Agricultural origins and the isotopic identity of domestication in northern China

Abstract

Stable isotope biochemistry (␦ 13 C and ␦ 15 N) and radiocarbon dating of ancient human and animal bone document 2 distinct phases of plant and animal domestication at the Dadiwan site in northwest China. The first was brief and nonintensive: at various times between 7900 and 7200 calendar years before present (calBP) people harvested and stored enough broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) to provision themselves and their hunting dogs (Canis sp.) throughout the year. The second, much more intensive phase was in place by 5900 calBP: during this time both broomcorn and foxtail (Setaria viridis spp. italica) millets were cultivated and made significant contributions to the diets of people, dogs, and pigs (Sus sp.). The systems represented in both phases developed elsewhere: the earlier, low-intensity domestic relationship emerged with hunter-gatherers in the arid north, while the more intensive, later one evolved further east and arrived at Dadiwan with the Yangshao Neolithic. The stable isotope methodology used here is probably the best means of detecting the symbiotic human-plantanimal linkages that develop during the very earliest phases of domestication and is thus applicable to the areas where these connections first emerged and are critical to explaining how and why agriculture began in East Asia.East Asia ͉ millet ͉ Neolithic ͉ origins of agriculture ͉ stable isotope biochemistry

Millets, Rice, Social Complexity, and the Spread of Agriculture to the Chengdu Plain and Southwest China

“…However, the paucity of archaeobotanical data means that it is difficult to determine the exact point in time at which these transformations occurred. Some of the earliest concrete evidence comes from Dadiwan, where it is clear that broomcorn millet was consumed (by both humans and the animals they raised as early as 5900 BC) (Barton et al 2009;Gansu 2006;Liu et al 2004). A recent paper has tried to push the evidence for millet cultivation even earlier.…”

The 4000-Year-Old “Longshan Giant” Discovered in Shaanxi Province, China

“…Our results indicate that the average value of  13 C and  15 N is -8.45‰ and 8.96‰, respectively, pointing to a dietary source of terrestrial C 4 plants and/or flesh of animals eating C 4 plants. The staple crop is most likely millet, as it had already been domesticated in northern China during the early Neolithic (Barton et al 2009). …”

Cranial metric, age and isotope analysis of human remains from Huoshiliang, western Gansu, China

“…Barton et al (2009) recently argued that the domestication of dogs and pigs in northern China was accompanied by a shift to less negative δ 13 C values, which were associated with broomcorn and foxtail millet forming part of their diet.…”