Objectives: To examine dietary patterns and animal husbandry practices and assess the links between human diet and sex, age, burial direction/position, and social status (as inferred by type of grave goods) during the transformative Proto-Shang (ca. 2000-1600 BC) period of China.
Materials and methods: Stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ(13) C), nitrogen (δ(15) N), and sulfur (δ(34) S) were analyzed from human (n = 83) and animal (n = 36) bone collagen at the site of Nancheng in Hebei Province, China.
Results: The Proto-Shang population consumed a predominately C4 diet (δ(13) C = -6.8 ± 0.4‰; δ(15) N = 9.4 ± 0.6‰), but a single individual (M70) had a mixed C3 /C4 diet (δ(13) C = -14.9‰; δ(15) N = 10.1‰). The δ(34) S measurement of M70 (8.8‰) is similar to the local animals (8.2 ± 2.6‰) and the other members of the population (7.0 ± 0.8‰) suggesting this individual may not have been a migrant even though the burial direction (north-south) and position (flexed) was different than the majority of the graves in the cemetery.
Discussion: From comparison with the faunal bone collagen stable isotope results, the Nancheng population ate millets with varying levels of animal protein consumption focused primarily on pigs and possibly cattle and dogs, but sheep/goats, and deer were not eaten in significant amounts. Analysis of the isotopic results in relation to other contemporary sites such as Liuzhuang and Xinzhai show strikingly similar patterns, suggesting that the sheep/goats were likely raised mainly for their secondary products (e.g., wool). No link between diet and sex was found at the population level, but when the data were sorted by age and sex, the older males (>40 years old) were found to have significantly lower δ(13) C values (-6.6 ± 0.3‰; n = 18) compared to the younger males (<40 years old) (-7.3 ± 0.5‰; n = 8). Further, no significant correlations between diet and burial direction/position or social status (based on the type of grave goods) were found at Nancheng, possibly indicating that the dietary social stratification of the later Shang and Zhou Dynasties had yet to be established in Chinese society at this time. Am J Phys Anthropol 160:433-445, 2016.. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Keywords: grave goods; migration; millet; paleodiet; social status; wool.
© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.