• Quantitatively study charring progress with multi-indicators; • Analyzing the microstructure changes of wood/charcoal by measuring the thickness of tracheid cell wall and the lumen area during the charring process for the first time; • Comparing the essential indexes of experimental charred wood with archaeological charcoal fossil; • Providing key physical and chemical parameters in the wood charcoalification process.

The Proto-Shang, the Shang and the Zhou dynasties (∼2000–221 BCE: Before Common Era) are key periods in the origin and evolution of ancient civilizations in China since the periods include the processes and mechanisms of social development in the Central Plains of China during the Bronze Age. However, human-environment interactions in the context of trans-Eurasia cultural exchange during that time are not well-understood. In this study, isotopic analysis and radiocarbon dating of human and animal bones from Xinancheng cemetery in southeast Shanxi Province are reported. It was deduced that, for the period ∼1000–800 BCE, humans buried in Xinancheng cemetery relied primarily on C₄-based foods and upper-status individuals consumed more animal protein and probably C₃ crops. Also, considering the paleoclimate and other archaeological data of the Central Plains, the human diet and subsistence strategies changed significantly with more C₃ staples such as wheat being consumed during the Eastern Zhou (770–221 BCE), as evidenced by an increased intake of wheat by lower-status individuals and the development of a mixed wheat and millet agricultural system. It is argued that the socio-economic change around the late western Zhou-early eastern Zhou Dynasty occurred as a result of the necessity to adapt to the aggravation caused by climate deterioration and population pressures, factors which profoundly influenced the economic and lifestyle patterns in ancient China. The socio-economic system of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty displayed more resilience to climate change than that of earlier periods.