Pollen record of agricultural cultivation in the west–central Korean Peninsula since the Neolithic Age

Abstract

Age-controlled pollen stratigraphy from the Paju (UJ-10), Cheonggye (Gwangtong Trench-A), and Hanam (UD-2) sites records the response of vegetation to climate changes and human activity over the past 7000 years in the Han River drainage basin, west-central Korea. The pollen profiles show a transition from natural vegetation to human-disturbed vegetation around 4800 cal BP. During the natural vegetation stage (ca. 7000–4800 cal BP; early Neolithic Age), dense woodlands of mixed deciduous and evergreen broadleaved hardwoods flourished in the surrounding hills and mountains owing to the enhanced East Asian summer monsoon. The human-disturbed vegetation stage (ca. 4800 cal BP–modern; late Neolithic Age to modern) was characterized by transitional forests and open grasslands and can be subdivided into several agricultural stages. During the dry-field cultivation stage (ca. 4800–3000 cal BP; late Neolithic to Bronze ages), humans engaged in dry-field agriculture under cool, dry climatic conditions. The ensuing paddy-field cultivation stage (ca. 3000–800 cal BP; since the Bronze Age) initially developed during an interval of stable, warm, wet conditions from ca. 3000 to ca. 1400 cal BP, during which time people of Bronze and Iron Age cultures engaged in widespread paddy farming. Subsequently, a brief climatic fluctuation (ca. 1400–800 cal BP) caused changes in the agricultural practices of the Unified Silla and Koryo people. During the combined dry-field and paddy-field cultivation stage (ca. 800 cal BP–modern; since the Joseon Dynasty), climatic deterioration affected agricultural practices of the Joseon people and resulted in open forests with wide grasslands during the interval equivalent to the Little Ice Age (1550–1859 AD). Since then, humans in the area have strategically managed pine forests to supply wood for house-building and fuel.