Collapse of Ancient Liangzhu Culture Caused by Climate Change – Has It Risen Because of That?
UNIVERSITY INNSBRUCK
CREDIT: HAIWEI ZHANG
Known as the “Venice of China’s Stone Age,” the Liangzhu excavation site in eastern China is considered one of the most important evidences of early China’s advanced civilization. Over 5000 years ago, the city had a complex water management system. To this day, it remains controversial as to what led to the sudden demise. An international team with Innsbruck climatologist and geologist Christoph Spötl published in the journal Science Advances.
In the Yangtze River Delta, about 160 kilometers southwest of Shanghai, there are archaeological ruins of the city of Liangzhu. There, an advanced culture blossomed some 5,300 years ago, considered one of the earliest evidences of monumental water culture. The oldest evidence of large irrigation structures in China comes from this Late Neolithic cultural site. The walled city has an intricate system of canals, dams and reservoirs. This system makes it possible to cultivate very large agricultural areas all year round. In the history of human civilization, this is one of the first examples of highly developed communities based on water infrastructure. However, the metal was still unknown in this culture. Thousands of elaborately crafted jade burial objects were found during the excavations. Long unexplored and underrated for its historical significance, the archaeological site is now considered a well-preserved record of Chinese civilization dating back over 5000 years. Liangzhu was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019. However, this city’s advanced civilization, inhabited for nearly 1000 years, came to an abrupt end. To this day, it remains controversial as to what causes it. “A thin layer of clay has been found on the preserved ruins, which suggests a possible link between the collapse of an advanced civilization and the flooding of the Yangtze River or flooding from the Sea. East Flower. No evidence can be found for human causes such as belligerent conflicts,” explains Christoph Spötl, head of the Quaternary Research Group in the Department of Geology. “However, there is no clear conclusion as to what could be the cause of the mud itself.”
Dripstone archives answers
Caves and their deposits, such as trickling rocks, are among the most important extant climate archives. They allow to recreate the climatic conditions above the caves several 100,000 years ago. As it remains unclear what caused the sudden collapse of the Liangzhu culture, the team searched for suitable archives to investigate the possible climatic causes of this collapse. Geologist Haiwei Zhang from Xi’an Jiaotong University in Xi’an, who spent a year at Innsbruck University as a visiting researcher in 2017, took stalagmite samples from two caves Shennong and Jiulong, located southwest of the excavation site. “These caves have been thoroughly explored for many years. They are located in the same area affected by the Southeast Asian monsoon as the Yangtze River Delta, and their stalagmites provide accurate insight into when the Liangzhu culture collapsed, according to archaeological findings. , occurred about 4,300 years ago,” explains Spötl. Data from the stalagmites show that between 4345 and 4324 years ago, there was a period of extreme rainfall. Evidence for this is provided by the The isotope record of carbon, measured at the University of Innsbruck.Accurate dating made by uranium-thorium analyzes at Xi’an Jiaotong University, has a measurement accuracy of ±30 years. “This is amazingly accurate from a time perspective,” said the geologist. even complicated dams and canals could not withstand this large volume of water, destroying the city of Liangzhu and forcing people to flee.” Conditions The very humid climate continued for another 300 years, as geologists show from cave data.
JOURNEYS
Scientific advance
DOI
ARTICLE TITLE
Collapse of Liangzhu and other Neolithic cultures in the lower Yangtze in response to climate change
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
November 24, 2021
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