Domestication and large animal interactions: Skeletal trauma in northern Vietnam during the hunter-gatherer Da But period

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to test the hypothesis that healed traumatic injuries in the pre-Neolithic assemblage of Con Co Ngua, northern Vietnam ( c . 6800–6200 cal BP) are consistent with large wild animal interactions prior to their domestication. The core sample included 110 adult (aged ≥ 18 years) individuals, while comparisons are made with an additional six skeletal series from Neolithic through to Iron Age Vietnam, Thailand, and Mongolia. All post cranial skeletal elements were assessed for signs of healed trauma and identified cases were further x-rayed. Crude trauma prevalence (14/110, 12.7%) was not significantly different between males (8/52) and females (5/37) (χ 2 = 0.061, p = 0.805). Nor were there significant differences in the prevalence of fractured limbs, although males displayed greater rates of lower limb bone trauma than females. Further, distinct from females, half the injured males suffered vertebral fractures, consistent with high-energy trauma. The first hypothesis is supported, while some support for the sexual divisions of labour was found. The prevalence and pattern of fractured limbs at CCN when compared with other Southeast and East Asian sites is most similar to the agropastoral site of Lamadong, China. The potential for skeletal trauma to assess animal trapping and herding practices prior to domestication in the past is discussed.

Forager and farmer evolutionary adaptations to malaria evidenced by 7000 years of thalassemia in Southeast Asia

“…Subadults were commonly poorly preserved, with infants highly fragmented. Methods for age and sex of the individuals from Man Bac and Con Co Ngua were previously reported and briefly summarized here 50,55,56 . Non-metric traits of the os coxae, cranial morphology, and sample-specific post-cranial functions were used to estimate adult sex [57][58][59][60] .…”

Hydatid disease (Echinococcosis granulosis) diagnosis from skeletal osteolytic lesions in an early seventh‐millennium BP forager community from preagricultural northern Vietnam

“…Buffalo are also known to be intermediate hosts for E. granulosis non‐sylvatic strains (Beggs, 1985). The frequency and patterning of healed trauma at Con Co Ngua, similar to that seen among agropastoralists, suggests a close relationship with buffalo through the management of wild herds (Scott et al, 2019). As proposed by Oxenham et al (2018), these two species (deer and buffalo) are posited as plausible intermediate hosts for hydatid disease at Con Co Ngua, and a number of carnivorous animals such as civets, jackals, wolves, leopards, and foxes may have served as the definitive host (Jones, 2017; Oxenham et al, 2018).…”

“…Buffalo are also known to be intermediate hosts for E. granulosis non-sylvatic strains (Beggs, 1985). The frequency and patterning of healed trauma at Con Co Ngua, similar to that seen among agropastoralists, suggests a close relationship with buffalo through the management of wild herds (Scott et al, 2019) Co Ngua, and a number of carnivorous animals such as civets, jackals, wolves, leopards, and foxes may have served as the definitive host (Jones, 2017;Oxenham et al, 2018). In both sylvatic and non-sylvatic strains of E. granulosis, contamination of the water source is a primary route of accidental infection in humans (Beggs, 1985).…”

“…, and deer (Cervidae) to an extent, dominated the faunal assemblage with butchering marks on these animals indicating on‐site processing (Jones, 2017; Jones, Piper, Groves, et al, 2019; Oxenham et al, 2018). Further, the frequency and type of healed skeletal trauma at Con Co Ngua suggests that wild bovids may have been managed or herded by the community (Scott et al, 2019). No evidence for domesticated ungulates or canids has been identified at Con Co Ngua, and faunal bones indicate the presence of wild ungulates and canids only (Jones, 2017; Jones, Piper, Groves, et al, 2019; Jones, Piper, Wood, et al, 2019; Oxenham et al, 2018).…”

Scurvy in the tropics: Evidence for increasing non‐adult micronutrient deficiency with the transition to agriculture in northern Vietnam

“…The climate was warmer and wetter than present day, and the indigenous food resources were more abundant. For this reason, the inhabitants of Con Co Ngua settled as sedentary hunter‐gatherers, managing wild buffalo and potentially other large fauna, in contrast to the rice growing agricultural groups who occupied areas of China further north (Oxenham et al, 2018; Scott et al, 2019; Vlok et al, 2021). Foraging of a wide range of abundant terrestrial, riverine, estuarine, and marine resources allowed for the development of a large sedentary community (Jones, 2017; Jones et al, 2019; Oxenham et al, 2018).…”