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The bronze mou was an important artifact commonly used in the Ba-Shu region (now in Chongqing and Sichuan Province) during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Han Dynasty. Although extensive archaeological study of the bronze mou has been conducted, scientific analysis of the bronze mou has been limited, and no organic residue analysis has been performed on the bronze mou. In this study, four bronze mous dated to the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD) with organic residues unearthed in three archaeological sites in Wushan, Chongqing, were selected for analysis by portable X-ray fluorescent spectrometer (P-XRF) and liquid chromatograph-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). The results of the alloy composition indicated that all the samples are copper-tin-lead ternary alloys. The proteomic analysis results confirmed that the bronze mou had been used as cooking utensils or containers. At the Tuchengpo Cemetery, soybeans were found in both bronze mou M32:27 and M38:39, and vigna was discovered in M32:27. No useful protein was discovered in the bronze mou from the Shennvmiao Cemetery. Proteins of ginkgo and chicken were found in M16:12 at the Gaotangguan Cemetery. The discovery indicated that residents in Wushan, Chongqing, had access to a diverse range of food sources around 2000 years ago. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that proteomic analysis is highly effective in studying archaeological organic residues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of organic residues in pottery can provide abundant information on the lives of ancient people, including the natural resources consumed, the techniques applied, the functions of pottery, and so on. In this paper, a variety of methods, including FT-IR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry), SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and SR-μCT (synchrotron radiation micro-computed tomography), have been employed to characterize the carbonized residues from an amphora, unearthed from the Changning site, Qinghai Province, Northwest China. The pottery residues were identified as birch bark tar, so ancient people in China could have used the particular local plant resources, birch bark, to produce tar as early as the Qijia cultural period (c. 4,000-3,500 BP). The birch bark tar could have been used to make composite tools discovered at the Changning site, and the amphora has probably been used for tar production. This, to our knowledge so far, is the earliest evidence for the use of birch bark tar in China. Due to the special geographical location of the Gansu-Qinghai Region, and the transition of subsistence strategy during the Qijia cultural period, the production and utilization of birch bark tar could not rule out the possibility of western influence, which needs further evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Birch bark tar is one of the oldest man-made organic materials, which was most commonly served as adhesives in ancient Eurasia, but little is known about its usage in personal ornaments. In this study, we present the earliest direct evidence for the specific use of birch bark tar in the production of ornaments through chemical investigation (including FTIR, GC/MS, and Py-GC/MS) and imaging examination (including SEM and micro-CT). The chemical and microscopic analyses indicate that some beads and bracelets unearthed from a public cemetery (the Dayuanzi site) of an ancient state or tribe (Xinan Yi) on the eastern Yunnan plateau in southwest China dated to approximately 475 BCE–8 CE were exclusively made with birch bark tar. These ornaments represent a unique cultural phenomenon among ethnic groups in this region, which may contribute to a better understanding of plant exploitation and the related birch bark culture among different cultural groups and their interrelationships in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the emergence and progress of composite tools in the Middle Stone Age, the adhesive became one of the most widely used materials by early human societies. However, the precise composition identification of adhesive in archaeological remains is a real analytical challenge, because the adhesive mainly consists of organic materials that are susceptible to decay during burial process. Of particular interest is to know which animal/plant species were being exploited for glue manufacturing other than for food. The arid climate of the Xiaohe Cemetery, located in Taklamakan Desert, northwestern China, provides favorable conditions for the preservation of organic residues. A bone sculpture-inlaid wooden artifact was collected from the Xiaohe Cemetery, with some semi-transparent yellowish adhesive exposed due to the detachment of an inlaid bone sculpture. In this paper, micro samples of the adhesive were scraped for FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, primary examination) and subsequent proteomic analysis to determine the proteinous component(s) and precise origin(s). The identified tryptic peptides match most closely to known bovine collagen markers, suggesting that this adhesive was an animal glue made from cattle. These results reveal the diverse utilizations of cattle in the Xiaohe Cemetery, which provided not only meat, milk, hides, sinews and dung, but also leftover parts for manufacturing adhesive. This is the earliest evidence of adhesive identified in China up to our knowledge, which sheds light on adhesive development around 3500 years ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the analysis of macro- and micro-plant remains, food residues and the rice-field like features from the mid-Neolithic site of Hanjing in the Huai River region, we propose an early beginning of rice cultivation at Hanjing. The presence of non-shattering rice spikelet bases and the increasing percentages of rice phytoliths confirm the appearance of domesticated rice in the Hanjing archaeobotanical assemblage. However, as indicated by the different prediction rates of rice domestication shown by morphometric of the double-peaked Oryza-type glum cells and fish-scale decorations on the Oryza-type bulliform cells from different cultural phases before 7,000 a BP, rice cultivation was at an early stage of development. Our findings provide new and significant evidence towards the establishment of the Huai River as another important center for early rice cultivation and domestication in prehistoric China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) is the only extant species of the genus Crocuta, which once occupied a much wider range during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. However, its origin and evolutionary history is somewhat contentious due to discordances between morphological, nuclear, and mitochondrial data. Due to the limited molecular data from east Asian Crocuta, also known as cave hyena, and the difficulty of extracting ancient DNA from this area, here we present proteomic analysis of cave hyenas from three locations in northern China. This marks the first proteomic data generated from cave hyenas, adding new molecular data to the east Asian populations. Phylogenetic analysis based on these protein sequences reveals two different groups of cave hyenas in east Asia, one of which could not be distinguished from modern spotted hyenas from northern Africa, tentatively the result of previously suggested gene flow between these lineages. With developments of instrumentation and analytical methods, proteomics holds promising potential for molecular phylogenetic reconstructions of ancient fauna previously thought to be unreachable using ancient DNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the crossroads of prehistoric cultures, the Beijing region is an important area for studying the exchange of prehistoric culture and the spread of millet agriculture. Although millet remains have been found in the Donghulin site during the Early Neolithic Age, there is little millet remains during the Middle and Late Neolithic Age, so there is a gap of approximately 2,000 years since the time of the Donghulin site. The Shangzhai site is located in the Pinggu Basin in eastern Beijing, and it has a large time span with sequential strata; however, there are few large animals and plant remains found at this site, thus the subsistence strategy of ancient people remains unclear. In this study, the absorbed lipids of pottery sherds unearthed in the Neolithic cultural layer of the Shangzhai site were extracted and analysed. The results show that these potteries were used to process millet, the meat of terrestrial non-ruminants and wild ruminants, and dairy of wild ruminants, providing new insights for the subsistence strategy and the development of millet agriculture in the Middle and Late Neolithic Age of Beijing. In addition, the food processing in pottery may be an internal heating method, such as stone boiling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeological culture found in Xiaohe Cemetery (1980-1450 BC) is one of the early Bronze Age cultures in Xinjiang, northwestern China. The material assemblages from Xiaohe culture display features with both eastern and western influences. These east-west cultural and dietary interactions may be observed via the diet of the Xiaohe population. This paper examined the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes of human and animal bones and human hairs from the Xiaohe Cemetery and compared with those of human bones from the Gumugou Cemetery, another Xiaohe culture site. The results indicate that the diets of the peoples from the Xiaohe culture varied significantly over different periods. The unified diets of the earlier periods reflect that an admixed population first settled in the Lop Nur region and primarily engaged in animal husbandry. In the later periods, the transformations in the human diets in this region reflect that new immigrants constantly relocated here and promoted population complexity over time. Moreover, this population occasionally produced small quantities of domesticated wheat and millet. The complex population and diversified economy of the Xiaohe culture were due to the expansion of the coeval cultures in the Eurasian steppe and eastern immigrants. Additionally, the millet cereal was probably mainly used for ritual practices rather than for staple food in the later periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a long time, the academic community has known very little about hunter-gatherers in the steppe area of northern China in the mid-Holocene. This article reports on the Ula Usu West site in Siziwangqi Banner, Inner Mongolia, including basic information about the site, animal bones, lithic artifacts and the environmental background. The age of the site is 4.8–4.4 cal. kyr BP, placing it in the Late Neolithic period. Considering integrated evidence from flotation, zooarchaeology, ZooMS analysis and lithic artifacts, the preliminary inference is that the population lived in a hunting-gathering economy. They used lithic tools represented by arrowheads to hunt mainly Antilopinae animals (e.g., Procapra gutturosa). Pollen analysis suggests that the climate was relatively humid, providing advantageous living conditions for the population. The climate evidence is consistent with a warm event at approximately 4.7 kyr BP. A dry-cold event (4.5–4.0 kyr BP) and the gradual expansion of agriculture and breeding might have resulted in the final decline of the population. This article provides new materials for research on the "last" hunter-gatherers in the steppe area of northern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foodcrusts are often discovered inside archaeological pottery and other containers, and they can provide abundant information about vessel function, diet, cuisine activities and human subsistence strategies. Lipid analysis has been used for decades to characterize foodcrusts, indicating their composition and biological sources. Recently, proteomics has also been applied to foodcrusts, providing more specific information about the tissues and species origins. In this study, lipid and proteomic analyses were combined to analyze foodcrusts in pottery from the Xiawan site of the Taihu Lake region, East China. These pottery sherds are mainly attributed to the Songze cultural period (ca. 5800–5300 BP). The results show that these foodcrusts contain interpretable concentrations of lipid compounds, including a series of common medium- and long-chain fatty acids, dicarboxylic acids, aliphatic alcohols, sterols and their derivatives, isoprenoid fatty acids and long-chain ketones, as well as proteins of terrestrial mammals and aquatic products. This study provides direct evidence for the function of pottery and the exploitation of animal and plant resources at that time, especially freshwater products, marine fish, rice and millet. Therefore, the combination of lipid and proteomic analyses has great potential in organic residue analysis for foodcrusts. • Lipid and proteomic analyses disclose a diet of rice and fish (Fandao Gengyu , 饭稻羹鱼), mainly freshwater, in Neolithic East China. • Proteomic analyses reveal the consumption of marine fish. • γ-tocopherol and aliphatic alcohols could be used as rice biomarkers. • New evidence for the millet spread into southern China during the Neolithic Age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological dental calculus has emerged as a rich source of ancient biomolecules, including proteins. Previous analyses of proteins extracted from ancient dental calculus revealed the presence of the dietary milk protein b-lactoglobulin, providing direct evidence of dairy consumption in the archaeological record. However, the potential for calculus to preserve other food-related proteins has not yet been systematically explored. Here we analyse shotgun metaproteomic data from 100 archaeological dental calculus samples ranging from the Iron Age to the post-medieval period (eighth century BC to nineteenth century AD) in England, as well as 14 dental calculus samples from contemporary dental patients and recently deceased individuals, to characterize the range and extent of dietary proteins preserved in dental calculus. In addition to milk proteins, we detect proteomic evidence of foodstuffs such as cereals and plant products, as well as the digestive enzyme salivary amylase. We discuss the importance of optimized protein extraction methods, data analysis approaches and authentication strategies in the identification of dietary proteins from archaeological dental calculus. This study demonstrates that proteomic approaches can robustly identify foodstuffs in the archaeological record that are typically under-represented due to their poor macroscopic preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Non-destructive approach including GC/MS, FTIR and SR-μCT has been performed to identify an ancient jet artifact. • There exists difference in the FTIR spectra of jet around the world. • The use of jet by lower status officials is related to the first large-scale exploitation of coal in the Western Han Dynasty. Some bright black beads with dense surface and poor light transmittance are generally considered as jet artifacts in China. However, little scientific investigation has been applied to support this judgment. This study focuses on the nondestructive identification of a jet bead, unearthed from the Changle Cemetery, Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 220), Ningxia, China through multi nondestructive approach. The results of Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis indicate that the bead belongs to coal products, based on the typical coal biomarkers including n -alkanes, acyclic isoprenoids and terpenoids. FTIR analysis further confirms that the bead is made of jet in comparison with modern jet samples in China. The bead is also scanned with Synchrotron Radiation Micro-computed Tomography (SR-μCT) to obtain the structure and drilling technology information, which suggests that the bead is uniform and was drilled from both sides. The nondestructive identification of ancient jet artifacts is first reported in China up to date, which not only reveals the varied utilizations of coal products in ancient society but also suggests that the popularization of jet in the Han Dynasty might be related to the first large-scale exploitation of coal, and offers an effective method suitable for archaeological jet samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]