Abstract The Liangzhu culture (5300– 4300 cal yr BP) is considered to be the testification of the five thousand year history of Chinese civilization, and has thus attracted a great deal of attention from the archaeological community. However, the rise and fall of the Liangzhu culture, especially the cause of its vanishing, is still a topic of intense debate. Since the Liangzhu Ancient City area is a low-lying littoral region with a dense network of waterways, the landscape evolution would have had great impact on human-environment interactions. In this study, we will reconstruct the evolutionary history of the landscape by using sedimentological approach. Five sediment cores, together with trenches exposed in the archaeological sites were investigated. The chronology of the sediments was established by using twelve accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dates. Sedimentary proxies, including calcium content, grain size, diatoms, and dinoflagellates are used for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. The results showed that: (1) from the last deglaciation to the early Holocene (before ca. 9400 cal yr BP), the Liangzhu area was widely exposed, and the cores contain coarse sand, gravel, and hard clay layers; (2) during the early to middle Holocene (ca. 9400 – 7600 cal yr BP), the area was rapidly submerged by a westward marine transgression, and the subsequent marine regression moved eastward from the Liangzhu area at approximately 7900 – 7600 cal yr BP when the rate of sediment supply exceeded the rate of relative sea level (RSL) rise; (3) during the middle to late Holocene (after ca. 7600 cal yr BP), the deposits mainly originated from overbank flooding or from storm surge events rather than from direct RSL rise from ca. 7600 – 6600 cal yr BP. The Liangzhu Ancient City area remained a swamp and an area of salinization until ca. 5100 cal yr BP.

中文翻译：

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早全新世以来良渚地区景观演化：综合沉积学方法

摘要 良渚文化（公元前5300～4300 cal yr BP）被认为是中华五千年文明史的见证，因而引起了考古界的极大关注。然而，良渚文化的兴衰，尤其是其消亡的原因，至今仍是争论不休的话题。由于良渚古城区地势低洼，水路网密布，地貌演变对人地互动影响较大。在这项研究中，我们将使用沉积学方法重建景观的演化历史。对五个沉积物岩心以及考古遗址中暴露的沟渠进行了调查。沉积物的年代学是通过使用 12 加速器质谱 (AMS) 14C 数据确定的。沉积代理，包括钙含量、颗粒大小、硅藻和甲藻用于古环境重建。结果表明：（1）末次冰消期至全新世早期（距今约9400calyr BP之前），良渚地区广泛出露，岩心为粗砂、砾石和硬质粘土层；(2) 早至中全新世（约 9400-7600 cal BP），该地区因一次向西海侵而迅速淹没，随后海退从良渚地区向东移动，约在 7900-7600 cal BP当沉积物供应速度超过相对海平面 (RSL) 上升速度时；(3) 在全新世中晚期（大约 7600 cal yr BP 之后），沉积物主要来自堤岸洪水或风暴潮事件，而不是来自约 7600 – 6600 cal yr BP。良渚古城地区一直是沼泽和盐碱化地区，直到大约 20 年前。5100 卡年 BP。