With National Science Foundation support Dr. David Madsen and his international team of collaborators will conduct archaeological research in the Pigeon Mountain basin region on the border of Inner Mongolia. On the basis of their past work in the area, the investigators have identified a series of sites which date to the Terminal Pleistocene and Holocene and thus span the end of the last glaciation and the periods of significant climatic change which followed it. The dried lake bed and marsh sequences in the currently desertic Pigeon Mountain region contain a readily available wealth of archaeological material as well as information on changing climate and environment. Preliminary data suggest that during the Younger Dryas period, hunting and gathering cultures significantly altered their material culture as well as subsistence strategy in response to extremely severe dry conditions. The researchers hypothesize that they broadened their resource base and concentrated on more efficient extraction and processing of foodstuffs. To gather information to support these preliminary data the group will survey to locate additional Younger Dryas period sites and conduct extensive excavation at those known to contain such materials. Through an expanded sample of faunal remains, chipped and ground stone tools and ceramics they will gain additional insight into changes in adaptive strategy. The transition from hunting and gathering to a subsistence mode dependent on domesticated plants and animals represents perhaps the most important change in human lifestyle over the last million years. It was this `Neolithic Revolution` which led to the rise of settled village life, complex stratified societies and nation states. This transition occurred at roughly the same time in many parts of the world and archaeologists wish to understand the reasons for this change. This process occurred, apparently independently in China and the work of Dr. Madsen and his colleagues should shed new light on it. The group postulates that it was the adaptations forced by the Younger Dryas climatic change which set the stage for the emergence of agriculture. This research is important because it is addressed at a central anthropological question. It will provide data of interest to many scientists and will further cooperation between Chinese and American researchers.
