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New Evidence of Agricultural Activity and Environmental Change

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New Evidence of Agricultural Activity and Environmental Change HOLXXX10.1177/0959 405234683611405234Qin et al.The Holocene Research paper The Holocene 1 –9 New evidence of agricultural activity © The Author(s) 2011 Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav and environmental change associated DOI: 10.1177/0959683611405234 with the ancient Loulan kingdom, hol.sagepub.com China, around 1500 years ago Xiaoguang Qin,1 Jiaqi Liu,1 Hongjuan Jia,1 Houyuan Lu,1 Xuncheng Xia,2 Liping Zhou,3 Guijin Mu,2 Qinghai Xu4 and Yinxin Jiao5 Abstract The ancient kingdom of Loulan on China’s Silk Road has disappeared for about 1500 years. Historical records have documented widespread cultivation in Loulan which supported the kingdom’s prosperity for hundreds of years. However, no farmland ruins have been found although the ancient Loulan city was discovered more than 100 years ago. In this study, remotely sensed, geomorphic and geological observations of possible farmlands in Loulan were analyzed. A wide distribution of partly preserved plots with recognizable regular and straight boundaries, the existence of crossed canals, the occurrence of a gypseous incrustation layer (GIL) overlying on the surface of farmland-like blocks, and extracted large-sized pollen grains of cultivated grass from GIL samples provide new evidence for the ancient farmlands. Field observations revealed that the upper cultivated soil layer overlaid on GIL, i.e. soil horizon A, had been wind-eroded and GIL is the ruined soil horizon B. These new findings point to a well-developed agriculture of the ancient Loulan kingdom. The size and distribution of the farmlands and the thickness of the GIL suggests that irrigation for cultivation in this currently exceedingly arid area had lasted for a long time. Fluvial and lacustrine sediments in Loulan area deposited during the about 4 to ~ 8 ka BP period, revealing that the wet Holocene optimum and two arid events of about 4 and 8 ka BP occurred in the westerlies-dominated northwest China. The Loulan kingdom period was another wet stage when the ecological environment was the typical cultivated grass of oasis near wetland. The insufficiency of water during the late period of the Loulan kingdom led the decline of irrigation agriculture and finally the renunciation of the kingdom. Keywords ancient Loulan, cultivation, large sized pollen, Lop Nur of Xinjiang, paleoclimate, ruined farmland Introduction Ancient Loulan city (N40°30'58.73", E89°54'51.73") is located on wind-eroded and became an uninhabitable Yardang area after the western bank of lake Lop Nur in Ruoqiang county of Xinjiang, Monk Xuanzang of the Chinese Tang Dynasty passed through the China. It is situated around the eastern corner of Tarim basin (Fig- ancient kingdom in about AD 645 (Xuanzang, 645). Investigation ure 1) which is the largest sedimentary basin to the north of the into the area has been very difficult because of the lack of roads Tibetan Plateau. Although Lop Nur is known to be the depositional and fresh water. In 1899, ancient Loulan city was rediscovered by centre of the Tarim basin and was the largest lake in western China, S. Hedin (Hedin, 1926). He excavated ruined houses and found the formation and evolution of the lake and the environmental wooden tablets and many Chinese manuscripts from the later Han change around the lake during the geological time remain a topic of Dynasty to Former Liang Dynasty of China (the third century AD). hot debate (Cheng, 1936; Hedin, 1926; Huntington, 1907; Village M.A. Stein made further excavations in 1906 and 1914 (Stein, Sydney, 1955; Xia et al., 2007). The region is now predominately 1912, 1921). Since then, many explorers from different countries under the influence of the westerlies, with climate conditions in marked contrast to the region affected by the East Asian monsoon. 1 Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of It developed into the core arid area of Eurasia from at least the Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China beginning of the Quaternary period (Zhu et al., 1981). However, 2Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of there were numerous oases in the basin which had supported many Sciences, China ancient kingdoms along the ancient Silk Road. Loulan was one of 3Peking University, China 4 36 ancient kingdoms of western regions during the Former Han Heibei Normal University, China 5Ruoqiang Institute of Management for Cultural Relics, China Dynasty of China described in the historical literature Hanshu written by Ban Gu (i.e. Pan Ku) (92). Received 31 July 2010; revised manuscript accepted 2 March 2011 Loulan was a prosperous and strong kingdom from 77 BC Corresponding author: (Ban, 92; Faxian, 416; Li, 466–527; Xia et al., 2007). However, Xiaoguang Qin, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy the kingdom completely disappeared and the region with an area of Sciences, No.19 Beitucheng Xi Rd, Beijing 100029, P.R. China. of tens of thousands of square kilometers was strongly Email: [email protected] 2 The Holocene Figure 1. Location of the ancient Loulan city (red star) and Lop Nur (black box is the range of Figure 3). White triangles are ruined sites and letters are their names. Red lines are highway, the blue line is the river. White circles are cities or towns. The cyan area is lake. Cyan Lop Nur lake dried in 1973 (Xia et al., 2007). The yellow line is ancient Lop Nur existing before cyan lake. Image is from map.google.com have investigated Loulan (cf. Xia et al., 2007). Bergman (1935) documented number of soldiers involved, the area of farmland discovered the Xiaohe Tomb complex, a Bronze Age burial site, and the type of crops, it is clear that farmlands were irrigated even to the west of the Loulan city in 1934. These early findings made though water was in short supply. However, there has been a lack Loulan famous and important for studying cultural exchange of direct physical evidence for the ancient farmlands and canals at between the West and the Orient. The most recent finding was an Loulan, despite all the historical records on farmland in the area. ancient city of the Northern Wei Dynasty near Xiaohe tumulus The only known physical evidence of Loulan farmland was a (Lu et al., 2010). farmhouse ruin found by Stein in 1914 (Stein, 1921; Xia et al., Historical literature showed that agriculture was once flourish- 2007) at about 4 km east of the ancient Loulan city and a man- ing in the Loulan kingdom (Ban, 92; Faxian, 416; Li, 466–527). made canal reported by a Chinese archaeological team in 1979– The earliest literal record of cultivation in Loulan was in Li 1980 (Hoh, 2005; Integrated Survey Team for Lop Nur Lake, Daoyuan’s book Shuijingzhu of the Northern Wei Dynasty of 1987). Over nearly a century the search for more direct evidence China (Ban, 92; Li, 466–527). Formerly, the ancient Loulan indi- of farmland in the ancient Loulan kingdom has never stopped and genes employed grazing. In about 70 BC, Chinese General Suo the history of agriculture in this extremely arid area and the causes Mai (i.e. So Man) led 4000 soldiers for a three-day campaign to for its sudden demise remain a mystery of world attention. block out Zhubin river (i.e. the ancient Tarim river) in order to The environment of the ancient Loulan indigenes was another create an irrigation system for the farmlands. The indigenes were issue for attention. However, most discussion was focused on the shocked and surprised by the bumper crop harvest in the sequen- evolution, location and distribution of lake Lop Nur in nearly a tial three years. The records clearly indicate that the cultivation hundred years. For example, the Russia officer Nikolai Przheval- and irrigation technique of the ancient Loulan kingdom can be sky proposed the Kara Heshun Lake to be the ancient Lop Nur but traced back to Chinese Han Dynasty. The most detailed records of German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen believed them to cultivation in Loulan came from wooden tablets and papery man- be two different lakes (cf. Xia et al., 2007). Huntington (1907) put uscripts found in the ruined sites of Loulan (Xia et al., 2007; forward the ‘Lake of profit and loss’ and the rationale for it, but Zhang, 2001). The tablets and manuscripts were written about AD Hedin (1926) believed Lop Nur to be the ‘wandering lake’ with a 270–330. For example, a tablet (753, LA, VI, ii) carries a descrip- north–south wavering cycle of 1500 years; and the Chinese tion that 29 mu of 37 mu wheat farmland had been planted and 20 scholar Cheng (1936) developed it as an erosion and deposition- mu of 1 qing 85 mu millet farmland (mu and qing are units of driven ‘turn of Lake’ viewpoint of Lop Nur. The Soviet Union area, 1 qing = 100 mu =6.6667 ha) had been irrigated by Zhang geologist Village Sydney (1955) suggested that tectonic move- Lian’s troops with 21 soldiers (Zhang, 2001). From the well ment led to the Lop Nur wavering. Although arguments lasted a Qin et al. 3 Table 1. OSL dating samples from the Pagoda section in Loulan city Sample number TDP3-1 TDP3-3 TDP3-3 TDP3-4 Depth (cm) 30 220 390 540 De (Gy) 16.05±1.22 19.18±3.13 21.36±1.09 39.57±1.60 K (%) 1.81±0.043 1.64±0.041 1.88±0.045 2.02±0.042 U (ppm) 2.52±0.051 2.57±0.098 2.12±0.091 3.67±0.121 Th (ppm) 9.84±0.295 9.84±0.295 8.30±0.266 10.8±0.313 Moisture (%) 15±5 15±5 15±5 15±5 u (Gy/yr) 3281±178 3096±173 3016±166 3760±213 Age (yr) 4900±450 6200±1100 7100±500 10500±700 century, the environment of the region that supported the flourish- humic debris.
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