The caves southwest of the excavation site show Stalagmites that show a cause for the collapse of the ancient chinese Liangzhu culture. Credit: Haiwei Zhang
One of the most significant testimonies of early Chinese advanced civilisation can be found at the Liangzhu excavation site in eastern China. The city had an elaborate water management system. The cause of the collapse has been a topic of debate. The collapse was caused by massive flooding triggered by extremely intense monsoon rains, as shown in the journal Science Advances by an international team of scientists.
The ruins of the city are located in the Yangtze Delta. The earliest proof of monumental water culture is believed to be there, where a highly advanced culture blossomed about 5300 years ago. The oldest evidence of large engineering structures in China is from this site. The city had a complex system of canals. It was possible to cultivate large agricultural areas throughout the year with this system.
One of the first examples of highly developed communities was based on a water infrastructure. This culture was still unfamiliar with metals. Thousands of elaborately crafted jade burial objects were found. The archaeological site is a well-preserved record of Chinese civilization dating back more than 5000 years. The UNESCO world heritage site was declared in 2019.
The advanced civilization of this city came to an abrupt end. It remains controversial today. A thin layer of clay was found on the ruins, which may be related to the demise of the advanced civilisation and the floods of the Yangtze River or the East China Sea. "No evidence could be found for warlike conflicts in the past," says Sptl, head of the Quaternary Research Group at the Department of Geology. There were no clear conclusions from the mud layer.
The answer can be found in dripsstones store.
The caves and their deposits are some of the most important climate archives. They allow the reconstruction of the climate above the caves. The research team searched for suitable archives in order to investigate a possible cause of the collapse of the Liangzhu culture.
The stalagmites from the two caves Shennong and Jiulong were taken by a researcher from the University of Innsbruck who spent a year at the University of Xi'an. The caves have been well explored for a long time. The area they are located in is affected by the Southeast Asian monsoon and the stalagmites in the Yangtze Delta give a precise insight into the time of the collapse of the Liangzhu culture.
stalagmites show that there was a period of high precipitation between 4345 and 4324 years ago. The carbon records at the University of Innsbruck were used to provide evidence for this. The measurement accuracy is 30 years, and it was done by the nuclear analyses at the university. "This is very precise in the temporal dimensions," says the geologist. The flooding of the Yangtze and its branches was caused by the massive monsoon rains and even the sophisticated dams and canals could not protect the city from the water. The data from the cave shows that the humid climate continued for another 300 years.
The collapse of the Neolithic cultures in the lower Yangtze region in response to climate change has more information. Science.org has a DOI of/10.1126/sciadv.abi9275.
Science Advances has journal information.
The collapse of the ancient Liangzhu culture was caused by climate change.
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