Role of climate in the rise and fall of Neolithic cultures on the Yangtze Delta SHIYONG YU, CHENG ZHU, JIAN SONG AND WEIZHENG QU Yu, S., Zhu, C., Song, J. & Qu, W. 2000 (June): Role of climate in the rise and fall of Neolithic cultures on the Yangtze Delta. Boreas, Vol. 29, pp. 157–165. Oslo. ISSN 0300-9483. Climatic changes in the Yangtze Delta have played an important role in the emergence, persistence and col- lapse of civilization. Archaeological excavations in the region over many years have demonstrated that there are several layers of fine sand or organic mud that interrupt the consecutive culture strata in a number of Neo- lithic culture sites. Continuous biostratigraphical and sedimentological records from the Maqiao cultural site, Shanghai, suggest that the fine sand and organic mud units resulted from expansion of water bodies both by sea-level fluctuations and from increased flooding during cold and humid episodes of Holocene climates. The absence of human settlement from 7240 BP to 5320 BP in the region was mainly caused by higher sea levels resulting from a warm and humid climate. The Neolithic cultures developed under conditions of lower and more stable sea level as well as warmer and dryer climates between about 4410 BP and 3250 BP. A flood-in- duced lake expansion interrupted the civilization in the region at about 4200 BP. Later, higher water tables and expansion of lakes between 3250 BP and AD 618 under a cold and moist climate temporarily terminated settlement on the delta. Later, during the Tang Dynasty, beginning at about AD 618, the region again became suitable for human settlement under conditions of more favourable climate and lower water tables. Shiyong Yu, Department of Quaternary Geology, Lund University, Tornava ¨gen 13, SE-223 63 Lund, Sweden; Cheng Zhu, Department of Geology & Ocean Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P. R. China; Jian Song, Department of Archaeology, The Museum of Shanghai, Shanghai 200002, P. R. China; Weizheng Qu, Department of Meteorology, Ocean University of Qingdao, Qingdao 266003, P. R. China; received 10th August 1998, accepted 2nd December 1999. Observed hydrologic response to modern climate anomalies supports the idea that climate variations severely impacted on human settlement in the Yangtze Delta (Sun & Sun 1994). Historical flood records documented in Chinese annals also provide exceptional information to help us understand how past climate alterations affected human occupation in the region (Chen 1987). Although ice-core oxygen isotopic records from Antarctica and Greenland reveal that climate variability was remarkably more subdued during the Holocene than during the Last Glaciation (Bender et al. 1994; Jouzel 1994), recent evidence from both tropical coral and mid-latitude tree rings indicates that the Holocene has also experienced occasional extreme short-term high variability (Feng & Epstein 1994; Beck et al. 1997). For example, the Hypsithermal Interval (about 7000–5000 BP) contains evidence for a series of cold episodes, each lasting about 50 to 200 years (O’Brien et al. 1995). Estimating the damage to human livelihood that results from abrupt shifts in modern climate can be reasonably determined (Chen 1989), but inferences about similar information from ice cores in order to understand the human impact of such rapid changes in Holocene climates are more difficult. To resolve this discrepancy, it is essential to seek proxy profiles that contain information on both climate variations and vestiges of human activity. The colossal magnitude of Neolithic culture sites in the Yangtze Delta, East China, contained in a well- preserved Holocene stratigraphic context, provides an ideal framework for evaluating associations between evolution of Neolithic cultures and Holocene climate fluctuations. Climate has been hypothesized to be an important control because the civilization in the region terminated mysteriously at 3000 BP, resulting in a regional hiatus of human occupation known as the ‘cultural interruption’ (Zhu et al. 1996a; Yu et al. 1998). Elsewhere, others have also invoked climate variation to explain aspects of civilization evolution (Hodell et al. 1995; Curtis et al. 1996; Binford et al. 1997; Grosjean et al. 1997). Nevertheless, direct evidence for climatic background in which the emergence, evolution and collapse of Neolithic cultures occurred is scarce. Here, we offer uninterrupted biostratigraphical and geochemi- cal records from the Maqiao cultural site, Yangtze Delta, to evaluate the climatic context of the Neolithic cultures and to discuss responses of civilization to forcing from climatic anomalies. Study area The Yangtze Delta (30°N–33°N, 119°E–122°E), located in East China (Fig. 1), is characterized by a subtropical monsoon climate. Mixed deciduous and evergreen forest characterizes the vegetation of the