Raising Practices of Neolithic Livestock Evidenced by Stable Isotope Analysis in the Wei River Valley, North China

Abstract

Although a patchwork of projects shows a process of agriculture intensification in North China during the Neolithic, the impact of cereal farming on animal husbandry and their mutual interaction remain cloudy. This study reports bone collagen δ13C and δ15N of humans and animals from Wayaogou (ca 6.5–6.0 kyrs bp) and Dongying (ca 5.9–5.6 kyrs bp, 4.6–4.0 kyrs bp) to explore temporal trend of livestock raising and particularly the importance of millet fodder to stock raising practices in the Wei River valley, North China. The isotopic evidence overall shows that millet products increased in human and domestic animal diets during the mentioned chronological span. δ13C values of pigs and dogs at Dongying are higher than those at Wayaogou, implying that the importance of millet nutrients increased to animal husbandry diachronically. Interestingly, δ13C results of domestic cattle of Dongying late phase (−14.1 ± 1.1‰, N = 5) are more enriched than Wayaogou wild Bos (−17.8 ± 0.3‰, N = 3), indicating that millet fodder had taken a significant place in early cattle husbandry. Besides, differences between Bos species of the two periods also imply that δ13C values of bone collagen constitute a potential indicator for tracing the origin of cattle husbandry in North China. In addition, domestic sheep at Dongying produced similar isotope data to wild ovicaprid at Wayaogou, suggesting that they possibly had grazed for the most in grassland and therefore experienced a different lifestyle from cattle. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Isotopic Reconstruction of the Late Longshan Period (ca. 4200–3900 BP) Dietary Complexity before the Onset of State‐Level Societies at the Wadian Site in the Ying River Valley, Central Plains, China

“…As discussed in the 6 th century text, Qi Min Yao Shu , millet grains were considered an excellent feed for the rapid fattening of piglets in ancient China, but it is not known how widespread this practice was in the Neolithic of China (Jia & Miu, ). The Wadian pigs have relatively low mean δ 13 C values compared to pigs from the sites of Kangjia (Pechenkina et al ., ), Xinzhai (Wu et al ., ), Taosi (Zhang et al ., ; Chen et al ., ), and DY‐2 (Chen et al ., ), although the δ 15 N values are comparable to the pig populations at these sites (Table ). This could imply that Wadian pigs ate slightly more C 3 fodder, which was likely derived from rice given the relatively high proportion of charred rice recovered at the site (Liu & Fang, ).…”

“…In addition, because the human δ 15 N values were nearly identical to those of the omnivorous pigs and dogs as well as herbivorous sheep and cattle, it is clear that these individuals were primarily consuming millet grains and not so much millet‐fed domestic animals. This finding is in agreement with the results from other Longshan agriculture communities from the Central Plains (Pechenkina et al ., ; Wu et al ., ; Zhang et al ., ; Atahan et al ., ; Chen et al ., ).…”

“…() for Taosi and Erlitou, from Chen et al . () for DY‐2, from Wu et al . () for Xinzhai, and from this study for Wadian.…”

An Isotopic Perspective on Animal Husbandry at the Xinzhai Site During the Initial Stage of the Legendary Xia Dynasty (2070–1600 BC)

“…Because they represent wild animals, deer usually show a dominant C 3 signal in bone collagen (Stevens et al, ; Si, ; Chen et al, ). In our study, one group of deer displays negative carbon isotope values, confirming that they inhabited a natural ecosystem dominated by C 3 vegetation.…”

Animal husbandry strategies in Eastern Zhou China: An isotopic study on faunal remains from the Central Plains

“…It seems that the Eastern Zhou people of the Central Plains continued the longstanding practice of raising their pigs in flexible ways. Dogs are also omnivores and can display significant dietary variation in a single site as can be seen in Songzhuang, as well as in earlier archaeological sites (e.g., Chen et al, , ; Guan et al, ). Therefore, temporal comparison of husbandry practices will focus only on cattle, and the geographical range considered will be limited to the Central Plains to avoid interference from regional variation in agricultural strategies in northern China (e.g., Zhou & Garvie‐Lok, ).…”