Plant diversity of the Tianshui Basin in the western Loess Plateau during the mid-Holocene – Charcoal records from archaeological sites

Abstract

Assessing the potential impact of increased temperature needs examination of robust palaeorecords that contain analogues. The fossil charcoal (anthracological) records from the mid-Holocene archaeological sites can provide palaeo-analogues on the impacts of climate change. The Xishanping and Dadiwan sites were continuously developed during the Neolithic Culture in the Tianshui Basin, western Loess Plateau. A total of 24 samples of fossil charcoal were recovered using a floatation method. At least 100 fragments were examined from each sample, and these fragments were identified following standard procedures, and the results were used to reconstruct the vegetation and plant diversity between 5200 and 4300 cal BP, which was a warm period for the region. The charcoal evidence from the Xishanping and Dadiwan sites confirm that woody plants were widely available, including temperate taxa such as Betula, Ulmus, Quercus, Carpinus, Acer, Corylus and Padus, and typical subtropical taxa such as Bambusoideae, Liquidambar formosana, Castanopsis, Pseudotsuga sinensis, and Eucommia ulmoides. The assemblages of fossil charcoal show that mixed forests of north-subtropical evergreen and deciduous broadleaved trees existed. This is a broader range of woody plants than at present in the Tianshui Basin. This leads to the conclusion that the warmer and increasing monsoon precipitation resulted in a northward shift in the southern vegetation zones. And that the natural botanical diversity between 5200 and 4300 cal BP was also greater than at present in the Tianshui Basin, western Loess Plateau.