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Great earthquakes and the fall of the Sanxingdui and Jinsha civilizations in central China

The Bronze Age Sanxingdui civilization, which first developed in the Sichuan Basin of central China, flourished ca. 2200–1500 B.C. and ended suddenly in ca. 1200 B.C. Subsequently, the Jinsha civilization arose in the area around the city of Chengdu, located ∼40 km southwest of the Sanxingdui Site, but it too suddenly disappeared at ca. 500–200 B.C. The reasons for the sudden terminations of these two ancient civilizations are unknown and subject of debate. Here, we present paleoseismic and archeological evidence to show the possibility that the collapse of both civilizations was caused by great earthquakes that occurred along an active fault zone of the Longmen Shan Thrust Belt, which also triggered the 2008 Mw 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake. Field observations, archeological evidence, trench investigations, and radiocarbon dates indicate that: (1) four great earthquakes prior to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake occurred in the Sichuan Basin within the last 5000 years, with an average recurrence interval of ∼1000 years; (2) the most recent earthquake prior to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake occurred in the late Tang and early Song dynasties (∼A.D. 800–1000); (3) the penultimate paleoseismic event occurred 400 B.C.–A.D. 200; and (4) the two other strong earthquake events occurred 2800–2000 B.C. and 1600–1200 B.C. Paleoseismic evidence in archaeological contexts suggests that the 1600–1200 B.C. and 400 B.C.–A.D. 200 earthquakes were of sufficient magnitude to have caused numerous deaths and extensive damage to infrastructure and economy. These seismic events coincide with important cultural changes and may have led to the demise of the Sanxingdui and Jinsha civilizations.