Historical Data Research and Holocene Climate Environment

7.8.4. 1 Major historical events and Holocene climate environment

Liu Dongsheng and Ding Menglin studied the Holocene climate change according to the historical records such as The Battle of Hanquan, The Battle of Zhuolu, and The Three Seedlings of Remaining Cutting.

(1) "The Battle of Hanquan" and "The Battle of Zhuolu" and the Holocene Climate and Environment Changes

The above-mentioned warm climate in the Middle Holocene, especially in the heyday of the Great Warm Period, led to the increase of atmospheric precipitation, the sharp melting of glaciers and the rise of sea level. According to the research results of N.Morner( 1976), at the peak of the Middle Holocene, the global sea level was about 2m higher than it is now, and the coastal plain in eastern China was generally invaded, which was called Huanghua transgression. Tianjin, Huanghua, Lijin and so on. Flooded by floods, Bohai Bay invaded the western part of Tianjin and even the western part of Baiyangdian, and the eastern plain became a Zeguo.

During this period, tribes such as Huangdi and Chiyou, who lived in the eastern plain, were faced with floods, and their living environment deteriorated seriously, forcing their people to migrate to the loess plateau in the west, or to live safely in the local mountains and highlands.

There are many historical records about the legendary Battle of Hanquan and the Battle of Zhuolu in ancient history. Historians also believe that the Battle of Hanquan came first and the Battle of Zhuolu came last. These were the two most famous battles in a series of battles at the beginning of the Five Emperors, which were located in Zhuolu and Huailai in the northwest of Hebei Province.

The Battle of Hanquan was a battle between the Yellow Emperor and Yan Di. The Yellow Emperor moved westward from the eastern plain, which was the first step, and entered the Loess Plateau, which was the second step. It was a large-scale war with the tribes of Yan Di who lived there, and the embryonic form of tribal alliance was formed on the Loess Plateau.

In the north, Dongyi people who originally lived in coastal areas, led by their leader Chiyou, also started a large-scale migration from the first-class ladder to the second-class loess plateau. In Chiyou, Hebei Zhuolu, which was captured, killed and annexed, launched a deadly "Zhuolu War" with Yanhuang.

Miao people also take Chiyou as their ancestor. According to ancient songs, the former "five milks" and six ancestors all lived in the east, near the sea and even in Tianshui. Later, he "went through a lot of hardships and immigrated to the West."

Dongyi and Miao people lived in the east for a long time, that is, the first terrace of the eastern plain. Their primitive productivity level is higher than that of the Huaxia clan in the Loess Plateau. They entered the loess plateau to the west and moved from the first terrace to the second terrace-the loess plateau. There must be a fundamental reason for the survival of the national people at such a heavy price. According to the research results of Quaternary climate fluctuation, Liu Dongsheng, Ding Menglin and others believe that this fundamental reason is probably the warm climate in the middle Holocene, especially the climate at the peak of the Great Warm Period, which caused large-scale disastrous floods caused by rising temperature, increasing rainfall, melting glaciers and rising sea level.

An Zhisheng et al. (1990) also put forward that the Holocene was a warm rain period 9 ~ 5ka ago in the article Basic Characteristics of Paleoenvironmental Changes in China in the Last 20,000 Years. Shi Yafeng et al. (1992) also pointed out in the article Basic Characteristics of Climate and Environment during the Holocene Great Warm Period in China that the Holocene climate in China was before 8.5 ~ 3 ka, with a stable warm and humid peak period before 7.2 ~ 6 ka.

In recent years, the rice remains found in Pengtou Mountain in Lixian County, Hunan Province and Wuyang in the west of Henan Plain all disappeared suddenly and reappeared 5-4 ka ago, which is evidence.

(2) "Three seedlings in cutting" and the change of Holocene climate and environment.

In the late Holocene, the climate began to get cold about 4ka ago, and the sea level gradually retreated, which can be proved by the four shell dikes left by four pauses during the retreat. At this time, the above situation changed completely, and the ancient civilization in China changed from the second-class ladder-the Loess Plateau to the first-class ladder in the eastern plain, which triggered the battle of "Yu cutting three seedlings" (Liu Dongsheng, Ding Menglin, etc., 2004).

Generally, according to historical records, "Three Miao people lived in the past, left Li Penglang, right Dongting has water, south Wenshan and north Hengshan Mountain", which is interpreted as Jianghan Plain in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and Hengshan Mountain in Nanyue is regarded as Hengshan Mountain (now the north of Hengshan County, Hunan Province), which can be said to be the location of Three Miao people in a narrow sense (Tan Qixiang, 1998).

In a broad sense, the residence of Sanmiao refers to Hengshan Mountain, not Mount Hengshan in Nanyue, but to Funiu Mountain and Waifangshan in the west of Henan Plain, which was called Hengshan Mountain in ancient times. That is, the activities of Sanmiao people extend from Jianghan Plain to the northwest to Nanyang Basin and Songshan area in the south and west of Henan Province, and enter the Danshui-Hanjiang Basin in the southeast of Qinling Mountains, which makes the primitive Yangshao culture absorb the Qujialing culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, which has been confirmed by archaeological culture (Li Xueqin, Wang Yuxin, etc.,1997; Li Xueqin, Jiang, 200 1).

It can be seen that the narrow sense of Sanmiao's residence-Jianghan Plain is his ancestral home; Broadly speaking, the activity range of Sanmiao extends to the northwest and reaches the southeast of the Loess Plateau, which should be the area where Sanmiao migrated to the northwest and stayed at the second step of the Loess Plateau during the flood disaster in the Holocene during the late Yangshao culture.

"Remaining the Three Miaos" is a long-term and large-scale war from the Loess Plateau to Jianghan Plain, the heart of the Three Miaos, to destroy the Three Miaos country and then patrol the lower reaches of the Yangtze River until Huiji.

During the Yao, Shun and Yu dynasties, there was a battle to cut down three seedlings. The activity area of Sanmiao people is in the southeast edge of the Loess Plateau, that is, Songshan Mountain in Henan Province, which is connected with the fief of Yiluo River-Yu to the north of Songshan Mountain and has never merged. During the reign of Emperor Yao, there was a battle of fresh water, and the pursuit forced one of them to flee to Dunhuang in the west, which was called "moving three seedlings and three dangers" in history, and "there are people with wings in the north of Blackwater, which is called Miao people" (Liu Dongsheng, Ding Menglin, 2004).

During the Yao and Shun period, Sanmiao began to be pursued by the Chinese people from the Loess Plateau and gradually moved south. When the three seedlings were cut down, it was almost equal to Jianghan Plain and was annexed by the Chinese.

From the river basin, bypassing Songshan Mountain in Zhongyue, to Xichuan, Tunhe River, Tanghe River and Xianghe River basins in the south, from Nanyang Basin to the south of Hanshui River, until the bank of the Yangtze River, abandoned sites are scattered in a vast area, showing the scene that Henan Longshan culture replaces Shijiahe culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, just like a post station on the ancient road, which not only marks the direction of the three seedlings of Yu cutting (Li Xueqin, Jiang Linchang, 200655 It is generally believed that this is the capital of Sanmiao or Sanmiao country. Not only is a large area of buildings in the city wall abandoned, but also the characteristics different from Longshan culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River have disappeared, showing that Longshan culture in the Central Plains has replaced Shijiahe culture. This great change in archaeological culture is just like this.

"Emperor Yudong's hunting in the East will eventually collapse" is the meritorious military service of Yu's victory in cutting three seedlings, which further launched the peaceful integration of Dongyi or Jiuyi nationalities in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, marking the beginning of the first great transfer from the second-class step loess plateau to the first-class step in the eastern plain (Liu Dongsheng, Ding Menglin, etc., 2004).

Based on the recent research data of "Xia Shang Zhou Dating Project", the Xia Dynasty was founded by father and son, and the starting time of the Xia Dynasty was 207 BC1year, that is, 20 years after Yu's reign (Yu's reign was ***45a, that is, from the middle of Yu's reign). Then Yu Fa San Miao should be added 35a from 207 1 year BC, which is 2 106 BC (Li Xueqin, Jiang, 200 1). It was a cold period of about 4ka. During this period, the first terrace in the eastern plain is superior to the second terrace in the western loess plateau. Therefore, the battle of "cutting more than three seedlings" is inevitable.

The research on the evolution of Quaternary climate and environment shows that after the Holocene warm period, a new cooling event occurred around 4ka, which has global characteristics (Wu Wenxiang et al., 2001; Xu Jinghua, 1988). This cooling event and drought event is an important turning point in the Holocene human evolution history in many parts of the world, and it is also the main reason for the decline of ancient civilizations in the world, such as ancient Egypt, the two river basins and the Indus River basin. In China, this cooling event led to the decline and end of five Neolithic cultures around the Central Plains, and accelerated and promoted the birth of Chinese civilization marked by the establishment of Xia civilization in the Central Plains (Wu Wenxiang et al., 200 1).

The success of the legendary "Dayu flood control" in ancient history is probably related to this global cooling event and drought event. Dayu's flood control was an achievement during his probation period when Shun was in power in the 22nd century BC. At that time, it was far from the flood in the Holocene warm period, but the cold period of about 4ka was near, that is, it had entered a period of global cooling, drought and little rain. Therefore, the flood situation of Dayu in 13 seems to be just a flood in ordinary years, which may be an important background condition for Dayu's success in flood control (Liu Dongsheng, Ding Menglin, etc., 2004).

From "the battle of Zhuolu" to "cutting three seedlings", from warm (warm period) to cold (cold period), "one step" is from the first step to the second step; "Yi Xia", that is, from the second level to the first level, is the result of Holocene climate and environmental changes, the true consistency of major historical events and climate and environmental changes, and the reappearance of a tremor in dozens of climate cold (glacial)-warm (interglacial) fluctuations since 2.6Ma before the Quaternary (Liu Dongsheng, Ding Menglin, etc., 2004).

See Table 7. 1 for the correspondence between Holocene climate fluctuation and major historical events in China.

7.8.4.2 Paleoclimate Literature Records and Holocene Climate Change

Zhu Kezhen (1973) studied the climate change in the second half of Holocene from a large number of paleoclimate records in China historical documents. He thinks there have been four cold periods and warm periods in the past 5ka. Wang Yi (1987) studied the climate change in the same period (Figure 7.4), and the main conclusions are as follows:

1) 1 warm period (3000 ~ 1 100 BC) is equivalent to the Yangshao cultural era in Anyang to the Yinxu cultural era. In the Yangshao cultural site in Anbanpo, Xi 'an, the bones of isothermal wet animals such as roe deer and bamboo rat were unearthed. These animals only live in the Yangtze River valley at present. Carbonated bamboo was unearthed from Longshan cultural site in two towns of Licheng County, Shandong Province, indicating that bamboo was once distributed in the Yellow River basin (35 25 ′ north latitude). There are also some subtropical animals, such as rhinoceros, elephants, tapirs, buffaloes, elephants, deer, roe deer, bamboo rats and so on. In Yin Ruins in Anyang, their 14C age is 3340155a ~ 3200160a. There are also records of hunting elephants and rhinos in Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Yin Ruins. This period is equivalent to the later period of the warm and humid period in the middle Holocene. At that time, the climate was wet and rainy, and floods in plain areas often endangered people's production and life, thus resulting in the legend of the great flood in Yao and Shun period. During BC 17 10 ~ 1324, the Shang dynasty moved its capital five times, and it didn't stabilize until the Yin ruins.

2) 1 cold period (BC 165438+ 000 ~ 770 BC) is equivalent to the Western Zhou Dynasty. According to Zhu Shu, the Hanshui River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, was frozen twice in the Zhou Dynasty, in 903 BC and 897 BC respectively. It also mentioned that after freezing, there was a drought. There are many records about drought in Historical Records. According to "Guoyu Zhou Yu", "In the thirty-third year of Yin (BC 1066), the river was exhausted and the business died, and it was hungry for fifteen years." "It has been raining for five years." During the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the drought was more serious, and there were more records about it. For example, "calendar, declare the world, tear it down in the dry", and so on.

3) The second warm period (770 ~ 0 BC) is equivalent to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period) and Qin and Han Dynasties. At this time, the climate is getting warmer. It is mentioned in Zuo Zhuan that there is no ice in the ice bank in Shandong in winter, especially in 698, 590 and 545 BC, and it is often mentioned that subtropical plants such as plum trees and bamboo grow locally. The Qin Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty were warmer. Judging from the phenological phenomena mentioned in Lu Chunqiu and other books, the phenological period at that time was about 20 days earlier than now. When Liu Che (BC 140 ~ 87) was recorded in Historical Records, he talked about a variety of subtropical crops, such as orange, mulberry, bamboo and lacquer, which were farther north than now. However, the precipitation situation fluctuated frequently during this period.

4) The second cold period (0 ~ 600 years) is equivalent to the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. From the Eastern Han Dynasty at the beginning of A.D., there was a record that the climate turned cold. At that time, in late spring, there was frost and snowfall in Luoyang, and many poor people were killed. During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Pi went to Guangling (Huaiyin) of Huaihe River in 225 AD to inspect 65,438+10,000 soldiers' exercises. Due to the cold climate, the Huaihe River froze and the exercise was forced to stop. This is the earliest known frozen Huaihe River. This cold climate lasted until the late 3rd century, especially reached its peak in 280-289, and there was frost every April in the lunar calendar. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Southern Dynasty built an igloo in Zhoushan, Nanjing, showing that the river was frozen at that time. According to the famous northern literature "Qi Yao Min Shu", the phenology of Henan and Shandong at that time was later than now 15 ~ 30 days, showing that the climate was cold. However, the first half of this period is wet and the second half is dry.

5) The third warm period (600 ~ 1000) is equivalent to the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties. Since the 7th century, the climate has obviously become warmer, humid and rainy. According to records, there was no ice and snow in the winter of 650, 669 and 678 in the capital Chang 'an. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (7 12 ~ 756), plum blossoms and oranges were planted in Chang 'an. In 75 1 year, several citrus trees in the imperial palace once produced fruits, which tasted the same as those in Shudao in the south of the Yangtze River. Wu Zongshi (84 1 ~ 847) also recorded that citrus trees bore fruit in the palace. Agricultural farming records also show that the growing season in the Tang Dynasty was longer than it is now.

Table 7. 1 Conformity Analysis Table of Major Historical Events of Ancient Civilization in China and Holocene Climate and Environment

(According to Liu Dongsheng and Ding Menglin, 2004)

Fig. 7.4 Climate fluctuation in eastern China since 5ka.

A- temperature deterioration (Zhu Kezhen,1973); B— Precipitation status (Wang Yi, 1987)

6) The third cold period (1000 ~ 1200) is equivalent to the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty. 1 1 At the beginning of the century, there were no plum trees growing in North China. /kloc-At the beginning of the 20th century, the climate in northern China was cold and dry, and there were few aquatic plants. Northern nomads (Liao and Jin) went south and moved their capital to Hangzhou in the Song Dynasty. 111year, Taihu Lake is completely frozen, and cars can drive on the ice. There is frequent snowfall in Hangzhou, and there is still snowfall in spring. The cold weather caused all the famous citrus fruit trees in Dongting Mountain of Taihu Lake to freeze to death. 1153 ~1155 The canals near Suzhou often freeze in winter. When sailing, there must be a hammer to break the ice and open the way. According to textual research, litchi trees in Fuzhou were all frozen to death twice in110 and 1 178 respectively. But in the later period, the climate seems to change rapidly to warm and humid.

7) The fourth warm period (1200 ~ 1300) is equivalent to the late Southern Song Dynasty or the early Yuan Dynasty. In the late Southern Song Dynasty, there was no ice and snow in Hangzhou. The phenology in Beijing is the same as that in modern times. Bamboo has been replanted in Guanzhong and Henan. At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, these places had an official bamboo management organization-"Bamboo Supervision Department". It can be seen that the climate has warmed up again during this period. But in the north, it seems to be dry and rainy at this time. This warm period, which lasted for more than 100 years, is global and recorded in the ice cores of Europe, America and Greenland. In Scandinavia, where the climate is relatively cold and humid, the warm and humid climate during this period brought disaster. Many manors were abandoned due to rain and flood (Sandnes, 197 1). The pollen spectrum of peat sedimentary profile shows that around 1250, grain planting was completely abandoned, people left here and spruce forest was restored.

8) The fourth cold period (1300 ~ 1900) mainly corresponds to the end of Yuan Dynasty and Ming and Qing Dynasties. 1329 and 1353, Taihu Lake was frozen, with a thickness of several feet. People can walk on the ice, and the citrus trees by the lake are frozen to death. This is the record of the second and third freezing of Taihu Lake in history. 135 1 year1kloc-0/month There are ice floes on the Yellow River in Shandong. During this period, 1650 ~ 1700 was the coldest, in which Taihu Lake, Hanshui River and Huaihe River were frozen four times, Dongting Lake was frozen three times and Poyang Lake was frozen three times. The orange orchards in Jiangxi were frozen twice in 1654 and 1676. 1670 (the ninth year of Kangxi), heavy snow lasted for more than 20 days along the eastern coast of China. The ice on the flat land is several inches thick. The sea water brings the sea ice to the shore, and the ice accumulated for dozens of miles is like a dam. The climate deterioration this summer is also global. The so-called "Little Ice Age" (1550 ~ 1900) was put forward by European scholars during this period. At that time, the climate was very unstable, with frequent dry and wet fluctuations.

Based on the comprehensive analysis of the history of climate change in recent 5ka, they think that in recent 5ka, the warm period in China is getting shorter and shorter, and the warmth is getting lower and lower, while the cold period is getting longer and longer, and the coldness is getting more and more serious.

Comparing the temperature curve measured by phenology method in China with that measured by Greenland ice core, it is found that since 1700a, their changing trends are almost parallel, but there is a slight difference in time (Figure 7.5).

Fig. 7.5 Temperature fluctuation in Greenland in recent 1700 years.

A— ice core δ18o in Crete, Greenland; B- Iceland temperature record; Temperature records in central England)

100 is the climate change of more than 600 years since 400. The first 500a is the Little Ice Age, and the second 100a is the warm period of the 20th century. The temperature has dropped in recent 60 years. On the whole, it seems to be the continuation of many oscillations during the Little Ice Age.

In the past 500 years, the climate has changed many times. Zhang Jiacheng studied the phenological records of China and found that there were at least four cooling times and three heating times, in which the cooling time was 1470 ~ 1520, 1620 ~ 1720 (especially 1620).

1 cold period (1470 ~ 1520), with a cold climate. 1493 There was a heavy snowstorm and a strong cold wave along the eastern coast of China. Snowfall lasted for more than five months, and the coast of northern Jiangsu was frozen. 15 13 years, Dongting Lake was frozen.

Fig. 7.6 Temperature fluctuation in China in recent 500 years.

(Zhang Jiacheng,1976; W- warm period; C- cold period)

The second cold period (1620 ~ 1720) is extremely cold, which is the coldest period in recent 600a years. 1653 The Huaihe River was frozen, 1655 The average temperature in Beijing in winter was 2℃ lower than it is now, 1670 There was 20 days of heavy snow on the eastern coast, and the sea water came ashore with ice, forming an ice dike;

The third cold period (1840 ~ 1890) was extremely cold, and the Yellow River and Huaihe River were frozen for more than 40 days in 1845.

The fourth cold period (1945 ~ 1995) was cold, and 1969 was frozen for decades.

Zhu Kezhen pointed out that the period from Yangshao culture to Yin Ruins (5000-3000 years ago) was a warm period, and the subsequent cold periods appeared in BC 1000, BC 1200 and BC 1700 respectively.

1985, Liu Dongsheng and others proposed that 8100 ~ 9,900, 4,600 ~ 7,400, 2000 ~ 3,000, and 500 ~ 1500 were relatively warm soil-forming periods. According to the new chronological data of Yangshao culture, the warm period of Yangshao culture defined by Zhu Kezhen was revised to about 8000 ~ 5000 years ago.

Internationally, Post divides the Holocene into three stages: 1 stage is characterized by warming, the second stage is the warmest climate, and the third stage is cooling; Antevs refers to the Holocene climate period as: the first stage of warming (anothermal), the second stage of high temperature (altithermal) and the third stage of slight cooling (medithermal). Its warm period is equivalent to the late northern period, Atlantic period and sub-northern period, and northern Europe was 8000 ~ 2500 years ago. Previous research results show that this kind of climate fluctuation law is obviously reflected in Henan Plain.

To sum up, the Holocene warm period in Henan plain and its surrounding areas should be 8500~5000aB. p； Its heyday, the flood period, was about 7200 ~ 6000 years ago; About 4000 years ago, the climate became obviously cold. However, in the big climate stage, there are also a series of climate fluctuations from warm and wet to dry and cold or from dry and cold to warm and wet.

Using different methods, the paleoclimate and paleoenvironment of Henan plain and even its surrounding areas since Pleistocene, especially since Holocene, were studied from different angles. At a higher resolution level, the paleoclimate and paleoenvironment since neoid period are analyzed, which is very important for discussing the climate and environmental evolution in this area in the next few years.