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Mismatches of scale in the application of paleoclimatic research to Chinese archaeology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2020

Yitzchak Y. Jaffe Open the ORCID record for Yitzchak Y. Jaffe [Opens in a new window] ,
Lorenzo Castellano ,
Gideon Shelach-Lavi  and
Roderick B. Campbell
Yitzchak Y. Jaffe*
Affiliation:
The Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, 199 Aba-Hushi Avenue, Haifa, Israel 3498838
Lorenzo Castellano
Affiliation:
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, 15 East 84th St. New York, New York10028, USA
Gideon Shelach-Lavi
Affiliation:
Department of East Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, 91905Israel
Roderick B. Campbell
Affiliation:
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, 15 East 84th St. New York, New York10028, USA
*
*Corresponding author at: The Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, 199 Aba-Hushi Avenue, Haifa, Israel 3498838 E-mail address: [email protected] (Y.Y. Jaffe).
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Abstract

Issues surrounding the difficult task of correlating archaeological and climatic trajectories are directly impacting the study of human-environmental interaction in Ancient China. We have chosen to focus on the 4.2 ka BP event due to the widespread belief in recent Chinese archaeological publications that it brought about the collapse of Neolithic cultures in multiple regions of China. Following a literature review concerning the many issues surrounding the reconstruction of the 4.2 ka BP event in East Asia, we present three short case studies from the Lower Yangzi, the Shaanxi loess plateau, and the Central Plains detailing a number of problems with Chinese archaeological attempts at using climate change as a causal mechanism for sociopolitical change. We then focus on a common but highly problematic methodology—the growing use of archaeological data compiled in the Atlas of Chinese Cultural Relics to correlate with climate proxies in order to generate linear, causal models explaining sociopolitical collapse. We follow with an example from Northeast China, where work from the past three decades has provided ample data with which to begin answering these questions in a more productive manner, and end with a set of suggestions for archaeologists and climate scientists going forward.

Keywords

ChinaHuman-environmental interactions4.2 ka BP eventSocial collapseBronze AgeArchaeological survey
Type
Contribution to the QR Forum
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 99 , January 2021 , pp. 14 - 33
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Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2020

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