期以来 ,西安地区气候环境呈明显的变干趋势。     

Radiocarbon chronology and the correlation of hunter–gatherer sociocultural change with abrupt palaeoclimate change: the Middle Mesolithic in the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt area of northwest Europe

Recent refinements in radiocarbon sampling procedures have enabled a more robust absolute chronology for the Mesolithic in the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt area of northwest Europe. These refinements have allowed for a new chronological sub-division of the Early and Middle Mesolithic periods. Results of this research have indicated that the Middle Mesolithic period was bound by two Early Holocene cooling events, one at 9300 cal. BP and the other at 8200 cal. BP. These results enable a critical evaluation of the role of chronological precision in the investigation of contemporaneity between abrupt climate change and hunter–gatherer sociocultural change. In this paper we focus on the variable chronological resolution of the Early to Middle and Middle to Late Mesolithic transitions in the RMS area, and the role of this variable resolution in our ability to investigate the contemporaneity of these two transitions with different Early Holocene abrupt cooling events. This paper highlights two central challenges facing archaeological investigations of the relationships between climate and culture change: first, the requirement of tight chronological overlap between climate and culture change events and consideration of leads and lags in ecosystem and subsequent human responses to climate change; second, the equifinality problem and the separation of the impact of gradual from punctuated environmental change on human societies.     

From stone to metal: New perspectives on the later prehistory of West Africa

Earlier views saw West Africa as culturally stagnant through much of the Holocene until stimulus or intervention from north of the Sahara transformed Iron Age societies. Evidence accumulating over the past 15 years suggests that stone-using societies from 10,000 to 3000 B.P. were far more diverse than previously thought. Against an increasingly detailed record of Holocene climate change, the complexity of local adaptation and change is becoming better understood. Although a strong case currently exists for the introduction of copper and iron to West Africa from the north in the mid-first millennium B.C., the subsequent development of metallurgy was strongly innovative in different parts of the subcontinent. Soon after the advent of metals, a dramatic increase in archaeological evidence for social stratification and hierarchical political structures indicates the emergence of societies markedly more complex than anything currently documented in the Late Stone Age. The best-documented examples come from the Middle Niger region and the Nigerian forest. In these areas, earlier diffusionist models in which complexity originated outside West Africa have yielded to evidence that indigenous processes were instrumental in this transformation. Trade, ideology, climate shifts, and indirect influences from North Africa, including the introduction of the domesticated horse to the Sahelian grasslands, are identified as factors essential to an understanding of these processes.     

Human occupation of South Eastern Altai highlands (Russia) in the context of environmental changes

Multidisciplinary investigations including geomorphological and geoarchaeological approaches, litho-stratigraphic and pedogenetic analysis accompanied by radiocarbon dating show the contrasting human environmental changes within the highlands of the Russian Altai since the late Paleolithic. Radiocarbon ages of fossil soils formed at 1,475–1,730 m a.s.l. indicate draining of the ice-dammed lake in the Kurai basin before the beginning of the Holocene and disintegration of the Chuya lake into several shallow but quite spacious reservoirs by 8,223?±?181 cal. BP. Using archaeological sites as spatio-temporal markers allows reconstructions to be specified based on geological data. Archaeological site distribution in the Chuya valley between the Chuya and Kurai basins indicates that all cataclysmic flood events related to the Holocene hydrological changes occurred before the Scythian epoch. Due to the redeposition of most Paleolithic finds in the region, they should be carefully examined before they are utilized for any reconstructions. Using fossil and contemporary soils as an independent informative climatic proxy archive supports the conception of generally more humid and warmer climate conditions in the first half of the Holocene within the SE Altai and a more arid and cold climate in the second one. The repeated climate deteriorations that caused glacier expansion and the progressive aridity intensification in the region along with the sociopolitical reasons are the major factors that controlled the habitat of nomadic communities and cultures shifting within the SE Altai in the second half of the Holocene. Anthropogenic impact together with the progressive aridization led to the deforestation of the eastern part of the Chuya depression.     

Crafting Social Networks: the Production of Obsidian Stemmed Tools in the Willaumez Peninsula,Papua New Guinea

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory - Widely held assumptions about static societies during the early-middle Holocene (c. 10,000–3300 BP) in the Willaumez Peninsula, Papua New Guinea...     

Climate change and Zhou relocations in early Chinese history

In Chinese history, the development of the Zhou tribes and the dynasties that succeeded them between 3550 and 2200 BP in the middle reaches of the Yellow River is known as the period of ‘Five Relocations’. Most of these relocations appear to have been forced by the pressure of nomadic invasions and occupations from the northern steppe. Historians simply attributed these relocations to political and military causes. However, palaeoclimatic studies show that the Zhou tribes and their successor dynasties developed at the demise of the Holocene Climatic Optimum when regional climate became highly variable and unstable. An integrated analysis of environmental change over the Loess Plateau and the Mongolian steppe facilitates a credible understanding of the linkage between climatic events and these relocations. It indicates that the relocations caused an expansion or contraction of the settled regions over the drought-prone semi-arid lands. During climatic amelioration, dry farming societies pushed upward to the Loess Plateau where increased precipitation and soil moisture allowed cereals to be cultivated. When hit by droughts and the associated disasters, both the dry farming societies and the nomadic tribes had to move southward to find an environment suitable for their food production. Migration and relocation were, therefore, basic strategies to secure the resources necessary to sustain an agricultural economy. The settled frontier was pulled back as dry farming societies from the upland plateau retreated to the lowland riverbanks of the Guanzhong Basin. Even though there were political and military intentions, climatic events played an essential role in the relocations of the Zhou tribes and the successive dynasties.     

Deglaciation and Human Colonization of Northern Europe

Few places worldwide experienced Late Glacial ecological shifts as drastic as those seen in the areas covered by, or adjacent to, the massive ice sheets that blanketed much of the northern hemisphere. Among the most heavily glaciated regions, northern Europe underwent substantial ecological shifts during and after the Last Glacial Maximum. The climatically unstable Pleistocene–Holocene transition repeatedly transformed far-northern Europe, placing it among the last regions to be colonized by Paleolithic societies. As such, it shares paleoenvironmental and archaeological analogues with other once glaciated areas where human populations, entrenched in periglacial environments prior to glacier retreat, spread into newly deglaciated territories. Perhaps most significant for northern Europeans were post-glacial effects of the Younger Dryas and Preboreal periods, as shifts in climate, plant, and animal communities elicited several adaptive responses including innovation, exploration, and the eventual settlement of once glaciated landscapes. This paper is a detailed review of existing archaeological and paleoecological evidence pertaining to the Late Upper Paleolithic of northern Europe, and offers theoretical observations on human colonization models and ecological responses to large-scale stadial and interstadial events.     

PERCEPTIONS OF AND RESPONSES TO THE HOLOCENE FLOODING OF THE NORTH SEA LOWLANDS

This paper explores how the drastic landscape changes that took place in the North Sea basin during the Holocene affected the lives of those dwelling in that area. Previous contributions to the discussion of the Holocene inundation of the North Sea have tended to concentrate on the timings. This paper discusses the ways people could have perceived and responded to these events, emphasizing that climate change should not be viewed apart from social factors. It is also argued that sea-level rise was not something externally imposed on communities but an integral part of their world.     

五帝时代(距今6-4千年)中国的气候

历史学研究表明,古代文献如《史记》记载的五帝:黄帝、颛顼、帝喾、唐尧、虞舜,可能应该视为一个时代,而不局限于五个人。获得较多支持的观点是:这个时代约在6-4kaBP,而且也不限于华夏集团,至少还包括东夷集团、苗蛮集团等。因此,从地望上讲,也不限于中原地区,还包括东部沿海及长江中游。考古学研究表明,6-4kaBP正是新石器时代晚期,后期可称为铜石并用时代。从考古文化来看,中原地区为仰韶文化中、晚期到龙山文化。东部地区为大汶口文化及(山东)龙山文化。其中在3500BC是仰韶文化中、晚期的交界,以及大汶口文化早、中期的交界。环境考古研究表明,6-4kaBP是一个由湿润气候向干旱气候转变的过渡时期。特别6.0-5.6kaBP有湿润气候的证据。4kaBP前后则明显进入晚全新世的干旱期,在此期间还包括5.5kaBP和4.2-4.0kaBP两次气候突变。现代气候资料及模拟研究表明,由早、中全新世的湿润气候向晚全新世的干旱气候转变的主要原因为岁差变化。但是,5.5kaBP及4.2-4.0kaBP的两次冷干气候突变,则可能与热盐环流的突然减弱有关,而热盐环流减弱可能是太阳活动减弱的结果。     

X-ray powder diffraction analysis of Late Holocene reservoir sediments

X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis of clays from anthropogenic Late Holocene reservoir sediments can provide a paleoclimatic proxy. Illite and smectite are climate sensitive clay minerals and their relative amounts correlate with climatic episodes. Relative percent composition of clays in Late Holocene reservoir sediment is diagnostic of different mineral source areas and their hydraulic transport processes, which are climate controlled. Climosequences of clay minerals from Late Holocene reservoir sediments are correlative with magnetic susceptibility records and provide a relatively simple and cost-effective tool for gaining insight into paleoclimate.