Climate and cultural evolution drove Holocene cropland change in the Huai River Valley, China
Yanyan Yu,
Haibin Wu,
Wenchao Zhang,
Nicole Boivin,
Jie Yu,
Juzhong Zhang,
Xin Zhou,
Wuhong Luo,
Chenglong Deng,
Junyi Ge,
Zhengtang Guo
Affiliations
Yanyan Yu
State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric and Environmental Coevolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; Corresponding author
Haibin Wu
State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric and Environmental Coevolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Wenchao Zhang
School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Nicole Boivin
Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Jena 07745, Germany; School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia
Jie Yu
State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric and Environmental Coevolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Juzhong Zhang
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Xin Zhou
School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Wuhong Luo
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Chenglong Deng
State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric and Environmental Coevolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Junyi Ge
Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China
Zhengtang Guo
State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric and Environmental Coevolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Summary: As an important way of maximizing land productivity by growing more than one crop type in the same field, mixed cropping has been an effective option for sustaining population growth under different climatic conditions since prehistoric period. We used a combination of archaeological data and an improved prehistoric land use model (PLUM) to quantitatively reconstruct spatiotemporal changes in cropland types and areas in the Huai River Valley of China, a core region of mixed cropping during the Holocene. The total cropland area increased more than 25 times during 8–2 ka BP, with northward expansion of rice-dominated cultivation during 5–4 ka BP and southward expansion of dry-dominated cultivation after 4 ka BP. Temperature and precipitation determined cropland types distribution, while that of cropland area was controlled by cultural development. The interplay between past climate, culture, and cultivation potentially provides useful insights into mitigating future population pressures with climate change.
