Copper content in anthropogenic sediments as a tracer for detecting smelting activities and its impact on environment during prehistoric period in Hexi Corridor, Northwest China

The Holocene ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yishi Yang ◽  
Guanghui Dong ◽  
Shanjia Zhang ◽  
Yifu Cui ◽  
Haiming Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Hexi Corridor ◽  
Natural Background ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Cu Content ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Western Eurasia ◽  
The Impact

The Hexi Corridor of northwestern China was a principal axis of cultural interchange between eastern and western Eurasia during the prehistoric and historic epochs. Neolithic groups began dense settlements in Hexi Corridor after 4300 BP with millet crops and polychrome pottery from north China and bronze from Central Asia around 4000 BP accompanied by wheat, barley, and sheep. The impact of these activities on the environment during the late Neolithic and Bronze Age is not clearly understood. Therefore, we analyzed the Cu concentrations of samples collected within cultural layers of anthropogenic sediments from 17 Late Neolithic and Bronze Age sites located within the Hexi Corridor. The Cu content is reported in view of the archaeological and paleoclimatic research undertaken in the area. Our results enabled us to explore the variety of human impact on the environment before and after the introduction of bronze technology into Hexi Corridor. During 4300–4000 BP, Cu concentrations of the anthropogenic sediments were constrained within natural background values. However, from 4000 to 3400 BP, they increased substantially and far exceeded the natural background. The Cu concentrations then declined and remained above the natural background from 3000 to 2400 BP. Our work suggests that the introduction of copper melting technology led to human alteration of sediments’ chemical properties in their surrounding environments in Hexi Corridor since 4000 BP; its intensity was closely related to human settlement density, which was further affected by climate change and livelihood transition in the area during Bronze period.

The impact of early trans-Eurasian exchange on animal utilization in northern China during 5000–2500 BP

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 095968362094116
Author(s):  
Guanghui Dong ◽  
Linyao Du ◽  
Wenyu Wei
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Wild Mammals ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Animal Utilization ◽  
Human Subsistence ◽  
The Bronze Age

Transcontinental exchange emerged and intensified in northern China since the late fifth millennium BP (Before present), especially in the arc, which was the core area of the eastern part of the trans-Eurasian exchange during the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age. In the arc, the exchange profoundly affected the human subsistence strategy and human-environment relationship. Relative to the crop patterns and human diets during the Bronze Age in northern China, systematic investigations of zooarcheological data based on broad spatial and temporal framework to understand the influence of introduced livestock and indigenous livestock on human subsistence are lacking. To show the spatial-temporal variation in animal utilization patterns and its relation to prehistoric trans-Eurasian exchange, the zooarcheological data from 40 sites in northern China dated between 5000 and 2500 BP were analyzed. The strategy of animal utilization in northern China changed substantially from 5000 to 2500 BP, with notable spatial features in different chronological phases. From 5000 to 4300 BP, wild mammals and indigenous livestock (pig, dog) use dominated in the arc and the North China Plain (NCP). During 4300–3500 BP, the importance of introduced livestock (cattle, sheep/goat, horse) exceeded that of indigenous livestock in the arc, whereas indigenous livestock continued to dominate in the NCP. Indigenous livestock acted as the most important animal subsistence in northern China, although the exploitation of introduced livestock increased during 3500–2000 BP. These spatio-temporal differences in animal utilization appear to be closely associated with the prehistoric trans-Eurasian exchange, but were also affected by local environment, agriculture development, and climate change.

Early Complexes of the Tract “First and Second Island” near the Village of Tanatovо

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4 (28)) ◽  
pp. 131-139
Author(s):  
Sergei F. Tataurov ◽  
Irina V. Tolpeko
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Ore ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
High Quality ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Village

As part of the study of the early stages of settlement of the Middle Irtysh region, the multilayered monuments of the tract “First and Second island” near the village of Tanatovо, Muromtsevsky district of Omsk region. Based on the study of ceramics and stone tools, complexes of the late Neolithic - early bronze age belonging to the artyn and Catherine cultures and the Stepanov type of monuments were identified. Specific features of stone processing are described for each stage. Artyn stone processing was characterized by high-quality raw materials and the technique of chipping plates. At the stage of Catherine's culture, the quality of raw materials significantly deteriorates, and the use of local raw materials (swamp iron ore) is noted. In stone processing, there is an increase in the share the technique of chipping flakes. At all stages, the tendency to minimize the impact of the shortage of stone raw materials is well recorded.

scholarly journals The first horse herders and the impact of early Bronze Age steppe expansions into Asia

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 360 (6396) ◽  
pp. eaar7711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter de Barros Damgaard ◽  
Rui Martiniano ◽  
Jack Kamm ◽  
J. Víctor Moreno-Mayar ◽  
Guus Kroonen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Genome Sequences ◽  
Inner Asia ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Genetic Impact ◽  
The Impact

The Yamnaya expansions from the western steppe into Europe and Asia during the Early Bronze Age (~3000 BCE) are believed to have brought with them Indo-European languages and possibly horse husbandry. We analyzed 74 ancient whole-genome sequences from across Inner Asia and Anatolia and show that the Botai people associated with the earliest horse husbandry derived from a hunter-gatherer population deeply diverged from the Yamnaya. Our results also suggest distinct migrations bringing West Eurasian ancestry into South Asia before and after, but not at the time of, Yamnaya culture. We find no evidence of steppe ancestry in Bronze Age Anatolia from when Indo-European languages are attested there. Thus, in contrast to Europe, Early Bronze Age Yamnaya-related migrations had limited direct genetic impact in Asia.

A Comparative Study of 14C Dating on Charcoal and Charred Seeds from Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Sites in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, NW China

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guang-Hui Dong ◽  
Zong-Li Wang ◽  
Le-Le Ren ◽  
Giedre Motuzaite Matuzeviciute ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Subsistence Strategies ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Nw China ◽  
Human Subsistence ◽  
Vegetation Variation ◽  
Ams Dates

The chronology of the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures in Gansu and Qinghai provinces, northwest China, is mainly based on conventional radiocarbon dates from unidentified charcoal, which may be inaccurate in view of the possible “old wood” problem of 14C dating. To discuss the reliability of the chronology of those prehistoric cultures, accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates of short-lived charred seeds were compared to conventional 14C dates of unidentified charcoal from the same flotation samples in 15 Late Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in the area. The results show that 14C dates of unidentified charcoal are obviously older than those of charred seeds in 5 of the 15 flotation samples. This work suggests that the old-wood problem of 14C dating might be related to human subsistence strategies and local vegetation variation during different prehistoric cultural periods in Gansu and Qinghai provinces, which should be discussed before establishing the chronology of Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures in the area.

Towards the Garden of the Hesperides, 1000 BC–400 BC

The Great Sea ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Abulafia
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Agricultural Resources ◽  
Greek Culture ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Impact

The impact of contact with the eastern Mediterranean was felt in very different ways within what we now call Italy. Greek culture seeped more slowly into the everyday life of the native peoples of Sicily – Sikans, Sikels and Elymians – than into the life of the peoples of Tuscany and Latium. In Sicily, both the Greeks and the Carthaginians kept themselves largely apart from the native population. Sardinia, rich in minerals, had for centuries been the seat of a lively civilization characterized by the stone towers known as nuraghi, of which many thousands still dot the island; they were surrounded by what seem to have been prosperous villages, firmly rooted in the rich agricultural resources of the island. They began to be built around 1400 BC, but new nuraghi were still being constructed well into the Iron Age. In the Mycenaean era, there had been some contact with the outside world, as eastern Mediterranean traders arrived in search of copper. The wealth of the native elite as far back as the second millennium BC can be measured from the tombs of Anghelu Ruju, near Alghero in north-western Sardinia; these are among the richest to have been unearthed in late Neolithic and early Bronze Age western Europe, and they indicate contact with Spain, southern France and the eastern Mediterranean. The Spanish influence can be traced in the bell beaker jars found at this site. Another Spanish connection was linguistic. The Sardinians left no written records, whether because they did not use writing or because they used friable materials that have failed to survive. But place-names, many in current use, provide suggestive evidence, as does the Sard language, a distinctive form of late vulgar Latin that incorporates a number of pre-Latin words within its many dialects. It appears that the nuraghic peoples spoke a language or languages related to the non-Indo-European language Basque. Thus a Sard word for a young lamb, bitti, is very similar to a Basque term for a young goat, bitin.

scholarly journals Considering change with archaeological data: Reevaluating local variation in the role of the ~4.2k BP event in Northwest China

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 095968362097025
Author(s):  
Yitzchak Y Jaffe ◽  
Anke Hein
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Local Variation ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Explanatory Models ◽  
Interdisciplinary Studies ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Late Neolithic

Over the past two decades, environmental studies in research on prehistoric China have been gaining popularity and importance. For Northwest China in particular, climate change, especially the so-called ~4.2k BP event has been seen as the main reason for an alleged collapse of Late Neolithic societies and a transition to pastoral-heavy economies and mobile lifeways. Yet, these explanatory models tend to rely on limited archaeological and environmental data and non-contemporaneous historical data, resulting in simplistic causal relationships between environmental changes and social response. This paper re-evaluates the Incipient Bronze Age in China’s Northwestern region, discussing evidence for climate change and its exact dates, as well as textual and archaeological evidence. We argue that the old narratives perpetuating the image of a dichotomy between Steppe and Sown are inaccurate, while large-scale models of region-wide subsistence change in response to climate cooling tend to disregard local developments and group-specific responses as well as chronological issues. Focusing on the Xindian and Siwa archaeological phenomena, this paper provides a view into sub-regional responses to this climate event, warning against simplistic broad-brush reconstructions and calling for both a return to archaeological fundamentals and large-scale intensive fieldwork and interdisciplinary studies involving archaeologists, paleobotanists, zooarchaeologists, isotope specialists, and climate scientists.

Copper smelting and sediment pollution in Bronze Age China: A case study in the Hexi corridor, Northwest China

CATENA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 156 ◽  
pp. 92-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanjia Zhang ◽  
Yishi Yang ◽  
Michael J. Storozum ◽  
Haiming Li ◽  
Yifu Cui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Hexi Corridor ◽  
Sediment Pollution ◽  
Copper Smelting

scholarly journals Study on The Influence of Direct Ground Liquid CO2 Injection on Soil Chemical Properties in Subsidence Areas under Shallow Buried Geological Conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Naifu Cao ◽  
Yuntao Liang ◽  
Gang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Water Soluble ◽  
Co2 Injection ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Available Nitrogen ◽  
Subsidence Area ◽  
Liquid Co2 ◽  
Geological Conditions ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact

In order to reveal the impact of a high concentration of CO2 on the soil in the coal mining subsidence area, the surface above the goaf before CO2 injection is regarded as a subsidence area model. Based on the actual vertical depth of 70∼80 m shallow buried coal seam geological conditions, CO2 diffusion in the goaf is regarded as a short-term high-concentration CO2 leakage model. The surface soil samples before and after 60 tons of direct injection of liquid CO2 in the goaf of Huojitujing in the Daliuta Coal Mine could be collected to conduct the experimental observation. By measuring the changes in the five indicators of soil air-dried and fresh sample including pH, available nitrogen, available potassium, water-soluble salt, and total organic carbon, the changes of pH and mineral content in the soil could be analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively at different time periods before and after CO2 injection. This proves that the injection of CO2 into the goaf has an impact on the chemical properties of the surrounding soil.

scholarly journals The impact of ancestral heath management on soils and landscapes: a reconstruction based on paleoecological analyses of soil records in the middle and southeast Netherlands

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Doorenbosch ◽  
J. M. van Mourik
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Cattle Grazing ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Bronze Age

Abstract. The evolution of heath lands during the Holocene has been registered in various soil records. Paleoecological analyses of these records enable to reconstruct the changing economic and cultural management of heaths and the consequences for landscape and soils. Heaths are characteristic components of cultural landscape mosaics on sandy soils in the Netherlands. The natural habitat of heather species was moorland. At first, natural events like forest fires and storms caused small-scale forest degradation, in addition on the forest degradation accelerated due to cultural activities like forest grazing, wood cutting and shifting cultivation. Heather plants invaded on degraded forest soils and heaths developed. People learned to use the heaths for economic and cultural purposes. The impact of the heath management on landscape and soils was registered in soil records of barrows, drift sand sequences and plaggic Anthrosols. Based on pollen diagrams of such records we could reconstruct that heaths were developed and used for cattle grazing before the Bronze Age. During the Late Neolithic, the Bronze Age and Iron Age, people created the barrow landscape on the ancestral heaths. After the Iron Age people probably continued with cattle grazing on the heaths and plaggic agriculture until the Early Middle Ages. After AD 1000 two events affected the heaths. At first deforestation for the sale of wood resulted in the first regional extension of sand drifting and heath degradation. After that the introduction of the deep stable economy and heath sods digging resulted in acceleration of the rise of plaggic horizons, severe heath degradation and the second extension of sand drifting. At the end of the 19th century the heath lost its economic value due to the introduction of chemical fertilizers. The heaths were transformed into "new" arable fields and forests and due to deep ploughing most soil archives were destroyed. Since AD 1980, the remaining relicts of the ancestral heaths are preserved and restored in the frame of the programs to improve the regional and national geo-biodiversity.

scholarly journals Geese Reared in Vineyard: Soil, Grass and Animals Interaction

Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 179
Author(s):  
Luisa Massaccesi ◽  
Alice Cartoni Mancinelli ◽  
Simona Mattioli ◽  
Mauro De Feudis ◽  
Cesare Castellini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Agroforestry Systems ◽  
Biochemical Properties ◽  
Farm Income ◽  
Cu Content ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Vineyard Soils ◽  
Effect Of Copper ◽  
The Impact

Agroforestry systems aim at increasing the productivity and the environmental sustainability of both crop and animal productions. The integration of small animals such as geese in the vineyard could represent an opportunity to improve farm income and reduce land use for grazing. The main objective of this work was to study the impact of geese rearing in an organic vineyard on the chemical and biochemical properties of the soil and the effect of Copper (Cu) supplied with the fungicide treatments. Furthermore, the amount of Cu in the animal tissues was also investigated. Three experimental areas within the vineyard were selected: High Geese Density (HGD-240 geese ha−1), Low Geese Density (LGD-120 geese ha−1) and Without Geese used as control soil (WG). The results indicated that both HGD and LGD did not affect the main chemical properties of the vineyard soils. LGD increased the amount and the efficiency of the microbial biomass in the upper soil horizons. Moreover, geese through the grazing activity reduced the Cu content in the vineyard soils, accumulating this element in their liver. However, the content of Cu in the breast and drumstick of vineyard geese did not show any significant difference in respect the meat of the control ones.

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