ORIGINAL PAPER

Bridging theoretical gaps in geoarchaeology: archaeology,geoarchaeology, and history in the Yellow River valley, China

Tristram R. Kidder & Haiwang Liu

Received: 15 March 2013 /Accepted: 18 February 2014# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Abstract While geoarchaeology as a practice within archae-ology grew out of many historical roots, a major role has beenthe explication of site formation processes and site-level con-textual analysis. In recent years, geoarchaeological researchhas branched out to encompass larger geographic scales, andto play a greater role in environmental archaeological investi-gations. This paper argues that geoarchaeology has a greatdeal to contribute to the understanding of human history andto archaeological theory through the application of multiscalarapproaches that place human behavior in a physical, environ-mental and ecological context and by creating linkages be-tween physical processes and human responses. We usegeoarchaeological data from the Yellow River valley to showthat drainage/irrigation canal and bank/levee building hadcommenced in the lower reaches by ca. 2900–2700 cal B.P.The emphasis on flood plain flood control infrastructure was aresult of long-term increases in sedimentation caused by largepopulations farming with increasingly efficient technologiesin the fragile environments of the Loess Plateau. Ever increas-ing sedimentation set in motion a cycle of further investmentin flood control works eventually leading to a massive floodcatastrophe in the first 20 years of the first millennium A.D. asthe Yellow River exceeded natural and human geomorphicthresholds that constrained it in its previous course. Thesefloods arguably triggered the social and political events thatbrought down the Western Han Dynasty but the root causesare clearly more complex. Geoarchaeology thus contributes to

an understanding of the multiple causes and consequences oflarge-scale social and political collapse.

Keywords HanDynasty . Archaeology . Geoarchaeology .

History . Yellow River . Floods . Rigidity traps

The proliferation of specialized subfields in archaeology has ledto an explosion of research while at the same time fostering theincreasing fragmentation of specialists into intellectual domainsthat are ever more technically sophisticated but whose focusedapplications seem limited in their theoretical scope. A historian ofthe field scanning the pages of highly ranked publications wouldbe understandably inclined to see the early part of the twenty-firstcentury as a period of focus on what could loosely be consideredmid-range archaeological theory. Geoarchaeological research isnot exempt from this increasing emphasis on technical applica-tions and mid-range assertions seemingly at the expense ofhigher-order theoretical generalizations or larger contributionsto our understanding of human history and behavior. Perhapsderived from our historical association with earth-science disci-plines, some might even question if there should be ageoarchaeological theory or theory of geoarchaeology (Butzer2008; Boivin 2004; Jusseret 2010;Goldberg andMacPhail 2006;Rapp and Hill 1998). The danger lies, however, in forgetting thatthe “archaeologist is digging up, not things, but people… [be-cause] Dead archaeology is the driest dust that blows” (Wheeler1954). Because theory, broadly speaking, is how we conceptu-alize the roles and places of people in the archaeological andhistorical record, those of us who identify as geoarchaeologistsshould bear in mind Wheeler’s words.

The temporal scope and geographic scale ofgeoarchaeological research makes it unwise to offer a universaltheoretical prescription for our work. Instead, we discuss aspectsof our recent research in the Yellow River in China (Fig. 1) asone example of how geoarchaeological research can be set in a

T. R. Kidder (*)Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis,MO, USAe-mail: trkidder@wustl.edu

H. LiuHenan Provincial institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology,Zhengzhou, Henan, China

Archaeol Anthropol SciDOI 10.1007/s12520-014-0184-5

theoretical context. Using the concept of rigidity traps derivedfrom resilience theory, we offer an explanation for how long-term human-environmental interaction and sociopoliticaldecision-making interacted to generate a fixed pathway thatcreated a situation where massive flooding would inevitablyhappen in the lower reaches of the river. This flooding isimplicated in the collapse of the Western Han Dynasty andshapes the arc of Chinese history. Our research incorporatesthree theoretical perspectives that illustrate how geoarchaeologycan bridge some theoretical gaps in the field: first, it ismultiscalar (Stein 1993, 2001; Stein et al. 2003) and multisited;two, it situates the research agenda within a larger framework ofhuman-environmental interactions to test contemporary asser-tions about the role(s) of humans in altering the environment;and third, it eschews the notion that geoarchaeology is only asubset of the larger field of archaeology. Indeed, we think it isthe capacity and desire of those who identify asgeoarchaeologists to think of themselves not as specialists butas archaeologists first and foremost that has the most prominentplace in any roadmap to escape the specialist cul de sac.

Collapse, resilience, and rigidity

Collapse has become a major focus of much recent research.Many explanations exist for why a political system collapses

(Tainter 1988, p. 42) and scholars vigorously debate collapseand its root causes (Butzer and Endfield 2012; Cowgill 1988;Diamond 2005; Goldsworthy 2009, pp. 11–25; Heather 2005,pp. 443–459; McAnany and Yoffee 2010b; Schwartz 2006;Turchin 2003; Ward-Perkins 2005, pp. 1–10; Yoffee 1988).Typically, catastrophic environmental and climate events havebeen invoked to account for large-scale political upheavalsamong a variety of states and societies (deMenocal 2001;Diamond 2005; Fagan 1999, 2000, 2004, 2008; Weiss 1997;Weiss and Bradley 2001; Weiss et al. 1993). Counter narra-tives that emphasize political, social, economic and moralfailures are abundant, however (Bárta 2008; Bowersock1988; Gibbon 1776–1788; McAnany and Yoffee 2010a;Tainter 1988, 2006; Webster 2002). Recently, the role ofhumans as an agent of negative environmental and evenclimate change has been emphasized (Chew 2001; Diamond2005; Montgomery 2007; Ruddiman 2003, 2005, 2007). Inmost instances, these explanations rely on a single cause as theprimary agent of change and multicausal or network linkedinteractions and amplifications are only now being recognized(Dearing 2008; Dugmore et al. 2012; Dunning et al. 2012;Kinzig et al. 2006; Redman 2005; Redman et al. 2004;Redman and Kinzig 2003). As noted by Butzer (2012, p.3632), though, collapse is “multicausal and rarely abrupt.”We are still a long way from understanding the effects ofclimatic and environmental changes on historically known

Chang’an Zhengzhou

A

B

Yellow RiverBe

ijing

C H I N A

Fig. 1 The Yellow River, China,and location of research discussedin text. Box A indicates the extentof Fig. 2; Box B indicates thelocation of Fig. 3; the star in BoxB is the location of the Anshangand Sanyangzhuang sites. Theapproximate extent of the LoessPlateau is indicated by shading

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

human societies and here a multiscalar approach togeoarchaeology can contribute a meaningful perspective onsociopolitical transformations. Here, we generally followTainter (1988, pp. 4–5), for whom collapse is “a rapid signif-icant loss of an established level of sociopolitical complexity”.

The example we use is the collapse of the Western HanDynasty. The Han (206 B.C.–A.D. 220) was one of theworld’s great empires, but during the last decades B.C. andthe first decade A.D., the Dynasty was withering and in A.D.9–23, Wang Mang seized the throne from the Western Hanemperor and instituted a new dynasty.WangMang’s reign wasbrief; he was overthrown in A.D. 23 and replaced by the firstEastern Han emperor after more than a decade of civil war.There is considerable debate about the circumstances attend-ing to these events but Chinese historians emphasize the moraland social failings of the late Western Han emperors and notethe importance of diminished governmental control of theeconomy and courtly intrigues in the waning years of thedynasty. The most common causes ascribed to Wang Mang’sfailure is that he was excessively ambitious, prone to overreliance on Confucian principles of governance not suited tothe times, and fundamentally incompetent; he thus lackedmoral authority to lay claim to the Mandate of Heaven (Ban1962; Clark 2008; Fan 1965).

In contrast, Western scholars have ascribed Wang Mang’sfailure to external factors. Bielenstein (1947, 1953, 1986)argues that floods in the lower Yellow River caused wide-spread famine, political unrest, and ultimately rebellion thatdirectly lead to the collapse of Wang Mang’s government.Many Western historians have accepted the conclusion thatflooding caused the collapse of Wang Mang’s brief reign(Bielenstein 1986, pp. 242–244; De Crespigny 2007, xvi, p.196; Hansen 2000, p. 135; Kruger 2003, pp. 142–143; Tanner2009, pp. 111). Recent geoarchaeological investigation atSanyangzhuang confirms that there were massive floods atthe end of Western Han and strengthens the argument thatmajor environmental change is implicated in the collapse oflate Western Han (Kidder et al. 2012b).

External causality of this sort requires that we assume aone-to-one correlation between a climate/environmental eventand historical causation; in this instance, historians have ar-gued that floods are debilitating and “cause” collapse becausethe flood dispossessed a large number of peasants from theirfields and starvation and disease caused large-scale unrest thatultimately was mobilized into popular rebellion against theemperor (Bielenstein 1986). However, while we can discernthe presumed causality in the context of the Han collapse, wedo not as yet understand what caused the floods that led to thishistorical collapse. Here, we use geoarchaeological ap-proaches to explore the complex interactions between climate,environment, population, politics and religion, and technolo-gy and the ways these myriad influences acted over differentspatial and temporal scales to shape the specific circumstances

that led to the floods that caused the collapse of Western Han.In this instance, we focus on evidence for human interventionin the Yellow River fluvial system and the ways these anthro-pogenic efforts shifted the river beyond a geomorphic thresh-old leading, inevitably, to massive flooding.

Much of the recent emphasis on thinking about collapsesand their causes and consequences have been framed in termsof the Resilience Theory (Holling 1973; Holling andGunderson 2002). In contrast with traditional collapsemodels,which assume that decomposition is an end state for all socialforms, the Resilience Theory posits cyclicity and adaptability.Thus, socio-natural systems do not change continuously orchaotically; rather, change is episodic. Periods of relativestability are punctuated by sudden change that releases andreorganizes the entire system. Changes are neither uniform norscale invariant; change is discontinuous, patchy, and non-linear at all scales. These socio-natural systems do not havea single equilibrium with homeostatic controls to remain nearit; instead, multiple equilibria commonly define functionallydifferent states. These conditions yield the important observa-tion that socio-natural systems that apply fixed rules toachieve constant results, independent of changes in scale andcontext, attain a false stability that is unable to absorb changes,thereby losing resilience and becoming vulnerable to failure(Abel et al. 2006; Folke et al. 2010; Holling and Gunderson2002; Martin-Breen and Anderies 2011; Redman 2005).

One of the critiques of the Resilience Theory is that it is asystems-based approach that describes a process but fails toexplain how the process is actually transformed. ChallengingResilience Theory forces us to think about the role of humansas agents of socio-natural change, adaptation, and innovation:Things don’t just happen, they happen because people(agents) make choices. However, the agency is never whollyfree; it is always constrained.

Resilience theorists have articulated the concept of“Rigidity Traps” as one form to explain how systems andagents as parts of systems get locked-in to certain pathwaysthat are effectively socially pathological because they do notsustain resilience. Rigidity traps occur in social–ecologicalsystems when institutions become highly connected, self-reinforcing, and inflexible. Further, “the rigidity trap is char-acterized by low heterogeneity and high connectivity of enti-ties… There is little capacity to dissipate stress, and stress mayaccumulate to high levels” (Carpenter and Brock 2008). Asnoted by Hegmon et al. (2008), “Rigidity traps may be unin-tended consequences of numerous repetitive acts that repro-duce or extend the [socio-natural] structure (i.e., a bureaucra-cy). In other cases, some segments of a society may contributeto the creation of a rigidity trap by intentionally attempting tomaintain a situation that they perceive to be beneficial.”

Rigidity traps may be the outcome of unintended conse-quences: e.g., environmental change creates path dependencythat generates a situation where one response is perceived to

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

be (or may in fact be) the only viable option. Theymay also bethe outgrowth of sociopolitical systems attempting to ensurehomeostasis. Rigidity is the inverse of resilience, and must beunderstood as a social phenomenon—an outcome of socialchoices about how to respond to other social actors as well asthe extant social rules and physical resources (Beck et al.2007). But explanations/definitions of rigidity traps fail whenthey require tautology-rigidity ensues when a system becomesinflexible. There is nothing inherently rigid in a human insti-tution that is highly connected or self-reinforcing. In fact, atlarge social scales (e.g., states) high connectivity can haveexceptional benefit by being able to rapidly respond to novelsituations and to mobilize large numbers of agents to act in aconcerted fashion. For example, the Chinese response tofamine relief was, for much of time, and certainly in earlyHan times, quite flexible (Li 2007) despite the inter-connectedness and self-reinforcing tendencies of the ChineseImperial system and its ever expanding bureaucracy. One ofthe key ideas in Resilience Theory is that while the systemdoes benefit from high connectivity in the short term, the sameaction should lead the system to the fragile phase in the longrun, eventually leading to the collapse of the system.However, this presumes that agents are incapable of interven-ing to correct the system. We feel that the Hegmon et al.approach, seeing rigidity as an outgrowth of unintentionalactions or of the specific strategies of agents (or agents actingas a group) seeking to maintain or expand adaptive benefits isa better approach than simply seeing rigidity as inherent. Ineither instance, however, lack of innovation as contextschange creates situations where thresholds of resilience arediminished.

Geological context

The Yellow River presents an important context for consider-ing how rigidity traps evolve and for understanding theirconsequences. The Yellow River is considered by many tobe the Cradle of Chinese Civilization and the “River ofSorrow” (Yellow River Conservancy Commission 2001).Historically known because of the propensity for flooding inits lower reaches and the massive human suffering that inev-itably follows, controlling the Yellow River has been the focusof intense efforts by successive Chinese governments overtime (Pomeranz 2010; Yellow River ConservancyCommission 2001). For much of the Holocene, the lowerYellow River flowed north to discharge in the Gulf of Bohai(Xu 1989; Ye 1989: Fig. 1; Xue 1993; Saito et al. 2000; 2001;Wu et al. 1996). At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty(A.D. 960–1127), the river was artificially breached and thechannel relocated southward from its ancestral course (Zhang2009; Lamouroux 1998). Between A.D. 1128 and 1855, themain trunk of the river flowed east to the Yellow Sea south of

the Shandong Peninsula. An avulsion east of Kaifeng in 1855diverted the river northward into its current channel (Jing et al.1995, pp. 285–286; Xu 1989) (Fig. 2).

The Yellow River flows through the easily eroded LoessPlateau of central China and as a consequence the riverentrains remarkable quantities of sediment (concentrations atflood stage are in excess of 250 kg/m3 (Chien 1961: Table 5));once it enters the alluvial plain east of where the Yiluo Riverenters the main channel between Luoyang and Zhengzhou,the carrying capacity of the river is exceeded by the amount ofsediment load leading to rapid aggradation (Liu and Jiyang1989, pp. 223–224). The river’s bed and banks are prone toerosion with changing flood conditions because they are com-posed of relatively coarse-grained sediments that lack struc-tural cohesion (Chien 1961; Jing et al. 1995, pp. 484–485).Avulsions are common as the channel aggrades and the slopedifferential between the channel bed and the surroundingfloodbasin increases.

Avulsions are major channel shifts associated withchannel-jumping rather than gradual migration (Slingerlandand Smith 2004). Channel avulsions may be driven by in-channel aggradation, forcing the flow out of the channel, or byerosion induced by overland flow during floods (e.g.,Edmonds et al. 2009; Stouthamer and Berendsen 2000), orby some combination. Large river systems such as the Yellowtypically avulse during major or even catastrophic floodingevents. Not every flood causes an avulsion; however, there is acharacteristic “clock” associated with avulsion. Once an avul-sion occurs, the flow excavates a channel, and follows a newcourse to the coastline dictated by a more favorable topo-graphic gradient (Slingerland and Smith 2004).

Analysis of avulsion timing has always assumed that the“clock” is driven by wholly natural processes. “Avulsionclocks” operate at various scales (Stouthamer and Berendsen2001; Coleman 1988) ranging from splays (which can beconsidered to be incomplete avulsions) at the time scale of asingle flood, and which have deposit areas ∼2 km2 to majorchannel avulsion events that have characteristic recurrencetimes of hundreds to thousands of years, and deposit areasup to ∼30,000 km2. The sociopolitical response to these latteravulsions, whether on the Mississippi, Rhine-Meuse, orYellow River, has been to build artificial levees to preventavulsions. The human propensity to corral river flooding hasinstigated an ugly reality: high frequency but low magnitudeflood events are exchanged for low frequency but high mag-nitude floods, whereby the latter may trigger catastrophicflooding and unrecoverable avulsions.

In the case of the Yellow River, the avulsion clock has beenforced by anthropogenic modification of the entire watershed.Increasing human-caused erosion in the sediment source areasof the Loess Plateau has increased sedimentation in the riverfrom at least Middle Holocene times onward (Huang et al.2006a, b; Shi et al. 2002; Xu 1998, 2003). As a consequence,

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

humans have been trying to contain and constrain the YellowRiver since at least the ninth century B.C. Unconfirmed his-torical records suggest that these attempts included the con-struction of levees, dikes, dams, canals, and irrigation struc-tures (Shu and Finlayson 1993; Shen et al. 1935). By Hantimes, large-scale levee and canal building projects were wellunderway and were consuming an ever larger share of impe-rial resources and labor (Needham et al. 1971, pp. 232–235).

The Sanyangzhuang project

The research reported here comes from two sites,Sanyangzhuang and Anshang, located ∼16 km apart in NWHenan Province (Fig. 3). These sites lie within and beneath acomplex alluvial fan in the north central portion of the lowerYellow River alluvial plain. This fan is the epicenter of theslope-driven avulsion nodal zone associated with major chan-nel avulsions (Wang and Su 2011). Known today as “China’sPompeii,” the Sanyangzhuang site was buried beneath 5 m ofsediment by a massive flood ca. A.D. 14–17, leading toexceptional preservation of a later Western Han (206 B.C.–A.D. 23) cultural landscape composed of structures, fields,roads, outbuildings and wells (Kidder et al. 2012a, b).Anshang, which was discovered in 2012, has a largely similarstratigraphic record as Sanyangzhuang but lacks the HanDynasty archaeological remains. A human constructed leveeand three irrigation/drainage ditches dating to the ZhouDynasty comprise the major archaeological remains atAnshang. Both Sanyangzhuang and Anshang, however, have

largely complete Holocene stratigraphic sequences that allowus to document the history of Yellow River movement andflooding in the region.

Methods

Data for this analysis come from five seasons ofgeoarchaeological testing and investigation in the middleand lower reaches of the Yellow River. Much of our efforthas focused on the Sanyangzhuang site but recent work atAnshang coupled with coring and geoarchaeological testing inthe landscape surrounding Sanyangzhuang allows us to pres-ent a reasonably comprehensive picture of regional landscapeevolution through the Holocene (Fig. 3). The stratigraphy atSanyangzhuang has been recently reported elsewhere (Kidderet al. 2012a). Here, we focus on work at Anshang conductedin 2012. At Anshang, we took advantage of a sediment quarryfor brick manufacture to profile a ∼12-m deep excavationcovering ∼1 ha. A machine excavation into the Pleistocenedeposits extended the profile to ∼15 m below the modern landsurface. We were unable to get access to a continuous profileso we opportunistically cleaned wall segments across theexcavation area to create a composite stratigraphic profile(Fig. 4). The profile segments were described and interpretedin the field. Descriptions includedMunsell color, field texture,soil horizonation, and the presence of artifacts or organicsusing the same standards as at Sanyangzhuang and followingguidelines employed by the Natural Resource ConservationService and the United States Geological Survey and as

122°E120°E118°E116°E114°E

40°N

38°N

36°N

34°N

32°N

9

10

Yellow Sea

Yangtze R.

Taihung

Mnts

Bo Hai Sea

71

64

5

8

2

3

Zhengzou

0 150 300

Huanghe megadeltas

et al. 2000)

Current channel

Abandoned channel

Former shoreline

Shandong Peninsula

A BC

D

E

FG

H

I

km

100

1000

0

ABCDEFGHI

~2278 B.C.~602 B.C.~15 A.D.

8931048128913241853

1938-1947

Channel avulsiondate

Fig. 2 Map showing historicallyidentified courses of the YellowRiver (after Tan Qi Xiang 1982–1987) and Holocene YellowRivermegadeltas (after Saito et al.2000). The 1938–1947 courseevolved after the dykes weredestroyed to (unsuccessfully)prevent Japanese forces fromadvancing across the CentralPlains

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

summarized by various authors (Birkeland 1999; Holliday2004; Schoeneberger et al. 2002; Soil Survey Staff 1999;Vogel 2002). AMS Radiocarbon dates on soil organic matterand freshwater snail shell were obtained from samples inburied soil horizons and analyzed at Beta Analytic (Table 1).

Excavations at Sanyangzhuang and Anshang

At Sanyangzhuang, we recognized twelve alluviallithostratigraphic units and their associated pedostratigraphicunits (Kidder et al. 2012b: Fig. 5). The lithostratigraphic unitsare labeled 1–12 from the top to the bottom of theSanyangzhuang excavations. The topmost position of thelithostratigraphic units is marked by a paleosol (designatedPS). Each pedostratigraphic unit consists of one or moreburied pedologic horizons (e.g., Ab, Bwb, Bkb) developedin a corresponding lithostratigraphic unit and overlain by oneor more younger lithostratigraphic units. Six of the paleosolsin the Sanyangzhuang sequence are recognized as originatingfrom human factors and are identified as anthrosols. These aresoils that “exhibit anthropogenic physical and chemical

alterations” (Holliday 2004, p. 27; see also Driessen et al.2001, p. 37). At Anashang and elsewhere, we recognized eightlithostratigraphic units and corresponding paleosols within theHolocene deposits (Fig. 4); none of the paleosols at Anshangcan at this time be unambiguously related to human activity.Variation in lithostratigraphy between the sites likely reflectslocal basin morphology and topographic variation.

In addition to the obvious anthrosols at Sanyangzhuang, amajor difference between Sanyangzhuang and Anshang is thepresence at Anshang of three clearly human-made ditches,two parallel and running roughly E–W (ditches A and B) andone perpendicular (Ditch C), and a human constructed earthenbank that we believe is a levee (Figs. 5, 6, 7). The three ditchesand the bank/levee were sandwiched between two paleosols.The three ditches cut into an underlying paleosol labeled PS-6.At Anshang, the base of PS-6 is dated (at 2 sigma) 4144–3926 cal BP and its upper surface returned a date of 3345–3084 cal BP (Fig. 6, Table 1). At Sanyangzhuang, the base ofthe corresponding paleosol (labeled PS/APS-7; see Kidderet al. 2012b: Fig. 5) is dated ca. 5294–4974 cal BP. Weobtained a date of 2952–2792 cal BP from organic sedimentsat the base of Ditch B, which is the younger of the two parallel

0 10 20 30 405Kilometers

A

B

modern YellowRiver channel

1

2

3

High: 80 m

Low: 30 m

DapiMntn

N

Fig. 3 Topographic map showing the locations of the Sanyangzhuang(A) and Anshang (B) sites in the western portion of the north China Plains.Red circles indicate locations where we have investigated exposed pro-files or excavated cores. The modern cities of Puyang (1), Anyang (2) andHebi (3) are also shown. Multiple ancestral channels of the Yellow Rivercan be seen and amajor avulsion location is evident NE ofDapiMountainand Wof Sanyangzhuang. The approximate outline of the crevasse splaythat formed by late Western Han era Yellow River avulsions is evident

and extends from west of Sanyangzhuang east to Puyang. Anshang isnear the northern edge of this splay. The modern Yellow River is locatedin the SE corner of this map and is labeled. The prominent channel thatextends over Sanyangzhuang formed during the late Northern Song/Jinperiod (A.D. 1115–1234). Map data from United States GeologicalSurvey 3 Arc Second Shuttle Radar Topography Mission dataset (http://www.glcf.umd.edu/data/srtm/)

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

ditches, and one of 2859–2757 from freshwater shells foundin a sandy fill deposited in the ditch depression after it was nolonger being used or cleaned by humans. The human-madebank or levee at Anshang was stratigraphically superior to thethree ditches but underlay an undated paleosol assigned bystratigraphic position to the late Zhou (Warring States) and/orHan times (see Figs. 4 and 7).

The evidence for human construction of the ditches comesfrom their shape and fill sequence. The two parallel ditches Aand B have angled slopes with sharp corners and flat bases(Fig. 5a). Ditch C, which appears stratigraphically to be theearliest, has a more rounded base and shallow, sloping sides(Fig. 5b). In the west wall of the profile, it was clear that fillfrom the excavation of Ditch B was deposited into and overthe top of Ditch A. Both Ditches A and B slope down from the

E towards the W and disappear beneath the fill of thebank/levee that overlie them.

The bank/levee runs roughly SSW–NNE and could bedetected over a length of approximately 260 m in the brickquarry and an adjacent quarry pit. Because the top of the bankis buried by more than 2–3 m of sediment from later YellowRiver flooding, it leaves no topographic expression that wecan detect. It was constructed in at least two stages andconsists of a compacted, rammed earth core with a landsideberm (Figs. 7 and 8). The initial stage raised the visible portionof the bank roughly 2.5 to 3 m and the berm was approxi-mately 35–40 m long. The second stage easily doubled theheight (we were unable to measure the actual height becausethe top was too deeply buried to access from above and too tallto get to from below) and the berm was extended to nearly

late Western Han/Warring States?

Pleistocene

Disturbed modern soil/Ap

late Northern Song?

88.5

99

98

97

96

95

94

93

92

91

90

89

88

89.5

90.5

91.5

92.5

93.5

94.5

95.5

96.5

97.5

98.5

99.5

100

Middle Holocene to

Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age

Unconformity

10020 40 60 80Percent silt

Late MiddleHolocene Heavily weathered,

CaCo3 enriched

Natural paleosol

Laminated/

Unit VIII

Unit VII

Unit VI

Unit V

Unit IV

Unit III

Unconformity

PS1

PS2

Unit II

Unit I

Bw horizon

PS3

PS4

PS5PS6

PS7

PS8

Tang era?

uncertain age (anthropogenic?)

Ditches C, A & B

Fig. 4 Compositelithostratigraphy, chronology, anddescription of the Anshang sitesequence. This sequence wascompiled on the basis ofopportunistic investigations ofprofiles along all of the exposedwalls of the quarry location

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

60 m long (Fig. 8). Little time elapsed between the construc-tion of the first and second stages of the bank/levee based onthe absence of a paleosol or other indicators of bioturbation onthe surface of the first stage of construction. A Yellow Riverflood deposit consisting of an initial low-energy silty clayslackwater deposit followed by a massive silt loam coversthe second-stage berm and onlaps the land side of thebank/levee. A Warring States/Han age paleosol formed onthe surface of this deposit and was in turn buried by massiveclay to silty clay Yellow River slackwater flood deposits thatalso onlap the land side of the second stage bank/levee. Theseslackwater flood deposits are widespread throughout the re-gion and are unambiguously associated with substantialflooding at the end of Western Han, ca. A.D. 2–17 (Kidderet al. 2012a). Above these flood deposits, there is a poorlydeveloped paleosol that appears to have formed within anabandoned Yellow River braided channel. The final geologi-cal events at Anshang consist of the deposition of a massivesilt loam flood deposit likely associated with the terminaloccupation of the Yellow River in later Song times beforethe river was diverted to the south (Zhang 2009). An unknown

portion of the upper stratigraphic sequence is missing atAnshang because of recent disturbance.

Discussion

The stratigraphic sequence at Sanyangzhuang and Anshangdocuments the alluvial history of the Yellow River and pro-vides a window into the processes that cause environmentalchange. Our data show that the avulsion nodal zone in thisregion is dominated through time by lengthy periods of land-scape stability and soil formation punctuated by episodes ofrapid flooding and landscape change. Thus, even though theYellow River is known for its capricious flooding, stabilitypredominates. However, there is no doubt that in our studyarea the frequency of flooding increases through time andevidence indicates that magnitude—especially as measuredby human consequences noted in the archaeological and his-torical record—was changing as well. The specific causes ofthese floods are difficult to identify but natural and anthropo-genic forcing appear to have combined to create a

Table 1 Radiocarbon dates from the Anshang site arranged from oldest to youngest

Sample no. Material dated Lab # δ13C/12C ConventionalRC Age

Calibrated Calibrated Area undercurveTwo-sigma age

ranges (B.P.)Two-sigma ageranges (B.C.)

ANS-MM-5a Organic sediment Beta-334545 −20.2 5450±40 6309–6185 4360–4236 1

ANS-17 Organic sediment Beta-334549 −17.8 5250±30 6177–61496119–60766069–60426030–5925

4228–42004170–41274120–40934081–3976

0.1040670.1795040.0573260.659104

ANS-21 Organic sediment Beta-334553 −20.5 4990±30 5884–58245756–5644

3935–38753807–3695

0.1499880.850012

ANS-19a Freshwater shell Beta-334551 −9.7 3700±30 4147–41144100–39673944–3930

2198–21652151–20181995–1981

0.0900250.8855790.024396

ANS-23 Organic sediment Beta-334554 −18.3 3690±30 4144–41194094–39593949–3926

2195–21702145–2010200–1977

0.0493220.8959230.054755

ANS-16 Organic sediment Beta-334548 −17.4 3030±30 3345–31573151–31453088–3084

1396–12081202–11961139–1135

0.9890670.0064140.004519

ANS-20a Organic sediment Beta-334552 −19.4 2910±30 3199–31923161–2957

1250–12431212–1008

0.0095550.990445

ANS-10a Freshwater shell Beta-334546 −9.9 2870±30 3136–31323102–30973078–29182912–2879

1187–11831153–11481129–969963–930

0.0049960.0059210.9261250.062958

ANS-18 Organic sediment Beta-334550 −20.8 2780±30 2952–28362834–2792

1003–887885–843

0.837680.16232

ANS-13 Freshwater shell Beta-334547 −8.7 2710±30 2859–2757 910–808 1

a Samples that are not in stratigraphic order

Dates are calibrated with the program Calib 6.1.0 (Stuiver and Remer 1993) using the INTCAL09.14C data set (Reimer et al. 2009)

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circumstance of extraordinary flooding and avulsion at theend of Western Han.

Geomorphically, rapid channel aggradation and increas-ing slope advantage relative to the flood basin to the eastwere aggravated by unstable bank conditions caused bycoarse-textured substrates (Chien 1961) that facilitate chan-nel scouring, bank failure, and the development of cre-vasse splays (Aslan et al. 2005; Phillips 2011). The pre-Han channel of the Yellow River had been relativelystable for millennia, and the regional stratigraphic recordindicates increasing flood frequency following the MiddleHolocene, suggesting the river had reached and begun tocross the geomorphic threshold that constrained it in thiswestern channel alignment (Schumm 2005). Changes insea level following a possible mid-Holocene high stand(Jin 2009; Liu 2004: Fig. 2.6; Saito et al. 2000; Zhao1993; Zong 2004) may also have led to long-term shiftsin threshold conditions.

Flooding at this time may also be at least partially con-trolled by climatic fluctuations and their influences on up-stream water and sediment inputs. The Holocene history ofnorth China indicates the climate was shifting towards in-creasing aridity following a mid-Holocene episode of in-creased moisture (see Huang et al. 2007; Zhang et al. 2008,2011). As insolation decreased through the Holocene, theIntertropical Convergence Zone boundary retreated south-ward and the monsoon frontal limits followed suit.Progressive drought conditions in north China reduced effec-tive vegetation cover, notably in the Loess Plateau, and in-creased rates of erosion within the upper and middle reachesof the Yellow River basin. Climatic deterioration was espe-cially severe in Han times and drought frequency and intensitywere increasing during the last 100 years of the Western Han(Pan 1955, pp. 476–481; Hsu 1980: Table 12).

Geoarchaeological and historical data, however, combineto indicate a more complex picture of the causes of Yellow

A

B

Fig. 5 Anshang. a Photograph ofDitches A and B in the W wall(IMG 5473, July 24, 2012); bDitch C in the S wall (IMG 5135,July 22, 2012)

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River avulsion, suggesting that human alteration of the envi-ronment and the contributions these modifications played inchanging the Yellow River are also an important driver ofchange. Multiple factors influenced how humans interactedwith and altered the environment. The first is populationgrowth and the migration of populations into the middlereaches of the Yellow River valley, especially in the LoessPlateau. A second aspect influencing change is the nature ofpolitics and religion in Zhou and especially Qin-Han times.

The third is large-scale land use change caused by increasing-ly intensive agricultural practices. The fourth is the evolutionof large-scale industrial production, notably iron technologyand its role in agricultural intensification, and the fifth isincreasing emphasis on human control of rivers for economicpurposes.

One of the forces influencing resource consumption and itsenvironmental effects is rapid and significant populationgrowth in China over the later part of the Holocene.

A

B

Fig. 6 Anshang. a Photograph of the SE corner of our excavation area showing Middle Holocene and later stratigraphy with radiocarbon date locationsindicated (IMG 5227, July 22, 2012); Ditches A and B can be seen in the E face of the excavation; b photograph of W wall profile showing location ofMiddle Holocene paleosols with radiocarbon date location indicated (IMG 3169, July 20, 2012, courtesy Michael Storozum); the scale is 10 cm

Fig. 7 Anshang. Photograph ofthe SW corner of the quarry areashowing the bank/levee. The twostages are indicated; a dotted lineis used to indicate the upperportion of the second stage of thebank/levee because while it wasvisible in the profile we could notreach high enough to clean andprofile it (IMG 5429; July 24,2012). The S edge of Ditch A isvisible in the far right corner ofthe picture. The figures providescale

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Populations had been slowly growing throughout the region,with the largest concentrations in the Yellow River valley andits tributaries and adjacent hills and uplands. Population ex-pansion into the Loess Plateau is documented by Mid-Holocene times (Zhuang 2012) and was increasing throughLate Neolithic and into early dynastic times. By Han times,population numbers were quite high on a global comparativescale. The well-regarded census taken in A.D. 2 records thenational population at ∼60 million persons and also givespopulation breakdowns by local administrative units (Ban1962; Ge 1986). The North China Plain is now and was thenthe breadbasket of China. This region was home to nearly 40million people by A.D. 2. In Han times, it had an averagepopulation density of ca. 76.4 persons/km2 (compared toEmpire-wide average of 42.3 persons/km2) (Ban 1962: Di lizhi; Sun 1992). In A.D. 2, the population of the commanderies(∼counties) composing the region around Sanyangzhuangwas 9.81 million people and the average population density

was 122.94 persons/km2 (Ban 1962). These figures provide acontext in which political, economic, and technologicalchoices were made. During the Qin and Western HanDynasties, there were deliberate governmental policies toencourage, or when needed, to force, migration north andwest into the middle reaches of the Yellow River and itstributaries, to relieve population pressures in the eastern prov-inces but also in response to Xiongnu incursions along thenorthern borders of the expanding Chinese state. These immi-grants brought with them new farming technology and wereexpected to become agriculturally self-sufficient in rapid order(Chang 2007).

These data show that discussions of anthropogenic changehave to be situated in a political and social context. Thepolitics of Western Han and Wang Mang’s times were com-plex, contested, and fluid and it is impossible to explain thesecircumstances in a short gloss. We can note, however, that: (1)The Han were imperialistic, expansionist, and militarily

A

B

Fig. 8 Anshang. a Rammedearth features in the first stage ofthe bank/levee (IMG 5151, July22, 2012); the box shows the areaseen in panel b. b Photographshowing mixed and loaded/rammed sediments near base ofthe first stage of the bank/levee(IMG 5156, July 22, 2012); thescale is 10 cm

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aggressive in the borders of the empire; (2) The Han state wasstrongly centralized and heavily bureaucratized; (3) The Haneconomy fluctuated between extreme (monopolistic) statecontrol and Confucian-influenced laissez fair (Huan 1967);(4) The loci of political and social power shifted over timefrom the Emperor and the state to economically privilegedprivate citizens; by later Western Han times, social and eco-nomic elites claimed an increasing share of wealth and controlof resources and state power was considerably diminished(Loewe 1974, 1986; Pan 1950); and (5) The Han instituted aConfucian system that emphasized the proper ways of per-sonal and political/economic governance and conduct. Formsof Confucian thinking became increasingly rigid and conser-vative through Western Han times (Loewe 1974; Thomsen1988). The central tensions inherent in Western Han politicaleconomy is that between the roles and responsibilities of theEmperor and state and those that properly belong to privatecitizens; these concerns resolved themselves around the ques-tion of who could claim and get access to resources.

The economic expansion of Western Han brought the stateinto conflict with “barbarian” neighbors, most notably theXiongnu to the north and west. The Han maintained a complexpolitical and economic relationship with their contemporaryneighbors best exemplified by cycles of war and uneasy peace.One response to the “barbarian” threat was to erect the GreatWall and associated military border defenses. In addition tobuilding the Great Wall, the Chinese sought to create a demo-graphic barrier in the northwest to offset “barbarian” incursions.Populations were relocated to border regions as part of afrontier policy to reinforce China’s border and to form a demo-graphic bulwark against the northern barbarians (Chang 2007).This act of statecraft created an unintended consequence ofmoving relatively large numbers of people into geographicregions that were inherently environmentally vulnerable.

Land use changes had been developing over millennia asagricultural practices emerged and were increasingly refined.Initially, the development of agriculture may have had limitedeffects on the environment but over time the anthropogenicfootprint of agriculture clearly increased throughout China(Fuller et al. 2011; Klein Goldewijk et al. 2011; Li et al.2009; Marlon et al. 2013; Ruddiman et al. 2011; Sapart et al.2012). Local scale changes are detected in specific environ-ments. Most notably, we see increasing evidence of greatererosion associated with higher levels of intensificationthrough clearance, plowing, terracing, and other forms of landmodification (Zhuang 2012). Local changes that initially aredocumented only in site-specific contexts (Huang et al. 2006;Huang et al. 2002) are found in rivers tributary to the Yellowby the end of the mid-Holocene (Huang et al. 2009; Rosen2007; 2008; Zhuang 2012) and sedimentary records in thelower reaches of the Yellow River record increasing rates ofsedimentation by ca. 5000 cal BP (Chen et al. 2012; Xu 1998,2001, 2003) (Fig. 9).

The northern and western boundaries of the Han state werefound along the upper reaches of the Yellow River in the northwestern extent of the Loess Plateau (see Fig. 1). The LoessPlateau is important for this story because it is a large area offertile but very fragile soil. The loess, once exposed will erodewith remarkable speed (He et al. 2006; Li et al. 2012; Wanget al. 2006; Zhaoyu et al. 2004; Lowdermilk 1926; Tieh 1941).The Loess Plateau is largely arid because it lies at the northernand western margins of the monsoon frontal boundary, mean-ing that agricultural production requires significant intensifi-cation—especially intensive cultivation and irrigation, thusexposing the soil to the effects of wind and water. The rela-tively arid climate means there is little vegetation to hold theloess in place; therefore, with the movement of large numbersof agriculturalists into the Loess Plateau and especially itsupper reaches, erosion became a significant problem by Hantimes (Tang et al. 1994).

The emergence of intensive agriculture and agriculturalpractices through late Zhou and certainly into Han times iscoupled with and develops from expanding technologicalinnovation, most notably in iron production. The increasinglycommon use of iron tools by the fourth century B.C. had anespecially large role in expanding agricultural opportunitiesbut state intervention in taxation and economic policy wasalso critical in this regard (Hsu 1978, 1980). Iron productionexpanded rapidly in Western Han times and technology im-proved dramatically (Wagner 2001, 2008). Especially impor-tant in this regard was the increased utilization of cast iron forplow shares, rakes, harrows, and other agricultural imple-ments that allowed for increasing intensification based onputting more land under cultivation (Bray 1978, 1980,1984). At Sanyangzhuang, for example, iron was being usedfor a variety of tools and functions and was commonly avail-able to the residents of the compounds at the site (HenanProvincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology andNeihuang County Office for the Preservation of AncientMonuments 2010; Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural

0.2

1.61.41.21.00.80.60.4

12 10 8 6 4 2 0

4.25

composite rates of Yellow River sedimentaccumulation (after Xu 1999, 2003)

Sediment accumulation rates at Anshang

Sediment accumulation rates at Sanyangzhuang

mea

n se

dim

enta

tion

rate

(cm

yr

-1)

Thousand years B.P.

Western Han Dynasty

Intensive Neolithic farming

Iron Age intensification

Fig. 9 Average sedimentation rates in the lower reaches of the YellowRiver after Xu (1998, 2003) with Sanyangzhuang and Anshang datasuperimposed on these average rates

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Relics and Archaeology 2004). This technological innovationhad two consequences.

One was the expansion of agriculture into previously un- orunderutilized environments. The Loess Plateau was especiallyaffected because the use of iron-tipped plows, harrows, rakes,and similar tools increased dramatically in Han times. Oneresult of these changes was increasing erosion in the upper andmiddle reaches of the Yellow River because greater numbersof people were undertaking more intensive farming practicesusing increasingly efficient iron tools. Because of the highlyerodible nature of loess, intensification of agriculture in theLoess Plateau increased sediment loads being carried into thelower reaches of the river as it emerged onto the Central Plain.Average sedimentation rates for the lower reaches of the riverhave a notable upward inflection in the early part of the IronAge (Xu 1998, 2003).

However, the impact of this technology on the fragile soilof the Loess Plateau is not completely clear. In contrast topost-Tang times, sedimentation rates in the Han were relative-ly low; estimates range from 0.2–0.44 cm/year in the lowerYellow River valley (Xu 1998). Although sedimentation ratesare low in historical context it appears that during Han timesthere was a considerable increase in sedimentation comparedto the periods before ca. 500 B.C. and our data indicatemassive increases at the end of Western Han at bothSanyangzhuang and Anshang (Fig. 9).

The connection between anthropogenic change in theLoess Plateau and elsewhere in the Yellow River watershedand lower Yellow River sedimentation is very complex. AtSanyangzhuang and Anshang there is an increase in sedimen-tation rates following the mid-Holocene and especially afterthe Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. Episodes of flooding atSanyangzhuang and Anshang in the Warring States and Hanperiods appear to be related to changing human intervention inthe landscape leading to increasing sediment accumulationwithin the Yellow River channel. We cannot identify anygeological, geomorphic, or climatic processes that could causethese rate changes. Even if sedimentation rates were notescalating greatly in comparison to more recent times, thefrequency of major floods was (Hsu 1980; Chen et al.2012), and their consequence was being felt by an ever grow-ing population over an increasingly large area (Chen et al.2012).

Another significant factor affecting environmental changewas significant deforestation to provide wood for charcoalused in iron smelting, ceramic production, and other agricul-tural and industrial uses (Elvin 1993, 2004; Fang and Xie1994; Huang et al. 2006a, b; Marlon et al. 2013: Figs. 6 and7; Shu et al. 2010). The effects of deforestation for industrial(and often state-sponsored) pyro-technologies were amplifiedby large-scale anthropogenic modifications to the environ-ment from agricultural intensification, resource consumptionfor a growing population, and widespread interventions in the

natural world, such as the construction of canals, irrigationfacilities, reservoirs, and especially levees and dikes to con-strain the Yellow River and its tributaries. These activities ledto greater erosion, increased aggradation within the YellowRiver channel, and they enlarged and compounded the effectsof environmental disasters.

Human intervention in the Chinese environment is relative-ly massive, remarkably early and nowhere more keenlywitnessed than in attempts to harness the Yellow River.Various Chinese polities were trying to control the YellowRiver perhaps as early as the ninth century B.C. Historicaldocuments record an increasing emphasis on building of dikesand levees for flood control and related purposes (Bates 1935;Sima 1959). At Anshang, we have what we believe to be theearliest documented archaeological evidence for this sort ofhuman modification of the landscape. At Sanyangzhuang, wehave confirmation of considerable investment in large-scaleagriculture in the Bronze Age as exemplified by preservedridge-and-furrow fields covering over 500 m (Kidder et al.2012a). These imprints on the land are reflections of growingpopulation and greater attachment to fertile floodplain land.As physical and economic assets in the lower reaches of theriver became fixed through greater investment and intensifi-cation, and thus more vulnerable to flooding, resource de-fenses became increasingly necessary. Perhaps the most obvi-ous defense was the construction of levees for flood control.At Anshang, this appears to have commenced as early as theninth century B.C. and certainly before the end of EasternZhou times. However, especially in the technological contextof the time (e.g., these levees were not especially well builtand they were thus expensive and hard to maintain), this wasan inflexible response to fluid threats.

Paradoxically, themore people intervened in what was seento be the natural Yellow River system, the more effort wasrequired to keep the system functioning. Thus, for example,building levees to contain the river led to rapid sedimentaccumulation in the river’s bed, which increased the heightof the bed, which increased the height differential between thebed and the surrounding flood basin, which increased theprobability of flooding and thus triggered the deployment ofeven greater expenses to prevent flooding (Pinter et al. 2001).The effect was to—at least for a time—reduce flood frequencybut at the cost of artificially increasing flood amplitude. Theseprocesses also shifted the risk profile of any given flood. Highfrequency floods are damaging but not necessarily catastroph-ic. Low-frequency high-amplitude floods, especially in theYellow River valley where the height differential betweenthe river’s bed and the floodplain was quite steep, are inher-ently catastrophic.

Historical records and archaeological data vividly illustratethe consequences of rigid reliance on fixed technologicalsolutions. Official histories note major floods in the earlyyears of the new millennia followed by still larger ones in

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

the year A.D. 11. The Sanyangzhuang site was buried in theyears A.D. 14–17 by a massive flood. The epicenter of thisavulsion was south and west of Sanyangzhuang but we havedetected the distinctive signature of this flood in cores andprofiles over an ∼1,800 km2 area. The two commanderies(Dongjun and Chenliujun) that lay directly in the path of thesefloods had a combined population of 3.168 million people inthe Han Census of A.D. 2. Another five or more millionpeople were in the immediate flood basin. It is no surprisethen that by A.D. 17, official histories note major famines andunspecified disease outbreaks in the area, coupled with grow-ing “banditry” and other expressions of popular unrest (Ban1962; Dubs 1955; Pan 1955). Government attempts to deployflood relief measures that had succeeded in the past were toolittle and too late; subsequent attempts to quell peasant upris-ings and mass migration failed as local elites were able tomobilize anger with the government and channel it into pop-ular rebellion against the state (Bielenstein 1954, 1986;Thomsen 1988). Thus, a complex interplay of geomorphic,climatic, environmental, demographic, and technological fac-tors that accumulated over a long period of time led to a anenvironmental crisis that could not be contained withinexisting technological or political structures.

Conclusion

There is increasing evidence that anthropogenic landscapemanipulation and transformations were altering global envi-ronments at a surprisingly early time. In China, these alter-ations were at first slow and the effects perhaps subtle at scaleslarger than site specific locations. However, between 5000–2000 cal B.P., the cumulative effect of these transformationsbecame increasingly felt. Perhaps nowhere is this more evi-dent than in the Yellow River valley and most especially in thehydrology of the Yellow River itself. Data from the lowerreaches of the river indicates that the river itself was relativelystable for the first eight millennia of the Holocene. Channelsavulsions appear to have been relatively few and far between(Chen et al. 2012; Kidder et al. 2012b), and landscape stabilitywas the dominant mode. Between 3000–2000 cal B.P., we seerelatively dramatic changes in the hydrology of the YellowRiver. Flooding became more common and our data fromAnshang coupled with previously unverified historicalsources suggest that drainage/irrigation facilities andbank/levees were being constructed ca. 2900–2700 cal B.P.Infrastructure investment in the lower reaches of the river wasresponding to upstream sediment inputs. As erosion increasedbecause of population growth, political exigencies, and tech-nological development, the need for larger and more effectivelevees and other river defenses increased. The sociopoliticalsystem was increasingly locked-in to a fixed path from whichit became increasingly difficult to be extracted. This is a form

of unintentional rigidity and it exemplifies the complexity ofhistorical human-environment interactions. As noted bySchoon et al. (2011),

Whereas the initial creation and build-up of social andphysical infrastructure can help people thrive in a widevariety of environments… slow accretion of rigidity insocietal infrastructure may eventually lead to relativelyrapid transformation. The capacity to adapt to novelchange and shocks is compromised by commitmentsto specific forms of social and physical infrastructure.Physical infrastructure strongly conditions the nature ofinteractions between people and the environment andamong people.

In the lower reaches of the Yellow River, investment inresource defense infrastructure was a logical and reasonableresponse to growing anthropogenically forced threats. In time,the accumulation of sediment in the Yellow River caused acatastrophic avulsion or series of avulsions that eventuallyinundated much of the North China Plain and set in motiona complex set of processes leading to the final collapse ofWestern Han and ensuring the rise of a reconfigured dynasticpower known as Eastern Han (A.D. 25–220).

We are now possessed with the ability to explain the causesof flooding that led to these political reorganizations.However, rigidity alone does not explain what happened atthe end ofWestern Han, or why.What rigidity allows us to seeis how increasing investment in physical infrastructure createda context where the physical failure of the Yellow River leveeswas inevitable. What it does not say is why the effects of theflood(s) in the first two decades of the new millennia were sosocially catastrophic. These were neither the first nor lastmassive and catastrophic floods on the lower reaches of theYellow River. This time, however, they triggered a cascade offailures because the accumulation of change was beyond thecapacity of the social and political structure to absorb thesetransformations. Instability in government, religious conser-vatism, and the contested nature of resources among elites andcommoners emphasized the increasing application of fixedrules—social, religious, political, economic, technological—to achieve constant returns. Structurally, a rigidity trap devel-oped from which the state and its citizens could not be easilyor painlessly extricated.

Frequent floods sapped the government’s economic capac-ity. The imperial system increasingly lacked the elasticity tocope with these natural catastrophes, which were interspersed,we are told, by drought and plagues of locusts. Existingresponses to natural catastrophes that had worked in thepast—storage of foodstuffs to buffer short-term crop losses,deferral or waiver of taxes, government mobilized food reliefprograms, and resettlement schemes—did not work or werenot or could not be employed. Infrastructural rigidity lowered

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the threshold for long-term resilience by increasing the ampli-tude of the flooding. These were not system failures, though;they were socially decided trade-offs between the costs offlood frequency versus the expenses of catastrophic bankfailure (Schoon et al. 2011; Abel et al. 2006; Butzer andEndfield 2012; Carpenter and Brock 2008; Janssen andScheffer 2004; Scheffer and Westley 2007). In this sense,the Resilience Theory itself only describes a pattern.Explanation is a more complex challenge. The noted Hanhistorian Homer Dubs (1955, pp. 112, 115) explained the fallof Western Han thusly: “Undoubtedly the most importantcause [of the Han collapse] was the weather…The resultantsocial confusion, brought to fruition by failure in government,caused widespread unrest, rebellion, and …fall… the realcause was the failure of… government to meet the strainsput upon it.” Dubs’ analysis highlights the complexities inascribing simple causal explanations for what are complex,complicated, and multifaceted events and processes.Geoarchaeology provides an important perspective on thecollapse of Western Han but alone, it is not sufficient toexplain these events. The story of the fall of Western Han,however, cannot be effectively told without the aid ofgeoarchaeological and archaeological research that bridgesgaps between our understanding of multiscalar human behav-ior and human-environmental history.

Acknowledgments The authors are indebted to many for their re-search. We especially want to acknowledge the cooperation of SunXinmin, Director of the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relicsand Archaeology and Dr. Ma Xiaolin, of the Henan Bureau of Culture.Our research has benefited greatly by the advice of many scholars,notably Mo Duowen, Jing Zhichun, Hung Ling-yu, Zhuang Yijie, andXu Qinghai. Fieldwork was ably assisted by Michael Storozum, QinZhen, and Li Minglin. Michael Lamb graciously provided the base mapfor Fig. 2 andMichael Storozum created Fig. 3.We have benefited greatlyfrom the comments of Vance T. Holliday and an anonymous reviewer.Funding for this work comes from the Henan Provincial Institute ofCultural Relics and Archaeology, the McDonnell Academy Global Ener-gy and Environmental Partnership, and the International Center for Ad-vanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability of Washington University.

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