摘要
There have been different viewpoints about atmospheric CO2 increase since 8 ka B.P. In this study，a new quantitative prehistoric land use and carbon cycle model (PLCM)was developed on the basis of a formal semi-quantitative archaeological predictive model. The PLCM is driven by inputting the environmental and cultural parameters obtained from archaeology sites，and then outputs the spatial distribution of prehistoric land use and the change of carbon storage induced by land use. The PLCM is composed of four sub-models: the residential area distribution sub-model，the land use and need sub-model，the land use spatial distribution sub-model，and the carbon storage estimating sub-model. Application of the PLCM in Yiluo valleys，one of the sources of the dry farm system in Northern China，reveals that 7％of the land area was used by human activity in early Yangshao Culture (7～6 ka B.P.)，most of which were distributed on gentle slopes in the middle and lower valleys. Such a distribution of the used land represented strong dependence on slope，elevation and water. This land use process led to the terrestrial carbon loss of about 15Tg C，accounting for 3％of the whole terrestrial ecosystem carbon storage.