Millet agriculture and social complexity in the Central Plains of the Neolithic (9000-5000 BP): Isotopic reconstruction of human diet from the Shanggangyang site in China

Abstract

The core area of the Central Plains is one of the crucial regions for the origin of Chinese civilization, and the settlement site cluster in the mid-late Yangshao period (6000-5000 BP) provides a unique opportunity to investigate the human dietary pattern in the Central Plains for the origin of Chinese civilization. However, previous studies have not yet been able to adequately explain why the Central Plains has developed into an area in which the process of social complexity has accelerated significantly and the emergence of early Chinese civilization based on the development of millet agriculture in the core area of the Central Plains in the mid-late Yangshao period. In this case study, stable isotope analysis of the human bone collagen from the Shanggangyang site was conducted. The isotopic data showed that the majority of the Shanggangyang inhabitants (−8.0 ± 0.7‰, 9.0 ± 0.8‰, n = 24) were on a C4 millet-based diet, while the M13 individuals (−15.9 ± 0.1‰, 6.5 ± 0.1‰, n = 2) was on a C3 and C4 mixed diet. Furthermore, temporal investigations of the development of millet agriculture from isotopic perspective during the middle to late Neolithic period (9000-5000 BP) in the Central Plains comprehensively and explicitly revealed that millet agriculture developed and matured, and became the predominant subsistence economy in the mid-late Yangshao period (6000-5000 BP). This prosperous subsistence economy based on millet farming of the mid-late Yangshao period not only played an important role in generally accelerating the process of social complexity in the Central Plains, but also provided a substantial economic foundation for the emergence of early Chinese civilization in the core area of the Central Plains.