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Jade artifacts produced in prehistoric China continue to generate extensive scholarly interest. In the absence of textual data, inferring how works functioned in Jade Age communities remains challenging. This paper focuses on Hongshan 红山 culture (4500–3000 BCE) jades, a distinctively styled corpus primarily recovered from late fourth millennium BCE graves in northeastern China. Recent finds within and beyond the Hongshan core zone have enriched the jade inventory and expanded the known scope of its stylistic variations. The analysis sheds light on enigmatic types, reveals the complex representational nature of this corpus, and clarifies the mimetic intentions that resulted in the soft rounded forms characteristic of the style. Most objects examined were unearthed at Hongshan ceremonial centers and have sound excavation pedigrees. Their study relies on contextual archaeological data and comparative visual analysis and draws on the broader Hongshan material world. Further considerations include environment, funerary practices, materiality, cognition, and human anatomy. Ultimately, the paper uncovers new paradigms of figural representation that should open fresh investigative avenues for specialists of early China. Preliminary evaluation of jades unearthed further south at Lingjiatan 凌家滩 and Liangzhu 良渚 sites suggests that some late Neolithic societies adopted Hongshan practices. Current evidence hints at members of prehistoric communities attempting, through jade works, to rationalize their physical circumstances and assert their social power by symbolically fusing with elements of their environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the evolution of regional typology of archaeological cultures is essential in understanding the trajectory of cultural evolution from a temporal and spatial perspective. In this paper, we focused on the Taihu Lake region, one of the six major regional typologies of Neolithic archaeological cultures in China. By utilizing archaeological site data from the Neolithic Era in this region, our study investigates the evolution of typologies in archaeological cultures at both regional and sub-regional scales. From a broad perspective, quantitative methods were used to explore the cultural evolution process in the Taihu Lake region. The degree of social integration and intercultural inheritance can be reflected through the size of the site and the superimposition of cultural layers. In addition, climate and environmental data were combined to investigate its driving factors. Moreover, GIS (Geographic Information System) analysis methods were used to cluster and partition the cultures in the Taihu Lake region. By identifying distinct groups of sites, it is possible to deconstruct and analyze the interior of the cultures to study their distribution patterns and to explore the exchanges and expansions within the cultures. By integrating both research approaches, our study provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolutionary characteristics of the regional typology of archaeological cultures within the Taihu Lake region. These findings contribute to the development of quantitative methods for studying the evolutionary trajectory of archaeological cultural systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This transition from gathering to cultivation is a significant aspect of studying early agricultural practices. Fruit trees are an essential component of food resources and have played a vital role in both ancient and modern agricultural production systems. The jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.), with its long history of cultivation in northern China, holds great importance in uncovering the diet of prehistoric humans and understanding the origins of Chinese agricultural civilization. This paper focuses on the domestication of jujube by analyzing the morphology of jujube stones found in three Neolithic sites in northern China's Qi River basin, Zhujia, Wangzhuang, and Dalaidian. The measurements of these jujube kernels are compared with those found in other areas of northern China, as well as modern jujube kernels that were collected. The measurements revealed that the length-to-diameter (L/D) ratio of sour jujube kernels ranged from 1.36 to 1.78, whereas the L/D ratio of cultivated jujube stones varied between 1.96 and 4.23. Furthermore, jujube stones obtained from Zhujia and Wangzhuang sites exhibit pointed ends and possess an elongated oval or narrow oval shape overall, which is indicative of clearly artificial domestication traits. Therefore, this study suggests that jujube was selected and cultivated as an important food supplement in the Qi River basin no later than around 6200 BP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, Magu is a household name for a female Daoist immortal. As a symbol of longevity, people believe that she can prolong their lives and bring them good luck. This paper takes the fact that Magu has hands that look like birds' feet as a clue to sort out the evolution of the image of Magu. In this article, it is argued that the prototype for the image of the Daoist immortal, Magu, is the bird goddess of the Neolithic goddess and that Magu's hands, which look like bird claws, are a symbol of the goddess's divine power. After entering the patriarchal society, the figure of Magu was eroticized and her hands, which represented divine power, became a tool for men to scratch their backs. Daoism, however, inherited the matriarchal society's worship of women and retained the image of Magu with her hands that resembled the feet of a bird. When Daoism incorporated Magu into its system of deities, the image of Magu was remodeled to conform to the teachings of Daoism, thus making Magu a beautiful, kind-hearted immortal with high moral sentiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jar burial is a particular burial practice generally used in the Neolithic period of China. However, the rarity of finding prenatal individuals limits the ability to study their treatment in jar burial contexts. In this paper, to study the postmortem treatment of this specific age further, we focus on three jar burials of infant individuals excavated in 2021 at the Gangshang site in China, where the skeletal remains were relatively well preserved. The skeletal remains of three well‐preserved individuals are presented into inverted ceramic tripods near the residential area and with a crouched posture. In terms of this condition, we apply the osteometric method to estimate the range and mean of age at death for each individual investigated. Meanwhile, we use micro‐computed tomography (CT) scans to help judge the degree of microbial bioerosion. Besides, histological analysis on skeletal remains combined with the Oxford Histological Index (OHI) assessment allows us to estimate the developmental stage at the time of death by analyzing the results of micro‐CT scans. By using osteometric methods, the results show that the gestational age of the three individuals is 22–26, 24–28, and 22–26 weeks, respectively. The results of the micro‐CT scans indicate that all three fetuses died shortly after birth, or had died in their mother's uterus before birth, with the OHI score of 5. Moreover, we indeed observe infant skeleton remains with no bacterial bioerosion, indicating that it is effective using this method to judge the developmental stage at the time of death with a specific taphonomic environment in the Gangshang site of the Dawenkou culture period. Combined with the placement of the jars in which the three infants were buried, it is believed that this unique placement method was intentional and specific to the infant deaths. These results are instructive for exploring the postmortem treatment of dead infants by ancient residents of the Dawenkou culture period (4200 bc–2600 bc) in Shandong Province, China, and the significance and possible causes of the unique burial type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nenjiang River Basin, located in the northern part of Northeast China, is an important cultural region that has attracted much attention from academic communities. Previous studies demonstrated that hunting and gathering always dominate the subsistence for prehistoric populations in this region. Herein, we further investigate the evolution of dietary and economic strategies in the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age occupations at the recently excavated Honghe site of the Nenjiang River Basin by means of a multidisciplinary approach incorporating zooarchaeological and stable isotope analysis. The results of zooarchaeological approaches indicate that the Honghe populations rely extensively on hunting and fishing during the Late Neolithic (4500–4000 cal BP), consistent with the results of previous studies. Interestingly, by the Bronze Age (3100–2400 cal BP), animal husbandry develops as one main economic strategy, corresponding to the probable decline of hunting and fishing, which is different from the previous reports. In addition, based on the results of stable isotopic approaches, C3 plants are always prominent diets for animals and humans from the Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age, which signifies that crop agriculture does not appear to have been of primary importance during either of these eras, in contrast to the C4 agricultural tradition formed in the Neolithic Age of the southern part of Northeast China. The findings of this paper shed some more light on the evolution of human subsistence strategies in the Nenjiang River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Where do Chinese gender norms come from and how did they culturally evolve through time? This question receives ample debate in the context of Warring States, pre-Imperial, and Imperial China. Many archaeologists and interdisciplinary scholars contend that earliest China treated its women relatively well. This paper's interdisciplinary examination of bioarchaeological evidence from Neolithic and pre-Imperial sources synthesizes new information to enrich this debate. Discussed are studies of sex-linked DNA drawn from human remains, sex ratio data from burials, and indicators of diet quality including isotopic studies of nitrogen and carbon as well as dental pathologies. The paper focuses on data drawn from polities within the phylocultural cultural trunk leading to Imperial China. Evidence indicates that women in pre-Imperial China were treated less well than in other early societies. Comparative lessons about the cultural evolution of Chinese gender norms in the context of norms in other early civilizations are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Red slipped and painted wares (RSW and RPW) were manufactured to cook, serve, or store foods and liquids in the middle Yangtze River valley (MYRV) of China some 8500 and 7800 years ago, respectively. Their primary use narrowed down to serving and drinking in the Upper Qujialing (5300–4500 cal BP) and Shijiahe (4500–4200 cal BP) periods when initial states (bang guo) took shape and developed in the region. The increasing social complexity in MYRV correlated with the formation of community and neighborhood identity through rituals and socio-economic ties involving the widespread use of RSW and RPW. How the two wares were produced and used helps us understand the relationships among productive activities, identity, and social inequality in MYRV. This paper presents the first overview of RSW and RPW in the Neolithic MRYV. It introduces a multi-analytical study of the two wares—mostly dating to the Shijiahe period—unearthed from the site of Fenghuangzui in Xianyang City of Hubei Province, China. Optical microscopic examination revealed that the paint of RPW—50 μm thick on average—was applied using a brush while the slip of RSW is thinner and finer and possibly formed by self-slipping. Handheld X-ray fluorescence (hhXRF) and benchtop micro-XRF analyses ascribed the red paint or slip to iron and iron oxide. Raman and X-ray absorption fine structure analyses confirmed that iron was present in the paint or slip in the form of hematite with a poorly developed crystalline structure. Furthermore, thin-section petrography implied that different pastes were used to produce RPW and RSW, and hhXRF data indicated that the Upper Qujialing and Shijiahe pottery differ in the concentrations of five elements (Zr, Fe, Mn, Ti, and Ba), which might be helpful in future provenance studies of RSW and RPW. Our study discloses the complexity of the manufacture of RSW and RPW at Fenghuangzui. More details of RSW and RPW production and use from our ongoing project shall reveal the role of the two wares in the social dynamics of the Late Neolithic MYRV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on ancient settlements in the Luzhong region (the centre of Shandong Province) of China and analyses the spatial–temporal distribution and morphological characteristics of ancient settlements with the help of GIS technology and the perspectives of archaeology and cultural geography. Specifically, the 1972 settlements collected were used to establish a database of settlement site attributes. Then, the DEM data were superimposed with the settlement sites, and calculations of the kernel density, elevation, slope, aspect, and buffer zone were further carried out. The distribution and characteristics were refined based on quantitative and qualitative analyses. The study found that the Neolithic period, the Shang–Zhou period, and the Qin–Northern and Southern Dynasties were the three high points of settlement development. In these three periods, the centres of the large-scale distribution of settlements experienced changes from a "single centre" to a "continuous belt" to a "double centre'. In general, the spatial and temporal characteristics of the settlement distribution were continuously developed through time, while the spatial characteristics show that the main body continued to change locally. In different periods, settlements tended to be in the alluvial plains located between 20 and 60 m and with a slope of less than 6°. At the same time, they showed the obvious characteristic of living close to water. The past, present, and future are in the same chain of time; meanwhile, these settlements are the predecessors of today's cities, towns, and villages. So, this study provides a basis for protecting their heritage value and provides a reference for the coordination of human–land relations, which can help achieve global sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper represents the first study on the Xinzhai Culture pottery from Huadizui site, China using X‐ray diffraction (XRD), X‐ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), and petrographic. Huadizui pottery is considered to be produced locally, and the raw materials for making pottery come from the Xiaoqinling‐Xiong'er Mountain and Songshan Mountain chain. There are at least two or three clay sources or workshops in the Huadizui site, which is evidenced by petrographic characteristics and the chemical composition of samples. All of the investigated samples were mainly related to quartz and feldspar pellets. The corresponding relationship between the characteristics of the matrix and pottery categories reflects potters pursuing the function of vessels at that time. The range of firing temperature of almost all vessels is between 750 and 950°C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence and intensification of transcontinental exchange during both the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age profoundly influenced the social history of Eurasia. While scholars have intensively discussed east-west long-distance communication along the proto-Silk Road, the north-south transport networks that connected China to South and Southeast Asia during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age have attracted much less attention in the scholarly literature based on archeological science data. In this paper, we find new radiocarbon dates from 11 Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in northwestern and central Yunnan in Southwest China, a key entrance into South and Southeast Asia from China. Combined with previously published archeological records and radiocarbon dates, we attempt to disentangle and understand the timing and routes of the networks linking China to South and Southeast Asia during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. We propose three north-south land routes that played essential roles in the cultural exchanges in addition to the proto-Silk Road and maritime routes. This includes the trans-Himalayan routes, trans-Hengduan Mountain routes, and the trans-Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau routes. The north-south exchange between China and South and Southeast Asia probably emerged in the fifth millennium BP (before the present) mainly through a low-frequency trans-Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau and trans-Himalayan routes. The exchange frequency significantly increased after the fourth millennium BP, with the synchronous development of the three primary north-south passageways. Trans-Hengduan routes might have been the most crucial artery connecting China and South and Southeast Asia during 3000–2200 BP, but more archeological records are needed to understand the detailed evolution of these transport networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childbirth was a significant factor in ancient female mortality, but relatively few cases of death in childbirth have been reported in the bioarchaeological literature due to challenges of recovery and interpretation. Here, we report a possible case of dystocia from the late Neolithic (3500–2900 BCE) settlement of Shuanghuaishu site (Gongyi City, Henan Province, China). An adult female skeleton was discovered in an inhumation burial with the remains of a foetus in the pelvis. The top of the foetal skull has exited the pelvic outlet, but most of the head remains in the pelvic cavity. The face is oriented away from the mother's spine, indicating that the foetus was in persistent occipitoposterior position. In modern deliveries, this atypical positioning is associated with complications including prolonged labour and excessive maternal bleeding. Long bone measurements indicate that the foetus was large compared with full‐term modern infants. This may indicate foetal macrosomia, which is also associated with prolonged and difficult labour. These indicators suggest that this was a case of dystocia, with the large size and positioning of the foetus leading to obstructed labour and the death of both mother and infant. The presence of some cranial remains outside the pelvic outlet could represent either partial delivery of the head or partial post mortem delivery (coffin birth). This paper provides an example of the interpretive challenges facing researchers investigating reproductive mortality in ancient China and in other past societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three major points of population migration toward the WHL occurred at 5200, 3800, and 2800 cal BP, which correspond to the seesaw changes of precipitation in western and eastern China. [Display omitted] How various peoples crossed geographical barriers, were affected by climate change and human-made technologies comprise some of the most interesting quandaries in the history of cultures. This paper considers the Hu line, which is a major boundary between population centres and different environments in China. The boundary became evident approximately 11,400 years ago; however, evidence suggests that people crossed through at 5200, 3800, and 2800 cal a BP, facilitating the increases of the trans-Eurasian exchange. The timings of the crossings correspond to the weakening of the East Asian summer monsoon that triggers seesaw changes of precipitation in western and eastern China. This analysis demonstrates that climate change on a millennial-to-centennial scale can have a profound influence on population distribution with long-term consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese civilization, which stands as a shining star in human civilizations, is distinct in its nature and development path. Although it suffered numerous turns of devastation in its 5,000 years of history, it has resiliently remained uninterrupted in its growth and radiance. Characterized by continuity, innovation, unity, inclusiveness, and longstanding commitment to peace, it also exhibits strong cohesion, vitality, flexibility, and adaptability. These characteristics emerged in the Paleolithic Period, indicating that the Chinese civilization did not emerge overnight. Its roots run deep with a long history, sprouting in the Paleolithic Period, breaking ground in the late Neolithic period, and gradually growing into the towering trees it is today. How did the ancient people in China evolve into today's Chinese nation? How did the ancient culture of prehistoric times develop into the current Chinese civilization? What are the connections between the history buried underground and the society we see today? Obviously, there is no clear answer to these questions. There are still many gaps in prehistoric China that need to be filled, and the process of and reasons for the evolution of ethnic groups and cultures still need to be further interpreted. The author tries to trace the roots of the Chinese nation and its civilization back to the Paleolithic Period, using archaeological materials to connect the survival and reproduction process of ancestors and delve into studying the ancient roots of the Huaxia people and Chinese civilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an accompanying paper (Journal of Anthropological Research 73(2):149-80, 2017), the authors assess current archaeological and paleobiological evidence for the early Neolithic of China. Emerging trends in archaeological data indicate that early agriculture developed variably: hunting remained important on the Loess Plateau, and aquatic-based foraging and protodomestication augmented cereal agriculture in South China. In North China and the Yangtze Basin, semisedentism and seasonal foraging persisted alongside early Neolithic culture traits such as organized villages, large storage structures, ceramic vessels, and polished stone tool assemblages. In this paper, we seek to explain incipient agriculture as a predictable, system-level cultural response of prehistoric foragers through an evolutionary assessment of archaeological evidence for the preceding Paleolithic to Neolithic transition (PNT). We synthesize a broad range of diagnostic artifacts, settlement, site structure, and biological remains to develop a working hypothesis that agriculture was differentially developed or adopted according to "initial conditions" of habitat, resource structure, and cultural organization. The PNT of China is characterized by multiple, divergent evolutionary pathways: between the eastern and western parts of North China, and between and the Yangtze Valley and the Lingnan region farther south. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth and significance of scientific research into the origins of agriculture in China calls for fresh examination at scales large enough to facilitate explanation of cultural evolutionary processes. The Paleolithic to Neolithic transition (PNT) is not yet well-understood because most archaeological research on early agriculture cites data from the more conspicuous and common early Neolithic sites. In this, the first of two papers, we synthesize a broad range of early Neolithic archaeological data, including diagnostic artifacts, settlement patterns, site structure, and biological remains, to consider agriculture as a system-level adaptive phenomenon. Although farming by this period was already well-established in much of North China and the middle Yangtze River basin, echoes of the foraging past can be found in the persistence of hunting-related artifacts in North China's Loess Plateau and aquatic-based intensification and vegeculture in South China. Our analysis of the growing body of Chinese data and projections using Binford's hunting and gathering database indicate that agriculture was differentially developed, adopted, or resisted by foragers according to measurable, predictable initial conditions of habitat that influenced diet breadth. In a subsequent paper (Journal of Anthropological Research 73(3), 2017, doi:10.1086/692660), we will use these findings as a platform for a deeper consideration of the emerging archaeological record of the PNT, and to develop hypotheses for the last foraging and first farming adaptations in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lower Yangtze Valley, a key region in understanding early Neolithic human activities, presents an unsolved question regarding the early occurrence of such impact before 8.0 cal ka BP. The elusive details around the specific time and the environmental background underscore the need for more investigation. In addition, regional vegetation is obscurely known in this region mainly attributed to variable pollen sources resulting from highly unstable deposition environment in this widespread marine-flood interaction plains. This paper reconstructs the vegetation-environmental history in the Lower Yangtze Valley during 10.1–7.2 cal ka BP and identifies regional forests and potential signals of human activities through analyses of AMS 14C dates, pollen data, and grain size. The results show that during the period from 10,100 to 8270 cal a BP, a stable deciduous oak forest as the regional forest dominated the region in a monotonous vegetation pattern. After 8270 cal a BP, deciduous oak trees receded, while evergreen oak trees and other woody types expanded, resulting in the regional vegetation transitioning to a regional mixed evergreen-deciduous broad-leaved forest up to 7230 cal a BP. Moreover, early indications of human activity were detected by high abundance of Poaceae including rice (Oryza sativa) type. Together with a previously reported rice phytolith record from neighboring areas, this research provides compelling pollen evidence suggesting that human activities in the Lower Yangtze Valley likely at least dated back to 8200 cal a BP, around 2000 years earlier than current archeological records. • Pollen record reveals vegetation history during 10.0–7.3 cal. ka BP. • Regional deciduous oak forests flourished during the early Holocene. • Cool and dry during the early Holocene while warm and humid after 8.2 cal. ka BP. • Neolithic human impact probably dated back to 8.2 cal. ka BP in the Lower Yangtze. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed farming of rice and millet is one of the basic agricultural modes in the upper and middle Huai River Valley (HRV). According to the latest data, this agricultural mode appeared during the middle and late Peiligang Culture (7.8-7.0 ka BP) in the upper HRV, and then became a common subsistence economy in the end of the Neolithic (5.0-4.0 ka BP) in both the upper and middle HRV. However, it is still not clear how this mixed farming developed in the upper HRV after its occurrence, nor are the regional differences in the development of mixed farming between the upper and middle HRV during the Neolithic completely understood. In this paper, flotation and starch analyses were conducted on samples from eight archaeological sites in the upper and middle HRV. The results indicate that the mixed farming of rice and millet first appeared in the later phase of the middle Neolithic in the regions of the Peiligang Culture, then developed quite rapidly in the late Neolithic (6.8-5.0 ka BP), finally becoming the main subsistence economy at the end of the Neolithic in the upper HRV. However, there are obvious differences in the emergence and development of agriculture between the middle and upper HRV. Rice farming was the only agricultural system during the middle Neolithic, lasting until the end of the Neolithic, when mixed farming appeared in the middle HRV. Furthermore, although mixed farming appeared in both the upper and middle HRV during the end of the Neolithic, the roles of rice, foxtail millet and broomcorn millet in the subsistence economy were not the same. In general, millet was more widely cultivated than rice in the upper HRV, but rice occupied the same or a slightly more prominent position in the middle HRV at the end of the Neolithic. These results are significant for understanding the process of agricultural development and transformation, as well as human adaptation to climatic and cultural variability duringthe Neolithic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The origin, development and expansion of prehistoric agriculture in East Asia have been widely investigated over the past two decades using archaeobotanical analysis from excavated Neolithic and Bronze Age sites. Research on prehistoric agriculture has predominantly focused in the valleys of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Agricultural development during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau of southwest China, an important passageway for human migration into Southeast Asia, still remains unclear. In this paper, based on macrofossil and microfossil analysis and radiocarbon dating at the Shilinggang site, we investigate plant subsistence strategies in the Nujiang River valley during the Bronze Age period. Combined with previous archaeobotanical studies in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, we explore agricultural development processes in this area during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Our results indicate that rice and foxtail millet were cultivated in Shilinggang around 2500 cal a BP. Three phases of prehistoric agricultural development in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau can be identified: rice cultivation from 4800-3900 cal a BP, mixed rice and millet crop (foxtail millet and broomcorn millet) cultivation from 3900-3400 cal a BP, and mixed rice, millet crop and wheat cultivation from 3400-2300 cal a BP. The development of agriculture in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods was primarily promoted by prehistoric agriculture expansion across Eurasia, agricultural expansion which was also affected by the topographic and hydrological characteristics of the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The upper-middle Huai River valley (HRV) is located in the transition zone in the middle of eastern China. Previous studies have shown that the past populations in the upper HRV obtained plant food through gathering and cultivation of both rice and millet during the middle Neolithic. However, for the middle HRV it is not very clear what methods were used by humans to obtain plant food in that time. In this paper, starch grain analysis was carried out on 17 stone tools and 29 cauldron pottery sherds unearthed at Shunshanji (8.5-7.0 kyr BP), which is known as the earliest Neolithic site in the middle HRV excavated so far. Here, ancient starches from Coix lacryma-jobi, Triticeae, Oryza sativa, Trichosanthes kirilowii and one unidentified specie were recovered. This study contributes to the limited knowledge of food strategies as observed in the middle HRV. It demonstrates that both gathering and cultivation of rice took place during the middle-Neolithic. Among the identified species, Coix lacryma-jobi appears to have been the main plant food at Shunshanji. Moreover, it is clear that Oryza sativa was not consumed as much as other plant species according to the occurrence frequency of different starch grains. Starch grains were also found on the used surfaces of grinding stone implements as well as pestles, which means that these stone tools were used for food processing. In addition, axes from Shunshanji may also have been used for food processing as well as wood working because starches were also found on the edge of axes. Information about subsistence strategies and tool use at Shunshanji will also be helpful to understanding the utilization of plants and agricultural development in the middle HRV during the early-middle Neolithic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pigs have played a major role in the economic, social and symbolic systems of China since the Early Neolithic more than 8,000 years ago. However, the interaction between the history of pig domestication and transformations in Chinese society since then, have not been fully explored. In this paper, we investigated the co-evolution from the earliest farming communities through to the new political and economic models of state-like societies, up to the Chinese Empire, using 5,000 years of archaeological records from the Xiawanggang (XWG) and Xinzhai (XZ) sites (Henan Province). To trace the changes of pig populations against husbandry practices, we combined the geometric morphometric analysis of dental traits with a study of the stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios from bone collagen. The domestication process intensified during the Neolithic Yangshao, prompted by greater selective pressure and/or better herd control against wild introgression. After that, pig farming, in XWG, relied on local livestock and a gradual change of husbandry practices overtime. This was characterized by a gentle increase in millet foddering and animal protein intake, until a complete change over to household management during the Han dynasty. The only rupture in this steady trend of husbandry occurred during the Longshan period, with the appearance of small sized and idiosyncratic pigs with specific feeding practices (relying on millet and household scraps). From three exploratory hypothesis, we explored the possibility of anti-elite pig production in XWG during the Longshan period, as a means to resist incorporation into a new economic model promoting intensified domestic production. This exploratory hypothesis is the most suitable to our dataset; however, numerous areas need to be explored further in order to adequately document the role of pigs in the rise of China’s complex societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baligang is a Neolithic site on a northern tributary of the middle Yangtze and provides a long archaeobotanical sequence from the Seventh Millennium BC upto the First Millennium BC. It provides evidence for developments in rice and millet agriculture influenced by shifting cultural affiliation with the north (Yangshao and Longshan) and south (Qujialing and Shijiahe) between 4300 and 1800 BC. This paper reports on plant macro-remains (seeds), from systematic flotation of 123 samples (1700 litres), producing more than 10,000 identifiable remains. The earliest Pre-Yangshao occupation of the sites provide evidence for cultivation of rice (Oryza sativa) between 6300–6700 BC. This rice appears already domesticated in on the basis of a dominance of non-shattering spikelet bases. However, in terms of grain size changes has not yet finished, as grains are still thinner than more recent domesaticated rice and are closer in grain shape to wild rices. This early rice was cultivated alongside collection of wild staple foods, especially acorns (Quercus/Lithicarpus sensu lato). In later periods the sites has evidence for mixed farming of both rice and millets (Setaria italica and Panicum miliaceum). Soybean appears on the site in the Shijiahe period (ca.2500 BC) and wheat (Triticum cf. aestivum) in the Late Longshan levels (2200–1800 BC). Weed flora suggests an intensification of rice agriculture over time with increasing evidence of wetland weeds. We interpret these data as indicating early opportunistic cultivation of alluvial floodplains and some rainfed rice, developing into more systematic and probably irrigated cultivation starting in the Yangshao period, which intensified in the Qujialing and Shijiahe period, before a shift back to an emphasis on millets with the Late Longshan cultural influence from the north. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the development of religious traditions in the Neolithic and Bronze Age of northern China. It applies the cognitive anthropological theory of Divergent Modes of Religiosity (DMR) for the first time in this part of the world. DMR theory frames ritual behavior in two distinct modes, one that is more traumatic/emotional and occurs less frequently (imagistic rituals) and another that is more placid and occurs more frequently (doctrinal rituals). Various archaeological and historic sources indicate that violent imagistic rituals involving human sacrifice and feasting began deep in the Neolithic; but religion did not become more tame when societies entered the Bronze Age, as predicted by DMR theory. Instead, violent imagistic rituals continued and became arguably more brutal. The application of DMR theory here is a useful means to explore the challenging topic of religious violence and to reveal biases in the treatment of ritual and religion in Shang studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This essay explores and critiques the creation of female origin myths in the archaeology of Neolithic China. The first example is the debate surrounding the gender relations in the Yangshao culture. The second half of the paper focuses on whether or not the possible goddess worship in the Hongshan culture can shed light on the understanding of women. It concludes by stating this kind of gynocentric archaeology does not provide an accurate picture of gender in Neolithic China, or propel the feminist agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In this paper, we report results of the pilot study in which we apply skeletochronological analysis of teeth to a collection of modern Chinese wild boar ( Sus scrofa) of known age and date of death. This is the first time that odontochronology has been applied to suids in China. This work allowed us to establish parameters for subsequent analysis of a limited number of Neolithic-aged Sus (wild boar and possible early domesticated pig) samples from Henan Province. The goal of the research is to contribute to the ongoing reconstruction of Neolithic dietary, health and economic patterns along the Yellow River. Our results are encouraging in that regular seasonal growth patterning is observed in the northern control sample, which is from the same region as our archaeological investigation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the current evidence for settlement patterns and ceremonial activity amongst Hongshan Neolithic groups in northeastern China, with particular attention to the well-known ceremonial site at Niuheliang. We consider the location of Hongshan ceremonial sites in their wider landscape settings, arguing that such sites are a chronologically late stage of Hongshan ceremonial investment and that, within these broad complexes, the most impressive architecture and portable goods come from an especially late phase of activity. These more impressive localities were also particularly privileged places in terms of their access to major routes, specific kinds of local geology and integrated patterns of visibility. In contrast to more loosely organized Hongshan residential sites of similar size, ceremonial centres such as Niuheliang (and, within these, certain important sub-localities) clearly functioned as key mechanisms for social, political and regional stratification around roughly the mid 6th millennium BP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we summarize the Holocene environmental history of the lower Yangtze region, east China, based on the sedimentary records and microfossil diatom, pollen, fungal and charcoal data that were published in the past two decades. We then examine the linkage between changes in the coastal environment and the development of rice agriculture in the region, with reference to the available archaeological evidence and historical archives. Based on the sedimentary and archaeological evidence, we conclude that during the early Holocene sea-level movements and sedimentary processes significantly changed the region’s landscape from an open, brackish water environment to a largely enclosed, wetland system. This newly established freshwater marsh environment provided a habitat favourable to rice agriculture. The early Neolithic farmers took the opportunity presented to them and started rice cultivation in locations where freshwater wetland systems were established. During the middle Holocene, environmental conditions were largely stable, and the coastal wetlands evolved slowly. Environmental change was only a supportive player in the Neolithic cultural processes, because the Neolithic people were able to adapt to these changes and took advantages of the newly emerging marsh land for food collection and production. Around 4200 years ago, the prosperous Liangzhu society fell, but there is no evidence to suggest the fall was related to a significant environmental change. The coastal environment continued to evolve slowly during the late Holocene. But this period saw rapid technological development in irrigation and flood protection, and the environmental factor was reduced to background noise. Throughout the Holocene, the main strategy taken by the Neolithic people to cope with environmental change was migration to find better food sources. Along with this strategy was the development of technology in landscape management to ensure a more reliable food production in addition to food collection through hunting, gathering and fishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vast Dongting Lake in the middle Yangtze River basin, China, was occupied by Chinese Neolithic settlements starting 10 000 years ago, and rice cultivation there is probably the earliest in the world. The numerous Neolithic settlements identified by previous archaeological surveys represent the five major Neolithic cultural stages, i.e. the Pengtoushan (9000–7900 cal. yr BP), Zaoshixiaceng (7900–6800 cal. yr BP), Daxi (6800–5500 cal. yr BP), Qujialing (5500–5000 cal. yr BP), and Shijiahe (5000–4000 cal. yr BP). Using sedimentological and geoarchaeological approaches, this paper analyses the drivers of basin-scale settlement relocation in relation to lake-level fluctuations and monsoon climate variations in the Holocene. The relocation of Neolithic sites around the lake shoreline and on the adjacent floodplain, together with radiocarbon-dated stratigraphy, clearly indicates that the shape of the lake basin was an incised and elongated valley occupied by a lake in the early Holocene, which became a broader and shallower depression in the mid to late Holocene. The established lowest habitable base of the settlements positioned on the lake shore assists reconstruction of the change in lake level from 22 m at 9000 cal. yr BP to 26 m at 5500–4000 cal. yr BP, although higher and lower lake levels occurred during the intervening cultural stages. The pollen spectra reveal a warming trend throughout the Holocene with at least four major temperature cycles, driven by monsoon variations between temperate- and warm-humid conditions. In the early Holocene the climate changed from cool-dry to warm-humid, and this played a key role in developing the earliest Pengtoushan culture in the region. Subsequent climate fluctuations fit well with the advance and retreat of the lake shore, also coevally with Neolithic site movements in the lake region. In this study we show how geoarchaeological evidence can be used in environmental reconstruction during the Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The site of Jiahu in the central plain of China is known for its early rice cultivation 9000 years ago. The preliminary starch analysis implies that the Jiahu grinding tools were used for processing various plants, including rice. This paper presents the use-wear analysis carried out on a sample of seventeen grinding tools from Jiahu, nine of which were previously analyzed for the presence of starch. Use-wear traces associated with processing cereal and wood-like material were identified. This result confirms important evidence of cereal processing in the early Neolithic period. It also reveals the diversity of functions in the grinding tool assemblage. Furthermore, the use-wear distribution indicates that grinding slabs without feet and cylindrical rollers were mainly associated with the processing of cereals while grinding slabs with feet were mainly related to the processing of wood-like material. Quantitative analysis of the starch data also indicates that grinding slabs without feet possess more starch grains than the grinding slabs with feet. Therefore, it is argued that specific types of grinding tools were used for processing specific kinds of material. This study highlights the different roles grinding tools may have played in early farming societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi) is believed to be native to tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, and has been used as food widely throughout Asia since prehistory. In China, this cereal is frequently mentioned in ancient texts as being used in food, medicine, and alcoholic beverages. It also assumed significance in dynastic legends. However, unlike other cereals, Job's tears' dispersal and domestication process remain unclear. The macrofossil remains of this plant have only been found sporadically at about seven sites from the Neolithic to the Han dynasty (ca. 7000-1800 cal BP); but its microfossil remains have been recovered from more than 30 sites across China, ranging from tropical to temperate zones, and dating to as early as 28,000 cal. BP. This discrepancy between macrofossil and microfossil findings poses a challenge to archaeobotanists. This paper presents a multi-disciplinary approach to investigate the depositional processes of Job's tears in archaeological contexts, including ethnographic observation, starch and phytolith analyses, use-wear analysis of stone tools, and experimental charring. We propose methods for identifying its microfossil remains, which may help to explore the possible pathways of its domestication in the future. Based on current archaeological data, Job's tears was already collected as a starchy food source by Upper Paleolithic populations in China by 28,000 cal BP, but it may have largely disappeared during the cold and dry episode of Younger Dryas in a large part of north China. While this plant appears to have been exploited during the early Holocene in the Huai and Yangzi river regions, no evidence indicates its presence in the temperate zones north of the Yellow river until after 8000 cal. BP. The reasons for such changes still need to be investigated. However, it is noted that Job's tears became widespread in the Neolithic period, coinciding in time and space with the development of millet domestication over a broad region in the Yellow River and Liao River valleys. This plant may have been a component of farming practices during the mid-Holocene climatic maximum in China, but more comprehensive analyses need to be done to investigate its domestication process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relations between man and nature reflected by evolution of Neolithic production tools in the Three Gorges region of Yangtze River is discussed in this paper. Our results show that there is a good correlation between the percentage vibration of cutting tool types and the environmental evolution indicated by the natural profile nearby. It is possible for ancestors from the Three Gorges region to learn the advantage of mortise and tenon in the early Neolithic Age because they used the stones as vital tools for processing woods. The hunting method in the early Neolithic is throwing, which was inherited in the mid-Neolithic Age when hunting with arrow and bow was developed. Fishing tools are found at the same period. Numbers of net sinkers and spinning wheels unearthed from the strata of the Western Zhou Dynasty from Zhongba Site reveal the fact of fishing with net, while a mass of fishbone pits indicate the powerful productivity brought by new production tools. Quantity of stone spades and stone hoes proves that cultivation agriculture by hoe is extremely attached importance by the ancestors in the Three Gorges region. Moreover, the developed agriculture in Daxi Culture at Zhongbao Island benefits from the Iandform, climate, traffic location, etc. Otherwise, the reason that the farming tools declined in the late Neolithic Age is related to the extreme flood during the early Xia Dynasty and the fishing hunting preference of some ancient settlements. This research shows that ancestors of the Three Gorges region during the Neolithic Age attached importance to fish hunting and cultivation, fought against the natural environment by production tools, constantly created and improved them, then comprehensively utilized them to evolve the relations between man and nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a response, both to Fuller et al.'s recent criticism of Chinese research on rice domestication, as lacking evidence, and to their argument for the beginning of rice domestication around 4000 BC in the lower Yangzi River. We first survey previous publications that discuss the process from wild rice collection to rice domestication in China, and then examine early rice remains from the perspectives of rice morphology and archaeological context. We focus on three aspects: the timing of the initial rice domestication in the Yangzi River region; the earliest presence of domesticated rice in the Lower Yangzi and Huai River regions; and the implications of changes in rice grain sizes in archaeological assemblages. We also discuss problems relating to the presence of immature rice remains in the archaeological record, grain size increase and overall grain shape, which are three of the criteria used by Fuller et al. for distinguishing domesticated from wild rice. Based on published data and our research on rice, we demonstrate that by the early Holocene (9000 cal. BP), Neolithic people in both north and south China may have been harvesting wild rice and initiating rice cultivation that eventually led to domestication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lower Yangtze, eastern China, was colonized by several Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures giving rise to possibly the highest concentration of prehistoric sites in the world. Early Neolithic cultures in the delta region cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) and agricultural developments appear to have occurred throughout the Neolithic with abrupt socio-economic changes possibly associated with the terminal Neolithic. Given the extensive history of environmental exploitation and well-preserved archaeological sites, the Yangtze delta is an ideal setting to explore the complex interactions between humans and their environment. Multiproxies of environmental changes, namely pollen, charcoal and phytoliths, in a 14C AMS-dated sequence of sediments from an exposed profile at Qingpu, Yangtze delta, were investigated. 14C AMS dating indicates that the age range of the sedimentary sequence analysed is from c. 1800 to 6000 BP, and therefore encompasses the terminal Neolithic and subsequent Bronze Age in the region. This paper reviews this sediment-based evidence in the light of current understanding of human-environment interactions during a critical phase of the development of the Yangtze delta and associated human cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For over twenty years, scholars have regarded the cemetery at the Dawenkou site in Shandong as providing important evidence for social ranking and other aspects of social organization during the Neolithic period. Most studies have focused on reconstructing status levels within specific time periods. Recent studies of burials in different areas of the world have shown the utility of examining change over time in mortuary ritual from the perspective of both the individual site and the region. They also demonstrate that it is necessary to consider the ideology and strategies of living people mourning the deceased. This paper examines change over time in the following aspects of mortuary ritual at the Dawenkou site: the mortuary population (total number of graves, age, sex, number of bodies per grave), body disposition, orientation of graves, and variation in characteristics that may be symbolic of status differences: size of grave, kind of grave, and prestige goods. It suggests how scholars can examine change over time in mortuary ritual at Dawenkou sites from a regional perspective. This procedure could reveal insights about change over time in sociopolitical organization and ideology. Burials from the Dawenkou Culture are very important, since habitation remains are not abundant or reported in as much detail. Data from the Chinese Neolithic period can make an important contribution to theoretical and methodological debates among archaeologists in many areas about analysis of burials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates mortuary remains as the material component of past ritual behavior in the Neolithic Dawenkou Culture of North China. By examining the ritual function of ceramic burial goods and their spatial relationships within graves, the author argues that an ideology of competitive funerary ritual developed in Dawenkou and society during the period 5000-2500 B.C. Such an ideology may have been a contributing factor in the development of social complexity in northern coastal China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prehistoric projectile weapons are crucial for understanding the hunting behavior, survival strategies, and subsistence patterns of prehistoric humans. Arrowheads were the primary prehistoric projectile weapon, and here we review the spatio-temporal distribution and changes in the morphology, quantity, and materials composition of arrowheads in the northern regions of China from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic periods to the Bronze Age, together with the factors that influenced these changes. The results reveal that primitive stone arrowheads appeared sporadically in the Middle Paleolithic period. Additionally, the "broad spectrum revolution" and microblade technology during the Upper Paleolithic promoted the regional-scale diffusion of broad and thick stone arrowheads in northern China. During the Neolithic period, relatively narrow and thin stone and bone arrowheads spread rapidly across the entire Yellow River Basin and most of northeastern China. The dominance of these two types of arrowheads alternated, during the period of 7000–5000 yr BP, the number of arrowheads peaked, possibly closely related to changes in the role of hunting (fishing and hunting) and gathering in the subsistence economy, human population size, and the emergence and development of a grinding technology. During the Bronze Age, a significant number of bronze arrowheads appeared, and the total number of arrowheads increased again, and their distribution expanded to northwestern China. The emergence of a bronze smelting technology and inter-group conflicts may have been the primary factors influencing this trend. Our results demonstrate that arrowheads were always an essential component of prehistoric tool kits. Due to technological developments in subsistence strategies, the morphology, function, and popularity of arrowheads underwent substantial changes during different periods. Therefore, a comprehensive study of prehistoric arrowheads can help better understand the subsistence patterns and processes of economic and societal development of prehistoric humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article builds on recent archaeological theorizing about early complex societies to analyze the political anthropology of Neolithic and Bronze Age China in a culture-specific trajectory over the longue durée. Synthesizing the latest archaeological discoveries, I show that a series of successive declines, beginning around 2000 BC, took place throughout lowland China. This put an end to the lowland states of the Longshan period (2400–1900 BC) and provided the context for the constitution of the Erlitou secondary state (1900–1500 BC). Following the shift in "archaic states" studies from identifying "what" to investigating "how," I focus on the strategies, institutions, and relations that undergirded and sustained the Erlitou secondary state. I explore how heterogeneous lowland populations were reorganized after collapse, how a new collective identity was created through ritual and religious performance at the household level at Erlitou, and how Erlitou's ideologies, political system, and economic network were shaped by the upland polities and societies. Through a series of innovative practices, the Erlitou secondary state did not replicate the preceding Longshan states but instead pioneered a sociopolitical order that was repeatedly reenacted and referred to as a source of legitimacy in successive Bronze Age Central Plains polities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating the coevolutions in human food resources, cooking technologies and pottery functions will provide a vital perspective for understanding the driving force of social development in Neolithic China. Here, we preliminarily present a multianalytical study on the plant microfossils of pottery residues, the stable isotopic compositions and radiocarbon dating of animal bones, and the characteristics of pottery vessels (including their types, textures and smoked traces) from the Mijiaya site. The results indicate that the Mijiaya people (ca. 3093‒1961 cal. BC) probably relied on the various food resources consisting of the diversified crops, livestock and some foraging food; Mijiaya people had refined the pottery functions by changing their types, textures and assemblages, and they also used some auxiliary tools for increasing the cooking efficiency and obtaining the complex foodstuff. Integrated with agricultural development and technological innovation during Neolithic China, the foodways at the Mijiaya site also shed light on its inherited social tradition and social organization in the Late Neolithic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Soil organic nitrogen (SON) biochemistry trends in paddy soils are poorly understood on a long-term scale. Methods: To explore the effect of land use on SON sequestration, SON and amino acid (AA) fractions were investigated in soil profiles comprising recent and buried paddy soil (BPS) and buried non-paddy soils (BNS). Two ancient paddy soils from Chuodun ruin site, China, were distinguished based on colour and rice phytolith abundance. 14C abundance in soil organic carbon was used to estimate the age of carbonized rice and ancient paddy soil via a liquid scintillation analysis method, dating to 3800–5500 and 960–4000 BC. Results: The proportions of D-AAs and acidic AAs in BPS, up to 6.13% and 7.73%, respectively, were higher than those in modern paddy soils. D-alanine (and the D-/L- ratio), aspartate, and glutamate increased with soil depth in BPS, and the amount of D-aspartate was linearly and significantly positively correlated with soil depth (p < 0.05). Based on phytolith stability and abundance, the N sequestration rate (NSR: residual N content as a proportion of initial N content) was proposed to indicate the residual N content varied with time. The NSR was estimated as 10.8–91.2% in BPS with a phytolith stability factor of 0.5–0.9. Conclusion: These data suggest that intermittent continuous high-intensity rice cultivation could increase soil N sequestration potential over the long term, and that N sequestration is not only associated with AA aging in the organic N fraction, but also with biogeochemical processes in BPS and paddy management. In addition, high-intensity rice cultivation can increase N loss risks, and in turn result in large fluctuations in N sequestration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Archaeobotanical remains of millet were found at the Nan-kuan-li East site in Tainan Science Park, southern Taiwan. This site, dated around 5000-4300 BP, is characterized by remains of the Tapenkeng culture, the earliest Neolithic culture found so far in Taiwan. A large number of millet-like carbonized and charred seeds with varied sizes and shapes were unearthed from the site by the flotation method. Since no millet grain was ever found archaeologically in Taiwan previously, this discovery is of great importance and significance. This paper is in an attempt to further analyze these plant remains for a clearer understanding of the agricultural practice of the ancient inhabitants of the Nan-kuan-li East site. Result: We used light and scanning electron microscopy to examine the morphological features of some modern domesticated and unearthed seeds to compare and identify the archaeobotanical remains by three criteria: caryopsis shape, embryo notch, and morphology of lemma and palea. We also developed a new methodology for distinguishing the excavated foxtail and broomcorn millet seeds. Conclusion: Two domesticated millet, including broomcorn millet ( Panicum miliaceum) and foxtail millet ( Setaria italica), as well as one wild millet species, yellow foxtail ( Setaria glauca), were identified in the unearthed seeds. Together with the millet remains, rice was also cultivated in the area. Archaeological evidence shows that millet and rice farming may have been important food sources for people living about 5000 years ago in southern Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lower Yangtze River of China has been identified as an independent center of rice domestication, but tracing the earliest evidence for rice cultivation practices has been challenging. Here we report the first evidence for rice harvesting, based on use-wear and phytolith residue analyses of 52 flaked stone tools (10000–7000 BP) from the Shangshan and Hehuashan sites. The tools reflect two harvesting methods: reaping the panicles at the top and cutting the stalk near the base. Thus, our research provides a new method for investigating prehistoric cereal cultivation, and the data lend support to the evidence of rice domestication in the early Holocene. The results also show the complexity of rice harvesting strategies several millennia before the emergence of full-fledged agriculture in the Lower Yangtze. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the earthwork building methods, the adobe masonry has a long history around the world. In 2015, the Zhengzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology discovered the earliest adobe house in Prehistoric China at the Qingtai Site. In this work, physical properties, material composition, and microstructure of the adobe brick and other earth samples gathered in this adobe house were studied. The results showed that the density and surface hardness of the adobe brick reached 2.12 g/cm and 91 HA, which was second only to the rammed house floor sample. The adobe brick contained about 13.2% of plant fiber, and in its inorganic composition, the clay cement with particle size less than 0.075 mm accounted for 90%. The results of XRD analysis showed that the content of kaolinite in adobe brick was 2–5 times that of other samples. The structure analysis displayed that the adobe brick was much more compact, and its porosity was about 28.6%. These research results demonstrated that the adobe brick was formed under a certain pressure and its raw materials were different from those of other samples in this adobe house. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the long-term change of plant use from the Neolithic to the early Bronze Age (ca. 4800–1000 BC) in central-south Inner Mongolia to reconstruct the transitional process from foraging and low-level food production to agriculture. We employed an interdisciplinary approach, including starch analysis, phytolith analysis, and usewear analysis, correlated to changes in tool types used over time. The results show that this region experienced several waves of social transformations resulting from a combination of local social development, interactions with surrounding regions, and changing climatic conditions. The initial Neolithic development was a result of population expansions from the Central Plain, which introduced domesticated millets and arguably Job's tears to the region. However, cereal-based farming before 3500 BC appears to have been rather insignificant in the economy. Instead, it appears that various underground storage organs (USOs), wild or cultivated, including yams, lily bulbs, snake gourd roots, and occasionally cattail rhizomes, were staple foods. By ca. 3500–3000 BC, subsistence favoring USOs began to give way to cereal-based farming as millets and Job's tears became a more important source of starchy foods. This shift was parallel with a rapid population increase in the region and may be related in part to the need for additional high-calorie foods as would be provided by cereals. During the late Neolithic and the early Bronze Age (ca. 2500–1000 BC), cereal farming appears to have become a dominant starch-based subsistence strategy. In addition to millets and Job's tears, wheat and/or barley may have been introduced to the region. The population in this region may have played a crucial role for the introduction of wheat and/or barley from the steppes to China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most turquoise objects from early Neolithic sites in China are pendants made of a single material. From the later Neolithic period, however, people started to create turquoise ornaments with two or more composite materials. Ornaments were inlaid with turquoise and other materials using new techniques. In the Early Bronze Age, the turquoise production process reached its peak. At the Erlitou site, archaeologists found a large dragon-shaped turquoise mosaic, a variety of animal-shaped turquoise decorations, and turquoise workshops. The purpose of this paper is to understand the importance of turquoise products in the formation process of early state formation in China by analyzing the following topics: the technological evolution of turquoise manufacture, the combination of composite materials, the use of adhesive in turquoise inlay, and the associated production processes as they developed from the Neolithic to Early Bronze Age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Household refuse is ideally suited for the comparative study of social and economic inequality. Compositional variation revealed by nonmetric multidimensional scaling of artifact assemblage data from multiple households is readily interpreted as evidence for qualitative differences in social prestige, wealth, and productive activities. Different configurations of these variables reflect differences in social structure and the underlying bases of inequality between communities. Comparing the average of the Euclidean distances from which each scaling was produced provides a direct and quantitative means of assessing differences in the magnitude of assemblage differences interpreted as social inequality between cases. Gini indices calculated from the same household artifact assemblage data provide a similarly direct and quantitative means of measuring differences in wealth inequality between communities. In this paper, household artifact assemblage data from three Neolithic settlements in three different areas of northern China are analyzed. Our analysis reveals differences between some of China's earliest complex societies in terms of the kinds and degrees of inequality represented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• In Northeast China, transition to a sedentary lifeway was fast, while the transition to agriculture was much more gradual. • The main socioeconomic unit of early sedentary villages was the individual household. • We identified incipient processes of household specialization, but no evidence of stratification or social hierarchy. • The community was integrated through egalitarian ideology, collective leadership and communal rituals. The transition to agriculture and sedentary life are two processes that have shaped the history of humankind and catalyzed not only subsistence strategies and dietary habits, but also meaningful transformations of social relations and cultural formations. However, while questions about where and when the earliest domesticated plants and animals emerged have received much attention, anthropologically-oriented research on early sedentary communities is much less developed. In this paper we analyze the abundant archaeological data excavated at one early Neolithic site – the Chahai site – in Northeast China. The rich data published in the Chahai site report enables us to address such issues as economic adaptation, internal community organization, the economic activities and sharing strategies of household members, and mechanisms of community integration. This analysis suggests that during the formative phases of sedentism and cultivation, households in Northeast China were relatively independent production and consumption units. Differences in the activities conducted at the household level suggest incipient processes of specialization, but no evidence of socio-economic stratification or centralized leadership was identified. At the community level, non-economic activity, such as group rituals and communal feasting, suggests the development of collective leadership that organized small-scale public construction and rituals serving as integrative mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from hunting and gathering to agricultural subsistence is a striking feature of the Neolithic revolution worldwide. Known as the cradle of a series of representative Neolithic cultures, south Hangzhou Bay (SHB) witnessed substantial changes in both landscape and human subsistence during the Holocene, yet the relationship between them was not well established. Here, we combined archaeobotanical results from sediment cores with archaeological findings to illustrate the subsistence changes during the Neolithic regime in the context of the landscape process in SHB. Our result showed that SHB was inundated by marine transgression 8,200 years ago without significant human imprints. At 8,200-7,600 cal yr. BP, the initial coastal wetland formation at locations with the semi-enclosed landscape would have facilitated the activities of hunting-gathering, incipient rice cultivation, and collecting seafood if accessible. Pollen and phytoliths evidence from multiple sediment cores in the Yaojiang Valley (YJV) suggested a desalinization process of wetland in the following hundreds of years. This amelioration of the environment had favored the intermittent rice cultivation at various locations in the YJV, where archaeological evidence was absent. Since 7,000-6,600 cal yr. BP, as freshwater wetland expanded with coastal progradation, a wide variety of food resources became available. Meanwhile, rice domestication began to serve as a crucial food supplement as evidenced by both microfossil results and archaeological findings. With the expansion of the coastal plain after 5,500 cal yr. BP, rice farming became widespread and rice consumption was increasingly important in the diet, as supported by discoveries of upgraded farming tools, abundant rice remains, and ancient rice paddies. Above all, the change of subsistence from hunting-gathering to rice farming exhibited an adaptive strategy in response to landscape evolution from an initial marine-influenced setting to a later coastal plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Taihu Lake region is an important area where China's rice agriculture originated and where early Chinese civilisation formed. Knowing how this ecologically sensitive area's Neolithic residents adapted to environmental changes and utilised natural resources is key to understanding the origins of their agricultural practices and civilisation. Focusing on food resources, we systematically organised data from archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological research, human bone stable isotopic analyses, and fatty acid and proteome residue analyses on the Taihu Lake area's Neolithic findings to explore the interrelationships between subsistence, the environment, and society through qualitative and quantitative analysis supported by paleoenvironmental and archaeological evidence. The results showed that during the Neolithic era (7.0–4.3 ka BP), under a suitable climate with stable freshwater wetland environments, 38 varieties of edible animals and plants were available to humans in the Taihu Lake area. Despite agriculture being an important food source, rice cultivation and husbandry developed at different paces. Paddy rice cultivation began in wetlands and had always dominated the subsistence economy, as although gathering was universal and diverse, it produced a relatively low volume of food. In contrast, husbandry did not provide sufficient meat throughout the 2000 years of the Majiabang and Songze Cultures. Thus, fishing for freshwater organisms and hunting for wild mammals were the main meat sources before the domestication of pigs became the primary source of meat during the Liangzhu Cultural period. With the available wetland ecological resources and paddy rice farming (the sole crop), the Taihu Lake area transformed into an agricultural society in which rice cultivation dominated the Songze Culture's subsistence economy, which was also the first to exhibit social complexity. Then, finally, early civilisation developed in the Liangzhu Cultural period. This study contributes to understanding the unique evolutionary path of early Chinese civilisation and has important implications on sustainable resource utilisation for constructing ecological civilisations in present-day societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two different types of grinding stones, grinding slabs and rollers, as well as mortars and pestles from the Shuangdun site (ca. 7.3–6.8 ka BP) in the middle Huai River region, were subjected to starch grain analysis to investigate the evolution of plant food processing tools during the transition period from a gathering–fishing–hunting economy to farming. The results suggest that both types of grinding stones were used to process various plant species, including Triticeae, Job's tears (Coix lacryma‐jobi), lotus root (Nelumbo nucifera), and bean (Vigna spp.). However, starch grains of rice (Oryza sativa) were only discovered from mortar and pestle tools, indicating that mortars and pestles might have become a fixed combination tool for rice processing. Damage characteristics analysis for different kinds of starches indicated that mortars and pestles were also used for grinding plant foods besides dehusking rice, whereas some roughly made slabs no longer had a grinding function and were used only for pounding some specific plant foods. The functional degeneration of grinding slabs coincides with the rise of farming in Neolithic China around 7,000 BP. This study provides new evidence for understanding the evolution of prehistoric human plant food processing tools in Neolithic Eastern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]