Faunal exploitation during the Proto-Zhou period in the Jing River Valley: Evidence from Sunjia and Xitou

Abstract

This study examines faunal assemblages from the Proto-Zhou sites of Sunjia and Xitou, in the Jing River Valley (Central Shaanxi Province), to address questions concerning the exploitation of different animal resources in the context of the Shang-Zhou dynastic transition in the 11th century BCE. Although the assemblages from Sunjia and Xitou were small and sub-optimally preserved, this study demonstrates that the inclusion of such assemblages is essential to building upon our understanding of the human exploitation of animal resources. Our zooarchaeological analysis shows an increase in husbandry, with pig farming being complemented by extensive caprine and cattle herding. A diversified use of animal resources, and especially the larger number of bovids, could have been prompted by the need for a wider and more efficient exploitation of the immediate environment, in response to growing climatic deterioration, in addition to an increase in interactions with northern pastoral communities. Identified patterns of livestock biometry and relative taxonomic abundance show various degrees of agricultural engagement and a relatively complex livestock economy, suggesting the development of socio-economic complexity in the Jing River Valley in the late second millennium BCE.

Meat procurement strategy from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in the Guanzhong region of Shaanxi Province, China

“…During the pre-Zhou and Western Zhou periods, domesticated bovids replaced pig as the main livestock species. Festa and her colleagues suggest that it may be related to the increasingly cold and dry climate and the contact with northern pastoral community (Festa et al, 2023). We believe that in addition to these factors, the adjustment of livestock structure during this period may also be related to their biological natures.…”

Animal Use Strategies in the Longshan Mountain Region of Northern China during the First Millennium BC: A Zooarchaeological Analysis of Yucun

“…However, the data from MJP and XS indicate that during the Bronze Age, the dietary patterns of most residents of the Longshan Mountain region were characterized by the consumption of animal protein, with only a small percentage of people primarily relying on plantbased food [49]. Furthermore, it appears that the subsistence economy at Yucun, located in the upper Jing River valley was similar to that of the sites of Zaoshugounao, Zaolinhetan, Sunjia, and Xitou in the middle Jing River valley, dated to the late second millennium BC, where intensive crop cultivation and pig husbandry, alongside extensive caprine herding, were observed in the archaeological record [50][51][52]. Considering that the landscapes surrounding these sites feature loess terraces and gullies, the geographic and During the first millennium BC, the terraces on the Loess Plateau in the Jing River valley, where Yucun is situated, featured a more favorable ecological environment compared to the present day, exhibiting a higher degree of tree coverage and a more extensive distribution of forests [44,45].…”