Redistribution of prehistoric Tarim people in response to climate change Zihua Tang a, * , Dongmei Chen b , Xinhua Wu c , Guijin Mu d, * a Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19 Beitucheng West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, China b China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corporation, Beijing 100034, China c Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 100710, China d Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 818 South Beijing Road, Urumqi 830011, China article info Article history: Available online 29 January 2013 abstract The role of climate change on civilization evolution, varying from a driving force, to a supporting role or just background noise, is an often-debated issue. This paper presents the occupation history of prehis- toric civilization in the hyperarid Tarim Basin as a case study to evaluate the influences of environmental change. The prehistorical relics in the Tarim Basin are centered at two periods: prior to 3000 BP and after 2700 BP, showing an apparent centurial gap in occupation. The gap is bridged by the relics from the Kunlun highland, 3000e2600 BP. Previous palaeoclimatic reconstructions show an anti-phased moisture changes between the southern Tarim and the Kunlun highland during the past 5000 years. Placing the timing of relics in the climatic context, the prehistoric relics only occur during relatively wet periods, both on the Kunlun highlands and in the southern basin. The pattern indicates that moisture change is an important explanation for relic distributions in southern Tarim. During the succession of relics from both the basin and the highland, cultural complexities increased gradually from 3800 BP to the historical period, without any significant absences or collapses. This implies that ancient cultures can develop, although the people migrated between the highland and the basin. The results show that in this case environmental pressures have little influence on civilization evolution, even in such a fragile habitat and during prehistoric periods. Caution is required in assessing the influences of environmental change on civilizations. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Profound impacts of climate and environmental changes on civilization around the world have been widely investigated by Quaternarists and archaeologists in past decades. However, to what extent the climate changes impact on the cultural evolution is a complex question. Attempts to link them have created con- troversial opinions that climate change can either play a key role that determines the civilization’s development, be a supporting player that is significantly, but not solely, responsible for the civi- lization evolution, or be merely background noise whose influences are eclipsed by contemporaneous human activity (Catto and Catto, 2004). The interactions between climate and culture are complex, requiring significant work. Efforts to understand the mode and strategy of past cultural response to climate change may prove instructive for estimating modern societal policy for an irreversible changing and uncertain future (Solomon et al., 2009). Studies on the relationship between culture and climate change include the classic works by Chang (1946) and Chu (1973), in which the pos- sible impacts of climate on human society in China had been described. Hinsch (1988) presented a possible link to explain the Chinese dynastic cycles, with climate change influencing agri- culture production by affecting temperature and rainfall, and resulting impacts on civilizations. Over the last few years, the climateeagricultureewarepopulation relationships in the prein- dustrial era reinforced Hinsch’s hypothesis, and implied that long- term climate change has played an important role and imposed a wider ranging effect on human civilization than had previously been suggested (Zhang et al., 2005). With great care, these authors avoided commenting directly upon the causality between culture and climate in China. However, the tacit reticence on China’s climateehuman re- lationships was challenged by new findings in recent years. * Corresponding authors. E-mail addresses: tangzihua@mail.iggcas.ac.cn, tangzihua@gmail.com (Z. Tang), gjmu@ms.xjb.ac.cn (G. Mu). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint 1040-6182/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.01.021 Quaternary International 308-309 (2013) 36e41