LATE PLEISTOCENE-EARLY HOLOCENE VEGETATION LANDSCAPE CHANGE RECORDED BY POLLEN OF DUSHAN CAVE SITE,GUANGXI,CHINA
The Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene is a critical period in the development of human society in East Asia.The vegetation landscape is essential for a better understanding of prehistoric societies since it was closely associated with food that early human needed to survive and is heavily impacted by climate change.Though there were numerous prehistoric archaeological sites in Guangxi,the relationship between human activities and vegetation change wasn't well understood during this period.Dushan cave(23°30′08″N,107°08′5.5″E;250 m a.s.l.)is located 10 km south of Tiandong County,Guangxi.An archaeological excavation was conducted at the entrance of the cave of Dushan cave,stone artifacts,pottery shards,animal and human bones were found in the excavation area.Four samples from surface soil(2 samples inside and 2 samples outside the cave),6 dating samples and 30 soil samples from a 150-cm section of Dushan cave were respectively collected in order to evaluate the reliability of vegetation reconstruction by pollen in cave sediments,establish age-depth model of this section and reconstruct vegetation changes around Dushan cave.In addition,14C dating results of prehistoric archaeological sites(2000～20000 a B.P.)in Guangxi were collected and applied to analyzes the relationship between human activities and vegetation changes during the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene.Our results show that Dushan cave was mainly occupied by human in the Late Pleistocene(15700～14400 cal.a B.P.)and Early Holocene(9500～7800 cal.a B.P.).Pollen spectra from surface sediment inside Dushaan cave is similar to those outside the cave,and pollen spectra within Dushan cave can reliably reconstruct vegetation.Evergreen broad-leaved forest and grassland were scattered around Dushan cave,where large numbers of nut trees including Quercus,Cyclobalanopsis and Castanea/Castanopsis provided ample food for hunters and gatherers during the period of 15700～14400 cal.a B.P.While there was an open vegetation landscape characterized by a significant decrease in the proportion of broad-leaved trees and high proportion of herbaceous plant including Caryophyllaceae and Poaceae around Dushan cave during the period of 9500～7800 cal.a B.P.,which was in contradiction to a warm and humid climate of Lingnan Region in the Early Holocene.This open vegetation landscape may be closely related to the increased intensity of human activities in the Early Holocene.
万方数据
维普
