Xiaohong Wu

• PhD
• Peking University

Western Zhou Dynasty (ca. 1046–771 BC) was established soon after conquering the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1600–1046 BC) and brought about the earliest enfeoffment system in Chinese history. Yan was one of the vassal states of the same clan as Zhou. According to historical records, the capital of Yan state was located near Yan mountain, which is now known...

Although dogs played multifaceted roles during the early stages of urbanization in China’s Central Plains, research remains limited concerning the management of dogs, the dynamics of human–dog relationships, and dogs’ entanglements with the political economy, ritual, and daily life. Here, we compare stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from 95 d...

This paper examines how microblade technology emerged in North China based on the case study of the newly excavated Xishi and Dongshi sites in the hinterland of North China. Used as the lithic production area, Xishi and Dongshi sites generated abundant lithic debris which show the presence of a precocious form of microblade techno-complex embedded...

Dogs served in a variety of capacities in prehistory. After their domestication in Paleolithic hunter-gatherer societies, the emergence of agriculture shifted their partnerships with people. However, the associations between dogs and early farmers are not readily visible in the archaeological record. In the present study, dog coprolites, uncovered...

Oracle bone script developed into a sophisticated writing system in Shang Dynasty of China more than 3000 years ago. The systematic scientific dating of oracle bones had not been previously reported. Here we present radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C) dates measured from the sequential samples of oracle bones that pertain to the Shang kings. The results indicate t...

Central China is one of the key regions of the world that sees the transition from early Neolithic urbanization into the social complexity of Bronze Age civilizations. Previous evidence had indicated that the diets of humans and the feeding strategies of livestock in Central China during the Longshan Period (4.5–3.8 kaBP) became more complex and di...

The spatial heterogeneity at archaeological sites associated with human arrangements has mostly been evidenced by the analyses of artefact assemblages and constructions. Here we test the potentials of - pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and lipid biomarkers in indicating intra-site spatial patterns and uses of space at the waterlogged archaeological...

Sixteen coprolites from the Chinese Neolithic sites of Yuhuicun and Houtieying, Anhui Province, were analysed for pollen and lipid biomarkers. Steroid compounds provide evidence that the excrements originated from dogs and humans. Distribution patterns of n-alkanes and n-fatty alcohols indicate three sources: microorganisms, animal fats and plant w...

Wetlands have been attractive environments for early communities worldwide. In China, wetlands offered natural ecological settings for the start of rice cultivation in the Lower Yangtze Region. Besides rice, Typha has been suspected to be an available wetland resource in previous studies at the Kuahuqiao site. Based on our pollen analyses of coprol...

The site of Yuchanyan cave (Hunan Province, China) contains evidence for some of the earliest‐known (ca. 18,000 cal BP) pottery in the world alongside a typical South China Upper Paleolithic cobble tool (chopper) industry. Here we present the results of a micromorphological study of the deposits with particular attention to site formation processes...

Excavations at the cave site of Xianrendong (Jiangxi Province, China) recovered the earliest known pottery (20/19,000 cal bp) in the world from a typical South China Upper Paleolithic chopper–chopping tool assemblage together with bone, antler, and shell tools. Here, we present the results of micromorphological and preliminary FTIR analysis of the...

In contrast to conventional pollen records from natural sediments, pollen spectra from animal dung are less susceptible to long-distance wind and water transport and therefore have been used as indicators of local and regional vegetation, providing an opportunity to examine micro-environmental patterns relating to human impacts, especially when ass...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187405.].

Significance We demonstrate that the initial spread of farming outside of the area of its first appearance in the Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia, into Central Anatolia, involved adoption of cultivars by indigenous foragers and contemporary experimentation in animal herding of local species. This represents a rare clear-cut instance of forager a...

Today, farmers in many regions of eastern Asia sow their barley grains in the spring and harvest them in the autumn of the same year (spring barley). However, when it was first domesticated in southwest Asia, barley was grown between the autumn and subsequent spring (winter barley), to complete their life cycles before the summer drought. The quest...

(including Table A and Figs A-C). (DOCX)

Wu et al., Han, and Huang et al. question our reconstruction of a large outburst flood and its possible relationship to China’s Great Flood and the Xia dynasty. Here, we clarify misconceptions concerning geologic evidence of the flood, its timing and magnitude, and the complex social-cultural response. We also further discuss how this flood may be...

Global cooling during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) posed significant challenges to peoples living in northern Eurasia. Using micromorphology, pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP), and faunal analyses, this study reconstructs the local paleoenvironmental contexts of repeated ephemeral occupations at Shizitan 29 in Shanxi Province, North China,...

Our recent interdisciplinary investigations have revealed an unexpected prehistorical complex settlement system developed in the north Loess Plateau, a region previously regarded as the frontier of Chinese civilization. Many of the settlements are stone fortifications built on hilltops, and the primary center was a massive (> 400 ha) stone walled s...

Qingshuiyuan Dadong (QSYDD) cave is located in Baijin town, Huishui county, Guizhou province. For several years, stone artifacts, bone tools, and fragments of animal bones attracted Paleolithic researchers to the site. A systematic excavation was conducted in 2013 by a joint archaeological team of Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthr...

Today, farmers in many regions of eastern Asia sow their barley grains in the spring and harvest them in the autumn of the same year (spring barley). However, when it was first domesticated in southwest Asia, barley was grown between the autumn and subsequent spring (winter barley), to complete their life cycles before the summer drought. The quest...

The earliest pottery in East Asia, as is found in several cave sites in southern China, emerges in Upper Paleolithic contexts dating from the Last Glacial Maximum, ∼20 Ka cal BP. The making of simple pottery vessels in Late Pleistocene East Asia also has been noted in eastern Siberia and Japan but not yet in the Central Plains of China. This paper...

Flood control initiates Chinese civilization Around four millennia ago, Emperor Yu the Great succeeded in controlling a huge flood in the Yellow River basin. This is considered to have led to the establishment of the Xia dynasty and the start of Chinese civilization. However, the dates of the events and the links between them have remained uncertai...

The Palaeolithic sequence of East Asia differs from that of western Eurasia in that it is characterised by core-and-flake tools. Blade industries only appear late in the sequence, long after the first appearance of modern humans; bone tools and personal ornaments may therefore function as a better marker of modern human presence. Longquan Cave prov...

An eyed bone needle fragment found in Shizitan 29 site, Shanxi Province, dated to ca. 23–26 ka cal BP, is one of the early needles with a precise stratigraphic context and date among the open-air Palaeolithic sites in North China. Although the needle was found broken, based on microwear observation and experiments in making and using bone needles,...

It has long been believed that the earliest ceramics in the central plain of China were produced by the Neolithic cultures of Jiahu 1 and Peiligang. Excavations at Lijiagou in Henan Province, dating to the ninth millennium BC, have, however, revealed evidence for the earlier production of pottery, probably on the eve of millet and wild rice cultiva...

Our understanding of when and how humans adapted to living on the Tibetan Plateau at altitudes above 2000 to 3000 meters has been constrained by a paucity of archaeological data. Here we report data sets from the northeastern Tibetan Plateau indicating that the first villages were established only by 5200 calendar years before the present (cal yr B...

Our understanding of when and how humans adapted to living on the Tibetan Plateau at altitudes above 2000 to 3000 meters has been constrained by a paucity of archaeological data. Here we report data sets from the northeastern Tibetan Plateau indicating that the first villages were established only by 5200 calendar years before the present (cal yr B...

Systematic archaeobotanical work at Xihe site recovered 8000 years old rice and other plant remains. Cultural context analyses of the plant and animal remains indicated Xihe people relied mainly on fishing hunting gathering as their subsistence. As the largest amount and higher concentration of plant remains, rice might contribute much to plant foo...

The Bianbiandong cave site (36°03′42″ N, 118°28′17″ E; altitude 389 m a.s.l.) is located in the central part of modern Shandong Province in an area of low elevated mountains and hilly plains. Beginning in 2005, investigation and excavation was undertaken during three field campaigns. Stratified deposits found included burnt earthen surfaces, pits a...

The transition from hunting and gathering to farming in the early Holocene is one of the focal points in the discussion regarding the emergence of agriculture in China. The current study presents new results of plant macrofossil analysis obtained from the Zhangmatun archaeological site in Shandong Province in the eastern part of China. The archaeob...

When in the 1980s Tong Enzheng suggested his model of a “crescent-shaped cultural-communication belt” stretching from Northeast China and Korea along the Tibetan borderlands all the way to Yunnan, most researchers were still rather cautious about suggestions of long-distance contacts. At the time, Chinese and Western scholars alike were afraid of b...

The Tibetan Plateau has one of the least hospitable environments for agriculture on the planet; however, its inhabitants have developed an economic system based on agriculture and pastoralism suited to it’s geoenvironmental stressors. Little is known about the timing of the spread of agriculture onto the plateau or how agricultural systems were ada...

This paper presents an archaeological–palaeopathological case study from Turfan (western China). Although this area is located outside of the two focus regions of the special issue (Baikal and Hokkaido), it once belonged to the same cultural sphere and experienced intensive contacts and exchanges with the neighbouring regions. The case study presen...

Recently, rice fields dated between 5000 and 2500 BC were found at the Tianluoshan sit in east China. The early rice fields dated between 5000 and 4500 BC are the oldest rice fields known. The discovery has provided data of recovering reclamation, cultivation, and the ecological system of rice fields in the Neolithic age. People opened up marshes o...

Lop Nur is a playa lake occupying the lowest part of the Tarim Basin, northwestern China, and is now a desolate and barren region. In the past decades, the ages of the lacustrine sediments from the lake were determined mainly by radiocarbon dating on bulk sediment. In this study, both optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon methods...

The invention of pottery introduced fundamental shifts in human subsistence practices and sociosymbolic behaviors. Here, we describe the dating of the early pottery from Xianrendong Cave, Jiangxi Province, China, and the micromorphology of the stratigraphic contexts of the pottery sherds and radiocarbon samples. The radiocarbon ages of the archaeol...

This article reviews the archaeology and chronology of the Chinese Upper Paleolithic and the human fossils attributed to this period. The onset of the Upper Paleolithic in China dates to ca. 35,000–30,000 years ago and is marked by the appearance of a few body decorations and well-shaped bone tools that were added to stone tool assemblages, includi...

The transition from Paleolithic to Neolithic around 10000 a BP was a significant event in human history. We have analyzed the paleoenvironment in the Zhaitang area (Beijing) based on samples from an early Neolithic site at Donghulin. This site is considered to demonstrate the Paleolithic-Neolithic transition in this area. The site yielded burials w...

Large amounts of bronze weapons have been unearthed from the pits of the Terracotta Warriors. Though they are of the same period, their condition is quite different; some are slightly corroded; some have almost no corrosion with a gray-black or green-gray surface; some are badly corroded. ICP, XRD, SEM, EDX, XRF, AES and Metalloscope were employed...

The earliest direct dates of wheat in East Asia come from Donghuishan in Gansu Province, China. Few other dates of wheat in East Asia are direct dates. The previous direct dates at Donghuishan were obtained from wheat without secure context. New samples were taken from a stratigraphic profile at Donghuishan and directly dated. The wheat remains are...

In this paper, experiments are designed to imitate the non-equilibrium evaporation metallurgical process of lead. The lead isotope ratios of the remaining lead liquid with different percentage losses were then determined using high-solution MC–ICP–MS. The results show that this process does alter lead isotopic ratios of the remaining liquid. Howeve...

This study is based on the SEM-EDS and LA-ICP-AES analyses of a sample of twenty-nine Tang sancai sherds unearthed from the Liquanfang site, Xi'an city. The results indicate that ceramics with yellowish bodies are calcareous and those with red bodies were made of ferruginous clays. The use of calcareous clay in Tang sancai bodies is otherwise unkno...

Silk is made of natural protein, and can be damaged by heat, light, hydrolysis, etc. It deteriorates during burial, storage, display, studying and conservation treatment such as cleaning. Ancient silk fabrics are very precious, so their deterioration in museums has long been a concern for many conservators. To better preserve these textiles, early...

Recently, rice fields dated between 5000 and 2500 BC were found at the Tianluoshan sit in east China. The early rice fields dated between 5000 and 4500 BC are the oldest rice fields known. The discovery has provided data of recovering reclamation, cultivation, and the ecological system of rice fields in the Neolithic age. People opened up marshes o...

The chemical compositions of eleven ancient glass-disk-shaped wares and two eye-beads were analyzed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma atomic spectrometry. The samples were unearthed from Chu cemeteries of the Warring State period in the drainage area of the Yuanshui River in Hunan Province. The compositional data were processed using mul...

Through the use of MC–ICP–MS, this study analyses the lead isotope ratios of 19 Tang Sancai pottery glazes unearthed from the Gongyi and Huangbao kiln sites. According to their different lead isotope ratios, the two kilns can be grouped separately. The research also suggests that the Gongyi and Huangbao kilns are independent production centres of T...

Yuchanyan Cave in Daoxian County, Hunan Province (People's Republic of China), yielded fragmentary remains of 2 or more ceramic vessels, in addition to large amounts of ash, a rich animal bone assemblage, cobble and flake artifacts, bone tools, and shell tools. The artifacts indicate that the cave was a Late Paleolithic foragers' camp. Here we repo...

The pre-historic chronology of the Three Gorges region along the Yangzi River in China has become the focus of significant archaeological research in the last decade. The site of Zhongba is one of the most significant sites among those recently studied. Thirty-two radiocarbon dates produced by the C-14 laboratory at Peking University, and five addi...

Discovery of the oldest rice fields at the Tianluoshan site in east China has provided data of recovering reclaimation, cultivation, and the ecological system of rice fields between 7000BP and 4500 BP. People opened up marshes of dense reeds with fire and wooden or bone spades, in order to create rice fields. In the rice fields, there was not only...

Abundant ostracode valves (Cyprinotus cingalensis) and caryopses of Urochloa paspaloides, a terrestrial grass, were well preserved in the lacustrine sediments of the Cattle Pond on Dongdao Island, South China Sea. Oxygen and carbon isotopes, and elements (Ca, Mg) were analyzed on ostracode valves and plant caryopses in this study. The δ18Oostracode...

The Fengxi site is near the Feng River in Shaanxi Province, China. F eng City was the capital of the vassal state of Zhou, and the Zhou people lived in this area until the end of the Western Zhou. Serial samples of charcoal, bone, and charred millet were collected from the site and dated by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). A sequence model with...

Xinzhai is an important archaeological site discovered 40 yr ago and recently re-excavated in the Henan Prov- ince, China. It is believed that the cultural characteristics of the Xinzhai site correspond to the Xia dynasty, the first ancient dynasty of China. Radiocarbon measurements on bone samples from this site were performed at the Peking Univer...

Animal bones and tortoise shells were used for divination by the Chinese royal family during the Shang Dynasty (~16th-11th century BC), and the divination results were recorded as inscriptions on oracle bones and shells, which are very valuable cultural remains and record many important events in the Shang Dynasty period. Thus, radiocarbon dating o...

The reliability of uranium-series dating of fossil bones and teeth is studied. On this basis the first absolute chronology for about 20 important Chinese palaeolithic sites is proposed. A two-stage model for open-system samples is discussed.

A compact 14C AMS system manufactured by the National Electrostatics Corporation has been installed at the Institute of Heavy Ion Physics, Peking University. The system is based on a Model 1.5SDH-1 Pelletron accelerator with a maximum terminal voltage of 0.6MV. The 14C measurement accuracy with this system is better than 0.4% and the machine backgr...

From a rare freshwater lake characteristic of alkalescence, named “Cattle Pond”, on the Dongdao Island of South China Sea (16°39′–16°41′N, 112°43′–112°45′E), we collected two undisturbed sediment cores that contain seabird droppings. In this paper, we determined the concentration-versus-depth profiles of the geochemical elements in the ornithogenic...

Tianma-Qucun is the biggest site of Western Zhou Dynasty discovered in Shanxi Province, China. It has been recognized as the early capital of Jin, a vassal state of Western Zhou. The territories were granted to the first Marquis of Ji n with the title in the early days of Western Zhou. Bone sample series from the site were radiocarbon-dated by acce...

The chronology study of the cemetery of Marquises of Jin is valuable to improving the chronological table of Marquis of Jin family. It is also helpful for improving the chronological table of the Zhou Dynasty. The samples were mea- sured at Peking University (PKUAMS). We also made an interlaboratory check with Isotrace to ensure the accuracy. By ca...

The appearance of polished stone tools has been taken as one of the important indicators of the beginnings of the Neolithic. Early polished stone tools excavated in South China are discussed in this paper. The polishing technology developed from stone tools with polished blades to whole polished stone tools. Different kinds of polished stone tools...

These are few sites about 10 000 BP in the early Neolithic period in North China; among these, the Donghulin site is the only one which included the remains of peoples' use of fire (hearth pits), stone implements, pottery objects, and human tombs. The excavation of the Donghulin site in 2001 provides very important information for research on peopl...

The chronology study of the cemetery of Marquises of Jin is valuable to improving the chronological table of Marquis of Jin family. It is also helpful for improving the chronological table of the Zhou Dynasty. The samples were measured at Peking University (PKUAMS). We also made an interlaboratory check with Isotrace to ensure the accuracy. By care...

Bones are very important samples to determine the hosts of the cemetery of Jin Marquises which were excavated at Tianma-Qucun site in Shanxi Province in China. In order to obtain accurate AMS radiocarbon dates, bones were pretreated by two kinds of methods, the gelatin-extraction method and the amino-acid method. Charcoals collected from the same s...

Bone sample preparation has been studied in detail to find a suitable method for the processing of smaller sample amounts such as oracle bones. In a recent research project only 1 g of bone material will be available for radiocarbon dating of these valuable bones with the AMS method. The standard methods for the preparation of gelatin were compared...

CN analyzer was already applied in CO2 preparation system for AMS dating in the Research Lab for Archaeology & the History of Art in Oxford several years ago [1]. Now a line of combustion with an Elementar Vario EL CHNS elemental analyzer was built in the Dating Lab in the Department of Archaeology at Peking University. This system has many advanta...

To meet the requirements of the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology project, an upgrade of the AMS facility at Peking University has been carried out, commencing in 1996, and a new sample preparation system with high efficiency and low memory has been set up in the Department of Archaeology. A NEC MC-SNICS ion source has been installed and the injection syst...

The possibility and problems of using radiocarbon dating to historical chronology are discussed. The current situation of ancient Chinese chronology and the project of Xia–Shang–Zhou chronology are introduced. A chronological study requires the AMS radiocarbon dating with high precision, high reliability and high efficiency. The Peking University A...

Over the past three years we have applied the AMS 14 C technology to a variety of areas in Chinese archaeology. This paper outlines cases of dating archaeological sites and ancient human bones. We also describe some evidence of the beginning of pottery. Some dating results of Miaoyan and Yuchanyan sites are presented. The data show that the age...

The fossil remains of ancient human bones are rare and valuable. To accurately date only by morphology human fossil bones, which are discovered in missing layers, is difficult. The advantage of the AMS technique is that samples can be much smaller than required by conventional 14C dating. The samples from missing layers in different areas of China...

AMS radiocarbon measurements were started at Peking University in 1992 with a modified HICONEX 834 ion source. Some archaeological samples were measured at a sensitivity of 10-14 with ca 1.7% precision for modern samples. We have made many improvements in our first two years of operation: a high-intensity Cs sputtering ion source was installed; the...

The Peking University accelerator mass spectrometer (PKUAMS) has been put into routine operation. 14C measurements of archaeological samples with fast cycling injection have shown good results. The new multi-target high-intensity sputtering ion source has been tested and 10Be measurements were carried out with a new detector in which both the stopp...

A description of the EN tandem accelerator mass spectrometry system at Peking University is given. Progress in the bench test of the ion source, the reassembly and commissioning of the EN tandem and the sample preparation facilities is presented. In addition to 14C and 10Be analysis, 26Al and 36Cl will also be studied.

The facilities and technologies developed for AMS at Peking University, China Institute of Atomic Energy and Xi'an AMS Centre are presented. Interesting results about Chronology frame of Xia-Shang-Zhou dynasties based on radiocarbon dating with PKU-AMS on serial samples from various sites like Tianma-Qucun, Xinzha sites etc and oracle bones from Yi...