Human–environment interaction along the eastern Silk Road during the Neolithic and Bronze Age

Abstract

Human-environment interactions during the Neolithic and Bronze Age, when farming and herding lifestyles spread across Eurasia, has become a subject of increasing research interest. This is especially the case in key hubs of trans-Eurasian exchange, such as the eastern Silk Road, a complex geographical region comprising diverse natural environments. Here, we review the updated results of radiocarbon dating, zooarchaeological, archaeobotanical and carbon isotopic analysis from Neolithic and Bronze sites in the eastern Silk Road. Then we compare them with paleoclimate records to explore the pattern and potential driving force of human-environment interaction evolution in the mid-lower reaches of the Wei River, the western Loess Plateau, the northeast Tibetan Plateau and the Hexi Corridor. Asynchronous trajectories of human settlement and livelihood transformation are detected in these four major geographic units along the eastern Silk Road. Significant climate deterioration events during the late Neolithic and Bronze Age obviously affected human activities with spatial differences. The development of rain-fed agriculture played an important role in westward expansion of farming groups during the Neolithic, while human adopted introduced crops as major subsistence and livestock much faster in the Hexi Corridor and the northeast Tibetan Plateau than the western Loess Plateau and the mid-lower reaches of the Wei River, which enhanced human adaptability to environmental change in different regions during the Bronze Age. Human activities might have influenced their surrounding environments in local scale during the late Neolithic and Bronze Age along the eastern Silk Road, which was related to the intensity and human subsistence strategies in different regions.