Abstract
Many questions still remain regarding the acquisition and circulation of ancient domesticated animals across the Yellow River Basin, one of the key areas for the development of complex societies in ancient China. Here, we re-evaluate previously published strontium isotope data (87Sr/86Sr, n = 167) from tooth enamel of domesticated animals at 10 archaeological sites in the Yellow River Basin to shed new light on the transition between the Neolithic (7000–5000 BCE) and the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BCE). The results show that from the Late Neolithic to the Western Zhou Dynasty, some domesticated animals, mostly cattle and sheep, were increasingly sourced from non-local areas. We employed Bayesian methods to define an isoscape of bioavailable Sr for the Yellow River Basin and to show the considerable diversity in the origins of non-local domesticated animals, some of which may have come from locations hundreds of kilometers away from the site as early as the Late Neolithic. The increasingly variable 87Sr/86Sr ratios of domesticated animals from the Neolithic to the Western Zhou Dynasty are consistent with that of associated human remains, and also match the archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence for increased circulation of animal products in the Yellow River Basin. Therefore, we infer that local economies increasingly incorporated non-local animals as part of wider circulation networks that emerged with the development of complex societies since the Late Neolithic.
Highlights
The Yellow River Basin is often considered the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization, making this area the focus of archaeological research for decades (e.g., Liu and Chen, 2012; Chen et al, 2016; Dong et al, 2017; Li et al, 2020)
Archaeological evidence from these periods revealed that settlement patterns, subsistence practices, mortuary customs, and circulation networks dramatically changed from the Early Neolithic (7000–5000 BCE) to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BCE), laying the foundation for the subsequent development of ancient civilizations in China (Chang, 1986; Liu and Chen, 2012; Underhill, 2013; Shelach-Lavi and Jaffe, 2014; Zhang et al, 2020)
Investigated sites cover Jiahu, an Early Neolithic (7000–5000 BCE) village, a series of sites dating to the Middle to the Late Neolithic (5000–2000 BCE), Qingliangsi, Lajia, Jiaojia, Taosi, and Shimao, Erlitou and Wangjinglou dating to the Erlitou-Erligang periods (1900/1800– 1250 BCE), Yinxu dating to the Late Shang Dynasty (1250–1046 BCE), and Zaoshugounao dating to the Predynastic-Zhou and Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BCE)
Summary
The Yellow River Basin is often considered the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization, making this area the focus of archaeological research for decades (e.g., Liu and Chen, 2012; Chen et al, 2016; Dong et al, 2017; Li et al, 2020). As the geographic and cultural center of China, the Yellow River Basin hosted increasingly complex societies dating from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, including the first agricultural villages and the earliest state-level and urban societies in China (Liu and Chen, 2003; Liu, 2009) Archaeological evidence from these periods revealed that settlement patterns, subsistence practices, mortuary customs, and circulation networks dramatically changed from the Early Neolithic (7000–5000 BCE) to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BCE), laying the foundation for the subsequent development of ancient civilizations in China (Chang, 1986; Liu and Chen, 2012; Underhill, 2013; Shelach-Lavi and Jaffe, 2014; Zhang et al, 2020). During the early periods of Erlitou, cattle and sheep accounted for more than 25% of the zooarchaeological assemblage, and by the late periods rose to more than 42%, a trend that continued throughout the Bronze Age within the basin (Li et al, 2014)
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