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 9th IAMAS
Scientific
Assembly
media room
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Climate Change and the Qijia Collapse: 4,000 cal. yr B.P. marks the end of an era in China’s western Loess Plateau
Cheng-Bang An, Lingyu Tang, Loukas Barton, Fa-Hu Chen
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New data suggest that dramatic environmental change in the Western Loess Plateau of China corresponds with substantial changes in human demography ca. 4,000 cal. yr B.P. These data demonstrate that a rapid climatic transition from wet to dry led to an ecologically devastated period between 4,000 and 3,600 cal. yr B.P. The sudden and dramatic reduction of archaeological sites during this period points to declining agricultural productivity associated with widespread aridification beginning at 4,000 cal. yr. B.P. In brief, the distribution of rain-fed agricultural cultures in the study area reached its maximum extent under stable environmental conditions between 7,800 and 4,000 cal. yr B.P. but receded dramatically after 4,000 cal. yr B.P., coincident with a de-emphasis on agricultural subsistence.
Keywords: CLIMATE CHANGE, AGRICULTURAL COLLAPSE, WESTEN LOES PLATEAU, NEOLITHIC, CHALCOLITHIC
Cheng-Bang An, Lanzhou University, Center for Arid Environment and Paleoclimate Research, Lanzhou 730000, China, cban@lzu.edu.cn
Lingyu Tang, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing Inst. of Geology and Paleontology, Nanjing 210008, China
Loukas Barton, University of California, Davis, Dept. of Anthropology, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Fa-Hu Chen, Lanzhou University, Center for Arid Environment and Paleoclimate Research, Lanzhou 730000, China
Session: Climate, Humans and the Environment in Asia
Sub-Theme: Loess Deposits
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