Mapping of the spatial and temporal distribution of archaeological sites of northern China during the Neolithic and Bronze Age

This study presents statistical analyses and mapping of the spatial and temporal distribution of 36,422 archaeological sites in northern China (ca. 31-53°N, 90-131°E) for six selected time slices from middle Neolithic to late Bronze Age (ca. 8000-500 BC). Archaeological data were digitalized and georeferenced from 11 provincial/regional volumes of the Atlas of Chinese Cultural Relics and for the first time combined in one database and on one comprehensive base map. The results demonstrate the first high concentration of Neolithic sites in the Wei and Yellow River basins and in the Xiliao River basin, i.e. on mountain ridges and plateaus elevated to ∼1000-2000 m, at ca. 4250 BC. The period from the onset of occupation on the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (∼3000 m) until ca. 3750 BC corresponds to the phase of a strong summer monsoon. Unprecedented maximum site concentration on the Loess Plateau but at minimum in northeastern China was documented at ca. 2350 BC (late Neolithic). About 1750 BC (early Bronze Age), the trend reversed. Between ca. 850 BC and ca. 650 BC, sites agglomerate in eastern China. This eastward shift of site concentration and the decrease in the absolute number of sites correspond to the evolution and spread of mobile pastoralism along with weak summer monsoon and increasing aridity in western and northern China.