A RECORD OF LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION AND HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION AT THE YANGGUANZHAI ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE, NORTH-CENTRAL CHINA

The Middle Neolithic site of Yangguanzhai (YGZ), located on a floodplain in the Wei River Valley (WRV) of China, has an extensive geoarchaeological record that affords a glimpse into landscape evolution, paleoenvironmental conditions, and human behavior (e.g., settlement patterns, pottery production, subsistence activities) throughout the Holocene. At YGZ, there is a well-preserved sequence of sediments with buried soils, indicative of multiple changes in landscape stability. The fine-grained nature of the sediments, limited lateral variability in stratigraphic units, and the lack of sedimentary structures suggest that low-energy overbank flooding was the primary mode of deposition. Human occupations are associated with three buried soils: the two lower soils contain Middle Neolithic (~6000-5500 cal. yrs. B.P.) pottery sherds and features, while the upper soil contains Han Dynasty artifacts (~2500 cal. yrs. B.P.). In both cases, artifacts are not clustered at the soil surfaces, but rather appear throughout the soils, signifying that the occupations pre-dated or occurred concurrently with pedogenesis. There are two possibilities: 1) gradual floodplain deposition took place as human groups occupied the area, or 2) humans modified and slowly aggraded the landscape through agricultural practices. Sediment between the lower and upper occupied soils contains no artifacts, suggesting that the site was unattractive for occupation for roughly 3,000 years. Heightened sedimentation and landscape instability likely contributed to site abandonment and shifts in human land use/settlement patterns in the YGZ region. Based on field observations and corresponding laboratory analysis, it is clear that YGZ inhabitants experienced several shifts in landscape stability and paleoenvironmental conditions, as the site underwent at least three cycles of sediment deposition followed by pedogenesis over the Middle and Late Holocene.