关键词: 农牧交错带, 环境演变, 土地利用, 考古学文化

Abstract:

The central-southern part of Inner Mongolia which lies in the edge of monsoon area of northern China is sensitive to the climatic change. It is important to research the relationship between the environmental change and the changes of pre-historical cultures in the region.The archaeological research in the central-southern part of Inner Mongolia indicates that the development of pre-historical cultures in the study area is divided into two phases.The first one is the period of primitive agricultural culture from ca1.7ka BP to ca1.3.5ka BP. The second is the period of farming-grazing transitional culture from cal.3.5ka BP to present. The change of the land use from farming to grazing happened in ca1.4-3.5ka BP.Environmental change is the major driving force for the development of archaeological cultures, such as land use patterns, the growth or decline of agriculture comparing to the pasturage culture in this area. The primitive agricultural cultures were developed and flourished during the warm and humid Holocene Megathermal Period. The sub-phases or interruption of the culture during the primitive agriculturalphase are responded to the phases of climatic change during the Holocene MegathermalPeriod. The transition of land use from farming to grazing duringcal.4ka BPto 3.5ka BP was a result of theabrupt cold-dry event that ended the Holocene MegathermalPeriod.

Key words: farming-grazing transitional zone, archaeological culture, land use, environmental change