Reconstructing northern Chinese Neolithic subsistence practices by isotopic analysis

Pechenkina, Ekaterina A.; Ambrose, Stanley H.; Ma, Xiaolin; Benfer, Robert A.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.02.015

Cited by 223 publications

(205 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Many of the weeds are potential animal fodder as they may have been earlier in the valley. Stable isotope analyses at the Yangshao period Xipo site in western Henan provide evidence that pigs and dogs consumed substantial quantities of C 4 plants, probably domesticated millet and green foxtail grass (21). Settlement number and size increased significantly during the Erlitou period, and the first major urban center emerged at the Erlitou site (3).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plants and people from the Early Neolithic to Shang periods in North China

Lee

Crawford

Liu

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

250

218

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plants and people from the Early Neolithic to Shang periods in North China

Lee

Crawford

Liu

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

250

218

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“…As no universally accepted criteria exist to evaluate apatite preservation (Zazzo, 2014;Salesse et al, 2014), we use samples with good collagen preservation because the organic matrix may involve both better protection of the bioapatite and lower isotope exchange with water (Hu et al, 2006;Iacumin et al, 2014). In addition to gaining insight on potential carbonate diagenesis, the excess carbonate carbon was evaluated thanks to the calcium carbonate content (CaCO 3 %) and the homogeneity of the apatite carbonate carbon isotope values was assessed based on the correlation between CaCO 3 % and δ 13 C ap (Ambrose et al, 1997) as well as between δ 13 C ap and δ 13 C col (Lee-Thorp and Sponheimer, 2003;Pechenkina et al, 2005), in both cases using the Spearman correlation test. Our dietary reconstruction relies primarily on collagen data.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-isotopic analysis of first Polynesian diet (Talasiu, Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga)

Herrscher¹,

Fenner²,

Valentin³

et al. 2018

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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A B S T R A C TBoth archaeological and isotopic data document dietary changes over the first five centuries of Western Pacific island settlement, a time period beginning with the Lapita expansion about 3000 years ago. This change is marked by a decrease in marine food intake and an increase in vegetal food intake occurring in the Late Lapita/ immediately post-Lapita populations. The recent discovery of human burials at Talasiu (~2700-2600 cal. BP) in the Kingdom of Tonga opens new opportunities to assess this matter. We characterize the nature of the food items consumed by the Talasiu humans (n = 21) using collagen and apatite carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. We conducted an intra-Pacific comparison to examine the use of marine resources and the contribution of horticultural products and to look at the homogeneity of dietary practices within the Tongan group. Isotope results indicate a mixed diet of terrestrial and marine resources including a differential contribution of more specific marine foods (e.g., non-reef fish/inshore fish and shellfish). The Talasiu dietary pattern appears closer to that of the early Lapita population of Teouma than to other Late Lapita populations suggesting a different pattern of dietary change at the eastern end of the Lapita distribution. The slower rate of change may be due to the small size of both the island and the population, and also the additional potential role of social or cultural factors.

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“…Several other studies in the Yellow and Wei river systems of northern and northeastern China, where millet agriculture originated, have measured similar δ 13 C values in human bone samples and concluded that millets must have been the mainstay of the food chain to humans (Pechenkina et al 2005;Hu et al 2008). Barton et al (2009) recently argued that the domestication of dogs and pigs in northern China was accompanied by a shift to less negative δ 13 C values, which were associated with broomcorn and foxtail millet forming part of their diet.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%