However, the acidic soils in Yunnan Province are unsuitable for macro-fossil preservation, and the animals buried in tombs might not be representative of the prevalent fauna ( Yuan, 2015 Hou et al., 2019) this prevents the study of prehistoric subsistence strategies in this area. Archeobotany and zooarcheology encompass systematic studies aimed at elucidating animal and plant exploitation strategies ( Isaakidou and Halstead, 2018). However, the spatial pattern of means of human livelihood in Yunnan Province in Southwest China, another important region for transcontinental exchange during the Bronze Age ( Gao et al., 2020), remains unclear.Īrcheobotanical, zooarcheological, and stable isotope analyses are effective methods for studying human subsistence strategies during prehistoric periods ( d'Alpoim Guedes et al., 2014 Ma et al., 2016 Ren et al., 2020). Exotic crops (wheat and barley) and livestock (sheep, cattle, etc.) encompassed the dominant forms of human subsistence in northwest China during the second millennium BC ( Chen et al., 2015 Zhou et al., 2016 Dong et al., 2021), whereas indigenous millet cultivation dominated in the Central Plains of North China until the late first millennium BC ( Li et al., 2020). In East Asia, the transformation of human subsistence strategies was asynchronous during the Bronze Age. In Eurasia, major changes in subsistence took place during the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age ( Dong et al., 2017 Hanks et al., 2018), changes that were profoundly impacted by the emergence and intensification of early trans-Eurasian exchanges ( Svyatko et al., 2013 Dong et al., 2020).
These differences were caused by the highly varying living environment of each region, which was related to fragmentation resulting from the geomorphological features of Yunnan Province. A comparison of our results with previously published archeobotanical data and isotopic evidence from human bones in other Bronze Age sites in Yunnan Province revealed high spatial variability in diets of human and subsistence strategies during this period.
We argued that the local dry-hot environment was the reason for the accessibility of C 4 plants in the studied area. Humans predominantly consumed C 4 foods (e.g., millet) and C 4 food-fed animal protein sources, with smaller contributions from C 3 food plants (e.g., rice) and C 3 food-fed animal protein sources. We conducted stable isotope and archeobotanical analyses of human, animal, and plant remains at the Jiangxifen site, dated to ~900–400 BC, to explore human paleodiets and determine the environmental adaptation strategies adopted by humans in the middle valley of the Jinshajiang River in Yunnan Province. The study of human dietary structures is an effective means of elucidating the subsistence patterns of our prehistoric ancestors and can highlight the processes through which humans interacted with the environment.
3History and Culture School, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.