Middle Holocene hunting-gathering culture and environmental background of the steppe area of northern China

No Thumbnail Available
File version
Author(s)
Ma, Jiacheng
Zhou, Xinying
Yang, Shixia
Rao, Huiyun
Li, Jiaoyang
Hu, Songmei
Yang, Yimin
Li, Xiaoqiang
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
2022
Size
File type(s)
Location
License
Abstract

For a long time, the academic community has known very little about hunter-gatherers in the steppe area of northern China in the mid-Holocene. This article reports on the Ula Usu West site in Siziwangqi Banner, Inner Mongolia, including basic information about the site, animal bones, lithic artifacts and the environmental background. The age of the site is 4.8–4.4 cal. kyr BP, placing it in the Late Neolithic period. Considering integrated evidence from flotation, zooarchaeology, ZooMS analysis and lithic artifacts, the preliminary inference is that the population lived in a hunting-gathering economy. They used lithic tools represented by arrowheads to hunt mainly Antilopinae animals (e.g., Procapra gutturosa). Pollen analysis suggests that the climate was relatively humid, providing advantageous living conditions for the population. The climate evidence is consistent with a warm event at approximately 4.7 kyr BP. A dry-cold event (4.5–4.0 kyr BP) and the gradual expansion of agriculture and breeding might have resulted in the final decline of the population. This article provides new materials for research on the “last” hunter-gatherers in the steppe area of northern China.

Journal Title

Science China Earth Sciences

Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume

65

Issue

7

Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement
Item Access Status
Note
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject

Archaeological science

Anthropology

Science & Technology

Physical Sciences

Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

Geology

Ula Usu West site

Persistent link to this record
Citation

Ma, J; Zhou, X; Yang, S; Rao, H; Li, J; Hu, S; Yang, Y; Li, X, Middle Holocene hunting-gathering culture and environmental background of the steppe area of northern China, Science China Earth Sciences, 2022, 65 (7), pp. 1317-1327

Collections