Community memories? Ritual animal use of "Qijia Culture", Evidence from Mogou Cemetery, Lintan County, Gansu Province, China

Summary

This study focuses on human ritual animal use behaviors of Qijia communities, with the study of animal bones recovered from the Mogou Cemetery in Gansu Province. More than 1600 tombs have been excavated at the Mogou site. Since multiple burials with a few individuals of both sex and different ages were common and human bones were clumped together, most burials were classified as multiple and/or secondary burials. Animal offerings were also common in these burials, and animal bones were found either in the burial fills, in the side chambers, or beside the human remains. With application of different zooarchaeological methods and approaches to the animal bones, we have the following patterns and interpretations: (1) Qijia communities prefer pig mandibles rather than cattle and sheep bones, although the later species may be more important for subsistence practices, (2) pigs were domesticated and pig mandibles were probably accumulated for a long time rather than mass killing before the ritual ceremony, and (3) the mass use of pig mandibles may be interpreted as community memory behaviors of Qijia Communities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Human Lifestyle and Adaptation in Prehistoric China

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16750