Abstract
It is well-known that pigs (Sus scrofa) were domesticated very early in Neolithic China, but far less is known about the processes by which pig husbandry intensified so that pork became the most important animal protein for humans are less clear. Here, we explore pig feeding practices using the carbon and nitrogen isotope composition of bone collagen, focusing on developments in pig husbandry during the Yangshao period (7000–5000 BP) in the middle Yellow River region of China, and at the site of Xipo (5800–5000 BP) in particular. The results show that the diets of domestic pigs at Xipo were dominated by millet foods. Comparisons with other Yangshao sites in the region show a trend of increasing millet foddering for pigs throughout the Yangshao period. These results, and comparisons of the isotopic data for pigs against those for humans from the Xipo cemetery (5300–5000 BP), suggest that pigs were closely managed by humans. The evidence points to an intensification of Neolithic pig husbandry in the middle Yellow River region from this period.
Highlights
It is widely acknowledged that a combination of domesticated crops and animals provided the subsistence basis and fostered human population growth and the rise of social complexity in Neolithic farming societies [1,2,3]
In order to further understand the pig husbandry regime in the wider middle Yellow River region, here we focus on the site of Xipo, since it is a type site and regional centre in the heartland of the Yangshao Culture
The controlled feeding regime suggested by the isotope data must have involved substantial labour inputs in pig husbandry alongside an expanding human population. This Middle-Yangshao period coincided with high mean summer precipitation that peaked in 6100−5500 BP [68]. This was a time of rain-fed millet agriculture expansion in northern China [27], in which we propose that high yields and surplus of millet foods and by-products had become available to feed larger numbers of domestic pigs
Summary
It is widely acknowledged that a combination of domesticated crops and animals provided the subsistence basis and fostered human population growth and the rise of social complexity in Neolithic farming societies [1,2,3]. The processes of development and intensification of pig husbandry remain underexplored This is partly because the ecological and behavioural plasticity of pigs means they are adaptable to various feeding and rearing regimes [7, 8], and this complicates our understanding of the possible ways that humans managed pigs. It is unclear where, when and how pig husbandry practices developed and intensified during this complex process that eventually led domestic pigs to becoming the main animal food in human diets.
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