2026-02-06 オックスフォード大学
＜関連情報＞
- https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-02-06-researchers-discover-ancient-floods-rewrote-civilizations-along-yangtze-river
- https://academic.oup.com/nsr/article/13/2/nwaf567/8377283
新石器時代の社会における洪水の影響を評価するための、中国中部における約4200年前の水文学的変化の正確な年代測定 Precise chronology of hydrological changes at ∼4.2 kyr in Central China to assess the impact of flooding on Neolithic societies
Jin Liao,Christopher C Day,Chaoyong Hu,Yuhui Liu,Gideon M Henderson
National Science Review Published:11 December 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwaf567
ABSTRACT
A lack of quantitative rainfall reconstruction has hindered understanding of the role of hydrological disturbances at ∼4.2 kyr BP (1000 years before present) in the collapse of the Shijiahe culture—an advanced Neolithic society in the Middle Yangtze Valley (MYV). We provide a quantitative paleohydrology reconstruction for the period 4.6–3.5 kyr BP by using calcium isotopes, trace elements and δ13C from an annually laminated stalagmite from the MYV. Our reconstructed rainfall shows three drier intervals with rainfall of <700 mm/yr (4.36–4.33 kyr BP, 4.23–4.10 kyr BP, 3.57–3.55 kyr BP) and two wetter intervals with rainfall of >1000 mm/yr (3.95–3.84 kyr BP, 3.70–3.59 kyr BP), with suggestions of tripole/dipole rainfall patterns. Combined with archaeological and paleoflood evidence, these data suggest that the Shijiahe culture underwent transformation during drier periods, but abandoned the region when the rainfall was >1000 mm/yr. This robust, multiproxy record demonstrates that water excess could be as problematic as water shortage, even for advanced civilizations, and contributes to understanding hydrological perturbations at ∼4.2 kyr BP.
