Historical Land Development in Monsoon Asia

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370929
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Human geography
• Research Institution: Okayama University of Science
• Principal Investigator: MIYAMOTO Shinji 岡山理科大学, 生物地球学部, 准教授 (60359271)
• Research Collaborator: ANDO Kazuo 京都大学, 東南アジア地域研究研究所, 准教授
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 土地開発史 / アジア・モンスーン地域 / 地形環境 / 埋没腐植土層 / 遺跡 / 南アジア / 民族移動 / ヒマラヤ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, dated charcoal and buried humic soil layers, both of which are evidence of forest fires indicate past deforestation and agricultural land development by tribe migration around Eastern Himalayas. Around the Southern Tibet area and eastern Nepal to Arunachal Pradesh area, human impacts such as population growth by tribe migration may have accelerated environmental and agricultural changes after ca. 2 ka BP, mainly.
In Bengal and western Japan alluvial Lowland , we analyzed the changes of relationship between geo-environment and agricultural land development around the central Jamuna (Brahmaputra) River, central Bangladesh and Asahigawa River, Okayama Lowland. Based on sedimentary facies analysis and AMS radiocarbon dates, some conclusions are as follows: (1) Natural levee along the Jamuna river have formed until ca. 12 to 11 k cal yrs BP; (2) Around Lowland of Western Japan, Natural levee a have formed until ca. 13 k cal yrs BP.

Free Research Field

地理学，環境考古学，環境史