Resource intensification in the Late Upper Paleolithic: a view from southern China
Introduction
China is one of the world's independent centers of plant domestication, being home to both rice and millet cultivation beginning around 10–9 Ka cal BP. As in other centers of pristine agriculture, arguments have been made for resource intensification prior to the beginnings of agriculture, in response to worsening and/or less predictable climatic conditions. Arguments for resource intensification in the Chinese Late Upper Paleolithic, ca. 20–11 Ka cal BP, are based mainly on the idea that plants and their products would be intensively collected, and perhaps tended, stored, or even cultivated to provide stability in the face of environmental unpredictability. The evidence in southern China is limited to a few sites with rice remains, whose wild vs. domestic identity is debated (e.g., Crawford, 2005, Fuller et al., 2007, Liu et al., 2007, Lu, 1999). But since these sites also have abundant and often well-preserved bone, it is worth considering the meaty part of the diet. Is there evidence for resource intensification in the faunal remains from Chinese Late Upper Paleolithic sites?
Resource intensification can be defined as an increase in productivity per unit of resources; this increased productivity also implies a greater effort (i.e. a higher cost) in resource procurement. Resources may be defined in terms of space (land or animals) or time (labor) (e.g., Boserup, 1965, Morrison, 1994). From a zooarchaeologist's perspective, we can consider at least two variables: one is the spectrum of game hunted, and the second is the degree to which a single carcass is processed for nutrients. It has been commonly assumed that intensification would lead to a widening of the range of game pursued, a “broad-spectrum revolution” first documented in the Near East (Flannery, 1969; see also Davis, 2005, Davis et al., 1988, Stiner, 2001). A similar dietary expansion just before the Neolithic has been documented in Europe (Payne, 1975, Morales et al., 1998).
Recent studies of Epi-Paleolithic Natufian sites in the Levant, a classic case of a pre-agricultural society, show that the issue is more complex: rather than a simple increase in abundance of small game, it is the fluctuating proportions of high- and low-ranked small taxa that reflect resource stress, and in fact there is no evidence for intensification in the part of the record coinciding with the Younger Dryas (Munro, 2003, Munro, 2004, Stiner et al., 2000). In China, several authors have noted that Late Upper Paleolithic hunters pursued a broad-spectrum diet (e.g., Institute of Archaeology et al., 2003, Lu, 2006), but the extent to which this marks a change from previous patterns, and whether or not there are changes in the proportions of small game, are unexplored topics that will require large bodies of data from several sites. Here we provide data from one site as a step towards that goal.
Another sign of intensification is the degree to which hunters maximize the nutritional potential of a single carcass. Marrow is found in the cavities of cortical (dense) bone portions, particularly limb bone shafts, and is extremely rich in fat. Grease is contained inside cancellous (spongy) bone portions: these include limb epiphyses and many parts of the axial skeleton. Hunters worldwide, but most notably in extreme environments, have been documented extracting these nutrients by breaking open bones for marrow, and boiling cancellous bone portions (with or without pounding them first) for grease, or adding them to soups for fat and flavor (e.g., Binford, 1978, Bunn et al., 1988, Lupo and Schmitt, 1997, O'Connell et al., 1988, Vehik, 1977, Yellen, 1977).
Marrow and grease extraction can be detected in the archaeofaunal record using a number of taphonomic analyses. Munro and Bar-Oz (2005) (see also Bar-Oz and Munro, 2004) developed several tests to assess the extent to which marrow and grease were exploited at pre-Natufian and Natufian sites. Following their logic, if bones were being processed for marrow, we should expect a high degree of fragmentation, with primarily green (fresh) breakage planes, in those bones that are the richest in marrow, particularly those of larger, prime-adult mammals. Marrow-poor bones, including those of juveniles and small fauna, should be less fragmented. If bones were being boiled (and possibly pounded) for grease, we should expect comparatively few cancellous bone portions, and those that survive should be highly fragmented. Again, juveniles and smaller fauna with less valuable grease stores should have better cancellous tissue preservation and lower fragmentation indices. Here, these and other taphonomic analyses are applied to Yuchanyan Cave, a Late Upper Paleolithic site in southern China with important evidence for the presence of early pottery. This is the first time that a complete taphonomic analysis has been applied to this period in China.
At a very general level, the datasets from the Levantine Epi-Paleolithic and the Late Upper Paleolithic in southern China may be compared, since they present parallel scenarios: sites in both areas are seen as predecessors to early agriculture; they are roughly contemporaneous (with Yuchanyan being slightly earlier), and share some evidence for plant collection and indications of semi-sedentism. However, the comparison is far from perfect: the environments are quite distinct, the composition of the faunal assemblages differs (in terms of large vs. small mammals), and most importantly, in the Levant, there are large faunal datasets from numerous sites spanning several millennia. This enables the analyst to see not only regional patterns, but also diachronic change, essential for discussions of intensification. In southern China there are several contemporary sites with large faunal assemblages, but they have not been studied in a way that makes quantitative and taphonomic data comparable. The present study is modest, being based on a small excavation of a single site. It is hoped that the preliminary conclusions drawn from our data will spark a trend towards more detailed analyses at Chinese sites, leading to inter-site and diachronic comparisons.
Section snippets
The site and its context
The vast karst landscape south of the Yangzi River basin hosts numerous archaeological sites containing potentially very early pottery. Late Upper Paleolithic sites include the caves of Xianrendong and Diaotonghuan in Jiangxi Province (MacNeish and Libby, 1995, MacNeish et al., 1998, Zhang, 2000, Zhao, 1998), Zengpiyan and Miaoyan in Guangxi Province (Institute of Archaeology et al., 2003, Yan, 1996), and Yuchanyan in Hunan Province. Dates associated with early pottery at these sites range from
Methods
A list of taxa identified in the 1993/1995 excavations was reported by Yuan (2002). The following analysis focuses on the 2004–2005 excavations, which produced a large assemblage collected from units T10–T15 and parts of T1, T4 and T5 (Fig. 2). Fauna were hand-collected and bagged by archaeological context, in spits ≤5 cm thick. All sediments were sieved using 1.5 and 5 mm wire mesh and floated for maximum recovery.
The assemblage was sampled so that a complete taphonomic study could be applied to
Assemblage completeness and bone preservation
A high level of recovery during excavation of the Yuchanyan assemblage is suggested by two features: first, a high number of Type 1 shafts (Fig. 3); Marean et al. (2004) argued that a high number of Type 2 or 3 shafts may indicate biased recovery during excavation. Second, there are many specimens <4 cm in length, particularly among unidentifiable specimens (Fig. 4), suggesting that sieving was thorough. The assemblage is well preserved in that bones were not soft or eroding during excavation
Discussion
Taphonomic analysis of the Yuchanyan assemblage presents several contradictions: first, the paucity of cancellous bone portions might initially suggest selective transport of heads and limbs, intensive carnivore activity at the site and/or severe post-depositional destruction. Yet we see that there is no relationship between survivorship of skeletal elements and either their marrow content or overall food utility. We therefore see no support for selective transport. Additionally, there is
Conclusions
Arguments for resource intensification at the end of the Pleistocene typically focus on increasing diet breadth and more efficient resource extraction. In areas of pristine agriculture, resource intensification has been frequently linked to increased sedentism and the beginnings of food production. In China, a center of pristine agriculture, a number of Late Upper Paleolithic sites might arguably be interpreted as semi-sedentary or sedentary camps based on the presence of pottery, which is not
Acknowledgments
This research was carried out within the framework of the project “Origins of Rice Domestication in South China,” directed by Prof. Yan Wenming. We are grateful for his guidance. We thank the American School of Prehistoric Research (Peabody Museum, Harvard University) and the Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics, Changsha, Hunan (PRC) who generously sponsored both field and laboratory studies. MEP thanks Prof. Qi Guoqin, Prof. Gao Xing and Mr. Zhang Shuang Quan of the IVPP for their
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