Holocene Floodplain Development of Qujiang, Zhejiang, China in the Context of Early Human Occupation of Jinhua Basin

Summary

The Qujiang drains mountainous terrain in Zhejiang Province of east-central China. Shangshan cultures have been identified on floodplain terraces and earth mounds within the Qujiang valley. The choice of settlement in the area (10,000+ years BP) is constrained by several geographical factors, including topography, climate, access to water resources and human factors. The relationship between cultural occupation sites and river dynamics over the Holocene is poorly known in this region. Lateral and vertical river stability can be an important determinate of land use and settlement patterns. We investigate the geomorphic record of the Qujiang in relation to the Hehuashan river terrace occupation site using geophysical methods (GPR) and cores on the adjacent floodplain to infer long-term floodplain stability. Floodplain structure is dominated by shallow narrow channels comprised of basal gravels and sand (   4 m depth), overlain by horizontally laminated infilled silty sands. We interpret the long-term natural channel pattern of the Qujiang to be a cobble-bedded, sandy anabranched river, subject to rapid and frequent lateral channel shifting and formation of large back-swamps during heavy flooding. This suggests poor habitat for occupation on the river’s floodplain and supports settlement on the adjacent Pleistocene aged river terraces.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22142