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Socio-Economic and Demographic Impacts of Climate Change from Pre-Historic to Modern Times

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Air, Climate Change and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 8811

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Harry F. Lee

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Guest Editor

Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: socio-economic and demographic impacts of climate change in ancient and recent human history; underlying mechanisms of climatic extremes; historical epidemiology; environmental perceptions and sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Xin JIA

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Guest Editor

School of Geography, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China
Interests: bioarchaeology; environmental archaeology; archaeobotany; agricultural archaeology; ethnogeography

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We sincerely invite researchers to contribute original research articles dealing with the socio-economic and demographic impacts of climate change in pre-historic, historical, and modern times, which is a topic focusing on human–environment interactions. The related knowledge may have important implications for global and regional sustainability. This Special Issue is going to serve as an interdisciplinary platform for collecting different views and facilitating a constructive debate about the ways in which human–environment interactions can be generalized, contextualized, or even denied—a philosophical issue pertinent to the theoretical underpinnings of environmental humanities. To further facilitate the debate about global and regional sustainability from different perspectives, scholars who agree on the significant impact of climate change on human societies, or who are skeptical about this relationship, are welcome to contribute their related works to this Special Issue. Besides, this Special Issue will publish review articles that help to identify possible future research directions. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

How and to what extent human societies are (or are not) affected by climate change or climatic extremes;
The use of empirical archaeological/historical data in investigating human–environment interactions;
Case studies in illustrating human–environment interactions;
The influence of spatio-temporal scale, study period, and study area on human–environment interactions;
Philosophical discussion about human–environment interactions.

Prof. Dr. Harry F. Lee
Prof. Dr. Xin JIA
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Climate change
Climatic extremes
Human–environment interaction
Adaptation to climate change
Climate resilience
Archaeology
History
Modern times

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 5184 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Population, Wars, and the Grand Canal in Chinese History

by Harry F. Lee, Xin Jia and Baoxiang Ji

Sustainability 2022, 14(12), 7006; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127006 - 08 Jun 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2736

Abstract

Throughout Chinese history, the Grand Canal served as a regional infrastructure in facilitating socio-economic and political development. The core regions of each dynasty were located in China’s eastern plain, and the Grand Canal ran from south to north through the plain, connecting northern and southern China. In unison, the areas along the Grand Canal also suffered from frequent wars. The role of the Grand Canal in influencing regional stability has yet to be sufficiently explored in the literature. This study seeks to (1) figure out the spatial distribution of population and wars, and (2) quantitatively measure the relationship between wars, population, and the distance from waterways in the Grand Canal Area in AD752–1910 by using their high-resolution geo-referenced data. Kernel density analysis was employed to serve the first purpose, while Pearson correlation and curve estimation analyses were applied to serve the second. Our results show that the areas surrounding the Grand Canal were densely populated. There was a war hot zone in the Beijing–Luoyang–Nanjing region near the Grand Canal, which shifted gradually over time. The correlation between war and population densities was positive, whereas the correlation between war density and distance from the waterway was negative. Finally, the cubic model captures the non-linear relationship between population, wars, and waterways. The above findings may shed more light on the Grand Canal’s role in influencing regional population and war patterns in historical China, a topic that has received little academic attention. More importantly, they may help advance empirical understanding of the impact of large-scale infrastructure on regional sustainability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic and Demographic Impacts of Climate Change from Pre-Historic to Modern Times)

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17 pages, 6374 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatiotemporal Distribution and Geographical Impact Factors of Barley and Wheat during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age (4000–2300 cal. a BP) in the Gansu–Qinghai Region, Northwest China

by Zhikun Ma, Jincheng Song, Xiaohui Wu, Guangliang Hou and Xiujia Huan

Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5417; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095417 - 30 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1699

Abstract

During the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age, the spread of Triticeae crops gradually transformed local millet agriculture in the Gansu–Qinghai region. However, few studies focused on the distribution characteristics and geographical factors influencing Triticeae agriculture. Here, geographical data from 65 sites with barley (Hordeum vulgare) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) remains in Gansu–Qinghai region were studied by spatial analysis in ArcGIS. The results showed that spatiotemporal distribution of barley and wheat exhibited three stages: firstly appeared in the central Hexi Corridor at ~4000 cal. a BP, then spread throughout the Hexi Corridor and Qinghai Lake area during 3600–3200 cal. a BP, and continued to move southward to the Hehuang Valley and Weihe River Basin during 3200–2300 cal. a BP. The studied sites were mainly distributed along rivers and certain altitude with suitable climatic conditions. The average distance to the nearest river was ~8 km, with wheat sites ~300 m closer than barley’s. The average elevation was 3500–1500 m, with wheat sites ~200 m lower than barley’s. The variations in spatiotemporal distribution were attributed to greater environmental tolerance of barley. These findings provide important environmental insights into the spatiotemporal distribution and transmission routes of barley and wheat in northwest China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic and Demographic Impacts of Climate Change from Pre-Historic to Modern Times)

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18 pages, 6156 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The History and Driving Force for Prehistoric Human Expansion Upward to the Hinterland of the Tibetan Plateau Post–Last Glacial Maximum

by Guangliang Hou, Weimiao Dong, Linhai Cai, Qingbo Wang and Menghan Qiu

Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7065; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137065 - 23 Jun 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2395

Abstract

The timing and motivation of prehistoric human expansion into the hinterland of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is a widely debated scientific issue. Recent archaeological studies have brought forward predictions of the earliest human occupation of the TP to the late–Middle Pleistocene. However, massive human occupation of the TP did not appear until the termination of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The spatio-temporal distribution of prehistoric hunter-gatherers on the TP varies significantly before the permanent occupation after 3600 BP (before present). Here, we report on environmental-archaeological evidence from the Canxionggashuo (CXGS) site in Yushu Prefecture, which provides information that is key to understanding the dynamics of post-LGM human occupation on the TP. Radiocarbon dating has revealed two occupation periods of the CXGS site at 8600–7100 cal (calibrated years) BP and 2400–2100 cal BP. The charcoal concentration in cultural layers correlates well with paleo–human activities. Hunter-gatherers expanded westwards from the northeastern margin of the TP to the hinterland of the TP during the warming period of the early–middle Holocene (~11,500–6000 BP). However, these groups retreated during the middle–late Holocene (~6000–3600 BP) under a cooling-drying climate. Prehistoric humans finally occupied the hinterland of the TP permanently after 3600 BP, with an enhanced cold-adaptive lifestyle, although the climate was still deteriorating. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic and Demographic Impacts of Climate Change from Pre-Historic to Modern Times)

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Other

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12 pages, 30096 KiB

Open AccessBrief Report

Evaluating Water Fertilizer Coupling on the Variations in Millet Chaff Size during the Late Seventh Century in Northwest China: Morphological and Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopic Evidence from the Chashancun Cemetery

by Bingbing Liu, Yongxiu Lu, Yishi Yang, Wenyu Wei and Guoke Chen

Sustainability 2022, 14(6), 3581; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063581 - 18 Mar 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1385

Abstract

Stable isotopic analyses of the remains of plants that have been unearthed from archaeological sites are often featured as key indicators of crop cultivation and the living environment. However, systematic archaeobotanical studies have not been applied widely in Chinese historical sites, especially in those from the Tang dynasty. This paper aims to use carbon and nitrogen isotopic analyses to reveal the potential influence of water and fertilizer conditions on the size of millet chaffs that were excavated from the Chashancun cemetery. To achieve this, >3600 uncharred broomcorn and foxtail millet chaff remains were measured. Furthermore, 30 broomcorn millet samples and 30 foxtail millet samples were selected to analyze the carbon and nitrogen isotopes, respectively. The widths and thicknesses of the broomcorn millet chaffs ranged from 1.11 to 2.38 mm and from 0.95 to 2.24 mm, respectively, while those of the foxtail millet chaffs ranged from 0.95 to 1.94 mm and from 0.69 to 1.90 mm, respectively. The δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values of the broomcorn millet chaffs ranged from −13.0‰ to −12.0‰ and from 15.7‰ to 17.8‰, respectively, while those of the foxtail millet chaffs ranged from −14.0‰ to −12.9‰ and from 15.7‰ to 18.8‰, respectively. The results show correlations between the millet chaff size and the carbon/nitrogen isotopic values, suggesting that water and fertilizer conditions might have significantly affected millet grain yield during the late seventh century in northwestern China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic and Demographic Impacts of Climate Change from Pre-Historic to Modern Times)

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