The lag in agricultural civilization during the Bronze Age in Northeast China: A stable isotope study based on the faunal remains of the Weizili site

Abstract

In recent years, the feeding patterns of ancient livestock in Northeast China has been a hot but unclear research topic. In this study, we selected 42 faunal collagen samples from the Weizili site (c. 3207–2155 a BP), a typical Bronze Age site, to study the rearing diets of animals based on carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. The results showed that roe deer (−18.1 ± 3.2‰, 6.4 ± 1.0‰, n = 5) relied on a C3 food, indicating that wild vegetation in Weizili site was primarily composed of C3 plants. Cattle (−14.6 ± 1.9‰, 7.5 ± 0.4‰, n = 9), horses (−16.6 ± 2.7‰, 7.9 ± 2.9‰, n = 3), canines (four were dogs, one was a racoon dog) (−14.8 ± 4.2‰, 7.3 ± 1.3‰, n = 5), pigs (−15.2 ± 4.3‰,6.4 ± 1.2‰, n = 18), and humans (−15.3 ± 0.4‰, 10.6 ± 1.3‰, n = 2) were mainly lived on C3 and C4 mixed food. We compared the results with the available data for the same period of time from different regions, such as the Central Plains region, the Northeast region and the interior of the Northeast region (especially the Liaodong and Liaoxi regions). We concluded that pigs, horses, cattle, dogs and roe deer from the Weizili site were domesticated and that most individuals of these domestic animals were reared by C3 and C4 mixed food, but that there was quite significant diversity in the food sources of a given species, particularly for pigs and roe deer. The isotope results from the Weizili site, together with previously published data from related sites in Northeast China, demonstrated that the level of human intervention in the animal diets was relatively high but different from that of other sites in the same region, such as the Changshan (c. 3000–2200 a BP) and Wanfabozi sites (c. 3000–2300 a BP). Hence, an uneven pace of agricultural development in Northeast China was shown. This comparatively primitive agricultural production lagged behind the agricultural production of the Central Plains region of the same period.