The Relationship Between The Evolution Of Neolithic Culture And Climate Change In Western Inner Mongolia And Shan-gan-ning Area

The relationship between holocene climate change and the evolution of prehistoric civilization has always been concerned.Gansu-Inner Mongolia west-Ningxia-Shaanxi which is in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River Basin is a transition zone of semi-humid and semi-arid climate,the monsoon and non-monsoon regions in China.The special eco-environmental background makes the study area particularly sensitive to changes in the Indian / East Asian monsoon climate.In addition,the loess landforms in western Inner Mongolia and Shaan-Gan-Ning are widely distributed.The loess has a uniform texture,loose structure,more developed pores,and rich in minerals.The physical and chemical characteristics are very suitable for the development of early dry farming.The specific climate and environment background and the unique physical and chemical characteristics of the loess have laid a certain foundation for the continuous development of the early dry farming in northern my country.Therefore,in order to further explore the relationship between climate change,loess distribution,the development of dry farming and cultural evolution in the study area,this paper collected and compiled relevant information on more than 8,000 cultural sites in the Neolithic period in the area,and based on Arcgis 10.3 The platform uses digital terrain analysis,neighborhood analysis and nuclear density spatial analysis to explore the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of Neolithic culture in the study area.Combined with Holocene climate change characteristics,changes in economic models,and increased productivity levels to analyze the main driving forces of cultural evolution in the Pre-yangshao era,Yangshao era and Longshan era.Finally,combining the ecological slope limitation theory,the response characteristics of cultural evolution in different parts of the ecological slope are discussed.The results are as follows(1)The performance of the Neolithic cultural expansion in the study areaThe Neolithic Age saw two large-scale cultural expansions,namely the Yangshao era and the Longshan era.On the one hand,it shows the increase in the number of sites and the expansion of the settlement scale;on the other hand,it shows that the distribution space and the gathering center move west and north along the tributaries of the Yellow River;The result shows that most of the sites of Neolithic culture in the study area are distributed in the area where the Loess Plateau is located.And the expansion of mankind is unfolding in the loess belt against the background of climate deterioration.The trend is that the tributaries along the Yellow River gradually expand from southeast to northwest,which is consistent with the spread of planting industry from southeast to northwest in the Loess Plateau during this period;Topographic factors such as elevation,slope,aspect and topography all have a certain impact on the spatial distribution of ancient settlements.In the qianyangshao period,it was mainly distributed in the valley Piedmont with low elevation(500-1000m),low slope(< 2 °),and low topographic relief(300-600m).However,with the expansion of cultural sites in Yangshao and Longshan times,human activities gradually moved to areas with higher elevation(1-2km),greater slope(< 15 °),and greater topographic relief(1-2km).As for the aspect,the overall performance is mainly on the distribution of sunny slope;The distribution and expansion of Neolithic cultural sites in the study area are closely related to the distribution of rivers.Among them,43.6% of the settlements in the pre-Yangshao era were distributed on river terraces 0.5-1km away from the river.With the development of civilization in the Yangshao and Longshan eras,the increase in population and the emergence of water wells have caused people to expand toward the loess plateau,which is relatively further away from the river,and are mainly distributed within 5 km.(2).The relationship between Neolithic cultural evolution and climate evolution in the study areaResearch shows that Neolithic climate change has an important impact on cultural evolution and expansion.In both Yangshao and Longshan times,the stable and gradually dry climate environment is the fundamental driving force for cultural expansion.In the arid climate environment,the expansion of dry farming,mainly millet and chestnut,is the basic driving force for cultural expansion.Based on the ecological slope theory,as the climate gradually became arid and the environment deteriorated in the Yangshao and Longshan eras,the overall center of gravity of the cultural sites distributed on the ecological slope showed a trend of gradually shifting from the slope foot and slope base area to the slope area.Which is contrary to the characteristic mentioned by the ecological slope theory that when the climate environment deteriorates,human activities shift to the slope foot and slope base.The reason is considered to be related to the loess distribution.In other words,the distribution of loess affects the scope and direction of cultural expansion.At the same time,the decline and extinction of culture are also related to climate change.The decline of Yangshao and Longshan culture occurred in the environment of large climate fluctuation and sudden cold dry.