Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from the Bianjiashan site in Hangzhou: New evidence for the lower age limit of the Liangzhu Culture

摘要

Located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Liangzhu Culture was one of the most important Neolithic cultures at the dawn of Chinese civilization. However, uncertainty over the lower age limit ending the Liangzhu Culture has resulted in a lack of consensus in defining its timespan. In order to establish the lower age limit, a representative site of late Liangzhu Culture, the Bianjiashan wharf, located in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, Eastern China, was selected for investigation. Wooden stakes in the wharf and charcoals in the sediment profile near to the wharf site were collected for C-14 AMS dating. To remove any contaminants, the charcoals were pre-treated by catalytic hydropyrolysis (HyPy) to isolate black carbon fractions (BCHyPy).