Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-mzp66 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-04T18:01:47.420Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rethinking pig domestication in China: regional trajectories in central China and the Lower Yangtze Valley

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2020

Ningning Dong  and
Jing Yuan
Ningning Dong*
Affiliation:
Department of Cultural Relics and Museology, Fudan University, P.R. China Institute of Archaeological Science, Fudan University, P.R. China
Jing Yuan
Affiliation:
Department of Cultural Relics and Museology, Fudan University, P.R. China Institute of Archaeological Science, Fudan University, P.R. China
*
*Author for correspondence: ✉ [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Animal domestication represents one of the most important advances in human history. Pigs (Sus scrofa) were domesticated multiple times in prehistory and are therefore ideal for examining how geography and culture shape the domestication process. The authors integrate zooarchaeological and isotopic data from Neolithic (c. 10 000–2000 BP) pigs from central China and the Lower Yangtze Valley to demonstrate two dominant domestication trajectories. In central China, pig husbandry intensified following domestication, corresponding with population growth and a shift in socio-economic organisation. In the Lower Yangtze Valley, however, increasing urbanism was associated with a preference for wild resources supplemented by the limited exploitation of domestic pigs.

Keywords

ChinaNeolithicLiangzhuanimal husbandrypig domestication
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 94 , Issue 376 , August 2020 , pp. 864 - 879
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arbuckle, B.S. 2013. The late adoption of cattle and pig husbandry in Neolithic central Turkey. Journal of Archaeological Science 40: 1805–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.12.008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atahan, P., Itzstein-Davey, F., Taylor, D., Dodson, J., Qin, J., Zheng, H. & Brooks, A.. 2008. Holocene-aged sedimentary records of environmental changes and early agriculture in the Lower Yangtze, China. Quaternary Science Reviews 27: 556–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2007.11.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bogucki, P. 1995. Preclude to agriculture in North-central Europe, in Campana, D.V. (ed.) Before farming: hunter-gatherer society and subsistence: 106–16. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.Google Scholar
Cai, L. & Qiu, S.. 1984. Carbon isotope and ancient diet. Kaogu 10: 949–55 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Chamberlain, A. 2006. Demography in archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511607165CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, J. 2005. The ecological history view on the decline of Liangzhu. Dongnan Wenhua 5: 33–40 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Chen, X., Fang, Y., Hu, Y. & Hou, Y.. 2015. Isotopic reconstruction of the late Longshan period (c. 4200–3900 BP) dietary complexity before the onset of state-level societies at the Wadian site in the Ying River Valley, Central Plains, China. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 26: 808–17. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.2482CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cucchi, T., Hulme-Beaman, A. & Yuan, J.. 2011. Early Neolithic pig domestication at Jiahu, Henan Province, China: clues from molar shape analyses using geometric morphometric approaches. Journal of Archaeological Science 38: 11–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.07.024CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobney, K., Yuan, J., Ervynck, A., Albarella, U., Rowley-Conwy, P., Yang, M. & Luo, Y.. 2006. New perspective on the origin of pig domestication. Kaogu: 74–80 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Ervynck, A., Dobney, K., Hongo, H. & Meadow, R.. 2001. Born free? New evidence for the status of ‘Sus scrofa’ at Neolithic Çayönü Tepesi (south-eastern Anatolia, Turkey). Paléorient 27: 47–73. https://doi.org/10.3406/paleo.2001.4731CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flad, R.K., Yuan, J. & Li, S.. 2007. Zooarcheological evidence for animal domestication in north-west China, in Madsen, D.B., Chen, F. & Gao, X. (ed.) Development in quaternary sciences (volume 9): 167–203. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1571-0866(07)09012-4Google Scholar
Frantz, L.A.F. et al. 2019. Ancient pigs reveal a near-complete genomic turnover following their introduction to Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 116: 17231–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gremillion, K.J., Barton, L. & Piperno, D.R.. 2014. Particularism and the retreat from theory in the archaeology of agricultural origins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 111: 6171. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1308938110CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guo, M. 2014. The macroscopic study on the settlements of Liangzhu Culture. Kaogu Xuebao 1: 1–32 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Guo, Y., Lou, J., Xiang, C., Xia, Y. & Xu, X.. 2018. Investigating dietary patterns and human mobility in bone apatite at the Zhuangqiaofen site (5000–3700 BP), Zhejiang Province, China. Quaternary International 493: 245–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.05.047CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henan Provincial Institute of Archaeology & Cultural Relics. 1999. Jiahu Excavation Report. Beijing: Kexue (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Hu, Y., Ambrose, S.H. & Wang, C.. 2006. Stable isotopic analysis of human bones from Jiahu site, Henan, China: implications for the transition to agriculture. Journal of Archaeological Science 33: 1319–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2006.01.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, J. 2005. Demographic study of prehistoric population in the Middle and Lower Yellow River. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Shandong University.Google Scholar
Institute of Archaeology CASS. 2010. Monographs of Chinese archaeology (Series A). Beijing: Chinese Social Science.Google Scholar
Kim, S.-O., Antonaccio, C.M., Lee, Y.K., Nelson, S.M., Pardoe, C., Quilter, J. & Rosman, A.. 1994. Burials, pigs, and political prestige in Neolithic China. Current Anthropology 35: 119–41. https://doi.org/10.1086/204251CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, G. & Burger, J.. 2013. A population genetics view of animal domestication. Trends in Genetics 29: 197–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2013.01.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larson, G. & Fuller, D.. 2014. The evolution of animal domestication. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 45: 115–36. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110512-135813CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, G. et al. 2007. Ancient DNA, pig domestication, and the spread of the Neolithic into Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 104: 15276–81. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0703411104CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larson, G., Liu, R., Zhao, X. & Yuan, J.. 2010. Patterns of East Asian pig domestication, migration, and turnover revealed by modern and ancient DNA. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 107: 7686–91. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0912264107CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, G.-A., Crawford, G.W., Liu, L. & Chen, X.. 2007. Plants and people from the Early Neolithic to Shang periods in north China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 104: 1087–92. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0609763104CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, H. 2010. Datong and Xiaokang society in ancient China. Shehuixue Yanjiu: 126–42 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Li, Y., Wu, J., Hou, S., Shi, C., Mo, D., Liu, B. & Zhou, L.. 2010. Palaeoecological records of environmental change and cultural development from the Liangzhu and Qujialing archaeological sites in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Quaternary International 227: 29–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2010.05.015CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, F. & Feng, Z.. 2012. A dramatic climate transition at 4000 cal. yr BP and its cultural responses in Chinese cultural domains. Holocene 22: 1181–97. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683612441839CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, L. 2004. The Chinese Neolithic: trajectories to early states. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511489624Google Scholar
Liu, L. & Chen, X.. 2012. The archaeology of China: from the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139015301CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, X. & Jones, M.K.. 2016. Under one roof: people, crops and animals in Neolithic north China, in Boyle, K., Rabett, R.J. & Hunt, C.O. (ed.) Living in the landscape: essays in honour of Graeme Barker: 227–34. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.Google Scholar
Longinelli, A. 1984. Oxygen isotopes in mammal bone phosphate: a new tool for paleohydrological and paleoclimatological research. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48: 385–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(84)90259-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luo, Y. 2012. The domestication, raising, and ritual use of pig in ancient China. Beijing: Kexue (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Luz, B., Kolodny, Y. & Horowitz, M.. 1984. Fractionation of oxygen isotopes between mammalian bone-phosphate and environmental drinking water. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48: 1689–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(84)90338-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsui, A., Kiguchi, D., Matsusaki, T., Eda, M., Maruyama, M., Liu, B. & Wang, N.. 2016. Animal remains unearthed from the Meirendi locus of Liangzhu site, in Matsui, A. & Kiguchi, D. (ed.) The origin and diffusion of livestock and poultry in Neolithic East Asia: new zooarchaeological evidence from China: 51–53. Nara: Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties.Google Scholar
Ottoni, C. et al. 2013. Pig domestication and human-mediated dispersal in Western Eurasia revealed through ancient DNA and geometric morphometrics. Molecular Biology and Evolution 30: 824–32. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/mss261CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pan, Y. 2017. The emergence of agriculture in the lower Yanngzi: a human ecological view. Shanghai: Cishu.Google Scholar
Pechenkina, E., Ambrose, S. & Xiaolin, M.. 2005. Reconstructing northern Chinese Neolithic subsistence practices by isotopic analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science 32: 1176–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2005.02.015CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, C. & Shelach, G.. 2010. The evolution of Early Yangshao period village organization in the middle reaches of northern China's Yellow River Valley, in Bandry, M. & Fox, J.R. (ed.) Becoming villagers: 246–75. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, C. & Shelach, G.. 2012. Jiangzhai: social and economic organization of a Middle Neolithic Chinese village. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 31: 265–301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2012.01.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, M., Grossman, K. & Paulette, T.. 2017. Pigs and the pastoral bias: the other animal economy in northern Mesopotamia (3000–2000 BCE). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 48: 46–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2017.06.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redding, R. 2005. Breaking the mold: a consideration of variation in the evolution of animal domestication, in Vigne, J.D., Peters, J. & Helmer, D. (ed.) First steps of animal domestication: 41–49. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C. & Liu, B.. 2018. The emergence of complex society in China: the case of Liangzhu. Antiquity 92: 975. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2018.60CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowley-Conwy, P. & Zeder, M.. 2014. Wild boar or domestic pigs? Response to Evin et al. World Archaeology 46: 835–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2014.953712CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shelach, G. 2006. Economic adaptation, community structure, and sharing strategies of households at early sedentary communities in north-east China. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 25: 318–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2005.11.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, B.D. 2001. Low-level food production. Journal of Archaeological Research 9: 1–43. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009436110049CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, B.D. 2011. The cultural context of plant domestication in Eastern America. Current Anthropology 52: 471–484. https://doi.org/10.1086/659645CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vigne, J.-D. 2011. The origins of animal domestication and husbandry: a major change in the history of humanity and the biosphere. Comptes Rendus Biologies 334: 171–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crvi.2010.12.009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, X., Fuller, B.T., Zhang, P., Hu, S., Hu, Y. & Shang, X.. 2018. Millet manuring as a driving force for the Late Neolithic agricultural expansion of north China. Scientific Reports 8: 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-23315-4Google ScholarPubMed
Wu, X., Xiao, H. & Wei, C.. 2007. Dietary structure of humans and pigs and isotopic evidence of pig domestication at Xinzhai site, Hennan, in Institute of Archaeology CASS (ed.) Keji Kaogu (Archaeological Science 2): 49–58. Beijing: Kexue (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Yuan, J. 2002. Faunal analysis of Maqiao, in Shanghai Unit of Cultural Relics Management (ed.) Maqiao Excavation Report: 347–69. Shanghai: Shanghai Shuhua (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Yuan, J. 2014. Zooarchaeology of China. Beijing: Cultural Relics.Google Scholar
Yuan, J. & Campbell, R.. 2009. Recent archaeometric research on ‘the origins of Chinese civilisation’. Antiquity 83: 96–109. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00098112Google Scholar
Yuan, J. & Flad, R.K.. 2002. Pig domestication in ancient China. Antiquity 76: 724–32. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00091171Google Scholar
Yuan, J., Flad, R.K. & Luo, Y.. 2008. Meat-acquisition patterns in the Neolithic Yangzi River Valley, China. Antiquity 82: 351–66. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X0009685XGoogle Scholar
Yuan, J., Pan, Y., Dong, N. & Storozum, M.. 2020. The rise and fall of the Liangzhu society in the perspective of subsistence economy. Kaogu 2: 82–92 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Zeder, M.A. 2012. The domestication of animals. Journal of Anthropological Research 68: 161–90. https://doi.org/10.3998/jar.0521004.0068.201CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeder, M.A. 2015. Core questions in domestication research. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of the USA 112: 3191–98. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1501711112CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, X., Qiu, S., Zhong, J., Zhao, X., Sun, F., Cheng, L., Guo, Y. & Ma, X.. 2010. Studies on diet of the ancient people of the Yangshao Cultures sites in the Central Plains. Acta Archaeologica Sinica 29: 197–208.Google Scholar
Zhang, Y. 2014. Faunal analysis of Bianjiashan, in Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics & Archaeology (ed.) Bianjiashan (Bianjiashan Excavation Report): 424–32. Beijing: Wenwu Press (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics & Xiaoshan Museum. 2004. Kuahuqiao excavation report. Beijing: Wenwu (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Zheng, Y. 2018. Subsistence and rice cultivation during the Liangzhu period. Nanfang Wenwu 1: 93–102 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Zhuang, Y., Ding, P. & French, C.. 2014. Water management and agricultural intensification of rice farming at the Late-Neolithic site of Maoshan, Lower Yangtze River, China. The Holocene 24: 531–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683614522310CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Dong and Yuan supplementary material

Dong and Yuan supplementary material

Download Dong and Yuan supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 196.5 KB