The grand platform of Huangchengtai at Shimao site in Shenmu, Shaanxi

Remains of the grand platform in the locus of Huangchengtai at Shimao site in Shenmu, Shaanxi was discovered and excavated during the 2018–2019 season. The south-eastern corner and southern buttress of the platform were revealed. The locations of the other three sides of the buttresses were also preliminarily confirmed. As many as 70 stone carvings were discovered from multiple contexts, including the surface of the southern buttress, the floor of the corridor, as well as the debris of the southern buttress inside the corridor. The relative chronology of this platform and stone carvings cannot be later than the late Longshan period. The absolute date ranges from 2000 BCE to 1800 BCE. Fieldwork performed at the grand platform encourages multiple archaeological discussions, including the settlement layout within the Huangchengtai area, the nature of the settlement, and its role as the core of the Shimao site.

Spatial Expansion of Human Settlement during the Longshan Period (~4.5–~3.9 ka BP) and Its Hydroclimatic Contexts in the Lower Yellow River Floodplain, Eastern China

Obvious spatial expansion of human settlement occurred in the lower Yellow River floodplain during the Longshan period, but the external factors driving this expansion remain unclear. In this study, we first delineated the hydroclimatic changes at both regional and local scales within and around the lower Yellow River floodplain and then examined the relationships of human settlements with hydroclimatic settings between the pre-Longshan and Longshan periods. The results indicate that the site distribution, site density and hydroclimatic conditions exhibited significant shifts during the pre-Longshan and Longshan periods. In the pre-Longshan period, the intense East Asian summer monsoon and abundant monsoon-related precipitation caused widespread development of lakes and marshes in the lower Yellow River floodplain. As a result, the circumjacent highlands of the lower Yellow River floodplain contained concentrated human settlements. However, the persistent weakening of the East Asian summer monsoon and consequent precipitation decline, in conjunction with accelerated soil erosion due to decreasing forest vegetation and strengthening of human activities on the upstream Loess Plateau in the Longshan period, are likely to have jointly caused both shrinking and faster filling of preexisting lakes and marshes. Subsequently, a large area of arable land had been created in the lower Yellow River floodplain and thus was occupied by locally rapid increasing population, resulting in the notable spatial expansion of human settlements during the Longshan period.

The spatiotemporal evolution of cities from the ancient state period to the kingdom period in the Central Plains region, China

The Central Plains region in China has been an important area for human settlement since ancient times. As the only continuous civilization over thousands of years in the world, the Central Plains Civilization is the origin of the Chinese nation. The number, size, and distribution of cities have changed greatly from the ancient state period (i.e. the Yangshao and Longshan periods) to the kingdom period (i.e. the Xia and Shang Dynasties), which reflects the evolution of settlement and social organization. In this study, GIS technology was used to establish the city spatial database for the periods that witnessed the transition from ancient states to the kingdom, including the Yangshao period, the Longshan period, and the Xia and Shang Dynasties. Moreover, the nearest neighbor distance analysis and the gravity center analysis were implemented to explore the possible factors that were considered in the city site selection, including altitude and distances to nearest rivers. Furthermore, efforts were made to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution of the shape, size, agglomeration, and varying gravity center of cities as well as the spatiotemporal evolution of moats. The results show that: (1) Most city sites were distributed in areas with altitudes of < 500 m above sea level and distances of less than 3 km away from rivers during all three periods. (2) From the Yangshao period to the Xia and Shang Dynasties, the shape of the city gradually changed from circular to square, and the type of moats changed from trenches in the Yangshao period to city walls in the Longshan period and no walls in Xia and Shang Dynasties. (3) The size and grade of the 18 cities in the Yangshao period shared high similarity, with an average area of 20 hectares. In comparison, the sizes of 24 cities in the Longshan period increased significantly, with an average of 39 hectares. During the Xia and Shang Dynasties, there were 22 cities with an average size of 340 hectares, and the grade of sizes became obvious, marking the entrance into the centralized kingdom period. (4) Cities were scattered in the decentralized pattern during the ancient state periods (i.e. Yangshao and Longshan periods), whereas they became agglomerative in the kingdom period (i.e. Xia and Shang Dynasties). This reflects the evolution of the spatial scopes and social organizational forms. (5) From ancient states to the kingdom, the city center moved around Songshan Mountain from the northwest to the southeast and again to the northeast.

Interdisciplinary study on dietary complexity in Central China during the Longshan Period (4.5–3.8 kaBP): New isotopic evidence from Wadian and Haojiatai, Henan Province

Central China is one of the key regions of the world that sees the transition from early Neolithic urbanization into the social complexity of Bronze Age civilizations. Previous evidence had indicated that the diets of humans and the feeding strategies of livestock in Central China during the Longshan Period (4.5–3.8 kaBP) became more complex and diverse, including the widespread introduction of cattle and sheep, and the coexistence of different human dietary groups within several settlements. Within this paper new and pre-existing stable isotope analyses from human ( n = 31) and animal bones ( n = 76) recovered from Wadian and Haojiatai, two important Longshan sites in the southeast of Central China, are integrated with multiproxy data from archaeological, environmental, and cultural contexts to interpret the social conditions behind dietary complexity from an interdisciplinary perspective. We suggest that the feeding strategies of cattle and sheep from Western Asia were successfully adapted to the pre-existing local millet farming subsistence regimes, and that the different human dietary groups seen corresponded to continuing diversified subsistence strategies that included millet farming, rice farming, and hunter-gathering. This dietary complexity is considered as a reflection of different patterns within the cultural interactions in Central China during the Longshan Period that saw the mixing of populations with diversified cultural backgrounds. This is represented by the introduction of extraneous livestock and the coexistence of millet and rice farmers at Wadian, and the continued expansion of millet agriculture within Central China indicated by the coexistence of millet farmers and hunter-gatherers at Haojiatai.