The subsistence strategies of Qin humans in the Guanzhong Plain before the establishment of Qin Empire: A combined stable isotope and archaeobotanical approach

Abstract

The turbulent stage before the unification of China under the first Empire, the Qin Dynasty (221–207 BC), witnessed remarkable changes in economic livelihood and social conditions. This study aims to investigate the subsistence strategies of humans living in the Guanzhong Plain during the Late Qin State (350–221 BC) by using carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis on animal and human bone collagen, as well as starch grain analysis of human dental calculus, from Podi cemetery, Shannxi Province, China. We argue that Podi humans likely relied on a mixed subsistence strategy based on animal husbandry practices and diverse crop agricultural pattern which consist of millet, soybean, wheat, and probably supplemented by hunting and gathering (Job's tears, nuts and tubers) economy. Combined with bioarcheological studies on Qin humans, we infer that previously traditional animal husbandry economy was still being practiced in the Qin period along with the inclusion of a newly introduced agricultural economy.