The use of inner bark as food in prehistory: a case study based on roll carbonized remains unearthed from Hulija site, Qinghai province, western China

Summary

Hulijia site was located in Minhe County, Qinghai Province, western China and was the earliest Neolithic site (5000 BP) in Qinghai Province. Two pieces of roll carbonized remains similar to steamed twisted rolls made of wheat were unearthed from this site. The remains were analyzed by means of stable carbon isotope firstly and the results showed that the value of δ13C was -25.1‰. So roll carbonized remains were tree remains. Then the anatomic structure of the remains was observed by means of microscope and scanning electron microscope and that the results showed that they were inner bark. In the end, by comparison the climate condition and remains unearthed of Hulijia sites with those of archaeological site in northern Sweden around the town of Arjeplog, it was inferred that peeling tree barks might be a subsistence strategy unique to Hulijia site with a long winter and that its ancient populations might use inner bark as food.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Food Globalisation in Prehistory

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