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Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the human–environment interactions during the 9th–13th centuries at Turpan, Xinjiang on the ancient Silk Road

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Abstract

The ancient Silk Road was a link of economic-cultural exchanges and religious communication between China and the West. Turpan in Xinjiang is an important site on this road and was once one of the areas where Buddhism flourished in the Western Regions. However, the relationship between environment, agricultural activity and Buddhism has received little attention. Here we analyzed the adobe samples from the Bezikelike Grottoes, Turpan for pollen, plant remains and charcoal, and reconstructed a desert steppe vegetation under warm-humid conditions during the period of 9th–13th centuries. In particular the climate of middle 9th–10th centuries was quite pleasant, with a mean annual temperature of 14.2 °C and mean annual precipitation of 880 mm. Ancient people planted economic crops such as grape (Vitis vinifera) and cultivated cereals, including broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), wheat (Triticum aestivum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare var. coeleste), indicating agricultural production activities were well-developed at that time. Further comparison with the oasis environment of the 5th century suggested that the development of agriculture may have created favourable environmental conditions for the flourishing of Buddhism at that time. This finding provides a new perspective for understanding the interaction between environment and humans on the ancient Silk Road.

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(modified from Zhu 1973; Li 1985). Green box: 5th century in Turpan, Grey box: 9th–13th centuries in Turpan; b Schematic diagram showing the spread of Buddhism in Turpan

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDB26000000), the National Key R & D Program of China (No. 2017YFC0803803), China National Key Basic Research Program (No. 2014CB954201), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41672171), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship Initiative (No. 2018VBA0016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, No. 20 Nanxincun, Xiangshan, 100093, Beijing, China

    Yi-Feng Yao, Xia Wang, Min Li, Yu-Fei Wang & Cheng-Sen Li

  2. Institute of Geographical Sciences, Henan Academy of Sciences, No. 64, Longhai Middle Road, Zhengzhou, 450052, China

    Xia Wang

  3. Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 27 Wangfujing Dajie, Beijing, 100710, China

    Wu Guo

  4. Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19(A) Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, China

    Hong-En Jiang

  5. Institute of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, UZA II, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    David K. Ferguson

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  1. Yi-Feng Yao
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  2. Xia Wang
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  3. Wu Guo
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  5. Min Li
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  7. Yu-Fei Wang
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  8. Cheng-Sen Li
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Correspondence to Yi-Feng Yao or Xia Wang.

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Communicated by J. Kitagawa.

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Yao, YF., Wang, X., Guo, W. et al. Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the human–environment interactions during the 9th–13th centuries at Turpan, Xinjiang on the ancient Silk Road. Veget Hist Archaeobot 29, 539–552 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-019-00764-z

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