Dietary shift and cultural evolution relation to intercontinental cultural exchanges and climate change in the Hehuang and contiguous regions, northwest China ~3600 years ago: Evidence from Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotopic Analysis

Summary

This study traces the extent to which dietary change coincides with intercontinental cultural exchanges in Eurasia, to enhance understanding of the effects of long-distance exchanges on the human diets. Through stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of late Neolithic and early Bronze Age human and animal bone collagen, we find that intercontinental cultural exchanges in Eurasia led to significant changes in diet in the Hehuang and contiguous regions of northwest China. The isotopic evidence indicates that human diets mainly consisted of C4 foodstuffs (most probably millet) pre-3600 Cal yr BP. With the increasing intensity of long-distance exchange, enough C3 foods (probably wheat and barley) were added to human diets post-3600 Cal yr BP, which strongly influenced isotopic value of bone collagen. The dietary shift speaks to a transition to more complete cultures in the Bronze Age, around 3600 Cal yr BP in Gansu and Qinghai provinces. This occurred through the differentiation of subsistence strategies, reorganization of social relationship in response to climate change and culture exchange in different parts of the area. In the transition it is likely that dietary changes were related to dryer and cooler climate and/or population growth.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Qijia Culture of Northwest China – Entering a New Era of Research   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

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