首页|Climate change drove the route shift of the ancient Silk Road in two distinct ways

Climate change drove the route shift of the ancient Silk Road in two distinct ways

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Although climate change has convincingly been linked to the evolution of human civilization on different temporal scales,its role in influencing the spatial patterns of ancient civilizations has rarely been inves-tigated.The northward shift of the ancient Silk Road(SR)route from the Tarim Basin(TB)to the Junggar Basin during～420-850 CE provides the opportunity to investigate the relationship between climate change and the spatial evolution of human societies.Here,we use a new high-resolution chironomid-based temperature reconstruction from arid China,combined with hydroclimatic and historical datasets,to assess the possible effects of climate fluctuations on the shift of the ancient SR route.We found that a cooling/drying climate in the TB triggered the SR route shift during～420-600 CE.However,a warming/wetting climate during～600-850 CE did not inhibit this shift,but instead promoted it,because of the favorable climate-induced geopolitical conflicts between the Tubo Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty in the TB.Our findings reveal two distinct ways in which climate change drove the spatial evolution of human civilization,and they demonstrate the flexibility of societal responses to climate change.

ChironomidsTemperature reconstructionWater resourcesGeopolitical conflicts

Haipeng Wang、Jianhui Chen、Menghan Qiu、Zhilin Shi、Shengda Zhang、Guanghui Dong、Shuai Ma、Tao Ai、Guan Ren、Fahu Chen

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State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science,Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Lanzhou 730000,China

MOE Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems,Lanzhou University,Lanzhou 730000,China

Institute of Dunhuang Studies,School of History & Culture,Lanzhou University,Lanzhou 730000,China

School of Geography and Remote Sensing,Guangzhou University,Guangzhou 510000,China

Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology,Ürümqi 830011,China

Archaeology of Northern Ethnicity Institute,Renmin University of China,Beijing 100872,China

ALPHA,State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System,Environment and Resources,Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100101,China

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National Key R&D Program of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of ChinaState Key Laboratory of Cryospheric ScienceFoundation for Excellent Youth Scholars of NIEER,CAS

2018YFA06064044237117241822102SKLCS-ZZ-2023FEYS2019009

2024

10.1016/j.scib.2024.02.025

科学通报(英文版)
中国科学院

科学通报(英文版)

CSTPCD
ISSN：1001-6538
年,卷(期)：2024.69(8)
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