The Circulation of Ancient Animal Resources Across the Yellow River Basin: A Preliminary Bayesian Re-evaluation of Sr Isotope Data From the Early Neolithic to the Western Zhou Dynasty

Many questions still remain regarding the acquisition and circulation of ancient domesticated animals across the Yellow River Basin, one of the key areas for the development of complex societies in ancient China. Here, we re-evaluate previously published strontium isotope data (87Sr/86Sr, n = 167) from tooth enamel of domesticated animals at 10 archaeological sites in the Yellow River Basin to shed new light on the transition between the Neolithic (7000–5000 BCE) and the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BCE). The results show that from the Late Neolithic to the Western Zhou Dynasty, some domesticated animals, mostly cattle and sheep, were increasingly sourced from non-local areas. We employed Bayesian methods to define an isoscape of bioavailable Sr for the Yellow River Basin and to show the considerable diversity in the origins of non-local domesticated animals, some of which may have come from locations hundreds of kilometers away from the site as early as the Late Neolithic. The increasingly variable 87Sr/86Sr ratios of domesticated animals from the Neolithic to the Western Zhou Dynasty are consistent with that of associated human remains, and also match the archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence for increased circulation of animal products in the Yellow River Basin. Therefore, we infer that local economies increasingly incorporated non-local animals as part of wider circulation networks that emerged with the development of complex societies since the Late Neolithic.

The excavation of tomb M2158 at the Hengshui cemetery of the Western Zhou dynasty in Jiangxian County, Shanxi Province

From 2004 to 2007, the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology excavated the Hengshui cemetery of the Western Zhou dynasty in Jiangxian County, Shanxi Province. The excavation recovered 1,299 burials of the Western Zhou dynasty. Tomb M2158 is a large-sized burial located in the middle slightly to the west of the cemetery. It is a vertical earthen shaft pit burial in a rectangular plan, the bottom of which is slightly larger than the opening; along the four sides of the bottom of the grave, artificial second-tier ledges built of rammed earth are featured. In the middle of the bottom, a waist pit was dug. The burial receptacles consist of two inner coffins and one outer coffin. The tomb owner is an adult male 35–40 years old. In the grave, six human victims and two sacrificial dogs were found. The grave goods unearthed from this burial include bronzes, proto-porcelain wares, jades, stone and bone implements, and shell (cowry) objects. The grave goods show that the date of this burial was the early stage of the mid-Western Zhou dynasty, and its occupant was the earl of Peng, the lord of the Peng state enfeoffed by the king of the Western Zhou.