Adaptations in ancient oasis woodlands of the hyper-arid Tarim Basin, northwestern China: charcoal and coprolite analyses

While considerable research has focused on human adaptations to Central Asian deserts, there remains much to be resolved regarding what ancient economies looked like and the impacts humans had on the fragile faunal and floral communities. Here we examine an assemblage of charcoal fragments and a multi-species set of coprolites from an intensively studied Bronze Age cultural complex (i.e. Xiaohe Culture; ca. 2050–1350 cal BCE) in the hyper-arid Tarim Basin of northwestern China. We seek to complement existing archaeological data with the previously overlooked methods of anthracology and palynology-phytolith analyses of ancient faecal samples. The objective of this study was to investigate how prehistoric people interacted with the marginal environments. Results show that a now-extirpated riparian forest existed, mainly composed of Populus, possibly Salix, and Tamarix, and a high prevalence of Typha and other wetland plants, illustrating the presence of a prehistoric wetland and woodland. By integrating archaeological elements of Xiaohe Culture, we propose that the prehistoric community practised a sedentary lifeway already by the early stages of occupation in the oasis, including localised animal herding, fishing, and gathering, while heavily focusing on the localised marshy ecosystem. While Typha pollen in the coprolites from sheep/goat, cattle, possibly camel, rodent, and carnivore/human faeces is only a direct indication of the presence of the plant when humans occupied the site, ethnographic analogies suggest that it might have been economically significant. This study further illustrates the diversity of ways that prehistoric humans adapted to fragile insular oasis ecosystems within expansive desert environments.