Ancient culture decline after the Han Dynasty in the Chaohu Lake basin, East China: A geoarchaeological perspective

Abstract

The culture decline of Chaohu Lake Basin after the Han Dynasty is a remarkable archaeological phenomenon in the Jianghuai region, Anhui Province, East China. Analysis of the relevant historic records, combined with the new progress in environmental archaeological research and remote sensing data, demonstrates how the ancient culture of Chaohu Lake Basin declined after the Han Dynasty from a geoarchaeological perspective. The results show that the culture decline after the Han Dynasty may be caused by the environmental changes. The deterioration of climate conditions combined with floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters, as well as the climate background of Chinese economic and cultural center transfer, together with the north-south division of political geographic factors that led to war, all caused the ancient “Chao-Fei Channel” to decline gradually and destroyed the agricultural economic foundation of cultural development in the Chaohu Lake Basin. These also brought the decline of the development of settlements and substantial decreases in archaeological sites and burial numbers. Subsequently, the cultural development of the Chaohu Lake Basin declined.