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This article aims to reveal the subsistence economy of the Qin and Han empires and why they continued to advance northward to defeat the Huns (Xiongnu 匈奴) and other grassland peoples in the Ordos Plateau. We present the δ13C and δ15N results for the dietary reconstruction of animals and humans from the Fuluta cemetery in the Ordos Plateau, a nomadic farming junction area, from the late Qin dynasty (221–207 BCE) to the Western Han dynasty (202 BCE to 8 AD). Results show that the δ13C and δ15N values for humans (−8.5 ± 0.4‰, 9.2 ± 0.5‰, n = 29), pigs (−8.6 ± 1.4‰, 7.7 ± 1.1‰, n = 3) and dogs (−9.1 ± 0.3‰, 7.7 ± 0.4‰, n = 3) were generally higher than those for cattle (−15.7 ± 1.4‰, 6.5 ± 1.0‰, n = 8) and sheep (−17.8 ± 0.9‰, 6.2 ± 1.6‰, n = 11), indicating humans, pigs and dogs may have relied primarily on C4‐based food (millet), whereas cattle and sheep mainly relied on C3‐based food (wild plants). Related research shows that the diet of the population of the Fuluta cemetery was relatively homogenous and mainly based on millet agriculture and domestic animals, such as pigs, indicating that millet‐based agriculture was narrowly focused on for subsistence in the frontier region of northern China. The results of stable isotope work of the past populations in the surrounding areas of the Ordos Plateau from the period of the late Western Zhou dynasty (1046–771 BCE) to the Han dynasties (202 BCE to 220 AD) show trends of northward advancement and stability of the agricultural economy were constantly strengthening. Therefore, agriculturalization in the Ordos Plateau may have been the motivating force for Qin and Han imperial expansion into the frontier region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Since the discovery of the proto-Shang culture, created mostly by ancestors of the Shang clan from the late Neolithic Age to the early Shang period (∼2000–1600 BC), the subsistence strategy and lifestyle of humans in China during their movement southwards have been a great focus. Chinese literature and archaeological findings suggest that the proto-Shang societies were composed of different cultural groups and had various subsistence strategies. For example, at the Liuzhuang site, three types of burials, i.e., stone coffin, wooden coffin and earthen shaft-pit, are found. The wooden coffin and earthen shaft-pit burials had been adopted locally in the Central Plains since the Neolithic Age while the stone coffin burials were usually used by people living in Northeast China and had never been found in the Central Plains before. In this study, stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic analyses were performed on human bones from the Liuzhuang site and animal bones from Zhangdeng site in Henan province, China to determine whether different social groups had various accesses to food resources and whether their dietary difference was related to inequality in social status. Humans have mean δ13C and δ15N values of −7.6 ± 0.6‰ and 9.6 ± 1.0‰ (n = 19) respectively, which strongly indicates that humans rely primarily on C4-based food. The main contribution of C4-based food in their diet is from millet agriculture or animals that consume millet by-products. The isotopic spacing of carbon and nitrogen isotopic values between pigs and humans, between dogs and humans, and between cattle and humans, all imply that these animals were the main meat resources for humans. Surprisingly, the δ13C values and δ15N values of humans with different types of burials are quite close, indicating that they had equal access to food resources. This result suggests that the proto-Shang humans had adapted to the local subsistence strategy, and the local cultural factors in the Central Plains were very well integrated into proto-Shang culture. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]