The diet and subsistence system of Yuan-Shan People in Taiwan

Summary

Carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions of human bone collagen (n=5) were analyzed to discover the paleodiet of Neolithic people of Yuan-Shan (YS) Culture, in northern Taiwan. A local isotope baseline was constructed by 71 faunal samples. Four inferences are drawn: (1) pigs share similar isotope compositions with deer, which indicates they were herbivores rather than omnivores. It had a great possibility that the pigs were raised by human and we suggest that C3 plant was used as pig’s feed based on their δ13C values. (2) The main food resources consumed by YS people were local herbivore, which is revealed by the difference in δ15N values between human and herbivores (Δ15Nhuamn-herbivore). (3) Rice grain had been found in YS site, suggesting the rice as their main crop; however, the isotope data doesn’t seem to support the suggestion (Δ15Nhuman-herbivore > 4‰). One possible explanation is that the cereal grains had intrinsic higher δ15N value than that of herbivore’s feeds or grasses, or the grain’s δ15N value was affected by manuring. (4) The aquatic resources were also consumed by YS people, though in small quantity. Middens indicated another aquatic food, but we have had no isotopic compositions of shellfish soft tissue so far.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage