Holocene landscape evolution in northern Henan Province and its implications for archaeological surveys

WashU Affiliated Authors: Tristram R. Kidder (Anthropology)

Abstract: The heartlands of many of the world’s civilizations are situated within alluvial plains,
where thick alluvial sediments obscure much of the archaeological record. However,
the use of alluvial geoarchaeology remains patchy, particularly in the world’s largest
alluvial basins. We present results from our geoarchaeological survey at Neihuang
County, Henan Province, China, as an example for alluvial geoarchaeological research
in the North China Plain and to develop a generalized framework for landscape
evolution in the area during the Holocene. We reconstruct the alluvial history of the
area around Neihuang County by synthesizing stratigraphic data from seven outcrops
into distinct depositional units. Our findings suggest that much of the archaeological
record in the North China Plain is buried by meters of sediment or eroded away by the
ancient channels of the Yellow River and other tributary streams. Therefore, the
presence of buried archaeological sites and river scour in recorded outcrops suggests
that the nonsystematic archaeological surveys that are commonly used to interpret
cultural changes are not accurate reflections of archaeological site distributions. From
the results of this case study, we recommend that archaeologists and paleoclimatologists should exercise more caution when using settlement distribution data gathered
through nonsystematic pedestrian surveys to make inferences about ancient processes
of cultural change or social dynamics in the North China Plain.

Citation/DOI: Qin, Z., Storozum, M. J., Liu, H., & Kidder, T. R. (2022). Holocene landscape evolution in northern Henan Province and its implications for archaeological surveys. Geoarcheology, 1–15. DOI: 10.1002/gea.21938