Animal use in the late second millennium BCE in northern China: Evidence from Zaoshugounao and Zaolinhetan in the Jing River valley

Abstract

Zooarchaeological research has contributed greatly to our understanding of animal use in the Bronze Age Central Plains in northern China, where remarkable social transformations occurred in the second millennium BCE. However, limited work has been done for the contemporaneous Jing and Wei River valleys, another crucial region in dynastic and imperial history of China that witnessed the political transition from the Shang Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty (ca. 1050 BCE). In particular, the Zhou subsistence economy leading up to the emergence of the region as a centre of Zhou political authority is still poorly understood. Here, we present a zooarchaeological analysis of Zaoshugounao and Zaolinhetan, two sites associated with the predynastic Zhou, in present‐day central Shaanxi dating to before and around the Shang–Zhou transition. Results show that the Zaoshugounao and Zaolinhetan residents practiced intensive farming and animal husbandry in and around the settlements complemented by extensive caprine management on marginal lands. Along with other lines of archaeological evidence, our zooarchaeological data demonstrate that the economic developments in the Jing River valley in the late second millennium BCE, in terms of the diversified use of animal resources, underpinned the economic foundation behind the Zhou rise and their eventual conquest of the Shang.

Sika deer in Bronze Age Guanzhong: sustainable wildlife exploitation in ancient China?

“…The Zaoshugounao sika deer remains Excluding worked bones, wild taxa account for 15.2 per cent of animal remains from Zaoshugounao by NISP (number of identified specimens) (Li et al 2020). Deer (NISP = 1098), including sika deer, red deer, roe deer, musk deer, water deer and other unidentified deer species, constitute the largest proportion of wild animals (NISP = 1299) (Table 1).…”

“…The adult-dominated age profile for sika deer at Zaoshugounao probably results from an 'antler-oriented' hunting strategy. Indeed, more than 200 artefacts, comprising one-third of all worked bones and antlers retrieved from Zaoshugounao, were made of deer antler (mostly arrowheads and awls) (Li et al 2020). Most arrowhead production debris is identified as sika deer antler, and sikas comprise the largest proportion of deer remains (by NISP) at the site.…”

“…Field surveys indicate that Zaoshugounao occupied an area of approximately 100ha, and subsequent excavations between 2006 and 2010 revealed a total area of 0.4ha. The types present in the ceramic assemblages, the configuration of the archaeological features and the results of radiocarbon-dating all suggest that most of the cultural remains from Zaoshugounao belong to the Late Shang period (c. 1250-1050 BC) and slightly post-dating the Shang-Zhou dynastic transition-a political shift crucial to the formation of Chinese civilisation (Qian et al 2008;Wang & Chen 2010;Li 2012;Li et al 2020).…”

A passion for beef: Post-domestication changes in cattle body size in China from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age

“…Relative proportion, in contrast, may provide direct evidence of herders' preference. Relative proportions of cattle, pig, and caprids NISP from sites in Northern China during the Late Neolithic and the Late Bronze Age show a marked increase of cattle remains since the Middle Bronze Age (Figure 4; Yuan, 2000;Zhou, 2007;Hu et al, 2008;Hou et al, 2009Hou et al, , 2018Hou et al, , 2019Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology et al, 2010;Lin et al, 2013;Li et al, 2014Li et al, , 2020Yu, 2019). During the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age, the relative proportion of cattle never exceed onethird of the main domesticates, and the average is 13% in the Late Neolithic and 20% in the Early Bronze Age.…”

Bulls for sacrifice, cows for work? Morphometric models suggest that female cattle were used for traction in the Chinese Bronze Age Late Shang dynasty (ca. 1300–1046 BCE)

“…The evaluation of other factors such as the age profile of the different assemblages throws further light on the morphometric models. Even though a full evaluation of age profiles at each site was not possible because of the paucity of cattle skulls and dentition, preliminary data were available as follows: Erlitou -56.23% older than 26 months (Yang, 2006: 31); Daxinzhuang -two out of the seven mandibles older than 8 years; Zhougongmiao -half samples older than 4 years (Lin et al, 2013); Zaoshugounaoover four fifths older than 2 years old (Li et al, 2020); Donglongshan -1 senior and 3 adults out of the 11 specimens (Yang, 2011: 372). The indications are that older cattle are consistently more represented in the assemblages from the Late Shang phase onwards.…”