Zhen Qin

My research mainly focuses on the process of agricultural intensification from the late Neolithic (3,000 B.C.- 2,000 B.C.) to the Han dynasty (206 B.C. – 220 A.D.) in the Central Plain of China, and the evolution of the environment within this timespan. Various lines of evidence suggest a system of intensive agriculture developed in the Han dynasty. However, how agricultural production was intensified through time, and why early farmers invested much labor and capital to intensify it, are still poorly understood questions. I explore soil as the matrix of agricultural production and will use a variety of geoarchaeological methods to understand how intensification developed over time. Meanwhile the paleoclimatic context and the depositional history of the Yellow River flood plain will be reconstructed to evaluate the importance of the environment as one of the driving forces of agricultural intensification. To archive my research goals, an assortment of geoarchaeological methods, including geomorphology, micromorphology, geochemistry, and paleomagnetics will be adopted. The fieldwork is being conducted in and around the Sanyangzhuang site, Henan Province, China.

My research also includes the study of iron metallurgy in the Central Plain during the Han dynasty and its social and environmental influences. I apply microanalyses of iron products and slags, and regional landscape modeling by GIS and remote sensing to study this topic.