Socio-Environmental Dynamics along the HistoricalSilk Road

Liang Emlyn Yang • Hans-Rudolf Bork •

Xiuqi Fang • Steffen MischkeEditors

Socio-EnvironmentalDynamics alongthe Historical Silk Road

EditorsLiang Emlyn YangGraduate School “Human Developmentin Landscapes”Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu KielKiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

Xiuqi FangFaculty of Geographical ScienceBeijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China

Hans-Rudolf BorkInstitut für ÖkosystemforschungChristian-Albrechts-Universität zu KielKiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

Steffen MischkeFaculty of Earth SciencesUniversity of IcelandReykjavik, Iceland

ISBN 978-3-030-00727-0 ISBN 978-3-030-00728-7 (eBook)https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00728-7

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Foreword I

The Graduate School of Human Development in Landscapes at Kiel University isan advanced school engaged in studying and teaching interdisciplinarily theinteractive development of past human society and physical landscapes. Since itwas established 11 years ago, I have been involved many times in its projectreviews, advisory issues and have noticed its significant progress. A remarkableaspect is its young researchers who explore human development from variousperspectives, including the lead author of this book Dr. Yang who I was impressedby when I first heard him talk in November 2016 at the School. It is a promisingdirection that he and others have taken to investigate the adaptation and resilienceof human society (both successfully and unsuccessfully) in facing of the past cli-mate changes with the target to inform the present global climate problems.

This new book “Socio-Environmental Dynamics along the Historical Silk Road”continues this direction as well as other aspects of climate-related social–environ-mental changes, including landscape, water, disaster, population, empire, civiliza-tion, culture and heritage. It is often challenging to discuss on such large-scale andlong-term social development issues in one book. However, the concept Silk Roadis a natural framework for these topics and thus perfectly links the internationalcontributions to this book. Especially, several chapters in the book focused on theCentral Asia area with the ever existed Han Dynasty (Chap. 3), Sogdiana civi-lization (Chap. 9), Saljūq Empire (Chap. 13), Oxus civilization (Chap. 14), whichcollectively evidenced certain interactives between physical environment and socialsystems.

It has been widely agreed that human migration and cultural exchanges in theEurasia hinterland existed much earlier than the traditionally recognized start timeof the Silk Road around the end of third century BC. Culture is rooted in the localenvironment and associated living habits, but cultural change involves manyexternal factors, among which the exchange with others is a most significant one.The Scythians of the Eurasia steppe in seventh century BC was formed like this,where nomadic confederations developed either symbiotic or forced alliances with

v

agriculture peoples—in exchange for animal produce and military protection. Whilethe rise of the Silk Road networks subsequently facilitated those exchanges, theintegration and coexistence of cultures from the West and the East of the Eurasiacontinent performed more pronounced in Central Asia.

The editors and authors have made great efforts in putting together an importantbody of knowledge in this book. It is very important because it reveals partially thehistory of man as well as human development. We have to learn how culturesdeveloped in the past to understand why we have certain processes today. Learningfrom the past experience will help us understand these exchanges and integrationsat the systematic level. For instance, the current problem of climate change is not aproblem only of today, but was faced by many societies in the past. These societies’experiences and lessons, the development of unique social and cultural systems, thepower of religions, tolerance and intolerance to each other should never be for-gotten. Against this backdrop, the book includes state-of-the-art research onsocio-environmental dynamics, integrates knowledge on multiple aspects ofsocial-cultural exchanges, and highlights case studies on and references for humandevelopment. Today, more than ever, we need sharp research like this.

The book is a collaborative venture. The chapters provide an interdisciplinaryperspective and document emerging and innovative knowledge of the past envi-ronmental conditions and its links to social-culture development. Such knowledgebased on solid analysis of data, materials and proxies in the field is indispensable aswe move forward. We are still a long way from understanding the essentialmechanisms of the socio-environmental interactives in various scales and periods.This book is a welcome addition to the literature.

Berlin, GermanyJune 2018

Hermann ParzingerPresident, Professor Prussian Cultural

Heritage Foundation

vi Foreword I

Foreword II

The long history of human–environment interactions has attracted and is attractinga large number of investigations by international scholars, and it is also a majorresearch field that I and my research team explored for many years. Our studies inWestern China, Central Asia and other alpine Asian sub-regions have been focusingon the paleoclimate records of loess sections and lake sediments to reveal climatechanges in the late Quaternary, especially in the Holocene, in theWesterlies-dominated region. Exciting geo-archaeological studies revealed thelinkages between dramatic environmental changes in the past and prehistorichuman activities at regional scale. We have found that the cultural exchange wascertainly influenced by geographic setting and environmental changes, and theproliferation of crops and agricultural technologies along the prehistoric Silk Roadfrom the west promoted human adaptation and living at the Tibetan Plateau duringthe late Holocene. These findings initiated extensive discussions in the globalacademic community.

Recently, we are supporting and increasing integrative geoscientific research inthe Pan-Third Pole Region. One of the focal themes is the relationship between thecultural history and the environmental and climatic changes along the Silk Roadterritory, and the implications to the formation and development of contemporaryChina and the Eurasian societies. Five years ago, the Chinese President Xi Jinpingproposed “The Belt and Road Initiative” to strengthen economic ties and cooper-ation between China and neighbouring countries in Central and West Asia. Theinitiative is increasing development opportunities for the countries and the region ingeneral, and at the same time, brings major opportunities for scientific researchfocusing on this vast area. Traditionally, resources and environmental conditionsof the Pan-Third Pole Region are key constraints for the development of WestChina and the countries along the ancient Silk Road. Therefore, the studies of thehuman activities, environmental changes and the rise and fall of the Silk Roadcivilizations as well as their mutual relations at different historical stages in thePan-Third Pole Region are of urgent and great significance to understand thehuman–environment interactions in science, and to enhance the regionaleco-environment sustainability and socio-economic development in practice.

vii

I was excited to learn about the international workshop on the socio-environmental issues of the historical Silk Road area that was organized and con-ducted by the authors of this book in 2017. The theme of the workshop fits well withour research interests, and I am happy to see that some of my colleagues participatedin the workshop and contributed to the book. The lead author Dr. Yang has a similarresearch philosophy as I have: investigating the past social-climate relationshipswith a present geographical perspective. This may not be a perfect combination interms of scientific research, but it starts from the present social–environmentalchallenges and seeks answers from the complex historical experiences and lessons.This perspective often helps since the long human history has rich stories to tell butonly targeted researchers can comprehend the meaningful implications. I think this isone of the reasons why the workshop was very successful.

The publishing of this book “Socio-Environmental Dynamics along theHistorical Silk Road” is of cause the biggest success, in which the editors andauthors put great efforts and invested long time. It is a wise integration of expertisefrom different disciplines, including climatology (Dr. Yang), geo-archaeology(Prof. Bork), geography (Prof. Fang) and geology (Prof. Mischke), and additionaldisciplines represented by the authors of the chapters. Organizing contributionsfrom such various disciplines and integrating them into a thematic book is certainlychallenging, but the editors successfully framed them within a logic chain includinglandscape evolution, environmental disasters, climate impacts, social resilience andculture connections.

The chapters cover a broad research area, the historical Silk Road area in thehinterland of the Eurasia. It naturally involves the diversity of natural landscapesand environmental characteristics, while the diverse aspects are linked by oneessential factor: water. Water was related to agriculture development and populationgrowth during water-rich periods, but the scarcity of water also caused disasters thatforced social system changes as described in case studies in Parts II and III of thebook. However, human societies were not always transformed when climate andenvironmental stresses were faced. As the chapters in Part V indicate, social resi-lience existed (human–water relationships in Chap. 16) and human knowledge wasadvanced (Karez Systems in Chap. 17), so that those societies maintained theirfunctions and developed into the present. The exchange of goods, culture and ideasalong the Silk Road was an important power that promoted the mutual under-standing and peaceful coexistence of different groups of people, as well as sharingthe experience living with tough natural conditions.

The book is a further research step to answer the grand question “Why collapsedsome civilizations while others persisted?” from the perspective ofclimate/environment changes. Though it does not provide a clear answer (maybe,no clear answer may exist!), research in this direction will provide more casestudies and will improve our knowledge to inform a better strategy of socialdevelopment in this critical region. Especially in recent years, the revival andreconstruction of exchange pathways and trade routes between the East and Westof the Eurasia continent call for better understanding of the evolution rules ofcoupled social–environmental systems. This is the true value of studies such as

viii Foreword II

those presented in the book, reaching beyond academic research. From this point ofview, this book could not come at a better time.

The effort of the editors and authors demonstrated in achieving this book is agood sign that the “old” science is very alive and attractive to especially youngresearchers. I hope that this fresh body of knowledge captured hereinafter will reachan audience beyond the paleo-science communities and by doing so undoubtedlybecome useful to everyone in the broader environment and developmentcommunity.

Beijing, ChinaJuly 2018

Fahu ChenDirector, Professor

Institute of Tibetan Plateau ResearchAcademician of the Chinese Academy

of Sciences

Foreword II ix

Foreword III

Over the last decade, interdisciplinary efforts directed on past societies and theirenvironments are broadening our view on socio-environmental dynamics and haveopened exciting new perspectives on old archives. Among the key areas thatdemonstrated these dynamics in the past and therefore attracted intensive investi-gations in the recent are the northeast Mediterranean, Middle East, Central Asia andthe Eurasia Steppe, which are linked by the modern concept Silk Road.

The Silk Road is one of the oldest routes of international trade in the world. It isfirst reported to have been used during the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD) inChina, but recent archaeological evidence indicates that trade managed by theancient steppe societies across the central Asian deserts began as early as 5000–6000 years ago. In several millennia, territory along the Silk Road has been both, ahome to ancient civilizations and a hot spot of environmental hazards. Therefore, itis a key region through which we may disentangle the interwoven forces oflong-term interaction between humans and the environment. Managing risks,maintaining livelihoods and promoting development were unavoidable tasks forlocal communities in the long past. Until now, however, there have been fewattempts to bring different archives together to form an integrated long-term nar-rative of the interactions between humans and the environment in the region.

In early 2017, Dr. Yang proposed the International Workshop “The Rise and Fall:Environmental Factors in the Socio-Cultural Changes of the Ancient Silk Road Area”and raised this specific and significant research question. The workshop broughttogether experts from 12 countries with 19 presentations and enabled to produce thisbook as a proceeding volume. The book “Socio-Environmental Dynamics along theHistorical Silk Road” is a manifestation of the research progress in the field and anachievement made by the four editors, more over 30 (co-)authors and over 50reviewers. Both the workshop and the book were sponsored by the Graduate SchoolHuman Development in Landscapes at Kiel University (GSC 208/2) and the PastGlobal Changes project (PAGES) and are considered among the most fruitful ini-tiatives by young researchers at the school and through the project.

xi

The GSHDL and Johanna Mestorf Academy (JMA) strive to promote interna-tional partnerships as a means of advancing education and research in the field of pastsocio-environment. The global theme of human development in their cultural andnatural environment is linked to the detection of cross-linkages between differentfactors: the influence of man on nature and vice versa. With this integrative back-ground, the GSHDL/JMA offers a favourable opportunity to understand the highlydynamic spatial–temporal processes that join interdisciplinary expertise in palaeo-climatic, palaeoecological, palaeodemographic, as well as cultural research. Thoughthe processes involved may be of global character and may apply to the entire humanhistory, case studies concentrate on the Holocene and mainly in Europe and adjacentregions. I think, this unique feature of the school contributes an important part to thesuccess of the workshop and book about the Silk Road.

In many cases, research questions arise in highly specialized fields, and progressis accompanied by increasing specialization and divergence of research fields.However, to gain an integrated understanding of the multifaceted phenomenon ofhuman development in an ever-changing environment, a multidisciplinary approachuniting the full width of philosophical, social and natural sciences is needed. Thebook using Silk Road as the geographical scope and inspirational concept andstriving to provide such a frame to address the human-environment interactions haswell handled this challenge and is absolutely successful.

Our new Cluster of Excellence ROOTS aims to explore archaeological andhistorical places in a diachronic perspective, covering a wide range ofsocio-environmental constellations, under the basic assumption that humans andenvironments deeply shaped each other, creating social, environmental and culturalconnectivities. As planned, the ROOTS programme will introduce new andlong-term research perspectives, expanding the existing broad interdisciplinaryexpertise and extending strengths to the central and eastern areas of the Eurasiacontinent. This book is certainly a pioneer effort in this large and foreseen vision.

I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the editors, authors,reviewers, workshop conveners and assistants, the GSHDL, PAGES and all thosewho have collaborated to support the workshop and the publication of this book.I trust that this book will provide a useful knowledge base and tool for futurestudents and researchers to comprehend the mounting challenges in humandevelopment and to explore innovative approaches to promote human–environ-mental harmonious and sustainability.

Kiel, GermanyJuly 2018

Johannes MüllerDirector, Professor

Graduate School “Human Development inLandscapes”, Institute of Prehistoric

and Protohistoric ArchaeologyKiel University

xii Foreword III

Acknowledgements

On behalf of the other editors, I wish to express our appreciation to the organiza-tions and individuals who contributed perspectives, ideas, contents and offeredsupport throughout the course of this book’s development. This book emerged as aresult of the International Workshop “The Rise and Fall: Environmental Factors inthe Socio-Cultural Changes of the Ancient Silk Road Area”, which was held at theKiel University during 27–28 September 2017. Both the workshop and the bookreceived joint financial resources from the Graduate School “Human Developmentin Landscape” (GSHDL) at Kiel University (GSC 208/2) and the Past GlobalChanges project (PAGES).

We thank the workshop Organizing Committee, particularly Prof. JosefWiesehöfer, Ms. Milinda Hoo, Mr. Faraz Nikpour Arani for all the help during theconference, and Dr. Silvia Balatti for early preparation of the workshop. Nineteenexperts from twelve countries participated to discuss the importance of the pastclimate–environment–society relationships at this workshop. We are also verygrateful to Prof. Johannes Müller for his welcoming words at the beginning of theworkshop. Full support by PD Dr. Mara Weinelt throughout the long process fromproposing the workshop to publishing the book is very much appreciated.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the chapter authors for theirimportant insights, hard work, prompt return of manuscript drafts and revisions, andcontinued eagerness to make sure our ideas reach a broader audience. Our appre-ciation is also extended to the 51 reviewers (a list is included in the book) who tooktime to read the chapters and made valuable and constructive comments to improvethe manuscripts, which guaranteed the high academic quality of the volume. Mr.Michael Spate, Mr. Stephen Pow and Dr. Rosalind Gillis provided their kind andfree support to the book by proofreading some of the manuscripts and individualchapters at critical times. Open Access publication of this book has been madepossible through financial supports from GSHDL and Dr. Bertil Mächtle’s group inHeidelberg, besides the book editors. Especially, contributions of forewords fromProf. Hermann Parzinger, Prof. Fahu Chen and Prof. Johannes Müller are notedwith great gratitude. Together with various interested and cooperating experts, they

xiii

contributed to the book’s success and helped to gain a high level of attention. Ourgratitude also goes out to the Springer editing and producing team, especiallyDr. Johanna Schwartz, Ms. Claudia Mannsperger, Ms. Dörthe Mennecke-Bühler,Ms. Sujitha Shree Duraisamy, and Mr. Boopalan Renu for making this publicationsuch an enjoyable process.

Personally, it has been my honour and pleasure to take the leadership in con-vening the workshop and editing the book. Working on these for one year and ahalf has been a very creative, inspiring and rewarding process. Writing and pub-lishing this book took a lot of effort and could not have been done without theco-editors of the book, Prof. Hans-Rudolf Bork, Prof. Xiuqi Fang and Prof. SteffenMischke. Personal thanks go to them for their valuable input and great contributionsin terms of science, organization, review, editing and time. I would further like toexpress my gratitude and appreciation to the GSHDL that hosts and supports myresearch initiative on the long-term socio-environmental interactions in China,Central Asia and South Asia, which is the very origin of both the workshop and thebook.

Kiel, Germany Dr. Liang Emlyn YangJuly 2018 Graduate School “Human Development in

Landscapes”, Institute of Prehistoric and ProtohistoricArchaeology, Kiel University

xiv Acknowledgements

Contents

Part I Introduction

1 On the Paleo-climatic/Environmental Impacts and Socio-CulturalSystem Resilience along the Historical Silk Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Liang Emlyn Yang, Hans-Rudolf Bork, Xiuqi Fang, Steffen Mischke,Mara Weinelt and Josef Wiesehöfer

Part II Landscape Evolutions in the Human-Environment System

2 Evolution of Saline Lakes in the Guanzhong Basin Duringthe Past 2000 Years: Inferred from Historical Records . . . . . . . . 25Jie Fei, Hongming He, Liang Emlyn Yang, Xiaoqiang Li, Shuai Yangand Jie Zhou

3 Landscape Response to Climate and Human Impactin Western China During the Han Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Steffen Mischke, Chengjun Zhang, Chenglin Liu, Jiafu Zhang,Zhongping Lai and Hao Long

4 The Ili River Delta: Holocene Hydrogeological Evolutionand Human Colonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Jean-Marc Deom, Renato Sala and Anne Laudisoit

5 Quantitative Evaluation of the Impact on Aral Sea Levelsby Anthropogenic Water Withdrawal and Syr Darya CourseDiversion During the Medieval Period (1.0–0.8 ka BP) . . . . . . . . . 95Renato Sala

6 Reconsidering Archaeological and Environmental Proxiesfor Long Term Human-Environment Interactionsin the Valley of Kashmir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Michael Spate

xv

Part III Natural Disasters and Impacts in the Past Societies

7 Living with Earthquakes along the Silk Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Miklós Kázmér

8 Natural Disasters in the History of the Eastern Turk Empire . . . . 177Rustam Talgatovich Ganiev and Vladimir Vladimirovich Kukarskih

9 Dry and Humid Periods Reconstructed from Tree Ringsin the Former Territory of Sogdiana (Central Asia) and TheirSocio-economic Consequences over the Last Millennium . . . . . . . 195Magdalena Opała-Owczarek and Piotr Owczarek

10 A Drought Reconstruction from the Low-Elevation JuniperForest of Northwestern Kyrgyzstan since CE 1565 . . . . . . . . . . . . 215Feng Chen, Shulong Yu, Qing He, Bakytbek Ermenbaevand Rysbek Satylkanov

Part IV Climatic Factors in the Transitions of Social Systems

11 Social Impacts of Climate Change in Historical China . . . . . . . . . 231Xiuqi Fang, Yun Su, Zhudeng Wei and Jun Yin

12 Climate Change and the Rise of the Central Asian SilkRoads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Daniel J. Hill

13 The Coming of the Barbarians: Can Climate Explainthe Saljūqs’ Advance? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261Yehoshua Frenkel

14 Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of the OxusCivilization in Southern Central Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275Élise Luneau

15 Climatic and Environmental Limiting Factors in the MongolEmpire’s Westward Expansion: Exploring Causes for theMongol Withdrawal from Hungary in 1242 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301Stephen Pow

Part V Social Adaptation and Resilience to Environmental Stresses

16 Resilience of the Human-Water System at the Southern SilkRoad: A Case Study of the Northern Catchment of Erhai Lake,China (1382–1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325Anning Xu, Liang Emlyn Yang, Weibing Yangand Aubrey L. Hillman

xvi Contents

17 The Age and Origin of Karez Systems of Silk Road Oases aroundTurpan, Xinjiang, P.R. of China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359Bertil Mächtle, Stefan Hecht, Nicola Manke, Bernd Kromer,Susanne Lindauer, Cheng-Sen Li, Ying Li, Xiaofei Wangand Olaf Bubenzer

18 Water Supply and Ancient Society in the Lake Balkhash Basin:Runoff Variability along the Historical Silk Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379Irina P. Panyushkina, Mark G. Macklin, Willem H. J. Toonenand David M. Meko

19 Demographic Changes, Trade Routes, and the Formationof Anthropogenic Landscapes in the Middle Volga Regionin the Past 2500 Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411Leonid A. Vyazov, Ekaterina G. Ershova, Elena V. Ponomarenko,Konrad Gajewski, Mikhail S. Blinnikov and Ayrat G. Sitdikov

Part VI Social-Culture in Connection with the Environment

20 Routes Beyond Gandhara: Buddhist Rock Carvings in theContext of the Early Silk Roads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455Marike van Aerde

21 Steppe and Sown: Eurasianism, Soil and the Mappingof Bukhara in the Light of Soviet Ethnographic Accounts . . . . . . 481Susanne Marten-Finnis

22 A Karez System’s Dilemma: A Cultural Heritage on a Shelfor Still a Viable Technique for Water Resiliencyin Arid Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507Shalamu Abudu, Zhuping Sheng, James Phillip King and So-Ra Ahn

Contents xvii

Major Contributing Authors

Abudu, Shalamu Chief Modeller at the New Mexico Interstate StreamCommission. He received his Ph.D. from New Mexico State University, USA. Hehas more than 20 years of research and industrial experience in the areas of irri-gation, hydrology, water resources engineering and Karez water supply systems inCentral Asia.

Bork, Hans-Rudolf Professor at the Institute for Ecosystem Research, KielUniversity, Kiel. He conducts integrative ecosystem and landscape research usinggeoarchaeological, pedological, hydrological and geomorphological methods. Hewas the former president of the German Society for Geography and a member of theGerman Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

Bubenzer, Olaf Full Professor of Geomorphology, Soil Geography and QuaternaryResearch, Institute of Geography, Heidelberg University, Germany. Starting withresearch on European fluvial systems, he changed to dry lands (Africa, CentralAsia, Eastern Mediterranean, Chile), with special focus on aeolian processes andhuman–nature interactions on various temporal and spatial scales.

Chen, Feng Professor at the Institute of Desert Meteorology, China MeteorologyAdministration, China. As a geographer, Feng Chen studies tree rings and climatechange. He is currently investigating long-term climate change and water resources,in especially Western China and Central Asia.

Deom, Jean-Marc Researcher at the Laboratory of Geoarchaeology, Al-FarabiKazakh National University, Kazakhstan, specialized in the collection of historicaland ethnographical material, in the elaboration of database and cartography andcurrently involved in projects on ancient water use and cultural landscapes in aridzones.

Fang, Xiuqi Professor of Physical Geography at the Faculty of GeographicalScience, Beijing Normal University, China. His researches mainly focus onreconstruction of historical climate change and its social impacts, land use/coverchanges.

xix

Fei, Jie Associate Professor at the Institute of Chinese Historical Geography, FudanUniversity, China. His research interests include historical environmental changeand the scientific history of geography.

Frenkel, Yehoshua Emeritus Professor at the Department of Middle Eastern andIslamic Studies, University of Haifa, Israel. He investigates the Islamicate history inthe late Islamic middle period, and recently published on environmental history,political elite and slave-soldiers of the Mamlūk Sultanate, and Islam Religiontheory and practice.

Ganiev, Rustam Talgatovich Associate Professor, Director of Central AsiaResearch Center at the Ural Federal University (Ekaterinburg, Russia). Rustam iscurrently researching the nomads of Central Asia, the Turkic–Chinese relationsalong the Silk Road, climatic adaptation and palaeoclimate of Central Asia.

Daniel J. Hill Lecturer in the School of Earth and Environment, University ofLeeds, UK. As a palaeoclimate modeller, Daniel is interested in climate changesand its impacts on the whole Earth system over many timescales, from theMesozoic biosphere to human–environment interactions over the last few thousandyears.

Kazmer, Miklós Professor of palaeontology at Eötvös University, Budapest,Hungary. Trained as geologist, his interests range from carbonate microfossils topalaeoecology, basin evolution, palaeogeography and environmental history. He iscurrently investigating historical, archaeological and geological evidence of pastearthquakes along the southern margin of the Eurasian continent.

Luneau, Elise Researcher at the Eurasia Department of the German ArchaeologicalInstitute, Germany. She is archaeologist, currently investigating the evolution ofurban societies, the mobility of populations and the interactions between “nomadic”and “sedentary” peoples in southern Central Asia during the Bronze Age.

Mächtle, Bertil Senior Researcher at the Institute of Geography—Geomorphology,Soil Geography and Geoarchaeology Unit, Heidelberg University, Germany. Asgeomorphologist, he is currently working in the dry lands of Chile and CentralAsia, with special focus on interhemispheric palaeoclimatic mechanisms and itsregional impacts on environment and ancient cultures.

Marten-Finnis, Susanne Professor of applied linguistics at the University ofPortsmouth, UK, and a joint appointment at the Universities of Bremen, Germany.She studied Russian language and literature, and applied linguistics. Her researchinterests include Russian cultural production in western Europe, Eurasianism andurban heterotopias along the ancient Silk Road.

Mischke, Steffen Professor at Faculty of Earth Sciences of the University ofIceland, works on environmental change and Quaternary climate reconstructionsmainly based on lake sediments. He investigates ancient man–environment inter-actions together with archaeologists in the Near East and Central and East Asia.

xx Major Contributing Authors

Opala-Owczarek, Magdalena Assistant Professor at the Department ofClimatology, Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland.She was trained as a geographer on climatology and palaeogeography. She iscurrently working on long-term climate change in Central Asia (Pamir region) andthe Arctic, using tree-ring proxies.

Owczarek, Piotr Assistant Professor at the Department of Physical Geography,University of Wroclaw, Poland. Trained as a geographer on palaeogeography andgeomorphology, Piotr is currently working on dendrogeomorphological applicationin the High Arctic, mass movement activity and their quantification and environ-mental changes in mountainous areas in Europe and Asia.

Panyuskina, Irina Research Associate Professor at the Laboratory of Tree-RingResearch, University of Arizona, USA. She investigates the role of environment inthe economic and sociocultural changes of Central Asia antiquity. Current researchfocuses on modelling run-off variability from tree rings and scaling climatic proxieswith archaeological data.

Ponomarenko, Elena Leading Researcher at the Kazan Federal University, Russia,and Adjunct Professor at the University of Ottawa, Canada. Elena is a soil scientistspecializing in the reconstruction of ecosystem dynamics and land use (EcosystemArchaeology).

Pow, Stephen Doctoral Candidate at the Department of Medieval Studies, CentralEuropean University, Budapest, Hungary. He is currently researching the causesof the Mongol withdrawal from Europe and Mongol–European relations in thethirteenth century. Recent projects including primary source translations andexploring the role of climate in the events.

Sala, Renato Senior Researcher, Co-director of the Laboratory of Geoarchaeology,Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan. He is specialized in systemstheory and in the systematization of palaeoenvironmental, geoarchaeological andsocio-economical data. He is currently leading projects on palaeoclimatology,ancient water use and cultural landscapes in arid zones.

Spate, Michael Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Archaeology, Universityof Sydney, Australia. His research aims to reconstruct through environmentalrecords the development of agro-pastoralism during the prehistorical and earlyhistorical periods in the Valley of Kashmir.

Van Aerde, Marike is Byvanck Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty ofArchaeology, Leiden University, the Netherlands. She studies interregional cultureconnections and cultural heritage preservation from a bottom-up, archaeologicalperspective. She currently investigates the integral role of early Buddhist materialculture along the Silk Road networks in Central Asia.

Major Contributing Authors xxi

Vyazov, Leonid Leading Researcher and archaeologist at the Kazan FederalUniversity, Russia. He is currently working on landscape archaeology, populationdynamics and economic development of the Eastern European forest-steppe regionduring the Migration Period and is leading the International Archaeological Schoolannually held in Bolgar (Tatarstan, Russia).

Xu, Anning Ph.D. Candidate at the Center for Historical Geographical Studies,Fudan University, China. She is a historical geographer focusing on naturalgeography and religious geography. Her Ph.D. work investigates the evolvement ofwater environment and human–water relationship in the basin of Erhai Lake,Yunnan Province of China.

Yang, Liang Emlyn Postdoctoral Researcher at the Graduate School “HumanDevelopment in Landscapes”, Kiel University, Germany. Trained as a geographeron urbanization, climate adaptation and hazard risk reduction, Emlyn is currentlyinvestigating long-term climate forcing and social resilience, in especially China,Central/South Asia along the historical Silk Road.

Yang, Weibing Professor at the Center for Historical Geographical Studies, FudanUniversity, China. As a historical geographer, he is investigating the Chinese his-torical geography, historical environment and society, and the regional history inMing and Qing Dynasties (1368–1911).

xxii Major Contributing Authors

Reviewers

Bemmann, Jan Professor at the Institute of Prehistory and Early Archeology, BonnUniversity, Germany.

Bork, Hans-Rudolf Professor at the Institute for Ecosystem Research, KielUniversity, Kiel.

Boroffka, Nikolaus Senior researcher at the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut,Eurasia Department, Berlin, Germany.

Bräuning, Achim Professor for Physical Geography at the Institute of Geography,Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany.

Büntgen, Ulf Professor of Environmental Systems Analysis, Department ofGeography, University of Cambridge, UK. He studies the causes and consequencesof long-term changes in environmental systems.

Chang, Claudia Professor of Anthropology Emerita, Sweet Briar College; researchassociate, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, USA.

Cordova, Carlos E. Professor at the Department of Geography, Oklahoma StateUniversity, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA. He researches on Quaternary palaeoecol-ogy, pollen and phytoliths.

Djamali, Morteza Research Scientist (CR1) at French National Center forScientific Research (CNRS) and is working at the Mediterranean Institute forBiodiversity and Ecology (IMBE), in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Dong, Guanghui Professor at the School of Resources and Environment, LanzhouUniversity, China. He researches environmental archaeology and historical geog-raphy in West China.

Drake, Brandon Lee Vice-President of the Palaeoresearch Institute at Golden,Colorado, USA. He works on reconstructing palaeoclimate from isotopic records tounderstand human responses to climate change.

xxiii

Duan, Zhidan Diana Assistant Professor at the Department of History, BrighamYoung University, USA. She is a historian focusing on the border areas ofSouth-west China and Southeast Asia.

Eckmeier, Eileen Professor in Soil Geography, Department of Geography,Ludwig-Maximilians University München, Germany.

Fang, Xiuqi Professor in Physical Geography at the Faculty of GeographicalScience, Beijing Normal University, China.

Fei, Jie Associate Professor at the Institute of Chinese Historical Geography, FudanUniversity, China.

Filigenzi, Anna Lecturer at the University of Naples “L’Orientale”, director of theItalian Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan, member of the ItalianArchaeological Mission in Pakistan.

Florin, Moritz Researcher at the Department of Modern and Contemporary Historyat the Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. His research focuses on the historyof eastern Europe.

Frenzel, Peter Group Leader for Palaeoenvironments and Micropalaeontology atthe Institute of Geosciences, Friedrich Schiller University at Jena, Germany.

Hautala, Roman Docent at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Oulu,Finland; senior research fellow of the Sh.Marjani Institute of History of TatarstanAcademy of Sciences, Kazan Russian Federation.

Izdebski, Adam Independent Max Planck Research Group Leader, MPI Science ofHuman History, Jena, Germany.

Kreutzmann, Hermann Chair of Human Geography and Director of the Center forDevelopment Studies, Department of Earth Sciences, Freie Universitaet Berlin,Germany.

Krivonogov, Sergey Leading Research Scientists at the Institute of Geology andMineralogy Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, and at theNovosibirsk State University, Russia.

Lamberg-Karlovsky, Clifford Charles Stephen Phillips Professor of Archaeologyand Ethnology, Emeritus at Harvard Department of Anthropology, USA. Heresearches the urban process and exchange networks in West and Central Asia.

Lee, Harry F. Associate Professor at the Department of Geography and ResourceManagement, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

Li, Chao Research Scientist at Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg,Germany.

Li, Jianyong Associate Professor at the State Key Laboratory of Loess andQuaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy ofSciences, China.

xxiv Reviewers

Mächtle, Bertil Senior Researcher at the Institute of Geography—Geomorphology,Soil Geography and Geoarchaeology Unit, Universität Heidelberg, Germany.

Micklin, Philip Emeritus Professor at the Department of Geography, WesternMichigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA.

Mischke, Steffen Professor at the Faculty of Earth Sciences of the University ofIceland in Reykjavík.

Napolskikh, Vladimir V. (Напольских Владимир Владимирович),Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor of theChair for Culturology, Udmurt State University, Izhevsk, Russia.

Neelis, Jason Associate Professor of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid LaurierUniversity, Waterloo, Canada. He studies South Asian religions in historical,economic and material contexts.

Novenko, Elena Y. Senior Research Scientist at the Laboratory of EvolutionaryGeography, Institute of Geography at the Russia Academy of Sciences, Moscow,Russia.

Omidvar, Babak Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Engineering,Graduate Faculty of Environment, University of Tehran, Iran.

Panin, Andrei Professor at Geography Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow StateUniversity, and laboratory head at Institute of Geography, Russian Academy ofSciences.

Panyushkina, Irina Physical Geographer, Laboratory of Tree-Ring ResearchUniversity of Arizona, USA.

Paul, Jürgen Emeritus Professor at the Oriental Institute, Martin-Luther-UniversityHalle-Wittenberg, Germany. He is specialized in Arabic and Islamic studies.

Peacock, Andrew Professor at the School of History, University of St Andrews,UK. He researches and teaches medieval and early modern Middle Eastern andIslamic history.

Pow, Stephen Doctoral Candidate at the Department of Medieval Studies, CentralEuropean University, Budapest, Hungary. Main research topic is the causes for theMongol withdrawal from Europe in 1242.

Remini, Boualem Professor at the Department of Water Sciences, Blida University,Algeria.

Rouse, Lynne M. Postdoctoral Researcher at the Deutsches ArchäologischesInstitut, Eurasien-Abteilung, Berlin, Germany; Research Associate at WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis, Department of Anthropology, USA.

Rudenko, Olga Associate Professor at Ivan Turgenev Oryol State University,Oryol, Russian Federation.

Reviewers xxv

Spate, Michael Doctoral Candidate at the Department of Archaeology, Universityof Sydney, Australia.

Spengler III, Robert N. Laboratory Director in the Archaeology Department, MaxPlanck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.

Stashenkov, Dmitri Scientific Secretary at the Samara Regional Museum ofHistory and Local History. P.V. Alabin, Russia.

Stevens, Chris ERC Research Associate at the Institute of Archaeology, UniversityCollege London, UK. He focuses on environmental archaeology and archaeob-otanical analysis, sampling and processing.

Thomas, David C. Honorary Research Associate, Department of Archaeology andHistory, La Trobe University, Australia.

Tian, Fang Postdoc Researcher at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar andMarine Research, Potsdam, Germany. She works on Quaternary pollen analysis,quantitative environmental reconstruction using transfer functions.

Tülüveli, Güçlü Assoc. Prof. Dr. at Department of History, Middle East TechnicalUniversity, Turkey.

Wernicke, Jakob Researcher at the Research and Competence Center of the StateForest Service Thuringia, Germany.

Xiao, Dingmu Researcher at Heavy Rain and Drought-Flood Disasters in Plateauand Basin Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, China.

Yang, Liang Emlyn Postdoctoral Researcher at the Graduate School “HumanDevelopment in Landscapes”, Kiel University, Germany.

Zhou, Qiong Professor at the Institute for Environmental History of South-westChina, Yunnan University, focusing especially on environmental and famine dis-asters in the past.

xxvi Reviewers