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Holocene Environmental Changes and the Evolution of the Neolithic Cultures in China

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Landscapes and Societies

Abstract

China has three great topographic zones (Fig. 19.1). The first, in the eastern part of the mainland, contains plains ranging from a few tens of meters to ca. 100 m in elevation and hills and low mountains ranging from hundreds of meters to ca. 1000 m asl. The first zone passes gradually westwards into the second, which is characterized primarily by hills and mountains over 1000 m high and by deep river valleys. The third topographic zone is the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateaus with average altitude over 4000 m asl.

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Mo, D., Zhao, Z., Xu, J., Li, M. (2010). Holocene Environmental Changes and the Evolution of the Neolithic Cultures in China. In: Martini, I., Chesworth, W. (eds) Landscapes and Societies. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9413-1_19

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