Abstract
Prehistoric human activities were likely influenced by cyclic monsoon climate changes in East Asia. Here we report a decadal-resolution Holocene pollen record from an annually-laminated Maar Lake in Northeast China, a proxy of monsoon climate, together with a compilation of 627 radiocarbon dates from archeological sites in Northeast China which is a proxy of human activity. The results reveal synchronous ~500-year quasi-periodic changes over the last 8000 years. The warm-humid/cold-dry phases of monsoon cycles correspond closely to the intensification/weakening of human activity and the flourishing/decline of prehistoric cultures. Six prosperous phases of prehistoric cultures, with one exception, correspond approximately to warm-humid phases caused by a strengthened monsoon. This ~500-year cyclicity in the monsoon and thus environmental change triggered the development of prehistoric cultures in Northeast China. The cyclicity is apparently linked to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, against the background of long-term Holocene climatic evolution. These findings reveal a pronounced relationship between prehistoric human activity and cyclical climate change.
Highlights
Prehistoric human activities were likely influenced by cyclic monsoon climate changes in East Asia
Holocene climate change can affect human society in two principal ways: (1) abrupt catastrophic climatic events, such as floods and droughts[3,4], have major impacts, and it has been suggested that El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)[5], and volcanic[6] and solar activity[7] may have played a key role in driving abrupt monsoon changes and human activity[7]; (2) cyclic climate changes, such as quasi-centennial oscillations, were likely associated with human developments such as nomadic migration and dynastic alternations in China[4,8]
The results provide robust evidence for synchronous ~500-yr cyclical changes in monsoon climate, human activity and prehistoric cultural development in the East Asian Monsoon (EAM) region during the Holocene
Summary
Prehistoric human activities were likely influenced by cyclic monsoon climate changes in East Asia. We report a decadal-resolution Holocene pollen record from an annually-laminated Maar Lake in Northeast China, a proxy of monsoon climate, together with a compilation of 627 radiocarbon dates from archeological sites in Northeast China which is a proxy of human activity. It is based on the proposition that a larger population would result in the increased production and deposition of cultural carbon, providing more material evidence for age determinations[1,16,17,18] This approach has been used to reconstruct early human activity and population history in different regions, including Europe, North America and China[1,16,17,18], and we used this proven approach to analyze the data from NE China
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