Evolution of human–environmental interactions in China from the Late Paleolithic to the Bronze Age

Abstract

Exploring prehistoric variation in human–environmental interaction is critical for understanding the historical patterns and mechanisms of long-term human–land evolution. In this paper we review the published radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) data from Late Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in China, analyze the spatial–temporal distribution of these sites, and compare it with the results of recent paleoclimatic and archaeological studies. We seek to study the trajectory and influencing factors of human–environmental interactions in late prehistoric China. We detect changing patterns in the relationship between humans and the environment during different phases of the prehistoric era in China. Climate change clearly affected the environment of hunter-gatherer groups between 50,000–10,000 BP (before present, defined as 1950AD), and variation in human population in Neolithic China (∼10,000–4000 BP) was likely influenced primarily by the development of agriculture, in addition to substantial climate events. The spatial scale of human settlements expanded in the Bronze Age (∼4000–2200 BP) in a period of cooling climate. During this time the impact of human activities on the environment increased significantly, primarily caused by technological innovations related to the onset of prehistoric transcontinental cultural exchange in Eurasia.

Keywords

East Asia late prehistoric period human–land relationships subsistence strategy climate change

I Introduction

The linkage between prehistoric human evolution and environmental change has been intensively studied in recent decades (Chen et al., 2015a; Kawahata et al., 2009; Kidder et al., 2018; Trauth et al., 2010; Weiss et al., 1993; Wiener, 2014; Young, 2016). This can provide insights to help detect the trajectory and pattern for human–environment interactions at centennial and millennial scales, and is valuable for understanding long-term patterns behind human–land evolution. Three issues are essential to exploring the problem: how climate change affected human and cultural evolution; how humans adapted to climate and environmental change; and how human activities affected their surrounding environment in the prehistoric period.

Climate change is argued to be an important driving force in prehistoric human and cultural evolution (An et al., 2005; Büntgen et al., 2011; Dong et al., 2017a; Staubwasser and Weiss, 2006; Weiss and Bradley, 2001). During the last Glacial–Interglacial period (∼125–10 ka BP), four major migrations of Homo sapiens from Africa to Eurasia occurred between 106–94 ka, 89–73 ka, 59–47 ka and 45–29 ka BP (“BP” means “years before AD 1950”). These were clearly affected by orbital-scale climate change (Timmermann and Friedrich, 2016). Severe cold-dry events across Europe between ∼48 and 40 ka BP triggered the expansion of steppe landscape, contributing to the depopulation of Neanderthals, who were then replaced by modern humans (Staubwasser et al., 2018). Climate change might have resulted in the rise and fall of ancient civilizations in different parts of the planet, including Mesopotamia, India and China (Staubwasser et al., 2003; Weiss et al., 1993; Wu and Liu, 2004). Climate-induced desertification has led to human migration out of the Sahara during the mid-Holocene (Kuper and Kröpelin, 2006).

Adaptation to climate and environmental change is another important aspect of human–environment interactions. In the Paleolithic period, humans often adapted to changing climate through migration and alteration of their subsistence strategies. For example, hunter-gatherers exploited small animals and diverse plant resources during the cooler and dryer period in late Pleistocene around the Levant (Rosen and Rivera-Collazo, 2012; Stiner et al., 1999; Weiss et al., 2004). During the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, humans adapted to environmental change by adopting different lifestyles and strategies for utilizing plants and animals. In southeast Italy, Neolithic farmers survived climatic fluctuations between wet and dry conditions by modifying the cropping periods and the species of plant used (Fiorentino et al., 2013). Three drought events were detected in Greece during 5800–4900 BP, leading people to adopt farming and pastoral strategies that suited the new conditions (Lespez et al., 2016). In the Indus Valley, humans utilized drought-resistant millets between 4000 and 3200 BP as an adaptation to dry climates resulting from the decline of the Indian monsoon (Pokharia et al., 2014).

How ancient human activities impacted their environment has been of increasing interest in the past two decades. Crutzen (2002) highlighted the significance in research for defining the new “Anthropocene” epoch, with a suggested start point somewhere between the 7th and 20th centuries (Lewis and Maslin, 2015; Zalasiewicz et al., 2015). However, archaeologists argue that human impact on the natural environment can be traced back many thousands of years earlier. Hunting activities in the Late Paleolithic period likely resulted in the extinction of some animals, such as mammoth, elephant bird, etc. (Diamond, 1989; Grayson and Meltzer, 2002). Human populations increased rapidly after the development of agriculture around 10,000 BP in the Old World during the Neolithic (Gignoux et al., 2011), after which the impact of human activities on the surrounding environment also dramatically increased in comparison to the Paleolithic. Human farming activities led to the destruction of forest, as well as increasing fire frequency and soil erosion, and changed landscapes at local and regional scales during the mid-Holocene in Europe and South America (Heitkamp et al., 2014; Revelles, 2017; Vanniere et al., 2016; Yasuda et al., 2000). After the advent of smelting during the Bronze Age, human copper-working activities resulted in the pollution of lake sediments (Breitenlechner et al., 2013; Thevenon et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2017).

Multidisciplinary researches have provided important evidence for exploring the trajectory of prehistoric human–environmental interactions. However, the influencing factors in different prehistoric periods have not been discussed in detail. In this paper we use published radiocarbon and OSL data from late prehistoric sites, along with integrated archaeological and paleoclimate data, to outline the evolution of human–environmental interactions in late prehistoric China, and discuss the temporal variability and mechanisms behind human–land relations in the Late Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. This study provides an interdisciplinary perspective for understanding the history, pattern and mechanisms for human–land evolution in prehistoric China.

II Methods

We reviewed 4541 published radiocarbon dates spanning ~50,000-2000 BP from 991 prehistoric sites in China, including 109, 465 and 592 sites dated between ~50,000 -10,000 BP, 10,000 -4000 BP and 4000 -2200 BP, roughly corresponding to the Late Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age in China respectively. In addition, we collected 91 published optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates between 50,000 BP and 10,000 BP, as a supplement to the radiocarbon dates of Late Paleolithic sites in China (Figure 1). The locational information (longitude, latitude and altitude) of these sites was mainly collected from published data, while part of the altitudinal information was extracted by using 30 m Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data. Most of the prehistoric sites are in the monsoonal areas of China, but a few Late Paleolithic and Neolithic sites, and 77 Bronze Age sites, are from arid areas currently controlled by westerly winds (Figure 1). We therefore selected the speleothem oxygen isotope data of Dongge Cave and Hulu Cave (Dykoski et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2001), the northern hemisphere (30° to 90°N) temperature record compared to 1961–1990 instrumental mean temperature (Marcott et al., 2013), and the GISP2 δ¹⁸O record from Greenland (GISP2, 1997) as paleoclimatic data to compare with the archaeological results (Figure 2).

Figure 1.

The distribution of archaeological sites in China contributing radiocarbon (gray points) and OSL dates (black points) to the database. (a) Sites from 50–10 ka BP; (b) sites from 10–4 ka BP; (c) sites from 4–2 ka BP; (d) study area with arrows indicating the Asian monsoon system.

Figure 2.

The spatial and temporal distribution of radiocarbon and OSL dates between ∼50,000 to 2000 cal yr BP compared with climate records.

We used the summed probability distribution (SPD) of radiocarbon dates to reconstruct the variation and intensity of human activity between ∼50,000 and 2000 BP in China, based on the assumption that the number of dates is related to the magnitude of occupation or to the total number of person-years of human existence in a given place (Rick, 1987). The method has been used to reconstruct human population size in Eurasia from the Late Paleolithic to Bronze Age periods (Dolukhanov et al., 2002; Gamble et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2014), and contributes to the discussion of prehistoric human–environment interactions (Bevan et al., 2017; Palmisano et al., 2019; Williams et al., 2010). Here we reviewed 4541 radiocarbon dates, exceeding the minimum sample size of 200–500 to produce reliable SPD of radiocarbon dates (Michczyńska and Pazdur, 2004; Michczyńska et al., 2007; Williams, 2012). While the reliability of the methods may be affected by the archaeological bias of some oversampled sites or site-phases, Timpson et al. (2014) proposed a refined method, binning radiocarbon dates from the same site that are within 100 years of each other together, then creating an average by summing the dates within the same bin and dividing by the total number of dates within that bin. We then re-analyzed the collected radiocarbon dates using this method, in which 4541 radiocarbon dates are divided into 2512 bins, with probability density plots of radiocarbon dates based on the bins and averaged dates. In Figures 3 and 4 the probability density plots of the original radiocarbon dates are shown as black curves, with the probability densities based on the binned and averaged dates shown as red curves. These two kinds of curves are basically accordant, with the exception of a few intervals, such as ∼4000–2800 BP (Figure 4c), which is likely influenced by the “Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project,” which produced a great many radiocarbon dates. We also compare these two kinds of curves with population estimates inferred by the number of archaeological sites (Hosner et al., 2016; Wagner et al., 2013; Wang, 2005). Regardless of specific method, all results suggest a trend of increasing population in China during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. These results suggest our reconstruction of human expansion in late prehistoric China is substantially reliable, and provide a key foundation for the discussion of human–environment interactions in China from Late Paleolithic to Bronze periods.

Figure 3.

The northern latitude distribution and upper altitude distribution of Paleolithic sites, SPDs of original radiocarbon dates and averaged dates of the bins from 50,000–10,000 cal yr BP in China compared with climate records.

Figure 4.

SPDs of the original radiocarbon dates and the average binned radiocarbon dates for the complete dataset as well as for specific major crops of China from 10,000 to 2000 cal yr BP, compared with climate records.

III Discussion

The spatial and temporal distribution of prehistoric sites dated between ∼50,000 and 2200 BP is shown in Figure 2. During ∼50,000–10,000 BP, the scopes of longitude, latitude and altitude of Late Paleolithic sites basically expanded during warm-wet periods including ∼50,000–26,500 BP and ∼19,000–12,900 BP, and shrank in cold-dry periods, such as Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 26,500–19,000 BP) and Younger Dryas (YD, 12,900–11,700 BP). Nine hundred and thirteen prehistoric sites were dated between ∼10,000 and 2200 BP, many more than those between ∼50,000 to 10,000 BP (109). The spatial distribution of these sites expanded firstly around 8500 BP, and secondly around 5500 BP. Human living space in prehistoric China enlarged notably after 4000 BP, when early trans-Eurasian cultural exchange emerged in central and east Asia (Dong et al., 2018; Frachetti et al., 2017; Spengler et al., 2014).

Human occupation of high altitude and latitude areas was more susceptible to climate change, especially during persistent cold events occurring at a global scale, including the LGM and YD. In addition, global temperatures also evidently decreased after ∼4500 BP and reached their lowest around ∼3600 BP (Marcott et al., 2013). The upper and northern limits of prehistoric site distribution obviously declined in the LGM and YD (Figure 2), suggesting hunter-gatherer groups moved downward and southward for survival during these two extended cold-dry periods (LGM and YD). However, human settlement extended to over 4000 meters above sea level (ma.s.l.) and ∼47° N between ∼3600 and 2200 BP (Figure 2), though climate was much cooler than ∼10,000–3600 BP (Marcott et al., 2013), suggesting that the patterns and driving forces of human–environmental interaction were diverse in China during different periods of the late prehistoric era.

3.1 Human–environment interaction in China during 50,000–10,000 BP

The number of archaeological sites across Eurasia increased enormously in the Late Paleolithic compared to the Early and Middle Paleolithic periods, which are beyond the limits of radiocarbon dating; this perhaps indicates the wide and rapid spread of modern humans (Bae et al., 2017; Hublin, 2015). Late The number of Paleolithic sites in China increased gradually after 50,000 BP (Figure 3c), implying the steady growth of population and the successful adaptation of humans to diverse environments through the unstable Last Glacial (LG) period. The appearance of increased symbolic and technological complexity in Late Paleolithic China also suggests demographic growth (Powell et al., 2009) and a greater ability to adapt. A broad spectrum revolution (Flannery et al., 1969; Stiner et al., 2000) in both plant and animal exploitation during the Late Paleolithic provided better food resources for growing populations and assisted humans in overcoming harsh environments in the LG.

The LG climate exhibited highly unstable characteristics, represented by several Heinrich events and Dansgaard–Oeschger events (Figure 2). The Last Glacial Maximum, the longest and harshest event during the LG, resulted in an extremely cold and dry environment across the northern hemisphere and strongly influenced the spatial distribution of Paleolithic humans in Eurasia (Kuzmin and Keates, 2018), perhaps accelerating the extinction of Neanderthals (Stewart and Stringer, 2012). The Younger Dryas, another abrupt extreme climate event during the LG, might have forced prehistoric hunter-gatherers toward the adoption of incipient plant cultivation (Bar-Yosef, 2011). Clearly, highly fluctuating climate change from 50,000 BP to 10,000 BP has had a great influence on prehistoric humanity.

The latitude and altitude distribution of the Late Paleolithic sites in China varies synchronously with climate fluctuation between ∼50,000 and 10,000 BP overall (Figures 3d, 3e). The northern and upper limits of Paleolithic sites were basically higher during warm periods than cold periods, which suggests that hunter-gatherer groups might have adapted to climate change by migrations before 10,000 BP in China. For example, humans occupied areas above 4500 ma.s.l. in the hinterland of the Tibetan plateau during ∼40,000–30,000 BP (Zhang et al., 2018), when temperature and monsoon activity was relatively high (Figures 3a, 3b), the northern limits for human occupation reaching ∼49º N during that period (Figure 3d). The northern and upper limits of human habitation moved to ∼40º N and ∼2000 ma.s.l. during the LGM when the climate was extremely cold (Figures 3d, 3e). The southward and downward shifts of human colonization can also be detected when Heinrich cold events occurred around ∼23,500 BP and ∼16,500 BP (Figures 3d, 3e). Previous studies have also suggested that foragers occupied different altitude and latitude areas in response to the changing climate during Late Paleolithic times (Brantingham and Gao, 2006; Gribchenko and Kurenkova, 1997).

Nevertheless, to confront these climate changes prehistoric hunter-gatherers not only relocated themselves, but also adjusted their subsistence strategies. Resource exploitation was intensified by the increase in hunting of small animals (Zhang et al., 2013), the exploitation of wild cereal plants (Liu et al., 2018), incipient food production (Yang et al., 2012) and other strategies (Chen and Yu, 2017). To meet the needs of intensified resource exploitation, new stone tools and blade and microblade technology emerged in North China after 40,000 BP (Brantingham et al., 2001; Elston et al., 2011; Kato, 2014; Li et al., 2016; Song et al., 2017; Yi et al., 2013), remaining prevalent in Northwest China in the Bronze Age and even into the historic period (Yue et al., 2016). Symbolic and ornamental artifacts, indications of stronger alliances among different groups of people (Kuhn and Stiner, 2007), arose in China in some Late Paleolithic sites, such as Shuidonggou locality 2 (Martí et al., 2017; Wei et al., 2017), though at a lower frequency than found in contemporary Africa and Europe. All these new innovations in technology, subsistence strategies and social organization helped prehistoric humanity adapt to a fluctuating and risk-filled environment. Simultaneously, the impact of human activity on the natural environment, for the first time during human history, becomes an issue which could not be ignored. The extinction of various megafauna in Eurasia (Stuart et al., 2004), America (Frison, 1998) and Australia (Barnosky et al., 2004; Roberts et al., 2001) has been attributed at least in some degree to intensified human activity in the late Pleistocene (Lorenzen et al., 2011), resulting in ecosystem disruption in those continents (Malhi et al., 2016). In addition, at the end of the Pleistocene and beginning of the Holocene, incipient food production and the experimental domestication of plants and animals would have dramatic impacts on natural ecosystems.

3.2 Human–environment interaction in China during 10,000–4000 BP

Two centers for the domestication of plants emerged in China around 10,000 BP. Broomcorn and foxtail millets were first domesticated in North China (Lu et al., 2009; Zhao, 2011a), whereas rice was domesticated in the Yangtse River valley (Zhao, 1998; Zong et al., 2007). Thereafter, the primary subsistence strategy in China shifted from hunting and gathering to agricultural production in most areas during 10,000–4000 BP, with the transition almost certainly taking thousands of years in both the Yellow River and the Yangtse River valleys (Barton et al., 2009; Fuller et al., 2009). The development and expansion of farming groups profoundly affected the relationships between humans and their environment in Neolithic China and laid the foundation for the emergence of the ancient Chinese civilization (Diamond and Bellwood, 2003; Dong et al., 2016b; Gignoux et al., 2011; Mannion et al., 1999).

In this study, the probability density of radiocarbon dates between 10,000 and 4000 BP shows the similar upward trend in total (Figure 4c). The climate broadly turned cold and dry (with fluctuations) in that period (Figures 4a, 4b), suggesting that the impact of climate change on cultural evolution had weakened in comparison to the Late Paleolithic period in China. However, climate and environmental change are still considered important influencing factors for cultural evolution in Neolithic China (Dong et al., 2017a; Tan et al., 2018; Wu et al., 2018; Zhu et al., 2017). A favorable climate facilitated Neolithic development. For example, precipitation was high and stable during 7500–5500 BP in the Chinese Central Plain, promoting the growth and extensive expansion of the Yangshao culture in northern China (Chen et al., 2015b). In contrast, abrupt climate deterioration and environmental disasters might have caused the decline of Neolithic cultures reported in the Gansu-Qinghai region and the Central Plain of China (An et al., 2005; Hou et al., 2009; Wu and Liu, 2004). In east Inner Mongolia, the collapse of the Hongshan culture (6000–5000 BP) was possibly triggered by desertification (Yang et al., 2015). In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtse River, the fluctuation of sea level and palaeofloods might have influenced cultural evolution during the Neolithic Age (Jia et al., 2017; Stanley and Chen, 1996; Zheng et al., 2018).

The influence of climate change on Neolithic cultural evolution in China is complex. For example, cold events around 8500 BP and 5500 BP (Perry and Hsu, 2000) might have promoted extensive expansion of human habitats (Figure 2), probably due to the demand for survival resources for hunter-gathering and farming activities. This promoting mechanism has been shown by other researches at a local scale (Dong et al., 2013a; Li et al., 2015). The drastic alteration of the monsoon weather pattern can be detected between 7000 and 6000 BP (Cheng et al., 2016; Figure 4a), correlating well with the intensification of millet cultivation in the Yellow River valley (Dong et al., 2016b; Zhao, 2014). The percentage of domesticated rice remains in total plant remains also evidently increased during 6900–6600 BP in the Tianluoshan site of the lower Yangtse River valley (Fuller et al., 2009). Climatic deterioration in the seventh millennium BP might have promoted agriculture intensification in China, which in turn promoted the extensive spread of rice and millets (Figure 4e), and facilitated the rapid development of Neolithic cultures in the subsequent millennia. Moreover, the regression of sea levels in the lower Yangtse River valley during 7000–6400 BP provided space for the development of rice cultivation (Patalano et al., 2015). In Europe, a deteriorating climate in the mid–late Holocene also led to innovations in food production and promoted cultural development (Bevan et al., 2017).

The adoption of agriculture led to the improvement of prehistoric humans’ ability to adapt to the natural environment and climate change. On the Chinese Central Plain, farmers of the Peiligang culture (8500–7000 BP) cultivated millet on hilly land and cropped both millet and rice on alluvial plains, adapting successfully to different geomorphic and hydrological environments (Wang et al., 2017). During the Late Neolithic Age, humans in Shaanxi Province might have added organic manure to soil in order to improve fertility and agricultural yield, thus facilitating cultural development and expansion (Wang et al., 2018). In northwest China, in different phases of the Majiayao culture, humans adapted subsistence strategies to climate change between 5300 and 4000 BP (Dong et al., 2013b). This also occurred in Neolithic Guanzhong basin in middle Yellow River valley and upper-mid Huai river valley (Qu et al., 2017; Yang et al., 2016). In the lower Yangtse River delta, humans developed a fire-irrigation paddy cultivation system to facilitate rice cultivation and thus guaranteed food production in the Neolithic period (Hu et al., 2013).

Farming activities in Neolithic China greatly impacted the natural environment. In the Yellow River valley of North China in the early Neolithic period humans modified their surrounding environment, and this intensified during the mid to late Neolithic, when farming groups carried out land reclamation for agricultural production (Zhuang and Kidder, 2014). Increased activity from 7000–6000 BP in northern China promoted the wide expansion of rain-fed agriculture, which induced a rapid rise in fire frequency (Dong et al., 2016b). In the Zhujiang delta of south China, human agricultural activities began to affect the environment in the Neolithic Age (Cheng et al., 2018). These case studies reflect the influence of human activities at local and regional scales in China during the Neolithic.

3.3 Human–environment interaction in China during 4000–2200 BP

Prehistoric transcontinental cultural exchange emerged in central Asia during the fifth millennium BP (Dong et al., 2017b; Spengler et al., 2014). Wheat, barley, sheep and metallurgy originating in West Asia were introduced to China during that period, although the timing and routes for the initial introduction of these exotic cultural elements are still debated (Dong, 2018; Long et al., 2018). The intensity of cultural exchange between west and east Eurasia evidently strengthened in 4000–2200 BP (Dong et al., 2017b; Liu et al., 2019), and barley and wheat were adopted as major staples in northwest China (Chen et al., 2015a; Lu et al., 2019), while rain-fed agriculture remained the primary subsistence strategy in the Central Plains of China (He et al., 2017; Song et al., 2017), resulting in diversified subsistence strategies in different areas and the transformation of human–environmental interactions in China during the Bronze Age.

The climate was, on the whole, much cooler and dryer in China from 4000–2200 BP than 10,000–4000 BP (Figures 4a, 4b). Site distribution evidently expanded in the Bronze Age compared to the Neolithic period, especially in Xinjiang Province and the Tibetan plateau (Figures 1b, 1c). This is roughly synchronous with the increasing probability of radiocarbon dates from barley and wheat remains (Figure 4f). Technical innovations benefited from cultural exchange across Eurasia after 4000 BP. This innovation was the primary factor for the large expansion of human habitats in China during 4000–2200 BP. On the northeastern Tibetan plateau the utilization of cold-tolerant barley, sheep and yak has enabled human year-round settlement over 3000 ma.s.l. since 3600 BP (Chen et al., 2015a; Dong et al., 2016a), and the emergence of nomadism enabled human expansion into the Yushu area of the central Tibetan plateau (Ren et al., 2018). On the Chinese central plateau, the traditional agriculture system based on the cultivation of millet, wheat, soybean and rice was established (Lee et al., 2007), and this has significantly improved human adaptability to cold climates in the late Holocene.

With the diversification of human subsistence strategies, the impact of climate change on cultural evolution and human activities varied in different areas of Bronze Age China. The evident drop of temperatures in the northern hemisphere between 4000–3600 BP (Marcott et al., 2013) resulted in a dietary shift from C₄ to mixed C₃ and C₄ in the Gansu -Qinghai region, suggesting humans began to cultivate different crops in the area after 3600 BP, possibly promoting cultures to transition from a single dominant culture to multicultural settings around 3600 BP (Ma et al., 2016). In southern Loess Plateau, arid events around 3100 BP have been suggested as causes for the relocation of the capital cities of the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC) (Huang et al., 2003). In the west Liao river basin of east Inner Mongolia, climate deterioration during the Bronze Age resulted in human migration, with spatial differentiation of livelihoods in different regions (Jia et al., 2016).

The introduction of new technologies into China during the Bronze Age also increased the impact of human activities on the environment. The Hexi corridor of northwest China was a critical route for trans-Eurasian cultural exchange in China. An early impact of this exchange was the introduction of copper-smelting between 4000 and 3400 BP, resulting in the chemical alteration of anthropogenic sediments in cultural contexts (Yang et al., 2017) and lacustrine deposition (Zhang et al., 2017). Agriculture during this time also led to land degradation, soil erosion and forest destruction in the Hexi corridor (Shen et al., 2018; Zhou et al., 2012). In the nearby northeast Tibetan plateau, human activities during the Bronze Age might have induced the obvious increase of fire frequency (Miao et al., 2017) and the percentages of Stellera in lake sediments (Huang et al., 2017).

IV Conclusion

The results presented in this paper indicate that human–environmental interactions varied across the different phases of late prehistoric China. Climate change between 50,000 and 10,000 BP impacted the resources of hunter-gatherers, as well as the available altitudes and latitudes for human habitation. Between 10,000 and 4000 BP, cultural evolution and population in China seem to have been influenced primarily by the development and expansion of agriculture, after which human activities began to affect the natural environment at local and regional scales. The emergence of trans-Eurasian cultural exchange profoundly impacted the human–environment relationships in China between 4000 and 2200 BP, which further improved the ability of humans to adapt to different environments and facilitated large scale colonization on the high-altitude Tibetan plateau and arid areas in Xinjiang Province. The intensity of human impact on the surrounding environment also obviously increased during this period due to the introduction of new livelihoods, especially copper-smelting activities. It should be noted that the relationship between environmental change and human activities in prehistoric China is extremely complicated. Some scholars argue that technological innovations and cultural exchange between different regions were the primary drivers of culture change during the late Chinese Neolithic and Bronze Ages (Chen et al., 2012; Dong et al., 2017b; Zhao, 2011b). While changing climate could act as an indirect influence (Wu and Ge, 2014), continued research on how both natural and social processes impact the trajectory of human–land relations in late prehistoric China is necessary. Further archaeological and paleoclimatic data are critical to understanding the process of human–environmental interactions throughout late prehistoric China.

Supplemental material

Supplemental Material, Table_S1 - Evolution of human–environmental interactions in China from the Late Paleolithic to the Bronze Age

Supplemental Material, Table_S1 for Evolution of human–environmental interactions in China from the Late Paleolithic to the Bronze Age by Guanghui Dong, Ruo Li, Minxia Lu, Dongju Zhang and Nathaniel James in Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment

Supplemental material

Supplemental Material, Table_S2 - Evolution of human–environmental interactions in China from the Late Paleolithic to the Bronze Age

Supplemental Material, Table_S2 for Evolution of human–environmental interactions in China from the Late Paleolithic to the Bronze Age by Guanghui Dong, Ruo Li, Minxia Lu, Dongju Zhang and Nathaniel James in Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment

Footnotes

Authors’ note

Guanghui Dong is also affiliated with CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: The National key R&D Program of China (Grant 2018YFA0606402), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Pan-Third Pole, Environment Study for a Green Silk Road (Pan-TPE) (Grant no.: XDA20040101) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41620104007, 41671077 and 41825001).

ORCID iD

Guanghui Dong

Supplemental material

Supplemental material for this article is available online.

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