Dams, moats, and cities: climate and societies in late-Holocene China

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 295-318
Author(s):  
Yijie Zhuang
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Summer Rainfall ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Dynamic Interactions ◽  
Subsistence Strategies ◽  
Early States ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Huai River ◽  
Key Sites ◽  
Land Water

Whilst the late-Holocene climate was becoming drier with an increasing number of climatic anomalies, with notably more frequent fluctuations in summer rainfall on an annual or decadal scale, many walled sites or cities emerged and became regional centres that witnessed population agglomeration and technological flowering. To feed their growing populations and their increasing demands on land, water, food, and other resources, these �cities� were drawn closer physically to riverine environments and wetlands. By diversifying and intensifying their subsistence strategies, and constructing infrastructure on a colossal scale, these late-Holocene walled towns or cities also fundamentally transformed their local landscapes. Examining key sites from the Huai river and the Yangtze Delta, this paper will compare the dynamic interactions between society, landscape, and the environment under different socio-economic conditions across different regions of late-Holocene China and investigate how these factors influenced and led to the emergence of complex societies or early states.

scholarly journals Ocean Salinity as a Precursor of Summer Rainfall over the East Asian Monsoon Region

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (17) ◽  
pp. 5659-5676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Biao Chen ◽  
Huiling Qin ◽  
Guixing Chen ◽  
Huijie Xue
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
East Asian Monsoon ◽  
Summer Rainfall ◽  
Vapor Transport ◽  
Water Vapor Transport ◽  
Asian Monsoon Region ◽  
Water Vapor Flux ◽  
Vapor Flux ◽  
Land Water

Abstract The sea surface salinity (SSS) varies largely as a result of the evaporation–precipitation difference, indicating the source or sink of regional/global water vapor. This study identifies a relationship between the spring SSS in the tropical northwest Pacific (TNWP) and the summer rainfall of the East Asian monsoon region (EAMR) during 1980–2017. Analysis suggests that the SSS–rainfall link involves the coupled ocean–atmosphere–land processes with a multifacet evolution. In spring, evaporation and water vapor flux divergence were enhanced in some years over the TNWP where an anomalous atmospheric anticyclone was established and a high SSS was well observed. As a result, the convergence of water vapor flux and soil moisture over the EAMR was strengthened. This ocean-to-land water vapor transport pattern was sustained from spring to summer and played a leading role in the EAMR rainfall. Moreover, the change in local spring soil moisture helped to amplify the summer rainfall by modifying surface thermal conditions and precipitation systems over the EAMR. As the multifacet evolution is closely related to the large-scale ocean-to-land water vapor transport, it can be well represented by the spring SSS in the TNWP. A random forest regression algorithm was used to further evaluate the relative importance of spring SSS in predicting summer rainfall compared to other climate indices. As the SSS is now monitored routinely by satellite and the global Argo float array, it can serve as a good metric for measuring the water cycle and as a precursor for predicting the EAMR rainfall.

Mid to late Holocene climate evolution of the Lake Telmen Basin, North Central Mongolia, based on palynological data

2003 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah J. Fowell ◽  
Barbara C.S. Hansen ◽  
John A. Peck ◽  
P. Khosbayar ◽  
Enebish Ganbold
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Cold Temperatures ◽  
North Central ◽  
Central Mongolia ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Moisture Balance ◽  
Climate Evolution ◽  
Maximum Humidity

AbstractPalynological and sedimentological data from Lake Telmen, in north-central Mongolia, permit qualitative reconstruction of relative changes in moisture balance throughout the mid to late Holocene. The climate of the Atlantic period (7500–4500 yr ago) was relatively arid, indicating that Lake Telmen lay beyond the region of enhanced precipitation delivered by the expanded Asian monsoon. Maximum humidity is recorded between ∼4500 and 1600 cal yr B.P., during the Subboreal (4500–2500 yr ago) and early Subatlantic (2500 yr–present) periods. Additional humid intervals during the Medieval Warm Epoch (∼1000–1300 A.D. or 950–650 ago) and the Little Ice Age (1500– 1900 A.D. or 450–50 yr B.P.) demonstrate the lack of long-term correlation between temperature and moisture availability in this region. A brief aridification centered around 1410 cal yr B.P. encompasses a decade of cold temperatures and summer frost between A.D. 536 and 545 (1414–1405 yr B.P.) inferred from records of Mongolian tree-ring widths. These data suggest that steppe vegetation of the Lake Telmen region is sensitive to centennial- and decadal-scale climatic perturbations.

scholarly journals Late Holocene paleohydrology of Walker Lake and the Carson Sink in the western Great Basin, Nevada, USA

2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth D. Adams ◽  
Edward J. Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Great Basin ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Walker Lake ◽  
Large Lakes ◽  
Moisture Sensitive ◽  
Key Sites ◽  
Age Constraints ◽  
Walker River

AbstractThe late Holocene histories of Walker Lake and the Carson Sink were reconstructed by synthesizing existing data in both basins along with new age constraints from key sites, supplemented with paleohydrologic modeling. The repeated diversions of the Walker River to the Carson Sink and then back to Walker Lake caused Walker Lake–level fluctuations spanning ± 50 m. Low lake levels at about 1000, 750, and 300 cal yr BP are time correlative to the ages of fluvial deposits along the Walker River paleochannel, when flow was directed toward the Carson Sink. The timing and duration of large lakes in the Carson Sink were further refined using moisture-sensitive tree-ring chronologies. The largest lakes required a fourfold to fivefold increase in discharge spanning decades. Addition of Walker River flow to the Carson Sink by itself is inadequate to account for the required discharge. Instead, increases in the runoff coefficient and larger areas of the drainage basin contributing surface runoff may explain the enhanced discharge required to create these large lakes.

Late Holocene precipitation variability in the summer rainfall region of South Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 105-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Curt Stager ◽  
David B. Ryves ◽  
Christiaan King ◽  
Jerome Madson ◽  
Matthew Hazzard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Summer Rainfall ◽  
Precipitation Variability ◽  
Rainfall Region

Subseasonal Variation in ENSO-Related East Asian Rainfall Anomalies during Summer and Its Role in Weakening the Relationship between the ENSO and Summer Rainfall in Eastern China since the Late 1970s

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (9) ◽  
pp. 2271-2284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Ye ◽  
Riyu Lu
Keyword(s):  
Eastern China ◽  
Late Summer ◽  
Summer Rainfall ◽  
Rainfall Anomaly ◽  
Precipitation Anomaly ◽  
Early Summer ◽  
Huai River ◽  
Rainfall Anomalies ◽  
Circulation Anomalies ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The findings of the study reported in this paper show that, during ENSO decaying summers, rainfall and circulation anomalies exhibit clear subseasonal variation. Corresponding to a positive (negative) December–February (DJF) Niño-3.4 index, a positive (negative) subtropical rainfall anomaly, with a southwest–northeast tilt, appears in South China and the western North Pacific (WNP) in the subsequent early summer (from June to middle July) but advances northward into the Huai River Basin in China as well as Korea and central Japan in late summer (from late July to August). Concurrently, a lower-tropospheric anticyclonic anomaly over the WNP extends northward from early to late summer. The seasonal change in the basic flows, characterized by the northward shift of the upper-tropospheric westerly jet and the WNP subtropical high, is suggested to be responsible for the differences in the above rainfall and circulation anomalies between early and late summer by inducing distinct extratropical responses even under the almost identical tropical forcing of a precipitation anomaly in the Philippine Sea. A particular focus of the study is to investigate, using station rainfall data, the subseasonal variations in ENSO-related rainfall anomalies in eastern China since the 1950s, to attempt to examine their role in weakening the relationship between the ENSO and summer mean rainfall in eastern China since the late 1970s. It is found that the ENSO-related rainfall anomalies tend to be similar between early and late summer before the late 1970s, that is, the period characterized by a stronger ENSO–summer mean rainfall relationship. After the late 1970s, however, the anomalous rainfall pattern in eastern China is almost reversed between early and late summer, resulting accordingly in a weakened relationship between the ENSO and total summer rainfall in eastern China.

scholarly journals Gender and Mortuary Ritual at Ancient Teotihuacan, Mexico: a Study of Intrasocietal Diversity

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah C. Clayton
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Gender Roles ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Residential Areas ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Early States ◽  
Social Heterogeneity ◽  
Teotihuacan Mexico

Archaeologists increasingly recognize a need to revise the scales at which we investigate identities such as gender, class and faction in ancient complex societies. In this article I present research on the expression of gender roles and ideologies in the performance of mortuary ritual in four distinctive residential areas of Classic Teotihuacan, including the urban compounds of La Ventilla 3, Tlajinga 33 and Tlailotlacan 6 and the hinterland settlement of Axotlan. Results indicate that gender was constructed and experienced differently across Teotihuacan society. This research demonstrates that multiscalar, comparative approaches to social identity make possible a fuller understanding of the significance of social heterogeneity in structuring early states.

Late Cenozoic Paleoclimates of the Gaap Escarpment, Kalahari margin, South Africa

1978 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 310-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.W. Butzer ◽  
R. Stuckenrath ◽  
A.J. Bruzewicz ◽  
D.M. Helgren
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Summer Rainfall ◽  
Climatic Variation ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Late Cenozoic ◽  
Australopithecus Africanus ◽  
Middle Holocene

The Gaap Escarpment is a dolomite cuesta demarcating the southeast margin of the Kalahari. Since Miocene-Pliocene times, thick masses of lime tufa have repeatedly accumulated at several points along this escarpment, and four regional sequences are described. These allow discrimination of six major depositional complexes, commonly characterized by basal cryoclastic breccias or coarse conglomerates that reflect frost shattering and torrential runoff, followed by sheets and lobes of tufa generated in an environment substantially wetter than today. A chronostratigraphy for the last 30,000 yr is provided by 14C dating, with direct or indirect correlations to the Vaal River sequence. The regional stratigraphy as well as faunal dating indicate an early Pleistocene age for Australopithecus africanus at Taung. Repeated episodes of protracted cold or wetter climate or both begin in terminal Miocene times, and the last Pleistocene cold-moist interval began after 35,000 yr B.P. and ended 14,000 yr B.P. Early and late Holocene times were mainly wetter, whereas the middle Holocene was drier than today. The paleoclimatic sequence differs from that of the southern and southwestern Cape or that of East Africa, but close parallels are evident throughout the lower Vaal Basin and the southern Kalahari. The tufa cycles provide a unique, 5,000,000-yr record of climatic variation in the Kalahari summer-rainfall belt that can be related to complex anomalies of the general atmospheric circulation.

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