Mid-Holocene palaeoflood events recorded at the Zhongqiao Neolithic cultural site in the Jianghan Plain, middle Yangtze River Valley, China

Quaternary Science Reviews 173 (2017) 145e160

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Mid-Holocene palaeoflood events recorded at the Zhongqiao Neolithic cultural site in the Jianghan Plain, middle Yangtze River Valley, China Li Wu a, b, *, Cheng Zhu c, **, Chunmei Ma c, Feng Li d, Huaping Meng e, Hui Liu e, Linying Li a, Xiaocui Wang d, Wei Sun c, Yougui Song b a

College of Territorial Resources and Tourism, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241002, PR China State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, CAS, Xi'an 710054, PR China School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, PR China d State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology, CAS, Nanjing 210008, PR China e Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Wuhan 430077, PR China b c

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 2 December 2016 Received in revised form 5 July 2017 Accepted 13 August 2017

Palaeo-hydrological and archaeological investigations were carried out in the Jianghan Plain in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Based on a comparative analysis of modern flood sediments and multidisciplinary approaches such as AMS14C and archaeological dating, zircon micromorphology, grain size, magnetic susceptibility, and geochemistry, we identified palaeoflood sediments preserved at the Zhongqiao archaeological site. The results indicate that three palaeoflood events (i.e. 4800e4597, 4479 e4367, and 4168-3850 cal. yr BP) occurred at the Zhongqiao Site. Comparisons of palaeoflood deposit layers at a number of Neolithic cultural sites show that two extraordinary palaeoflood events occurred in the Jianghan Plain during approximately 4900e4600 cal. yr BP (i.e.mid-late Qujialing cultural period) and 4100-3800 cal. yr BP (i.e. from late Shijiahe cultural period to the Xia Dynasty). Further analysis of the environmental context suggests that these flooding events might have been connected with great climate variability during approximately 5000e4500 cal. yr BP and at ca. 4000 cal. yr BP. These two palaeoflood events were closely related to the expansion of the Jianghan lakes driven by the climatic change, which in turn influenced the rise and fall of the Neolithic cultures in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Other evidence also suggests that the intensified discrepancy between social development and environmental change processes (especially the hydrological process) during the late Shijiahe cultural period might be the key factor causing the collapse of the Shijiahe Culture. The extraordinary floods related to the climatic anomaly at ca. 4000 cal. yr BP and political conflicts from internal or other cultural areas all accelerated the collapse of the Shijiahe Culture. © 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords: Palaeoflood Neolithic Site Climatic event Jianghan Plain Yangtze River Mid-Holocene

1. Introduction With the progress into the research on Past Global Changes (PAGES) (Yang et al., 2011; Zhu et al., 2012; IPCC, 2013; Lowe and Walker, 2013; Roberts, 2014; Govin et al., 2015; Zolitschka et al., 2015; Chen et al., 2016; Rao et al., 2016; Zhou et al., 2016), studies on the impact of catastrophic environmental events on human civilization during the Holocene have received more and more attention (Turney and Brown, 2007; Zong et al., 2007; Wu

* Corresponding author. College of Territorial Resources and Tourism, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241002, PR China. ** Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (L. Wu), [email protected] (C. Zhu). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.08.018 0277-3791/© 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

et al., 2012a,b, 2014; Innes et al., 2014; Chen et al., 2015; Lillios et al., 2016). Palaeofloods and their temporal scale have become an extremely important research component of the PAGES program (Baker, 2002, 2006, 2008; Yu et al., 2003, 2010; Huang et al., 2010, 2011a, 2012; Xia, 2012; Greenbaum et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2015; Wu et al., 2016). Long-term flood records can be obtained through studying palaeoflood sediments (Luo et al., 2013; Yin, 2015; Sharma et al., 2017). Palaeoflood deposits preserved in the stratigraphical context of archaeological sites provide several new ideas: first, natural alluvium without any cultural relics has been found in some archaeological sites, most of which have the characteristics of alluvial flooding; second, in terms of the chronology of palaeoflood sediments, AMS14C and other archaeological dating of the unearthed objects often corroborate each other, offsetting the

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difficulties in dating of some palaeoflood sediments due to the absence of organic matters therein. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the Jianghan Plain is not only an important “land of milk and honey” in China, but also one of the areas suffering from the most serious flood events (Zhou and Tang, 2008). Flood disasters were frequent after the Holocene (Zhou, 1986, 1992; Yu et al., 2009), exerting a profound impact on social development, settlement changes, and human livelihood in this region, and these now provide fertile materials for studies of prehistoric flood events, the development of human civilization, and changes in the relationship between man and land through archaeological stratigraphy. Although in past studies (Zhou, 1986, 1992; Zhu et al., 1997; Liu, 2000; Xie et al., 2007), some progresses have been made, two problems still exist in the study of prehistoric floods in the Jianghan Plain. First, previous studies of prehistoric floods in the Jianghan Plain have failed to make full use of the stratigraphic information from numerous archaeological sites in the region. A total of 1362 archaeological sites from the Paleolithic Age to the Warring States time have been found in and around the Jianghan Plain (Wang, 2007; Li et al., 2011b). A large number of charcoals or plant residues in the strata of these sites can be used for dating (Zhou, 1986; Zhu et al., 1997, 2005, 2014). Thus, the age of cultural layers of these sites can be determined by the method that combines AMS14C dating and excavated artifacts (Zhu et al., 2005, 2008; Huang et al., 2011a,b, 2017). Then the exact time of palaeoflood deposits, silt, and other intermittent layers between the cultural layers can be derived (Zhu et al., 2005; Wu et al., 2012a,b). However, up to now there were only some progresses on the historical floods based on the research of natural fluviolacustrine strata in the Jianghan Plain (Xie et al., 2007; Li et al., 2009; Zheng et al., 2015). Second, the Shijiahe Culture, which was the last well-developed culture close to the threshold of civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, disappeared around 4000 yr BP (Wu and Liu, 2004; Liu and Feng, 2012; Li et al., 2013), but there has been no definite conclusion on the exact age and environmental causes of its demise. Some Japanese and Chinese archaeologists believe that the widespread weakened summer monsoon and arid climatic events in Eurasia around 4000 cal. yr BP may have led to the decline of the Shijiahe Culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River during the late Neolithic Period (Yasuda et al., 2004; Hunan Provincial Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics and International Center of Japanese Culture, 2007). Other archaeologists and historians believe that the disappearance of the Shijiahe Culture is related to the formation of an extremely complex social-economic union because the invasion of external forces led to the rapid collapse of a highly centralized social and economic system (Guo, 2010). However, recent studies suggest that, although the Shijiahe cultural period may have been influenced by drought, drops in temperature and other climatic events and wars, natural alluvium (such as silt stratification) can often be found in the strata of other archaeological sites with suspected palaeoflood layers dated to the Shijiahe cultural period in the Jianghan Plain (Wu et al., 2012a,b; Zhang et al., 2013a; Li et al., 2014a; Li et al., 2014b; Zhu et al., 2014, 2016). Therefore, selecting typical archaeological sites for the study of the interactions between prehistoric flood events and man-land relationship in this region will provide more reliable stratigraphy-based explanation for the history of human civilization and other regional issues that is difficult to explain in the past, and it is of scientific importance to investigate the response of regional changes in climate and hydrological environment to global changes as well as the impact of prehistoric flood events on the origin and early development of Chinese civilization.

2. Geographical settings and stratigraphy The Zhongqiao Neolithic site is situated on the first terrace of the north bank of Lake Changhu, along the border with Jingzhou City (Fig. 1). This site, with an area of 21,000 m2, is located 60 km south of Shayang County. The central geographical coordinate of the site is 30
3101400 N, 112
270 0000 E, and the elevation of its surface is 27e29 m above sea level (a.s.l.). The Zhongqiao Site extends NE-SW along the border zone of the loess terrace and downhill between the northwestern edge of Jianghan Plain and the Jingshan Mountains. According to the microrelief, approximately two major step platforms can be found at the site. The second step platform, extending from the northeast to the centre of the site with an area of 4000 m2, is 1e2 m higher than the first step platform and contains the main burial areas; the first step platform, extending from the southwest to the centre of site, with an area of 16,000 m2, contains the main living areas and dips to the lake shore from west to east. The Zhongqiao Site contains the most complete Neolithic cultural information discovered in the Jianghan Plain since the archaeological rescue excavations of the Yangtze-to-Hanjiang River Water Diversion Project. It contains Daxi, Qujialing, and Shijiahe cultural layers from the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the Neolithic Age, and there are many charcoal deposits in each cultural layer. The archaeological team designated by the Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Department excavated the Zhongqiao Neolithic site between October 2009 and January 2010, clarifying the cultural connotations and the distribution of the site and unearthing nearly 20 Neolithic housing remains and urn burials as well as over 100 tools, utensils, and other cultural relics, and large number of Neolithic pottery fragments. There are a total of 49 excavation units belonging two districts (i.e. I and II) in this Neolithic site. These units are numbered as follows: I) T0101~T0103, T0201~T0205, T0301~T0306, T0401~T0407, T0415, T0505~T0509, T0515, T0516, T0605~T0610, T0613, T0614, T0711~T0713, T0813, T0913, T1013, T1113; II) T0101~T0103, T0201, T0202 (Cultural Heritage Bureau of Hubei Province and Hubei Provincial Management Bureau of South-to-North Water Transfer, 2014). All of the unit profiles are in the same stratigraphic sequence. There is only a difference in the excavation depth of the unit profile. It is noteworthy that the Zhongqiao Site has natural alluvium layers from both the earlymiddle and late periods of the Shijiahe culture. Based on field observations of the macroscopic morphological features, combined with sedimentary, soil, and archaeological stratigraphic features, a detailed T0405 profile is available for the typical description of layers at the site (Fig. 1 and Table 1). Since the Zhongqiao Site is only 30 km away from the Yangtze River, flood deposits form readily under the dual impact of backwaters and summer peaks of the Yangtze River. Well-preserved modern flood deposits formed in 1998 have been found in both the Wencunjia and Ershengzhou shoals along the Yangtze River to the south of the site, with clear horizontal bedding and cyclothems with alternate fine and coarse sediments (Fig. 1). 3. Material and methods After careful field investigations, a chronological framework was initially established for the investigation of the profile (T0405) based on comparison between the stratigraphic relationships and cultural relics. The strata of the profile were cut and removed by means of 4 overlapping 1 m long stainless steel boxes using the packaged core sampling method (Jones, 2002). A total of 225 samples were collected continuously at 2 cm intervals in the Institute of Regional Environmental Evolution, Nanjing University. These samples were classified and selected for experiments based

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Fig. 1. Geographic location, stratigraphic profile, and sampling of the Zhongqiao Site. a: The location of Zhongqiao Site in the Jianghan Plain. b: Archaeological excavation site and unit distribution. c: Stratigraphic profile of unit T0405 in the Zhongqiao Site. d: The packaged core sampling process by means of four overlapping 1 m long stainless steel boxes; the pictures on the left side are the palaeoflood deposit layers, while on the right lower are the modern flood deposit photographs from the Wencunjia and Ershengzhou sampling sites.

on research needs and stratigraphic importance, and a total of 106 grain-size samples, 225 magnetic susceptibility samples, 12 zircon micro-shape samples, and 113 elemental analysis samples were selected. Meanwhile, 6 samples from different layers of modern flood deposits of the Yangtze River formed in 1998 in Wencunjia

and Ershengzhou were collected (each sample was formed by evenly mixing several samples from the same layer) for comparative analysis. After the sedimentary samples were dried at room temperature, grain-size characteristics were measured with a Malvern Mastersizer 2000 laser analyzer, and magnetic

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Table 1 Description of palaeoflood deposits and cultural layers along unit T0405 at the Zhongqiao Site. No. Stratigraphy

Depth (m) Archaeological age

1

Cultivation soil

0.30

2a

Cultural layer

0.40

2b

Cultural layer

0.51

3

Cultural layer

0.80

4

Cultural layer

1.19

5

Palaeoflood deposits 1.53

6

Cultural layer

7

Palaeoflood deposits 2.49

8

Cultural layer

2.87

9

Cultural layer

3.30

10

Palaeoflood deposits 3.55

2.05

Stratigraphical description

Modern

Taupe-brown sandy clay containing large amounts of plant roots, plant ash, and charcoals, mixed properties Ming and Qing Dynasties Lark-brown clay containing large amounts of plant roots, Qinghua ceramic shards and grey black pottery shards as well as mottled clay Ming and Qing Dynasties Turbid yellow-brown silty clay containing plant roots, ceramic shards, and red pottery shards, as well as rusty spots Tang and Song Dynasties Lark-brown silty clay containing plant roots and rusty spot as well as unearthed ceramic shards of the Song Dynasty and grey-brown pottery shards Late Shijiahe Culture Taupe clayey silt containing plant roots, red pottery shards and white spots, existing crumb structure and disturbance ripple Late Shijiahe Culture Lark-brown silty clay containing plant seeds, nodular rusty spots and wormholes, existing obvious disturbance ripple Mid-late Shijiahe Culture Fuscous silty layer containing large amounts of red or reddish brown pottery shards and plant remains as well as wormholes and rusty spots Middle Shijiahe Culture Lark-brown clayey silt containing many rusty spots and nodules as well as some plant remains and organic matter, existing disturbance ripple Early-mid Shijiahe Culture Brown clay containing many plant remains and red or reddish brown pottery shards as well as wormholes, rusty spots, and a few nodules Early Shijiahe Culture Fuscous clayey silt containing large amounts of red or reddish brown pottery shards and plant remains, as well as wormholes, rusty spots, and nodules Late Qujialing Culture Lark-brown silt clay containing plant remains, rusty spots and nodules, as well as many organic matters, washiness, existing disturbance ripple

4. Results

susceptibility was measured with an AGICO KLY-3 magnetic susceptibility meter (875 HZ, 300 A/m) at the Laboratory of Environmental Magnetism, Nanjing University. Detrital zircon grains were extracted following the application of conventional mineral separation techniques (Zou, 1997; Zhao, 2004; Zhang et al., 2013b, 2016). Heavy and nonmagnetic minerals were first extracted following standard water and magnetic separation. For each sample, more than 300 zircon grains were randomly picked, using a KEYENCE VHX-1000E digital microscope at the Institute of Regional Environmental Evolution, Nanjing University, from heavy and nonmagnetic minerals in order to provide a statistically significant sample (Andersen, 2005; Zhang et al., 2016). They were then placed on the round copper target and zircon micro-shapes were identified and photographed under the above microscope. Elemental analysis samples were prepared using a powder compressing method and then tested with an ARL-9800 X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometer (XRF) at the Center of Modern Analysis, Nanjing University. In terms of chronology, six charcoal samples were collected from the 6th, 8th, and 9th cultural layers of the T0405 profile, the 4th cultural layer of the T0201 profile, and the 12th layer of the T0204 profile (datable organic materials were not found in the 4th, 11th, and 12th cultural layers of the T0405 profile). The AMS14C dating was conducted in the Laboratory of AMS14C Sample Preparation, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Beijing University (Table 2). All radiocarbon ages were calibrated using the CALIB 6.0.1 computer software in conjunction with the INTCAL09 tree-ring datasets (Reimer et al., 2009).

4.1. Chronology The AMS14C calibration results (Table 2) from the cultural layer profiles at the Zhongqiao Site show that the 5th palaeoflood layer must have been deposited after 4168 cal. yr BP, the 7th layer between 4479 cal. yr BP and 4367 cal. yr BP, and the 10th layer before 4597 cal. yr BP. Combined with the ages of objects unearthed from the strata at the Zhongqiao Site, the calibrated age of the 4th layer from the late Shijiahe cultural period is 3410 ± 40 cal. yr BP. However, according to the highly credible systematic calibration curves of the Shijiahe Culture 14C data collection (Guo, 2010), currently archaeological wisdom is that the Shijiahe Culture ended 1900 BC (i.e., 3850 cal. yr BP). At the same time, considering that the 4th cultural layer of the T0201 profile is close to the earth's surface and 14C dating may appear younger due to the impact of modern plant roots, the deposition of the 5th palaeoflood layer is finally estimated between 4168 cal. yr BP and 3850 cal. yr BP. The 11th layer (below the 10th) from the early Qujialing cultural period is dated between 5100 cal. yr BP and 4800 cal. yr BP based on the parallelism between objects unearthed. The calibrated age of the 12th cultural layer is 6236 ± 49 cal. yr BP, consistent with the conclusion that it was deposited in the Daxi cultural period (i.e., 6500-5100 cal. yr BP) based on the parallelism between objects unearthed from the cultural layer, which also indirectly supports the estimation of the age of the 11th layer. Therefore, the age of the 10th palaeoflood deposit layer is inferred to be between 4800 cal. yr BP and 4597 cal. yr BP.

Table 2 AMS14C ages of charcoals collected from cultural layers at the Zhongqiao Site in the Jianghan Plain. Stratigraphy

Depth (cm)

Laboratory No.

14

T0201-4 T0405-6 T0405-6 T0405-8 T0405-9 T0204-12

130 154 205 250 288 e

GZ3854 GZ3855 GZ3856 GZ4102 GZ3858 GZ3859

3189 3791 3937 4030 4119 5409

C age (yr BP) ± ± ± ± ± ±

23 28 24 20 25 25

2s calibrated age (BC)

2s calendar age (cal. yr BP)

1500 2299 2491 2581 2714 4334

3410 4168 4367 4479 4597 6236

(100%) 1420 (99.46%) 2137 (96.01%) 2342 (97.82%) 2477 (56.47%) 2579 (100%) 4237

± ± ± ± ± ±

40 81 75 52 68 49

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Fig. 2. Grain-size distribution of palaeoflood deposits in T0405 profile at the Zhongqiao Site in comparison with that of modern flood deposits of the Jianghan Plain in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

4.2. Features of the palaeoflood deposits It was found that the most prominent feature of the T0405 profile and other 48 profiles (e.g., T0201, T0404, and T0303, etc.) at the Zhongqiao Site is that there are three natural deposit layers without any cultural remains below and between the Shijiahe cultural layers (Fig. 1). This is similar to the natural deposit layers without any artifacts and traces of human activities at the Zhongba Site in Chongqing (Zhu et al., 2005). From the perspective of macroscopic sedimentology, these three natural deposit layers consist essentially of grayish yellow clayey silt or silty loam, which is 20e45 cm thick. The sediment color, structure, composition, grain size, etc. change along vertical direction and there is much wavy or horizontal sedimentary bedding with iron rust, which shows a perturbation or corrugation structure with alternating gray and yellow colors. It seems that there is a sedimentary hiatus between the palaeoflood deposit layers and cultural layers. According to the results of palaeoflood sedimentology research on rivers elsewhere as summarized by Huang et al. (2011b), combined with our previous study of palaeoflood in regions of the Yangtze River Valley (Zhu et al., 2005, 2008, 2014), it is preliminarily determined that the three natural deposit layers in the T0405 profile are clearly distinguishable from eolian loess-paleosol and cultural deposits and have most features of palaeoflood deposits (Fig. 1 and Table 1). Further analysis and comparison of physical and chemical indicators will reveal microcosmic differential features of palaeoflood deposits and cultural layers in the T0405 profile. In this way, the existence of palaeoflood events can be effectively determined. The frequency distribution curve of sedimentary grain sizes can help infer the sediment provenance, carrying power, and other key information about the sedimentary environment (Zhan and Xie, 2001; Zhu et al., 2005, 2008). The grain size frequency distribution curves of the deposits in the 5th, 7th, and 10th palaeoflood deposit layers at the Zhongqiao Site are very similar to modern flood deposit layers in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, which is typical of suspended sediments in open channels (Fig. 2). The grain size frequency distribution curves are usually unimodal, with the main peak showing a significant tendency towards coarser grains. There is substantial fine and medium-sized silt component, among which silt with size between 10 mm and 40 mm accounts for a considerable fraction, showing that these palaeoflood deposit layers and the deposits carried by them have the same material sources as the flood deposits in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and reaffirming that flood deposits usually feature large quantities of suspended silt. There is also an obviously similar pattern of the grain-size distribution in the cumulative probability curves between potential palaeofloods and modern floods

sediments (Fig. 3). There are only suspension and saltation populations, with the traction population absent (Visher, 1969; Luo et al., 2013). The percentage of suspension in the range of 4e12Ф is greater than 90%, this feature is coincide with some previous studies of palaeoflood deposits in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River (Zhan and Xie, 2001; Zhu et al., 2005, 2008; Li et al., 2011a). This can be another evidence that these silt layers are palaeoflood sediments. The magnetic susceptibility of modern flood deposits in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River at Wencunjia and Ershengzhou in 1998 ranges between 67.41 SI and 133.71 SI. It can be seen from Fig. 4 that the magnetic susceptibility values of deposits in both palaeoflood deposit layers and modern flood deposit layers are very low, ranging mostly between 58.67 SI and 770.51 SI with most below 95.34 SI and generally lower than the values of cultural layers (ranging between 48.50 SI and 2584.29 SI with most above 352.32 SI). The magnetic susceptibility values of cultural layers are generally higher than those of the adjacent palaeoflood deposit layers, while the magnetic susceptibility values of topsoil in the

Fig. 3. Cumulative probability for sediments from palaeoflood deposits in T0405 profile at the Zhongqiao Site in comparison with that of modern flood deposits of the Jianghan Plain in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

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Fig. 4. Stratigraphy, magnetic susceptibility, Rb/Sr, Cu content, and archaeological age of T0405 profile at the Zhongqiao Site.

profile do not change significantly (ranging between 83.27 SI and 114.53 SI, possibly related to an even mixture of soil due to repeated tillage). It can be found by comparison with previous studies that the magnetic susceptibility distribution curve of the Zhongqiao Site hardly reflects the characteristics of regional climate change during the period (Li et al., 2014b), suggesting that reasons contributing to the above phenomenon may be related to the nature and provenance features of the site. In other words, the contribution of intense human activities and other factors significantly exceeds the impact of climate change on the magnetic susceptibility of the deposits. Similar results have also been found during the study of the palaeoflood deposit layers of the Zhongba and Yuxi Sites in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River (Zhu et al., 2005, 2008), as well as the Ritterbush Basin in New England, USA (Brown et al., 2000). Considering that there are no large mountains near the site, the above phenomenon is probably due to the accumulation of ferromagnetic minerals from shards of pottery etc. (which employ many ferromagnetic minerals) in cultural layers with human activity (Kletetschka and Banerjee, 1995; Shi et al., 2007), while the quantity of ferromagnetic minerals is relatively small in flood deposits consisting of suspended sediments. According to the rule of “uniformitarianism” in geology, palaeoflood deposit layers at the site and modern flood deposits in the same region should have similar upstream material sources and carrying characteristics, so their heavy minerals should have similar shapes (Zhu et al., 2005, 2008, 2010a). Zircon is one of the common heavy minerals found in river deposits (Wang et al., 2014), and observed under a microscope the zircon crystals in layers from the Zhongqiao Site are in the form of mainly rounded columnar,

spherical, tetragonal bipyramid, ditetragonal bipyramid, and tetragonal prism (Zhu et al., 2005, 2008). Due to their extreme hardness (7.5) and uniquely original tetragonal bipyramid shapes, few of them become rounded after being corroded during scouring and carrying (Table 3). The 5th, 7th, and 10th layers of the site, where palaeoflood deposit layers are located, have the highest proportions of rounded columnar shapes, from 45.13% to 51.14%, which is similar to the proportions of rounded columnar shapes from modern flood deposit layers in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in 1998, which range between 47.26% and 48.96%, but is slightly lower than that in modern flood deposit layers at the Zhongba Site in 1981 (55.36%) and the Yuxi Site in 2004 (60.92%) in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River (Zhu et al., 2005, 2008). Correspondingly, the 2a, 2b, 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 8th layer of the site, where cultural layers are located, have the highest proportions of zircon with the original tetragonal bipyramid shape (51.66%e 64.51%), whereas the proportion of rounded columnar zircon is generally between 22.98% and 32.05%. It can also be seen from Fig. 5 that the shapes of zircon in the three palaeoflood deposit layers at the investigation site and those of modern flood deposits in 1998 in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River are very similar, mainly reflected by the following data: ① the shapes of zircon are usually semi-rounded or rounded columnar and there are obvious signs of rounding in edges and corners; ② the zircon crystals of the WCJ-1, ESZ-1, and ESZ-2 samples from modern flood deposit layers of 1998 in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River as well as from the No. 5e77, 5e84, 7e142, 7e158, and 10e218 palaeoflood deposit layer samples from the T0405 profile at the Zhongqiao Site have been ground from the original tetragonal bipyramid shape into

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Table 3 Comparison of zircon morphology among palaeoflood deposits and cultural layers in T0405 profile at the Zhongqiao Site with modern flooding deposits of the Yangtze River. No.

1e9 2a-19 2b-25 3e31 4e51 5e77 5e84 6e112 7e142 7e158 8e175 10e218 WCJ-1 ESZ-1 ESZ-2 ZB-81 YX-04

Depth (m)

0.18 0.37 0.49 0.60 0.99 1.35 1.42 1.77 2.19 2.35 2.56 3.41 e e e 0.30 e

Spherical column

Sphere

Total

Total (%)

Total

103 359 172 129 169 170 247 441 162 217 101 1011 535 779 602 191 53

28.85 32.05 30.07 29.25 29.96 49.28 51.14 22.98 46.96 48.44 30.51 45.13 47.26 48.96 48.67 55.36 60.92

14 18 13 20 22 18 22 139 17 25 23 123 38 30 44 4 3

Tetragonal bipyramid

Ditetragonal bipyramid

Tetragonal prism

Total (%)

Total

Total (%)

Total

Total (%)

Total

Total (%)

3.92 1.61 2.27 4.54 3.90 5.22 4.55 7.24 4.93 5.58 6.95 5.49 3.36 1.89 3.56 1.16 3.45

213 655 369 264 322 139 198 1011 152 181 171 911 506 713 531 134 28

59.66 58.48 64.51 59.86 57.09 40.29 40.99 52.68 44.06 40.40 51.66 40.67 44.70 44.81 42.93 38.84 32.18

5 30 6 12 9 8 3 150 3 8 15 86 15 12 17 7 1

1.40 2.68 1.05 2.72 1.60 2.32 0.62 7.82 0.87 1.79 4.53 3.84 1.33 0.75 1.37 2.03 1.15

22 58 12 16 42 10 13 178 11 17 21 109, 38 57 43 9 2

6.16 5.18 2.10 3.63 7.45 2.90 2.69 9.28 3.19 3.79 6.34 4.87 3.36 3.58 3.48 2.61 2.30

Total

Total (%)

357 1120 572 441 564 345 483 1919 345 448 331 2240 1132 1591 1237 345 87

99.99 100 100 100 100 100.01 99.99 100 100.01 100 99.99 100 100.01 99.99 100.01 100 100

Note: ZB-81 and YX-04 are the 1981 flooding deposits at the Zhongba Site and the 2004 flooding deposits at the Yuxi Site in the Three Gorges reservoir region of the Yangtze River, respectively.

approximately round grains, showing that all of them have been rounded to a certain degree after being carried by water for a long distance; ③ the zircon in No. 2a-19, 2b-25, 3e31, 4e51, 6e112, and 8e175 non-flood cultural layer deposits in the T0405 profile at the

site are generally tetragonal bipyramid-shaped with sharp edges and corners, which is obviously different from the shapes of the zircon in flood deposit layers. This may be because the cultural layers in the site are deposits formed under complex interactions

Fig. 5. Comparison of zircon shapes from palaeoflood deposit layers and cultural layers in T0405 profile at the Zhongqiao Site with those of modern flood deposits of the Yangtze River. a: Sample No. 5e77 palaeoflood deposits. b: Sample No. 5e84 palaeoflood deposits. c: Sample No. 7e142 palaeoflood deposits. d: Sample No. 7e158 palaeoflood deposits. e: Sample No. 10e218 palaeoflood deposits. f: Sample No. WCJ-1 Wencunjia's modern flood deposits. g: Sample No. ESZ-1 Ershengzhou's modern flood deposits. h: Sample No. ESZ-2 Ershengzhou's modern flood deposits. i: Sample No. 1e9 cultivation soil. j: Sample No. 2b-25 Ming and Qing Dynasty's cultural layer. k: Sample No. 3e31 Tang and Song Dynasty's cultural layer. l: Sample No. 6e112 Shijiahe Neolithic cultural layer.

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between man and nature (Shi et al., 2010; Zhu et al., 2013). Rb has relatively stable chemical properties, while Sr has a high chemical activity. They are often fractionated in supergene geochemical processes (Chen et al., 1999), which are also applied within the temporal scale of Holocene climate change (Zhu et al., 2005, 2008). It can be seen from Fig. 4 that, except for the topsoil and the Ming and Qing cultural layers, which were subsequently affected by human activities, the Rb/Sr ratios of palaeoflood deposit layers at the Zhongqiao Site mainly range between 0.77 and 0.94 with average of 0.86, higher than the range of 0.72e0.92 and the average value of 0.81 found in cultural layers. Meanwhile, the Rb/Sr ratios of most cultural layers are lower or show decreasing trend compared with adjacent palaeoflood deposit layers. This is due to the chemical weathering or rainwater eluviation of the deposits. The ionic radius of Rb is greater than that of Sr. Rb is easily absorbed and usually remains in its original place because through adsorption by clay minerals in the strata, while Sr with smaller ionic radius will be transported in a free state by surface or ground water (Chen et al., 1999; Zhu et al., 2005, 2008; Wang et al., 2011). Thus, as chemical weathering is strengthened, the Rb/Sr values of deposits remaining in their original place will gradually increase. In fact, Rb/ Sr values indicate precipitation intensity (Chen et al., 1999), which is closely related to the occurrence of floods. High Rb/Sr values indicate a flood-related environment with high precipitation, while low Rb/Sr values usually indicate an arid environment with low precipitation. Changes in the content of Cu are similar to the aforementioned magnetic susceptibility and Rb/Sr values. The Cu content of the palaeoflood deposit layers at the Zhongqiao Site ranges between 7.00 mg/g and 53.60 mg/g, lower than the range of 12.30 mg/g to 75.30 mg/g of the cultural layers. Since the Chalcolithic Age had started and bronze pieces have been found dating back to the Shijiahe cultural period (Wang, 2007), relevant long-term human activities caused increased Cu content in the cultural layers (Li et al., 2008). However, due to water erosion and eluviation, the Cu content in palaeoflood deposit layers is low. In summary, the above comparisons of field characteristics, grain size, magnetic susceptibility, zircon micro-shapes, and geochemical indicators such as Rb/ Sr and Cu, have fully demonstrated that palaeoflood deposit layers from three periods exist in the strata of the Zhongqiao Site. 5. Discussions 5.1. Age of palaeoflood events It is quite common to find palaeoflood deposits containing cultural relics formed since the late Neolithic in deposit layers in and around the Jianghan Plain. Zhu et al. (1997), Shi et al. (2009) and Zhang et al. (2009) have discussed the causes from the perspectives of archaeological stratigraphy, sedimentology, and environmental magnetism respectively. In addition to the Zhongqiao Site, there are still other representative sites in the Jianghan Plain with palaeoflood deposit layers, such as Sanfangwan in Tianmen (Wu, 2013), Yuezhouhu in Mianyang (Yao, 1986), Guihuashu in Songzi (Jingzhou Museum, 1976), Taihugang in Jiangling (Zhu et al., 1997), Lijiatai in Shashi (Peng, 1995), Xiejiadun in Macheng (Yang, 1985); while representative sites in the west part of the area include the Liulinxi Site in Zigui and Zhongbaodao in Yichang (Shi et al., 2009). From the age comparisons of palaeoflood deposit layers at the Zhongqiao Site with other typical sites in Fig. 6, it can be seen that palaeoflood deposit layers were quite common in and around the Jianghan Plain during the mid-late Qujialing cultural period (i.e., between 4900 cal. yr BP and 4600 cal. yr BP) and from the late Shijiahe cultural period to the Xia Dynasty (i.e., between 4100 cal. yr BP and 3800 cal. yr BP), representing two major palaeoflood events since the late Neolithic and showing that events such as the two major

palaeofloods occurring between 4900 cal. yr BP and 4600 cal. yr BP and between 4100 cal. yr BP and 3800 cal. yr BP were quite common in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River on the Jianghan Plain. Their wide range shows that they were large floods. The two flood events mentioned above occurred during the legendary Yao and Xia periods in the final stages of the primitive ancient Chinese society (Wu et al., 2016). There are many records of catastrophic floods during this period; for example, The Historian's Records of Five Emperors states: “floods surged for sixty-one years after the Emperor Yao came to the throne”; Mencius's T'eng Wen Kung (Part One) states: “the country was still not in peace when Yao was on the throne because floods flowed over the country…”; inscriptions in the Huangling Temple in the Three Gorges area state: “Yu achieved success in combating the floods within nine years by dredging, which is more true than false”; and Huayang's Chronicles of Ba state: “there was a deluge of floods when Yao was on the throne”. According to the inscriptions in Huangling Temple, there were at least nine times of floods, and at those times, due to high water levels, our ancestors could only “collect soil and firewood and stay on the hills” to avoid floods. Based on the analysis of 105 14C ages calibration results from cultural layers found at 34 archaeological sites formed between 7000 cal. yr BP and 3000 cal. yr BP in and around the Jianghan Plain (Table A1), it can be found that the period of the two aforementioned palaeoflood events was consistent with the two periods appearing least in archaeological sites formed between 5000 cal. yr BP and 3500 cal. yr BP, which supports previous conclusions of palaeoflood dating analysis (Fig. 7). However, since the Zhongqiao Site is currently located 30 km away from the Yangtze River, the palaeoflood deposit layers recorded by its strata may not be the result of direct flooding from the Jingjiang section of the Yangtze River. In ancient time, there are no lakes in the area of Changhu Lake between modern Jingzhou City, Hubei Province and the southwest coast of the Han River in Tianmen City (from Ying to Jingling in the Pre-Qin period); there are instead interstream lowlands, where the ancient Yangshui River, which no longer exists, ran through to connect the Yangtze River with the Hanjiang River in the Pre-Qin period (Yi, 2008). Due to wavy hillocks, the slope of the ground in this area is much greater than in the hinterland of the Jianghan Plain, so rivers converge quickly and disasters easily occur (Compilation Committee of Hubei Chronicles of Water Conservancy, 2000). Therefore, based on the causation of land and lake formation, palaeoflood deposits at the site may have resulted from an influx of backwater from the main stream of the Yangtze River into the course of the ancient Yangshui River. There are records of flooding of the ancient Yangshui River in this area due to overflowing of the Yangtze River from the Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties before the formation of Changhu Lake, which provides supporting evidence (Compilation Committee of Hubei Chronicles of Water Conservancy, 2000; Yi, 2008). From the Three Kingdoms to the Ming Dynasty there were short periods of reclamation activity only in the Tang and Song Dynasties; Changhu Lake was formed after an embankment was built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but otherwise there was little reclamation activity (Compilation Committee of Hubei Chronicles of Water Conservancy, 2000; Yi, 2008), which may also account for the much smaller sedimentary thickness (80 cm) of the profile since the historical period compared with the Neolithic stratigraphic thickness (280 cm). 5.2. Environmental background of palaeoflood events Periods of rapid or sudden climate change in China's monsoonal regions tend to be linked with more frequent and extreme flooding (Xia, 2012). Research shows that China's mid-Holocene climatic

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Fig. 6. Typical palaeoflood deposit layers of some late Neolithic sites in and around the Jianghan Plain area, middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

optimum started to decline from 5000 cal. yr BP (Zhu et al., 2013). The climate shifted from marine monsoon-dominated to continental monsoon-dominated between 4500 and 3000 cal. yr BP, becoming highly unstable with frequent aridity and cooling accompanied by frequent floods (Wu and Liu, 2004; Wang, 2011; Zhu et al., 2012, 2013). Based on records of environmental change in several nodes around the area under investigation (Fig. 8), the fluctuations of d18O records of stalagmites in Shanbao Cave in

Fig. 7. Frequency distribution of exactly 14C dated archaeological sites between 7000 and 3000 cal. yr BP in and around the Jianghan Plain area, middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The blue histogram represents the 1s calibrated results, while the red histogram represents the 2s calibrated results. The yellow band represents the range of periods of palaeoflood events. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Shennongjia, Dongge Cave in Guizhou and other caves became more significant after 5000 cal. yr BP (Wang et al., 2005, 2008), showing enhanced climate instability basically consistent with the transition appearing in the late Holocene Megathermal period as classified according to multi-indicators of Dajiuhu peat in Shennongjia (Zhu et al., 2010b; Li et al., 2016). The d13C records of Zoige and Hongyuan peat (Hong et al., 2005), lake sediments of Erhai and Chaohu (Zhang et al., 1999; Wu et al., 2010, 2012b), stalagmites in Longpan Cave in Guangxi (Qin et al., 2000), etc., also indicate that climate fluctuations were greatest between 5000 and 3000 cal. yr BP, but the overall climate became arid. Climatic records of Holocene lacustrine sediments in the Jianghan Plain (Xie, 2004; Li et al., 2014b) show that major Holocene droughts and floods and cooling in this area occurred in this period, the climate was particularly unstable between 5000 and 4500 cal. yr BP and around 4000 cal. yr BP (Fig. 8), and the lakes in the Jianghan Plain were changing constantly (Shi et al., 2009). The d18O records of stalagmites in Heshang Cave, Qingjiang, Hubei also show that the climate was abnormally cold and moist between the end of the Shijiahe cultural period and the Xia Dynasty, with excessive rainfall causing floods (Gu et al., 2009). Enhanced precipitation and abnormal flood events also occurred at around 4000 cal. yr BP in the Central Plains (Zhang and Xia, 2011). All the evidence points to two palaeoflood events occurring in the mid-late Qujialing cultural period (i.e., between 4900 and 4600 cal. yr BP) and between the late Shijiahe cultural period and the Xia Dynasty (i.e., between 4100 and 3800 cal. yr BP), and resulting in the expansion of lakes in the Jianghan Plain (Wu, 2013). The period between 5000 and 3000 cal. yr BP also encountered frequent, abnormal flood events in addition to the period when the Holocene Optimum terminated and the world underwent

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Fig. 8. Comparison of climatic changes recorded by various types of sediments nearby the Jianghan Plain and culture transmutation in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. 14C ages of this figure have been regulated by CALIB 6.0.1 (Stuiver and Reimer, 1993; Stuiver et al., 1998; Reimer et al., 2009). (A) Summer solar radiation changes since 10,000 cal. yr BP at 30
N (Berger and Loutre, 1991). (B) d18O records of stalagmite D4 from Dongge Cave of Guizhou (Dykoski et al., 2005). (C) d18O records with mean distinguished rate of 5 years from stalagmite DA in Dongge Cave of Guizhou (Wang et al., 2005). (D) d18O records of stalagmite SB26 from Shanbao Cave in Shennongjia of Hubei (Wang et al., 2008). (E) d18O records of stalagmite SB10 from Shanbao Cave in Shennongjia of Hubei (Wang et al., 2008). (F) d13C records of Dajiuhu peat in Shennongjia of Hubei (Ma et al., 2008). (G) Fagus pollen percentage of Dajiuhu peat in Shennongjia of Hubei (Zhu et al., 2006, 2010a,b). (H) Rb/Sr values of the lacustrine outcrop (JZ-2010) located in the Jiangbei Farm of the Jingzhou District (Li et al., 2014b). (I) Clay (<4 mm) percentage of the lacustrine outcrop (JZ-2010) located in the Jiangbei Farm of the Jingzhou District (Li et al., 2014b). The dark-grey strip represent the Shijiahe cultural period (4600e3900 cal. yr BP), while the light-grey strip represent the Qujialing cultural period (5300e4600 cal. yr BP); between the dash lines (5000e3000 cal. yr BP) is the transitional stage from the Holocene Megathermal to the late Holocene.

large climatic fluctuations (Roberts, 2014), leaving records of abrupt climate change and flood events in East Asia, West Asia, North Africa, Western Europe, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and other places (Knox, 1985, 2000; Kale et al., 1994; Ely, 1997; Gasse, 2000; Grossman, 2001; Staubwasser et al., 2003; Marchant and Hooghiemstra, 2004; Zhu et al., 2005, 2008; Benito et al., 2008, 2015; Wanner et al., 2008; Huang et al., 2010, 2011a, 2011b, 2012; Wu et al., 2016). Climate change was very unstable in this period and exacerbated climatic fluctuations often led to abnormal rainfall events, triggering rainfall variability and devastating floods.

5.3. Palaeoflood events and cultural responses The Jianghan Plain is an area prone to floods in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Fluctuations in the water level and environmental changes to rivers and lakes have a tremendous impact on the development of human society. Even today, with the protection of embankments, the area still undergoes frequent floods, which pose a great threat to human livelihood. Under Neolithic conditions, it was much easier for floods to spread to lowlying areas in the Jianghan Plain. Before the Shijiahe Culture and in

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the early Shijiahe cultural period, the density of settlements in the Jianghan Plain was not great and the locations of the sites were mainly low hillocks slightly higher than the periphery of the plain (Deng et al., 2009; Li et al., 2011b; Wu, 2013). Although floods caused by fluctuations in the water level of the Yangtze River and its tributaries occurred periodically, their impact on human society was very limited. For example, based on their temporal and spatial distribution, both Wu (2013) and Da (2013) found that human settlements showed a clear trend to high-altitude areas in the late Qujialing cultural period, whose purpose may have been to avoid flooding in this period, showing that disasters are incapable of reversing the development of human culture. Driven by an increasing population, technological advances, and other factors, the Neolithic culture in the area developed sustainably and entered the era of early civilization. However, during the middle Shijiahe cultural period, with the increasing scale of cultural development and settlement sites, human activities gradually expanded to low-lying areas in plains (Deng et al., 2009; Wu, 2013), so people faced with growing threat from floods. In the late Shijiahe cultural period, the water level of rivers and lakes in the area increased due to climate change, tectonic subsidence, siltation, and other factors (Shi et al., 2010), floods brought greater disasters to human society and the trend of settlement sites moving from low-lying plains to high-altitude regions became clear (Wu, 2013). In particular, both the extraordinary flood events caused by climatic fluctuations around 4000 cal. yr BP and the conflicts within the area or between the area and the Central Plains and other areas accelerated the collapse of the Shijiahe Culture (Wu and Liu, 2004; Yin, 2011; Xia, 2012). It can be proved by the consistency in time between climate anomalies around 4000 cal. yr BP and the disappearance of the Shijiahe Culture from the entire Yangtze River Valley. Evidence of increased social conflicts is reflected in the increasingly common phenomenon of missing heads or incomplete skeletons in the archaeological remains of the period, increases in the number of unearthed arrowheads of various forms and other aspects (Guo, 2005). There are also records for saying “Sanmiao was in chaos”, “Yu conquered Sanmiao”, etc. in ancient documents (Meng, 1997). Only ten sites between the end of the Shijiahe cultural period and the Xia Dynasty remain in and around the entire Jianghan Plain, and all of them are located at an altitude above 50 m, showing that significant flood events really happened in that period and people were forced to live in high-altitude areas (Wu, 2013). At the Zhangxiwan Site in Huangpi, dating from the end of the Shijiahe cultural period, archaeological teams also found city walls over 30 m thick that were used to prevent flood disasters (Gu et al., 2009). The Neolithic culture at the Zhongqiao Site also declined significantly after the flood events between 4168 and 3850 cal. yr BP, and evidence of cultural relics decreased. Evidence of catastrophic climate anomalies around 4000 cal. yr BP was also found around the world in records such as highresolution cave, ice core, lacustrine, and deep-sea deposits (Wanner et al., 2008; Roberts, 2014; Lillios et al., 2016); and the collapses of the Akkadian Kingdom in Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, and the Harappan Civilization in the Indus Valley were related to this climatic event (Cullen et al., 2000; Stanley et al., 2003; Staubwasser et al., 2003). Therefore, in the early and middle Shijiahe cultural period, population growth and rice agriculture development stimulated human activities continuously to expand into the hinterland of the Jianghan Plain, after which the fluctuations in the water level of rivers and lakes exacerbated flood disasters and increased the threat to humans of flooding at the end of the Shijiahe cultural period. Coupled with the extraordinary flood events caused by climate anomalies around 4000 cal. yr BP and the conflicts within the area or between the area and the Central Plains

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and other areas in the end of the Shijiahe cultural period, the discrepancy between social development and environmental change, especially hydrological processes, became particularly prominent at the end of the Shijiahe cultural period, which was the main cause of the demise of the Shijiahe Culture. However, one positive impact of these climatic events was to promote the formation of ancient Chinese civilization with the Xia Dynasty as a symbol. Wu and Ge (2005) believe that “Holocene Event 3” led to distinct environmental pattern with floods in the south and drought in the north, and also greatly increased population pressure. Contradictions between increasing population pressure and resource availability contributed to the prevalence of wars and conflicts between social groups at the end of the Neolithic Age, thus opening the way for the birth of early civilization in ancient China. In summary, civilization appearing in the Jianghan Plain after 4000 cal. yr BP was not a product of self-development by the local Shijiahe Culture; but rather it is a result of the spread of civilization in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties. Against the background of climate anomalies and the decline of the Shijiahe Culture around 4000 cal. yr BP, the spread of civilization in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties to southern areas disrupted the development sequence of the Jianghan Plain and its surrounding areas, eventually depriving the area of the opportunity to become an independent ancient civilization. The civilization in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties and the Shijiahe Culture consisted of heterogeneous social groups with different origins, so they cannot be linked to each other, which can be seen from the significant differences in geographical distribution of sites belonging to the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties and the Qujialing-Shijiahe Culture (Deng et al., 2009; Wu, 2013). For example, the Panlongcheng Site from the early period of the Shang Dynasty (Zhao and Du, 1998), located in the northern suburbs of Hankou, is actually integral to the southward spread of civilization in the Shang Dynasty, even though its pre-existing palaces were unconnected with the Shijiahe Culture. 6. Conclusions Combined with the comparison of cultural layers at the site, based on AMS14C dating results, dating of archaeological artifacts, and the analyzed properties of sediments, three palaeoflood events (i.e., 4800-4597 cal. yr BP, 4479e4367 cal. yr BP and 41683850 cal. yr BP respectively) occurred at the Zhongqiao Site and palaeoflood layers were deposited accordingly. Comparisons between typical palaeoflood deposit layers from the Zhongqiao Site and numerous cultural sites in and around the Jianghan Plain also indicate that two extraordinary Holocene palaeoflood events occurred over the Jianghan Plain area between approximately 4900e4600 cal. yr BP (i.e., the mid-late Qujialing cultural period) and between 4100e3800 cal. yr BP (i.e., from the late Shijiahe cultural period to the Xia Dynasty). Further analysis of the environmental background of these palaeoflood occurrences suggests that there was great climatic variability between 5000 and 4500 cal. yr BP and around 4000 cal. yr BP, when lakes in the Jianghan Plain area were also unstable or changing continuously. Corresponding to the above-mentioned two palaeoflood events, the occurrence of severe flood events between 5000 and 3000 cal. yr BP in the Jianghan Plain is consistent with the gradual deterioration of climate in the late Holocene Megathermal period, showing that there is a certain link between these two palaeoflood events and the expansion of lakes in the Jianghan Plain driven by climate change. In the early and middle Shijiahe cultural period, population growth and rice cultivation development stimulated human activities continuously to expand to the hinterland of the low-lying

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Jianghan Plain. Subsequently, fluctuations in the water level of rivers and lakes precipitated flood disasters and increased the threat from floods at the end of the Shijiahe cultural period. The discrepancy between social development and environmental change processes, especially hydrological processes, became particularly prominent at the end of the Shijiahe cultural period, which became the main cause of the demise of this culture. The severe extraordinary floods caused by climate anomalies around 4000 cal. yr BP, which were of global significance, and the conflicts within the area or between inhabitants of the area and those of the Central Plains and other areas at the end of the Shijiahe cultural period accelerated the collapse of the Shijiahe Culture. Acknowledgements We thank Prof. Fengqin Zhou, Dr. Jie Ouyang, and Curator Liming Xu for their help with the field investigations. We also thank Prof. Fubao Wang, Prof. Chunchang Huang, Prof. Danielle Schreve, Dr. Shiyong Yu and anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions, and Research Fellow Chengde Shen, Senior Engineer Di Liu and Prof. Ye Chen for the laboratory guidance. This study was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41401216), the State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary

Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, CAS (No. SKLLQG1422), and the Scientific Research Cultivating Foundation of Anhui Normal University (No. 2014glkypy05).

Appendix A To verify the occurring period of palaeoflood events and its relations to human activities, a total of 105 radiocarbon dates from the cultural layers of 34 archaeological sites in and around the Jianghan Plain area were collected and listed as follows (Table A1). All the radiocarbon dates were calibrated using the computer software CALIB 6.0.1 (Stuiver and Reimer, 1993; Stuiver et al., 1998; Reimer et al., 2009). The sources of collected radiocarbon dates can refer to the following references (Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 1974, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000; Chen et al., 1979, 1984; Institute of Science and Technology for Preservation of Cultural Relics, 1982; Yuan et al., 1982, 1987, 1994; Department of Archaeology, Peking University, 1989; Qujialing Archaeological Team, 1992; Li et al., 2009; Guo, 2010; Fu et al., 2010; Wu, 2013). Some other sites only have rough archaeological ages determined by excavated relics. These sites are not listed here.

Table A1 Radiocarbon ages of archaeological sites between 7000 and 3000 cal. yr BP in the Jianghan Plain area, middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Sampling No.

Material dated

Laboratory No.

14

ZhongqT0201-4 ZhongqT0405-6-U ZhongqT0405-6-L ZhongqT0405-8-U ZhongqT0405-9 ZhongqT0204-12 DaH2 Qu89M2-L Qu T5-5 Qu L-C-1 Qu L-C-2 Qu TQJL-W-6 Qu TQJL-W-4 DiaoT2205-F1 DiaoT2816-H1 DiaoT2616-4A-1 DiaoT2616-4A-2 DiaoT2207-4B DiaoT2207-H29 DiaoT2209-H34 DiaoT2308-4A DiaoT1908-F5 DiaoT2206-F6 Diao92HZD-F15 BianT47-2A BianT30-8 SaiM24 SaiM22 SaiT5-2 SaiT7-M49 SaiT106-2 SaiT106-3 SaiT113-2 SaiT114-3-1 SaiT114-3-2 GuanT6-4 GuanT9-3 GuanT36-7-H13 GuanT51-3 GuanF22 GuanF21 GuanT76-3B-F30 GuanT69-6

Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Clamshell Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Bone Bone Charcoal Bone Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal

*GZ3854 *GZ3855 *GZ3856 *GZ4102 *GZ3858 *GZ3859 ZK4261 ZK2397 ZK2398 ZK124 ZK125 BA071539 BA071540 ZK2506 ZK2507 ZK2508 ZK2510 ZK2577 ZK2578 ZK2579 ZK2580 ZK2581 ZK2582 ZK2660 BK87010 BK87013 ZK2181 ZK2182 ZK2235 ZK2283 ZK2486 ZK2487 ZK2491 ZK2494 ZK2495 ZK684 ZK685 ZK831 ZK832 ZK891 ZK892 ZK991 ZK992

3189 3791 3937 4030 4119 5409 4505 4975 5100 4145 4195 4475 4290 4940 4730 4765 4735 5910 5135 5265 5280 4880 5020 4402 5330 5995 4360 4360 5395 4540 5205 5165 4815 5170 5380 4745 5035 5025 4760 4910 5300 4680 5200

C age (yr BP) ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±

23 28 24 20 25 25 90 140 160 100 160 40 60 105 120 105 125 100 90 110 90 85 95 83 80 80 130 155 105 200 95 95 105 90 115 90 70 80 110 110 250 80 250

1s calibrated age (BC)

2s calibrated age (BC)

1s calendar age (cal. yr BP)

1462 2283 2477 2534 2697 4327 3358 3825 4051 2877 2935 3332 2945 3805 3638 3646 3641 4935 4000 4182 4180 3774 3821 3106 4252 4989 3122 3141 4342 3384 4083 4054 3703 4055 4335 3636 3944 3942 3644 3803 4364 3525 4267

1500 2299 2491 2581 2714 4334 3377 4051 4268 2920 3134 3347 3092 3967 3717 3786 3775 5039 4080 4338 4331 3812 3986 3197 4332 5075 3368 3377 4375 3707 4260 4235 3800 4236 4404 3702 3967 3964 3791 3958 4689 3645 4542

3399 4216 4414 4464 4611 6255 5174 5687 5823 4699 4700 5223 4861 5672 5513 5522 5513 6761 5897 6030 6059 5653 5716 4958 6101 6841 4951 4958 6233 5147 5964 5925 5558 5932 6228 5518 5807 5849 5521 5667 6086 5397 5968

(60.30%) 1435 (42.95%) 2248 (49.05%) 2450 (75.67%) 2493 (57.07%) 2624 (76.72%) 4282 (99.14%) 3090 (65.00%) 3649 (99.83%) 3695 (100%) 2620 (90.41%) 2565 (65.22%) 3214 (65.46%) 2876 (82.18%) 3639 (60.89%) 3488 (72.56%) 3497 (61.06%) 3485 (100%) 4686 (50.19%) 3893 (82.18%) 3978 (68.13%) 4037 (84.40%) 3631 (54.11%) 3710 (81.85%) 2910 (100%) 4050 (100%) 4792 (72.29%) 2880 (65.83%) 2875 (55.69%) 4223 (75.90%) 3010 (63.25%) 3944 (66.91%) 3895 (86.88%) 3513 (66.89%) 3909 (48.22%) 4221 (74.07%) 3500 (100%) 3770 (47.13%) 3856 (68.57%) 3497 (79.40%) 3631 (88.88%) 3907 (87.50%) 3368 (94.60%) 3768

(100%) 1420 (99.46%) 2137 (96.01%) 2342 (97.82%) 2477 (56.47%) 2579 (100%) 4237 (96.28%) 2918 (97.17%) 3497 (97.83%) 3633 (100%) 2468 (94.09%) 2345 (89.52%) 3079 (85.41%) 2851 (90.92%) 3618 (89.44%) 3308 (99.40%) 3338 (92.22%) 3264 (100%) 4539 (92.06%) 3708 (94.58%) 3927 (100%) 3955 (90.70%) 3506 (100%) 3640 (74.38%) 2896 (93.51%) 4032 (97.82%) 4693 (87.49%) 2830 (98.13%) 2575 (95.56%) 3988 (96.54%) 2847 (99.35%) 3792 (99.14%) 3761 (99.00%) 3362 (100%) 3767 (97.47%) 3972 (100%) 3353 (98.53%) 3694 (100%) 3659 (97.95%) 3330 (97.13%) 3511 (99.76%) 3634 (96.08%) 3329 (99.01%) 3503

± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±

14 18 14 21 37 23 134 88 178 129 185 59 35 83 75 75 78 125 54 102 72 72 56 98 101 99 121 133 60 187 70 80 95 73 57 68 87 43 74 86 229 79 250

2s calendar age (cal. yr BP) 3410 4168 4367 4479 4597 6236 5098 5724 5901 4644 4690 5163 4922 5743 5463 5512 5470 6739 5844 6083 6093 5609 5763 4997 6132 6834 5049 4926 6132 5227 5976 5948 5531 5952 6138 5478 5781 5762 5511 5685 6112 5437 5973

± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±

40 81 75 52 68 49 230 277 318 226 395 134 121 175 205 224 256 250 186 206 188 153 173 151 150 191 269 401 194 430 234 237 219 235 216 175 137 153 231 224 528 158 520

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157

Table A1 (continued ) Sampling No.

Material dated

Laboratory No.

14

GuanT58-7 QingIT13-6 QingIIF1-D2 QingIT3-3 XiaoH42-1 XiaoH98 XiaoH42-2 XiaoH430 XiaoH434-2 DengT21-4 DengH9 JijF2-中 Jin2H2 JinH1 ChaT1-5 ChaH18 ChaH21 QiIT7A-3 QiIT1B-4 QiF8-NQ QiF8-BT HongT110-5-F-1 HongT110-5-F-2 HongT110-6-H LuoT1-7 WeiT2-3-F WeiT5-3-U WeiT7-3-U WeiT7-3-L ShenD1M-3F ShenD2-4 XiT1-3 XiangT17-6 XiangT25-5 XiangT27-7-1 XiangT27-7-2 LuT1-H1 LuT7-5-下 ZhongbT5402-13 ZhongbT5503-14B ZhongbH557 ZhongbM10 ZhongbM11 ZhongbM12 GuTN1E2-3 Gu94WG-1-F5 TongT11-6 TongT7 TongT7-J223 TongT7-J203 TanT8-3-1 TanT8-3-2 ChiM108 PanT6-3 PanT6-2 TanT0620-H2 JingT17-H19 SanT2-4 NieD1-3 ZhouTDe-6 JinM9 ShiT11-3

Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Peat Charcoal Charcoal Bone Bone Bone Bone Bone Bone Bone Bone Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Bone Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Bone Bone Bone Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Wood Wood Wood Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Wood Charcoal

ZK994 ZK429 ZK430 ZK431 BK89037 BK89038 BK89045 BK90141 BK90142 BK87091 BK87092 BK80001 BK84070 BK84072 BK84066 BK84069 BK84071 ZK549 ZK550 ZK551 ZK552 ZK352 ZK686 ZK687 ZK1317 ZK2573 ZK2574 ZK2575 ZK2576 ZK2392 ZK2393 ZK2511 ZK2315 ZK2316 ZK2317 ZK2553 ZK2646 ZK2648 ZK2760 ZK2761 ZK2762 ZK2768 ZK2769 ZK2770 ZK2811 ZK2813 ZK559 ZK758 WB8040 WB8044 ZK2867 ZK2868 ZK2929 ZK3001 ZK3002 *GZ5043 BK85081 BK85054 BK82008 BK83036 BK79033 BK84052

5130 4340 4500 3980 4285 4135 4560 4510 4410 5190 4955 4630 4010 3890 3860 3830 3960 4390 4130 4600 4380 4355 4760 5775 4405 5285 4795 3180 3755 2975 5080 4215 3290 3365 3745 3760 3120 3523 3352 4446 4180 3750 3889 4403 3795 4420 3205 3260 3140 3150 3942 3906 4446 3500 3427 3920 4720 2990 2860 2890 2900 3770

C age (yr BP) ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±

110 150 200 105 100 70 80 70 100 80 80 260 120 120 80 130 140 200 90 180 120 115 300 120 165 140 155 220 170 100 350 130 80 85 80 115 83 68 102 109 86 205 205 155 113 87 400 100 80 80 99 106 89 60 60 25 80 100 70 60 90 85

1s calibrated age (BC)

2s calibrated age (BC)

1s calendar age (cal. yr BP)

4044 3127 3377 2628 3030 2777 3241 3244 3116 4070 3800 3651 2680 2495 2462 2470 2634 3366 2779 3529 3118 3116 3805 4730 3196 4260 3712 1694 2353 1316 4273 2927 1668 1745 2234 2345 1466 1931 1750 3133 2818 2467 2625 3139 2350 3113 1952 1639 1499 1510 2576 2494 3131 1895 1778 2470 3454 1325 1126 1133 1215 2301

4180 3372 3655 2778 3120 2890 3521 3373 3362 4233 3954 3963 2880 2680 2497 2625 2879 3533 2895 3713 3370 3360 4243 4855 3520 4370 3952 1976 2631 1428 4618 3117 1750 1883 2351 2489 1537 2031 1891 3376 2924 2697 2900 3385 2496 3345 2486 1772 1612 1617 2698 2675 3356 1977 1894 2475 3652 1439 1221 1263 1321 2464

5864 4946 5096 4430 4891 4650 5123 5123 4965 5955 5675 5284 4490 4297 4319 4252 4405 5066 4649 5262 4956 4948 5484 6561 4998 6067 5491 3392 4106 3136 5896 4703 3531 3622 4084 4134 3332 3793 3580 5022 4690 4140 4319 4970 4189 4967 3412 3486 3383 3390 4382 4334 5021 3770 3670 4402 5366 3169 2976 3015 3046 4157

(100%) 3784 (66.28%) 2865 (92.78%) 2915 (92.32%) 2332 (66.62%) 2852 (70.69%) 2623 (53.95%) 3104 (63.21%) 3102 (72.28%) 2914 (72.00%) 3940 (93.17%) 3649 (100%) 3016 (78.94%) 2399 (91.17%) 2199 (83.39%) 2276 (95.41%) 2133 (88.46%) 2276 (95.56%) 2866 (65.00%) 2618 (92.67%) 3094 (73.15%) 2893 (79.66%) 2880 (77.14%) 3262 (91.94%) 4491 (70.02%) 2899 (96.79%) 3973 (98.87%) 3369 (92.79%) 1190 (86.15%) 1959 (93.92%) 1055 (86.78%) 3619 (100%) 2578 (97.22%) 1494 (73.54%) 1599 (86.19%) 2033 (96.87%) 2023 (90.43%) 1297 (100%) 1755 (100%) 1509 (39.87%) 3010 (71.19%) 2662 (100%) 1913 (90.95%) 2113 (60.92%) 2900 (71.89%) 2127 (72.30%) 2921 (98.10%) 971 (97.31%) 1432 (78.21%) 1367 (84.52%) 1370 (100%) 2288 (78.75%) 2273 (42.87%) 3011 (100%) 1745 (73.69%) 1662 (42.54%) 2434 (41.50%) 3377 (79.60%) 1113 (100%) 925 (78.24%) 996 (93.18%) 976 (75.38%) 2113

(96.03%) 3696 (99.21%) 2572 (94.00%) 2832 (93.35%) 2202 (91.67%) 2616 (96.65%) 2566 (99.63%) 3020 (95.65%) 3009 (100%) 2883 (85.02%) 3893 (100%) 3635 (96.22%) 2835 (96.51%) 2271 (97.61%) 2023 (94.75%) 2130 (99.86%) 1900 (98.63%) 2131 (97.36%) 2565 (100%) 2485 (99.87%) 2884 (93.35%) 2840 (90.66%) 2837 (98.45%) 2856 (97.77%) 4360 (99.86%) 2620 (99.44%) 3782 (93.38%) 3310 (99.89%) 897 (99.06%) 1730 (97.40%) 968 (99.29%) 3011 (96.76%) 2467 (100%) 1412 (98.66%) 1492 (94.27%) 1944 (99.74%) 1883 (94.83%) 1187 (100%) 1687 (100%) 1430 (98.23%) 2883 (96.65%) 2558 (97.74%) 1658 (98.72%) 1873 (85.14%) 2830 (98.26%) 1923 (100%) 2905 (99.38%) 484 (99.53%) 1311 (99.90%) 1209 (97.87%) 1251 (93.80%) 2188 (96.03%) 2114 (100%) 2912 (99.12%) 1684 (97.77%) 1606 (96.55%) 2336 (100%) 3353 (98.24%) 970 (93.75%) 891 (100%) 916 (95.86%) 895 (97.28%) 2007

± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±

130 131 231 148 89 77 69 71 101 65 76 318 141 148 93 169 179 250 81 218 113 118 272 120 149 144 172 252 197 131 327 175 87 73 101 161 85 88 121 62 78 277 256 120 112 96 491 104 66 70 144 111 60 75 58 18 39 106 101 69 120 94

2s calendar age (cal. yr BP) 5888 4922 5194 4440 4818 4678 5221 5141 5073 6013 5745 5349 4526 4302 4264 4213 4455 4999 4640 5249 5055 5049 5500 6558 5020 6026 5581 3387 4131 3148 5765 4742 3531 3638 4098 4136 3312 3809 3611 5080 4691 4128 4337 5058 4160 5075 3435 3492 3361 3384 4393 4345 5084 3781 3700 4356 5453 3155 3006 3040 3058 4186

± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±

242 400 412 288 252 162 251 182 240 170 160 564 305 329 184 363 374 484 205 415 265 262 694 248 450 294 321 540 451 230 804 325 169 196 204 303 175 172 231 247 183 520 514 278 287 220 1001 231 202 183 255 281 222 147 144 70 150 235 165 174 213 229

*AMS14C dates from the present study; Zhongq-Zhongqiao Site, Da-Dasi Site, Qu-Qujialing Site, Diao-Diaolongbei Site, Bian-Bianfan Site, Sai-Saidun Site, Guan-Guanmiaoshan Site, Qing-Qinglongquan Site, Xiao-Xiaojiawuji Site, Deng-Dengjiawan Site, Jij-Jijiahu Site, Jin-Jinaohe Site, Cha-Chadianzi Site, Qi-Qilihe Site, Hong-Honghuatao Site, LuoLuosishan Site, Wei-Weiganping Site, Shen-Shentanwan Site, Xi-Xisiping Site, Xiang-Xianglushi Site, Lu-Lujiahe Site, Zhongb-Zhongbaodao Site, Gu-Gushan Site, TongTonglüshan Site, Tan-Tanpitangcun Site, Chi-Chishan Site, Pan-Panlongcheng Site, Tan-Tanjialing Site, Jing-Jingnansi Site, San-Sandouping Site, Nie-Niejiazhai Site, ZhouZhouliangyuqiao Site, Jin-Jinjiashan Site, Shi-Shibanxiangzi Site; T, H, M, C, W, F, D, G and J for excavation units, ash pit, tombs, cultural layer, west wall, building remains, cavern, trial trench and mine, respectively, then for the sampling number.

158

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