Animal Resources Utilization and Management at the Late Neolithic Dinggong Site, China: Evidences from Stable Isotope Analysis

Summary

This is an abstract from the "New Thoughts on Current Research in East Asian Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The long-term excavations at Dinggong, a late Neolithic site in northern China (c. 2600-2000 cal. BC), have uncovered extensive human and faunal remains with clear contextual information. We carried out stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of faunal remains to investigate the animal resources utilization and management of this site. By integrating the results of stable isotope analysis and morphological measurements, we found diverse management strategies for pigs or potentially co-existence of domestic pig and wild boars. Meanwhile, the results of this study show that some livestock (such as dog and pig) were similar to ancient humans that mainly consumed C4 food (millets), which suggested that animal husbandry and crop cultivation were closely integrated. The difference of food structure among different kinds of animals may be related to domestication states, natural habitats and feeding strategies. This study also demonstrates that beyond its applicability for palaeodietary reconstruction and animal domestication, stable isotopic analysis of archaeological animal remains has important implications for understanding the relationship between humans, animals and plants in an archaeological context.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Thoughts on Current Research in East Asian Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23658