Uncovering the ancient canal-based tuntian agricultural landscape at China's northwestern frontiers

Abstract

The tuntian system was a state-promoted system of military–agriculture, which originated in the Western Han dynasty (206 BC–9 AD). All the imperial dynasties in Chinese history adopted the practice of tuntian to cultivate and guard frontier areas as an important state policy for developing border areas and consolidating frontier defense. This paper describes the use of satellite remote sensing data to uncover an ancient canal-based tuntian system located in an oasis agricultural landscape adjacent to the ancient Kingdom of Loulan at the southern margin of the Tarim Basin. The remote sensing data examined include Chinese Gaofen-1 (GF-1) VHR imagery, Landsat-8 (LS-8) OLI data and ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model Version 2 (ASTER GDEMV2) products. The effective irrigated tuntian area was estimated to be 2800 ha and the maximum irrigated tuntian area was found to be more than 8000 ha during the area's most prosperous period. The overall spatial structure of Milan's tuntian agricultural landscape was explored using the patch–corridor–matrix model. By detailed analysis of satellite remote sensing data, this study reconstructed a 3D view of Milan's tuntian agricultural landscape in a GIS.