Fig. 1: The distribution of Human civilization along the Silk Road and within the Hei River catchment. | Communications Earth & Environment

Fig. 1: The distribution of Human civilization along the Silk Road and within the Hei River catchment.

From: Draining of an ancient lake in the Hexi Corridor 4500 years ago triggered migration of the Hei Shan civilization

Fig. 1

a The spatial distribution of prehistoric sites along the Silk Road within the Hei River catchment; the Hei drains northward across the Hexi Corridor. The white dotted line represents the ancient Silk Road21. GLS Gulang Section (climatic record). b Distribution of dated civilization sites dominated by agriculture and religion (purple, orange, and white dots) within the Hei River catchment. Sites from which climatic records have been obtained are also marked (white squares): BHZS Beihaizi section, THS Tiaohu section, YCS Yanchi section. c The spatial distribution of the Hei Shan civilization marked by the Hei Shan rock paintings within the Hei Shan Gorge, excavated by the Shuangjingzi River through the Hei Shan (Supplementary Note 4). The imagery in b is sourced from Google Maps ©2025 Google, with data from Landsat/Copernicus. The imagery in c is sourced from Google Maps (Image ©2025 Google), with data from Maxar Technologies, Airbus, and CNES/Airbus.

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