Acta Geographica Sinica ›› 2013, Vol. 68 ›› Issue (11): 1527-1537.doi: 10.11821/dlxb201311008

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Spatial and temporal distribution of prehistoric human sites and its driving factors in Henan province

LI Zhongxuan1, ZHU Cheng2, WU Guoxi1, ZHENG Chaogui3, SHAO Shixun3, FENG Feifan1, WANG Ning1   

  1. 1. Department of Urban and Environment, Xuchang University, Xuchang 461000, Henan, China;
    2. School of Geographic and Oceanographic Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China;
    3. Department of Geographic Information and Tourism, Chuzhou University, Chuzhou 239000, Anhui, China
  • Received:2013-02-28 Revised:2013-03-19 Online:2013-11-20 Published:2013-11-20
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41171163; No.40971115; Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, CAS, No.SKLLQG1208; Foundation of Major Scientific and Technical Plan of Henan, No.112102310498; Project of Educational Administration of Henan Province, No.2011B170012

Abstract: Based on the ArcGis10.0 platform, this article analyzed the geographic indexes of prehistoric human sites in the Yangshao Cultural Period (approx. 6.9-6.0 ka BP) and in the Longshan Cultural Period (approx. 4.6-4.0 ka BP) in Henan, i.e. spatial distribution, river-orientation, spatial agglomeration etc. Results showed that 18.8% of the sites in Yangshao period are distributed within 1 km river-buffer area, while there were 16.5% in Longshan period, indicating that human activity in Longshan period became weaker at river-orientation. In contrast to the Yangshao period, spatial agglomeration indexes of the western part of Henan, Nanyang Basin and Yinghe-and-Huaihe river basin respectively increased by 0.006, 0.016 and 0.021, which suggested that human activity in Longshan-period was restricted by natural environment. At 4.0 ka BP, Henan was subjected to the cooling events, accompanied by natural disasters such as drought, flood and low temperature, which accelerated the spread of human activities. At that time, the exotic cultures such as Shijiahe and Dawenkou expanded into Henan and complicated the spatial-temporal patterns of human activities.

Key words: Yangshao cultural sites, Longshan cultural sites, Henan province, paleo-environment evolution, time-spatial distribution