Subsistence and health in Middle Neolithic (9000–7000 BP) southern China: new evidence from the Dingsishan site

Early Holocene populations in southern China and Southeast Asia are generally considered to have continued practising hunting and gathering, while millet and rice cultivation developed to the north and east. Dingsishan, the oldest Holocene open-air site in South-east Asia, however, had yet to provid...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antiquity 2021-02, Vol.95 (379), p.13-26
Main Authors: Zhu, Simei, Li, Fajun, Chen, Xianglong, Fu, Xianguo, Hu, Yaowu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Analysis
Animals
Archaeology
Bones
Child development
Collagen
Cultivation
Culture
Diet
Excavation
Farming
Health aspects
Historic artifacts
Holocene
Hunting
Isotopes
Life expectancy
Neolithic
Proteins
Rice
Shellfish
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Summary:Early Holocene populations in southern China and Southeast Asia are generally considered to have continued practising hunting and gathering, while millet and rice cultivation developed to the north and east. Dingsishan, the oldest Holocene open-air site in South-east Asia, however, had yet to provide direct evidence for human health and subsistence strategies. The authors present isotopic and demographic analyses of Dingsishan individuals from 9000–7000 BP, indicating that the inhabitants relied on freshwater resources, particularly in the third period (c. 7000 BP). Comparison with contemporaneous farming populations also reveals a seemingly higher average life expectancy for the fisher-hunter-gatherers at Dingsishan.
ISSN:0003-598X
1745-1744
DOI:10.15184/aqy.2020.214