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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2020

Simei Zhu ,
Fajun Li ,
Xianglong Chen ,
Xianguo Fu  and
Yaowu Hu
Simei Zhu
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.R. China Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.R. China History College, Zhengzhou University, P.R. China
Fajun Li*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Sun Yat-Sen University, P.R. China
Xianglong Chen
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, P.R. China
Xianguo Fu
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, P.R. China
Yaowu Hu*
Affiliation:
Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology, Fudan University, P.R. China Institute of Archaeological Science, Fudan University, P.R. China
*
*Authors for correspondence: ✉ lifajun@mail.sysu.edu.cn & ywhu@fudan.edu.cn
*Authors for correspondence: ✉ lifajun@mail.sysu.edu.cn & ywhu@fudan.edu.cn
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Abstract

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.

Keywords

southern ChinaDingsishanNeolithicstable isotope analysissubsistence strategyhuman health
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 95 , Issue 379 , February 2021 , pp. 13 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd.

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