Human activity has decoupled oasis evolution from climate change since ~2 ka in the Tarim Basin

Oases are critical locations for human survival in desert areas. With heavily reliant on runoff from the surrounding mountains, oases in the hyperarid Tarim Basin are especially fragile and sensitive to both climatic–environmental changes and human activity. However, the local evolution process of oases in desert area remains unclear due to strong erosion and contemporaneous heterogeneity, which restricts our understanding of the coupling relationship among climate change, oasis evolution, and human activity. Here, we reconstruct the evolution of oases since the last deglacial period (~15 ka) in the Tarim Basin. The results indicate that oases advanced during 15–11.5 ka, 9–4.5 ka, and 2–1 ka. Through the integration of multiple records of palaeoclimate, palaeoenvironment, archaeology and history, we found that human activity dominated and decoupled oasis evolution from climate change since ~2 ka in the Tarim Basin. Oasis were artificially expanded to sustain the flourishing society during the Han–Tang period, but they declined synchronously afterward. More attention should be paid to the proper management of land and water resources to achieve sustainable development in hyperarid areas.