Paper No. 42-8
Presentation Time: 10:45 AM
DESICCATED ORGANIC MATERIALS FROM THE ANCIENT GREAT WALL OF CHINA AS CLIMATE ARCHIVES: ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONSERVATION IN NORTHWESTERN CHINA
PATALANO, Robert1, HU, Jing2, LENG, Qin3, LIU, Weiguo4, WANG, Huanye5, ROBERTS, Patrick6, STOROZUM, Michael7, YANG, Lin8 and YANG, Hong3, (1)Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, Jena, 07745, Germany; Science and Technology, Bryant University, 1150 Douglas Pike, Smithfield, RI 02917, (2)State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710061, China, (3)Laboratory for Terrestrial Environments, Department of Science and Technology, Bryant University, 1150 Douglas Pike, Smithfield, RI 02917, (4)State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Science, No.97 Yangxiang Road, Xi'an, 710061, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China; Center for Excellence in Quaternary Science and Global Change, Chinese Academy of Science, Xi'an, 710061, China, (5)State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Science, No.97 Yangxiang Road, Xi'an, 710061, China; Center for Excellence in Quaternary Science and Global Change, Chinese Academy of Science, Xi'an, 710061, China, (6)Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, Jena, 07745, Germany; School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia; Archaeological Studies Program, University of Philippines, Diliman, Quenzon City, 1101, Philippines, (7)School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University, Newcastle, NE1 7RU, United Kingdom, (8)Archaeology, National Museum of China, Beijing, 100006, China
The Great Wall of China is one of the most recognizable world heritage sites. What is perhaps less well known, is that the iconic brick walls built during the Ming Dynasty in the 15th Century AD are only part of an extensive system of fascine and rammed-earth walls, beacon towers, and fortifications that expanded the western frontier of the Han Empire in the 2ndCentury BC. Plant materials used in the construction of these segments and beacon towers of the Han era Great Wall contain untapped potential for revealing paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes of northwestern China over the last two millennia. For the first time, we characterize the molecular preservation and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions of common reeds (Phragmites) collected from ancient Great Wall fascines in today’s Gansu and Xinjiang provinces using a combination of chromatographic techniques and isotope analyses.
Using area-defining technologies applied to novel archaeological sample types, we quantitatively demonstrate that these ancient reeds retain excellent molecular preservation and illustrate the potential of using this common construction material as an archive for paleoclimatic and archaeological proxies. Both the molecular distribution of plant waxes and bulk stable isotope compositions indicate that the ancient reeds were harvested from local sources and from habitats that were more diverse than those in northwestern China today. Moreover, due to a combination of early agriculture and natural climate forcing, the eastern edge of the Tarim Basin has experienced differential rates of environmental changes since the Han Dynasty. Our study demonstrates that given the excellent molecular preservation and common occurrence of reeds in archaeological sites, these desiccated organic material from ancient Great Walls hold outstanding potential to unlock environmental and climatic conditions on the western frontier of important periods in Chinese history.
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