The Paleolithic-Bronze age sites in Sichuan Province: Distribution and influencing factors

Prehistoric sites are important basis for understanding the inheritance of human civilization, their spatial-temporal distribution, and influencing factors on the formation, thus to reveal the rules of site selection, the evolution of human-land interactions, and the adaptation strategies of remote ancestors under different modes of production. The geomorphology of Sichuan Province is complex: many mountain ranges in the west, vast plains in the central regions (e.g., Chengdu Plain), and hills in the east. GIS was used to analyze the data from 151 sites built during the Paleolithic to Bronze Age, from which the distribution model of the sites in each period was established by using binary logistic regression, and the relationships of elevation, slope, water system, and geomorphology versus the distribution of the sites were explored. Results show that the distribution of these sites shifted from in EW direction to in NE-SW direction, and the kernel density value gradually increased over time, which proves that the distribution of the sites shows the phenomenon of agglomeration. The site distribution gradually evolved from a scattered multi-centered pattern to a single-centered pattern such as shown in the Chengdu Plain. The distribution pattern of the sites in each ancient period was analyzed using binary logistic regression, and we found that the distance from water sources was the main factor on the site selection during the Paleolithic-Neolithic times, and the slope was the major causative factor on site selection during the Bronze Age. During the Paleolithic-Bronze Age, the life style of ancient people underwent three major changes. The changes in subsistence patterns prompted our ancestors to make different adaptive strategies to the living environment.