Inner Asian agro-pastoralism as optimal adaptation strategy of Wupu inhabitants (3000–2400 cal BP) in Xinjiang, China
| Autor: | Michael Spate, Hongen Jiang, Kuerban Reheman, Hai Xu, Guilin Zhang, Binghua Wang, Yongqiang Wang, Lijing Wang, Zhiyong Zhang, Qingli Sun, Wenying Li |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
010506 paleontology
Archeology Global and Planetary Change 060102 archaeology Ecology Agroforestry media_common.quotation_subject Paleontology 06 humanities and the arts Inner Asia 01 natural sciences Geography Agro pastoralism Iron Age 0601 history and archaeology Adaptation China 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Earth-Surface Processes Diversity (politics) media_common |
| Zdroj: | The Holocene. 31:203-216 |
| ISSN: | 1477-0911 0959-6836 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/0959683620941139 |
| Popis: | Exploring ancient socio-economic adaptation is a basic issue of human-environment interaction. Xinjiang in northwest China is a region of high geographic diversity. Past human adaptations to this arid marginal area is a current focus of research interest but still lacks in-depth study. This article presents data from the Wupu Cemetery, located in the extremely arid Hami Basin in the eastern Tianshan Mountains. Archaeobotanical analysis is used to reconstruct the local environment niche and the subsistence economy of inhabitants. Radiocarbon dating results indicate the cemetery was occupied between 3000 and 2400 cal BP, during the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age. In total 16 species of the plant remains are identified, including four cereal crops, foxtail millet ( Setaria italica), broomcorn millet ( Panicum miliaceum), naked barley ( Hordeum vulgare var. coeleste), wheat ( Triticum aestivum) and 12 wild types. The riparian plant Populus euphratica and aquatic plant Typha sp. indicate inhabitants lived in an oasis near the cemetery. Environmental interpretation of this data compares well with other seven sites in arid southern Xinjiang. In addition to faunal remains from the site, it is assumed that a flexible system of multi-crop farming and herding was the subsistence pattern around Wupu. This system was widespread across Inner Asia and appears to have played a central role in adapting to different marginal environments during the Bronze Age and Iron Age. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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