Hostname: page-component-76d6cb85b7-mgxrv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-13T07:49:11.344Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Subsistence and persistence: agriculture in the Central Plains of China through the Neolithic to Bronze Age transition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

Yuan Jing ,
Roderick Campbell ,
Lorenzo Castellano  and
Chen Xianglong
Yuan Jing
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeological Science, Fudan University, P.R. China Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Science, P.R. China
Roderick Campbell*
Affiliation:
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, USA
Lorenzo Castellano
Affiliation:
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, USA
Chen Xianglong
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Science, P.R. China
*
*Author for correspondence: ✉ rbc2@nyu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Neolithic to Bronze Age transition (c. 5000–3500 BP) saw dramatic socio-economic developments in ancient China. Complex polities emerged in many regions, only to decline and collapse by the end of the period. In the Central Plains area, however, these centuries laid the foundations for China's first dynasties. This article presents zooarchaeological, palaeobotanical and isotopic research from key sites of the Central Plains spanning the period c. 5000–3500 BP. The results demonstrate that, contrary to narratives of the climate-induced collapse of these polities, Central Plains agricultural regimes intensified and diversified during the Neolithic to Bronze Age transition.

Keywords

ChinaNeolithicBronze Ageagricultural systemszooarchaeologypalaeobotanystable isotopes

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 94 , Issue 376 , August 2020 , pp. 900 - 915
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

An, C., Tang, L., Barton, L. & Chen, F.. 2005. Climate change and cultural response around 4000 yr cal BP in the western part of the Chinese Loess Plateau. Quaternary Research 63: 347–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2005.02.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beijing Daxue Zhendan Gudai Wenming Yanjiu Zhongxin (ed.). 2008. Xinmi Xinzhai 1999–2000. Nian tianye kaogu fajue baogao. Beijing: Wenwuchubanshe.Google Scholar
Bray, F. 1984. Science and civilisation in China, volume 6: biology and biological technology, part II: agriculture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, R. 2014. Archaeology of the Chinese Bronze Age: from Erlitou to Anyang. Los Angeles (CA): Cotsen Institute.10.2307/j.ctvdjrr9rCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, R. 2018. Violence, kinship and the early Chinese state: the Shang and their world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781108178563CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, G., Underhill, A., Zhao, Z.-Z., Lee, G.-A., Feinman, G., Nicholas, L., Luan, F.-S., Yu, H.-G., Fang, H. & Cai, F.-S.. 2005. Late Neolithic plant remains from northern China: preliminary results from Liangchenzhen, Shandong. Current Anthropology 46: 309–17. https://doi.org/10.1086/428788CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dai, L.-L., Li, Z.-P., Hu, H.-W., Zhao, C.-Q. & Wang, C.-S.. 2014. Xinzhai yizhi chutu yang de siwang nianling ji chu chanpin kaifa cilüe. Kaogu 1: 94–103.Google Scholar
Dai, L.-L., Li, Z.-P., Zhao, C.-Q., Yuan, J., Hou, L.-L., Wang, C.-S., Fuller, B. & Hu, Y.-W.. 2016. An isotopic perspective on animal husbandry at the Xinzhai site during the initial stage of the legendary Xia Dynasty (2070–1600 BC). International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 26: 886–96. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.2503CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalfes, H., Kukla, G. & Weiss, H. (ed.). 1997. Third millennium BC climate change and Old World collapse (Nato ASI Subseries I, 49). Berlin & Heidelberg: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60616-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fang, Y.-M. & Han, C.-H.. 2001. The Longshan cultural site at Wadian, Yuzhou city, Henan in 1997. Chinese Archaeology 1: 103–106. https://doi.org/10.1515/char.2001.1.1.103Google Scholar
Fiskesjö, M. 2001. Rising from blood-stained fields: royal hunting and state formation in Shang China. Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 73: 48–191.Google Scholar
Flannery, M. 1965. The ecology of early food production in Mesopotamia. Science 147: 1247–56. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.147.3663.1247CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
He, N. 2013. The Longshan period site of Taosi in southern Shanxi province, in Underhill, A. (ed.) A companion to Chinese archaeology: 255–77. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118325698.ch13Google Scholar
Kejibu Shehui Fazhan Kejisi & Zhongguo Wenwuju Bowuguan yu Shehui Wenwusi. 2009. Xuyan, in She, Kejibu & wen wu ju, Guo jia (ed.) Zhonghua wenming tanyuan gongcheng wenji: jishu yu jingji juan (Volume 1): i–ii. Beijing: Kexue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Kong, Z.-C., Liu, C.-J. & Zhang, J.-Z.. 1999. Mianchi Bancun xinshiqi yizhi zhiwu yicun ji qi zai renlei huanjingxue shang de yiyi. Renleixue xuebao 18: 291–95.Google Scholar
Lee, G.-A., Crawford, G., Liu, L. & Chen, X.. 2007. Plants and people from the Early Neolithic to Shang periods in north China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 104: 1087–92. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0609763104CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, J. 2015. The landscape of China's participation in the Bronze Age Eurasian network. Journal of World Prehistory 28: 179–213. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-015-9088-2Google Scholar
Li, Z.-P., Campbell, R., Brunson, K., Yang, J. & Tao, Y.. 2014. The exploitation of domestic animal products from the Late Neolithic Age to the Early Bronze Age in the heartland of ancient China, in Greenfield, H. (ed.) Animal secondary products: domestic animal exploitation in prehistoric Europe, the Near East and the Far East: 56–79. Oxford: Oxbow. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh1dr4j.8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, B., Wang, N., Chen, M., Wu, X., Mo, D., Liu, J., Xu, S. & Zhuang, Y.. 2018. Earliest hydraulic enterprise in China, 5100 years ago. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 114: 13637–42. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1710516114CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, C. & Fang, Y.-M.. 2010. Henan Yuzhou Wadian yizhi chutu zhiwu yicun fenxi. Nanfang Wenwu 4: 55–64.Google Scholar
Liu, F. & Feng, Z.. 2012. A dramatic climate transition at ~4000 yr cal BP and its cultural responses in Chinese cultural domains. Holocene 22: 1181–97. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683612441839CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, L. & Chen, X.-C.. 2012. The archaeology of China: from the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139015301CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, T., Leipe, C., Jin, G., Wagner, M., Guo, R., Schroder, O., & Tarasov, P.E.. 2018. The early history of wheat in China from 14C dating and Bayesian chronological modelling. Nature Plants 4: 272–79. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-018-0141-xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, N. 1984. The use of dung as fuel: an ethnographic example and an archaeological application. Paleorient 10: 71–79. https://doi.org/10.3406/paleo.1984.941CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pechenkina, E.A., Ambrose, S.H., Ma, X. & Benfer, J.R.A.. 2005. Reconstructing northern Chinese Neolithic subsistence practices by isotopic analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science 32: 1176–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2005.02.015CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peking University School of Archaeology and Museology & Henan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. 2007. Dengfeng Wangchenggang kaogu faxian yu yanjiu (2002–2005). Beijing: Daxiang chubanshe.Google Scholar
Peterson, C. & Shelach, G.. 2012. Jiangzhai: social and economic organization of a Middle Neolithic Chinese village. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 31: 265–301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2012.01.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qin, Z., Storozum, M., Zhao, H., Liu, H., Fu, K. & Kidder, T.. 2019. Cereals, soils and iron at Sanyangzhuang: Western Han agricultural production in the Central Plains. Antiquity 93: 685–701. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.74CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rousseau, D., Zanchetta, G., Weiss, H., Bini, M. & Bradley, R.S. (ed.). 2019. The 4.2 ka BP climatic event. Climate of the Past 15.Google Scholar
Song, J.-X., Wang, L.-Z & Fuller, D.. 2017. A regional case in the development of agriculture and crop processing in northern China from the Neolithic to Bronze Age: archaeobotanical evidence from the Sushui River survey, Shanxi province. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11: 667–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-017-0551-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, Z.-Y., Shao, J., Liu, L., Cui, J.-X., Bonomo, M., Guo, Q.-H., Wu, X.-H. & Wang, J.-J.. 2017. The first Neolithic urban center on China's north Loess Plateau: the rise and fall of Shimao. Archaeological Research in Asia 14: 33–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2017.02.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szpak, P. 2014. Complexities of nitrogen isotope biogeochemistry in plant-soil systems: implications for the study of ancient agricultural and animal management practices. Frontiers in Plant Science 5: 288. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2014.00288CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trigger, B. 2003.Understanding early civilizations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511840630CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Underhill, A., Feinman, G., Nicholas, L., Fang, H., Luan, F.-S., Yu, H.-G. & Cai, F.S.. 2008. Changes in regional settlement patterns and the development of complex societies in southeastern Shandong, China. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 27: 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2006.11.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, M., Tarasov, P., Hosner, D., Fleck, A., Ehrich, R., Chen, X.-C. & Leipe, C.. 2013. Mapping the spatial and temporal distribution of archaeological sites of northern China during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Quaternary International 290–291: 344–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2012.06.039CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, J., Sun, L., Chen, L., Xu, L., Wang, Y. & Wang, X.. 2016. The abrupt climate change near 4400 yr BP on the cultural transition in Yunchisi, China and its global linkage. Scientific Reports 6: 27723. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep27723Google ScholarPubMed
Xu, H. 2013. The Erlitou Culture, in Underhill, A. (ed.) A companion to Chinese archaeology: 300–22. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118325698.ch15Google Scholar
Yuan, J. 1999. Zhongguo xinshiqi shidai zhumin caiqu roushi ziyuan de fangshi. Kaogu Xuebao 1: 1–22.Google Scholar
Yuan, J. 2015. Zhongguo Dongwu Kaoguxue. Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe.Google Scholar
Yuan, J. & Campbell, R.. 2009. Recent archaeometric research on the origins of Chinese civilization. Antiquity 83: 96–109. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00098112Google Scholar
Yuan, J. & Flad, R.. 2005. New zooarchaeological evidence for changes in Shang Dynasty animal sacrifice. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 24: 252–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2005.03.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, C. 2013. The Qujialing-Shijiahe Culture in the Middle Yangze River Valley, in Underhill, A. (ed.) A companion to Chinese archaeology: 510–34. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Zhang, X.-L., Qiu, S.-H., Zhong, J., Zhao, X.-P., Sun, F.-X., Cheng, L.-Q., Guo, Y.-Q., Li, X.-W. & Ma, X.-L.. 2010. Zhongyuan diqu jichu Yangshao wenhua shiqi kaogu yizhi de renlei shiwu zhuankuang fenxi. Renleixue Xuebao 29: 197–207.Google Scholar
Zhao, Z.-J. 2014. Zhiwu ziyuan de caiqu he liyung, in Kaoguo Yanjiusuo, Zhongguo Shehui kexueyuan (ed). Erlitou: 1999–2006: 1295–313. Beijing: Wenwuchubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhongguo Shehuikexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo. 2014. Erlitou: 1999–2006. Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhongguo Shehuikexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo & Henan Sheng Wenwu Kaogu Yanjiusuo. 2010. Lingbao Xipoyizhi. Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhuang, Y.-J. & Kidder, T.. 2014. Archaeology of the Anthropocene in the Yellow River region, China, 8000–2000 cal BP. The Holocene: 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683614544058Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Jing et al. supplementary material

Jing et al. supplementary material

Download Jing et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 2.1 MB