NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - Southeast China 7,300 Year Speleothem Stable Isotope Data

The Liangzhu culture in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) was among the world's most advanced Neolithic cultures. Archeological evidence suggests that the Liangzhu ancient city was abandoned, and the culture collapsed at ~4300 years ago. Here, we present speleothem records from southeastern China in conjunction with other paleoclimatic and archeological data to show that the Liangzhu culture collapsed within a short and anomalously wet period between 4345 ± 32 and 4324 ± 30 years ago, supporting the hypothesis that the city was abandoned after large-scale flooding and inundation. We further show that the demise of Neolithic cultures in the YRD occurred within an extended period of aridity that started at ~4000 ± 45 years ago. We suggest that the major hydroclimatic changes between 4300 and 3000 years ago may have resulted from an increasing frequency of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation in the context of weakened Northern Hemisphere summer insolation.

长江三角洲（Yangtze River Delta, YRD）的良渚文化是世界范围内最为先进的新石器时代文化之一。考古证据表明，良渚古城被废弃，良渚文化于距今约4300年前走向衰亡。本研究基于中国东南部的洞穴石笋（speleothem）记录，结合其他古气候与考古学数据，证实良渚文化衰亡于距今4345±32年至距今4324±30年之间一段短暂且异常湿润的时期，这一结果支持“良渚古城因大规模洪水与淹没而遭废弃”的假说。我们进一步研究发现，长江三角洲地区的新石器时代文化衰亡发生在一段始于距今约4000±45年的持续干旱期内。我们提出，距今4300年至3000年之间的重大水文气候变化，可能是在北半球夏季太阳辐射减弱的背景下，厄尔尼诺-南方涛动（El Niño-Southern Oscillation）发生频率升高所导致的。