The early agriculture and its impact on landscape in NW China

Li, XQ; Dodson, JR; Zhou, XY; Zhou, KL; Sun, N

The early agriculture and its impact on landscape in NW China

Date

2012-08-05

Authors

Publisher

Australian Geosciences Council

Abstract

The agriculture, as one of the most important events, appeared in the early Holocene and developed rapidly, which is the most important economic activity and the base of the forming and development of civilization. Millet and rice based agriculture originated in the Yellow and Yangtze valleys in the early Holocene respectively. Wild wheat strains were first used in the Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia in the late-glacial and domesticated wheat was widespread in that region by 10500 BP. The early agriculture development included population growth, the expansions of material cultures, and its impacts on the landscape. The Northwestern China lies between the heartlands of wheat, rice and rain-fed agriculture and is also crossed by the famous ‘Silk Road’. The early agriculture and its impact were reconstructed based on the records of pollen, charcoal, seeds, phytolith, together with the high resolution AMS 14C dating. Neolithic agriculture in NW China had a simple organization and was dominated by the production of common millet in the early-middle Yangshao Culture (7000–5000 BP). After the late Yangshao age, the agriculture were dominated by both common and foxtail millet. Approximately 5000 cal BP ago, the rice and soybeans have been cultivated and continued to exist in the Qijia culture (4000–3800 BP). The agriculture developed into a more complex structure. The earliest wheat ages cluster around 4100 to 3800 cal BP in northern China’s Hexi corridor of Gansu Province and the likely route of wheat into China was via Russia and Mongolia. Wheat was added as a new crop to the existing millet and rice based agricultural systems. Eight crop types of foxtail millet, broomcorn millet, rice, wheat, barley, oats, soybean and buckwheat appeared and covered the main crop types of the two origin centers of East and West Asia around 4000 cal BP, which suggest the earliest complexity agriculture in Neolithic China. The land use and fire activity by early farmers are much different from the hunting-gathering society. The vegetation and environment were affected greatly by agricultural activity. Prehistoric farmers needed cultivated land and plants to live and caused an increase in farmland and influence on the vegetation during the Neolithic. Land degradation is probably the main cause for decreased agricultural activity and settlement abandonment in arid area. Agriculture induced soil fertility loss and land salinization contributed to the process of land degradation. The intensity and scale that prehistoric farmers impact on the landscape were much greater than previously thought during the Neolithic in NW China.

Keywords

Argiculture, China, Pollen, Seeds, Wheat, Rice, Crops, Decomposition

Citation

Li, X. Q., Dodson, J., Zhou, X. Y., Zhao, K. L., & Sun, N. (2012). The early agriculture and its impact on landscape in NW China. Paper presented to the 34th International Geological Congress 2012, "Unearthing our Past and Future - Resourcing Tomorrow", 5-10 August 2012, Brisbane, Australia. (pp. 2183).