Faunal exploitation during the Proto-Zhou period in the Jing River Valley: Evidence from Sunjia and Xitou

TY - JOUR

T1 - Faunal exploitation during the Proto-Zhou period in the Jing River Valley

T2 - Evidence from Sunjia and Xitou

AU - Festa, Marcella

AU - Dou, Haifeng

AU - Monteith, Francesca

AU - Orton, David

AU - Wang, Qianwen

AU - Zong, Tianyu

AU - Liu, Bin

AU - Li, Yue

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by the 111 Project (D18004), the General Project of the Chinese Academy of History Key Historical Research Project of the National Social Science (21@WTK005), National Foreign Young Talents Program (QN20200241002), the Key Research and Development Plan of Ningxia (2020BFG02008), the University Youth Innovation Team of Shaanxi and the Young Scholar Professional Support Program of Northwest University. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2023 Festa, Dou, Monteith, Orton, Wang, Zong, Liu and Li.

PY - 2023/1/17

Y1 - 2023/1/17

N2 - This study examines faunal assemblages from the Proto-Zhou sites of Sunjia and Xitou, in the Jing River Valley (Central Shaanxi Province), to address questions concerning the exploitation of different animal resources in the context of the Shang-Zhou dynastic transition in the 11th century BCE. Although the assemblages from Sunjia and Xitou were small and sub-optimally preserved, this study demonstrates that the inclusion of such assemblages is essential to building upon our understanding of the human exploitation of animal resources. Our zooarchaeological analysis shows an increase in husbandry, with pig farming being complemented by extensive caprine and cattle herding. A diversified use of animal resources, and especially the larger number of bovids, could have been prompted by the need for a wider and more efficient exploitation of the immediate environment, in response to growing climatic deterioration, in addition to an increase in interactions with northern pastoral communities. Identified patterns of livestock biometry and relative taxonomic abundance show various degrees of agricultural engagement and a relatively complex livestock economy, suggesting the development of socio-economic complexity in the Jing River Valley in the late second millennium BCE.

AB - This study examines faunal assemblages from the Proto-Zhou sites of Sunjia and Xitou, in the Jing River Valley (Central Shaanxi Province), to address questions concerning the exploitation of different animal resources in the context of the Shang-Zhou dynastic transition in the 11th century BCE. Although the assemblages from Sunjia and Xitou were small and sub-optimally preserved, this study demonstrates that the inclusion of such assemblages is essential to building upon our understanding of the human exploitation of animal resources. Our zooarchaeological analysis shows an increase in husbandry, with pig farming being complemented by extensive caprine and cattle herding. A diversified use of animal resources, and especially the larger number of bovids, could have been prompted by the need for a wider and more efficient exploitation of the immediate environment, in response to growing climatic deterioration, in addition to an increase in interactions with northern pastoral communities. Identified patterns of livestock biometry and relative taxonomic abundance show various degrees of agricultural engagement and a relatively complex livestock economy, suggesting the development of socio-economic complexity in the Jing River Valley in the late second millennium BCE.

KW - bronze age

KW - Jing River Valley

KW - proto-zhou

KW - subsistence strategies

KW - Sunjia

KW - Xitou

KW - zooarchaeology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85147182914&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3389/feart.2022.1072897

DO - 10.3389/feart.2022.1072897

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85147182914

SN - 2296-6463

VL - 10

JO - Frontiers in Earth Science

JF - Frontiers in Earth Science

M1 - 1072897

ER -