A broad-spectrum subsistence economy in Neolithic Inner Mongolia, China: Evidence from grinding stones

Abstract

Recent archaeological and archaeobotanical data suggest a very long tradition for the broad-spectrum subsistence economy in North China. It can be traced back at least to the Upper Paleolithic, in the last glacial maximum, and it continued into the early Neolithic period. Subsistence strategies also show great regional variation, suggesting a complex mosaic of adaptations in the transition to agriculture. The research reported here focuses on the plant-derived subsistence economy of the earliest Neolithic communities in the Daihai Lake area, Inner Mongolia, where the ecosystem was sensitive to climatic fluctuations. Neolithic groups likely migrated to the region as part of population expansion from the Central Plain. Previous scholars have suggested that this expansion was due to a search for agricultural land for millet farming. By examining residue remains and usewear patterns on sandstone grinding stone tools unearthed from the Shihushan I and Shihushan II sites, dating to the mid-5th millennium bc, we show that the earliest Neolithic settlers in Daihai appear to have enjoyed a way of life making use, and possibly management, of a wide range of plants, including various underground storage organs (tubers, roots, rhizomes, and bulbs), nuts, and wild grasses, while engaged in a limited level of millet production. This study adds to a growing literature that questions the economic significance of early cereal crops in subsistence system, suggesting that it is important to understand the role of roots and tubers in the development of early agriculture in Neolithic North China.