Beginning of pig management in Neolithic China: comparison of domestication processes between northern and southern regions

Abstract

China was one of the centers of the domestication of pigs. Morphological characteristics and pathological evidences found in pig bones excavated from Neolithic sites in the Yellow River Valley in the north, Yangtze River Valley in the south, and in the region between these two major river valleys suggest that management of pigs had begun around 9000 BP, possibly in multiple places in China. Dietary analyses using carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the bone collagen of pigs indicate that a small number of pigs with C4 plants in their diet appeared in northern China in the Early Neolithic between 9000 and 7500 BP. Many Sus samples of the Middle Neolithic Yangshao Period, when millet cultivation became the dominant form of farming in northern China, show an intake of C4 plants in their diet. Nitrogen isotope ratios were also elevated, suggesting that many pigs received fodder which included both C4 plants and kitchen wastes. Sus with enriched nitrogen isotope values were also found among the Early Neolithic samples from the Yangtze Delta sites. Most pigs from the southern sites had a diet dominated by C3 plants even after millets were introduced to the Yangtze River Valley. The pig managements in southern China were more extensive than those in the northern Neolithic sites, probably because of the abundance of wild plants in the vicinity of the settlements that could be used as fodder for pigs. Hunting of wild animal resources also continued. In northern China, the human control over the diet and breeding of pigs was more intensive, and hunting of wild pigs was rare. The isotope ratios of Sus samples from Huai and Han River Valley sites were variable, suggesting that each site had a versatile strategy in food production. The relationship between humans and wild boar (Sus scrofa) in the process of their domestication has been diverse and complex because of the behavioral and dietary flexibility of Sus. Several “pathways” to pig domestication have been proposed (Zeder 2012). Variations in management strategies and intensity of human control over behavioral and reproductive aspects of the life history of pigs resulted in the different trajectories of the domestication process that influenced the rate of phenotypic changes associated with domestication. Pigs were domesticated independently in at least two locations of the world: in northern Mesopotamia by c. 10500 Before Present (BP) and in China by c. 8000 BP (Price and Hongo 2019). In China, sedentary communities emerged by around 11000 BP both in the Yellow River Valley in northern China and the Yangtze River Valley in the south (Liu 2005). These settlements provided the setting for the beginning of domestication of pigs, where some wild pigs took advantage of the anthropogenic niche and the “commensal” pathway proposed by Zeder (2012) could have started. The Neolithic cultures in China are grouped according to the two major geographical regions: those in the Yellow River Valley in the north and those in the Yangtze River Valley in the south. Generally, the east–west line between the Qinling Mountains and Huai River is regarded as the border between these two regions. Wild millets were initially exploited in the northern region, where domestic types of millet were attested by 7800 to 7500 BP (see below), then dry-land framing of millets became the main form of agriculture from the Middle Neolithic. Rice (Oryza sativa) was the main crop in the southern Neolithic, where the domestic form of rice was reported as early as 8000 to 7000 BP at Kuahuqiao 跨湖桥 in the Lower Yangtze delta. Agriculture developed in the form of intensive production of rice in the irrigated paddy-field. In the initial stage of the Neolithic, wild plants and animals occupied a significant portion of food resources in both agricultural zones. By the Middle Neolithic Yangshao Culture period, dry-land farming of millets combined with pig husbandry supplemented by occasional hunting was the typical form of subsistence in the north. In the south, rice-paddy agriculture and pig management were combined with fishing, hunting, collecting of nuts and other plant resources. Increasing interaction between northern and southern Neolithic cultures in the Yangshao Period promoted southward expansion of millet and northward expansion of rice. The development of social complexity and urbanization supported by increased agricultural productivity can be observed in the Late Neolithic Longshan period in both the north and south. In the Longshan Period, crops and domestic animals of West Asian origin, wheat, cattle, sheep and goats were first introduced to northern China. (See Figure 2 for chronology of major Neolithic cultures in China.) Map of Neolithic sites referred to in this text. Zooarcheological data suggest different historical trajectories of pig management practice, based on environmental settings in the north and south. In addition to the differences in major crops, the way that animal husbandry practice was integrated in the agricultural economy could be different in the two regions. We propose that pig management developed as part of overall intensification of agriculture in the north incorporated in the effort to increase productivity, while in the south pigs were added to broad-spectrum utilization of both wild and domestic food resources. In this article, we will examine the different regional trajectories of pig husbandry practices in the course of Neolithic development in China. The sites mentioned in this article are shown in Figure 1 and Table 1. We will review the evidence of domestication of millets in northern China and discuss the timing and process of intensification of pig management in relation to the beginning of agriculture. The evidence of pig management in the Yellow River Valley and the Yangtze River Valley, where rice was the major crop, will be compared based on morphological and isotopic evidence of carbon, nitrogen and strontium analyses. We will also examine the pig husbandry practices in the fertile region between the two major centers of development of Neolithic cultures, along the Huai and Han rivers. This region functioned to connect the northern and southern Neolithic cultures and became the third important center of Neolithic developments in the Middle and Late Neolithic periods. List of Neolithic sites referred to in the text Evidence of management of Sus in various degrees of intensification are reported from both the Yellow River Valley and Yangtze River Valley Neolithic sites, starting from around 9000 BP. However, we have little information about the hunting strategies of wild S. scrofa or the initial stages of management of Sus in China. Also lacking are comprehensive data on the regional variation of the of wild pig that to the of pigs in the early stage of domestication. data of Sus excavated from Neolithic sites in both northern and southern China are that some information about the timing and process of domestication of pigs. The evidence of management of pigs was reported from at the southern border of the Yellow River for at based on the pathological characteristics found on their of and of as as the animals analyses of to 7800 from by also that domestic pigs were at the site as early as 9000 BP in the Culture In the Yellow River Valley in at a in the of the third in 8000 BP compared with wild boar was as evidence for the beginning of pig management at the site and The of over at the of Neolithic wild boar we the by to wild and domestic pigs at in The of after 8000 BP. compared the and of of pigs from sites along the south of the Yellow The of of pigs from and in the Middle Neolithic, were than that reported for in and Hongo Table and a of of the third between and BP can be of is observed at the site to where the of was the of domestic pigs. In of compared with wild boar were also reported from these sites In the Yangtze Valley, Sus occupied than of the at 8000 to 7000 The of the beginning of pig management was based on the of pathological with and Wild dominated the in the early and Neolithic sites of this The of Sus in to increase in the Culture period and the in the Culture period to of and increase of Sus were also reported at in in the in the Delta sites and and the of pigs be a at sites (see the on sites the in the period at and reported the of Sus was about of between and were with the small of the the of pigs at the compared the of in the from Early to and Late to Neolithic sites in the Lower Yangtze River Valley and reported the of and increase of pigs. The at Early Neolithic sites of and are by of The Late Neolithic Sus from of and were in The Sus occupied more than of both at and The of Sus samples c. to at and to at suggesting that hunting of the wild boar while domestic pigs were and at this The proposed that the with over be wild boar The and small at or at the of Figure The of the Sus from sites, that between 1 and 2 of were both and over 2 were with as of and of from were found among the Sus The that many of the Sus found at and sites were at the early stage of domestication extensive Wild pigs were also and between domestic and wild in the of wild and domestic morphological characteristics among the Sus bones in the The management of pigs to in the Culture period was dominant in the suggesting the of wild resources of pig domestication in China have been based on the different of morphological changes observed in the Neolithic pigs in northern and southern China and of evidence can also be to a process of domestication We have data to a or of morphological and changes the period between 9000 and BP, the evidence at more intensive management strategies of pigs at the sites in the Yellow River Valley. The different of morphological changes in pigs between the north and south the regional in the of human control over Sus The management strategy of pigs have been an integrated part of the regional agricultural economy and was to the aspects of and We will review the domestication of major crops in northern and southern China, Neolithic plant cultivation and animal husbandry developed in the process of to the different of the two in the effort to their resources. millet and millet were domesticated in the Yellow River Valley in northern China. evidence that wild millets had been exploited in the Neolithic (see the by evidences of both and were associated with the Culture period to at the site where the beginning of domestication of pigs in 8000 BP was also (see of suggest that millets to be found by around 7500 BP in the Yellow River Valley sites Early of and were reported from 8000 to in of rice were also found from of a wild or domestic was were also reported from 8000 to 7500 in In millet was dominant among the millet at period sites and millet was of were and were found in the Culture to at in and were attested in the Yangshao period of to BP at the site (Liu a Culture site to in the of Yellow River Valley on the of was was also The became and became a dominant of millet the Yangshao period when millet cultivation became in northern China In the Yangtze River Valley in southern China, a domestic form of rice was reported as early as 8000 to 7000 BP at Kuahuqiao and rice became the main crop of Neolithic plant from of wild food resources to more intensive subsistence strategies rice production in irrigated and in the Late Neolithic. also to be after BP. of millets were attested in the Culture period at in in the Yangtze River Valley 2012). is a site by where both rice and millet were Rice was probably in the small as as in the of around the while millet was on the on the in the The of Huai and Han River between the two major river valleys was for both dry-land farming of millets and rice evidence of rice than The rice found from 1 of 9000 to were as an form with some wild rice Evidence of early pig management was also reported from (see where isotope analyses of pig also evidence (see millet a C4 was found at was as a wild rice-paddy of of rice from of 9000 to were of a domestic form and are the northern of of wild rice in the Early of millets were from in and in that were to c. to 7500 BP Evidence of farming of rice and millets and was reported from the Yangshao Culture period at The evidence from the Huai and Han River as as from in the Yangtze River Valley suggest that millets to southward from their center of domestication by the beginning of the Yangshao Culture period, and the was dry-land farming was rice cultivation as part of intensification of agricultural production in the Late Neolithic. isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen in bone collagen can be a in the of human over Sus the early stages of domestication when some pigs to to the anthropogenic human was to changes and Hongo 2019). The diet of Sus could also by changes in the of to expansion of agricultural or by The bone collagen of wild on C3 and wild pigs that were exploited at the Neolithic sites in China, have values between and and values between and based on the data of wild pigs from Neolithic southern China and period The values in when the animals had C4 plants in their diet. are C4 plants with c. in the compared with C3 values in the bone collagen of have been as an of human in their diet for a millet or in the after or possibly the of millet or We have to some because wild C4 plants be in some places in northern China. nitrogen isotope values the and are to the intake in the diet the of nitrogen isotope ratios of Sus the to a more diet. a dietary could also of for when wild pigs had to or some pigs of wild were and for and kitchen The isotope of strontium in the of animals is in hunting and husbandry is food and and isotope ratios the characteristics of the strontium isotope ratios of Sus some the or of animals and animal and nitrogen isotope data of Sus from Neolithic sites in the Yellow River Valley are in Figure The period samples are from 1 to at Figure a samples were the values around and the values from to These values are to those of that C3 of isotope data from the Culture to at in the Yellow River Valley, where millet and rice were attested as early as 8000 BP. of the Sus samples from had an enriched and had a for the beginning of cultivation of millet at this site (see of pigs could also have been in the Yellow River Valley than in the at was small to the of Neolithic cultures in China. and nitrogen isotope ratios of Sus samples from Neolithic sites in the Yellow River Valley. Also in the some Sus samples from to a Culture site on the of the values were than those of the Sus samples from sites in the Yellow River Valley. Many of the samples in 2 of Culture period, to of both and This in the diet of Sus at took by around BP, which was as evidence for the domestication of pigs beginning between and BP. The dietary of Sus in timing with the of of both and millets at the site (see The are between and suggesting that the of C4 plants in the diet of Sus The samples with values also a of between and which were to those of suggesting that the Sus that were millet or even and also had to The that the small number of with and values wild pigs or that had occasional to C4 plants and kitchen and Figure data of the Yangshao Culture period were also from in and in The Sus samples of these sites in both and In to the of variation in observed in pigs from and on C4 plants The isotope data of Sus samples from the Late Neolithic Longshan period after BP in the Yellow River Valley were reported from and in in and also to and to in The samples a of samples from other sites had values between and a of C4 plants in their diet. a from and an of of the samples from the of a of Sus that had a of a diet of C3 which have from a wild This that the around the site was dominated by C3 Nitrogen isotope ratios are also in samples of the Longshan Culture period, those from and the of to were C4 plants were incorporated in the diet of Sus in the Yangshao Culture period, and by the Longshan Culture period, of the Sus samples from the Yellow River Valley had of C4 plants in their diet. some sites where carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios were variable, suggesting that each site took a different management strategy in to the of pigs. The Longshan Culture period samples form a of the values among the Yellow River Valley sites, with values at or The nitrogen isotope ratios were also is a site by a and probably functioned as a and The of Sus at than of the as as the carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios with a of variation suggest more intensive and management of pigs than that of in the The carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios at suggest that some of the pigs were more and had to C4 is a site in the southern border of the millet farming where the of C4 plants in the diet could be more than on the northern of the Yellow Hunting of wild pigs was at as of the Sus samples had the isotope ratios typical of on C3 analyses have been at Neolithic sites in the Yangtze Delta and nitrogen isotope ratios of Sus samples from a Culture site to were different from those of with C3 plant diet 2019). the of the isotope values were from 8000 to 7000 and to The evidence of domestic rice and the of the management of pigs were reported from Figure compared carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in the bone collagen of pigs, and humans from and in with those from and from The pig samples from sites the values of a C3 plant nitrogen isotope ratios had a Sus samples from Kuahuqiao included with values around to which is to the values of humans and while in the diverse pig diet was at and two of with the values between a to that of and a to is among the samples that be both domestic pigs that were kitchen and wild pigs that on were and nitrogen isotope ratios of Sus samples from Neolithic sites in the Yangtze River Valley. The of isotope analyses suggest that human on the diet of pigs was in the Neolithic sites in the Yangtze while some were by humans or had to were on C3 plants These isotopic on Sus from and the sites the of morphological at these sites, which was that both wild and domestic pigs were the two could be based on morphological strategies of pigs in the Yangtze Delta sites to be extensive which took advantage of the in the region, of control over breeding was between the pigs and the wild Sus millet cultivation as early as BP in the Yangtze Valley is of C4 plants in the diet of Sus in the Neolithic Yangtze Delta sites. In the region between the two major river pig management strategies various of carbon isotopes in pig bones from in the based on morphological of the evidence of pig domestication. from had nitrogen isotope ratios and a other samples the values of a C4 plant diet domestic millets have been found at wild C4 plants have been (see The of a that the isotope values of with C3 that C3 plants were dominant in the around the human on the diet of at least some pigs is at from to also had a of between and are also a samples that had carbon isotope ratios around suggesting a C3 and C4 plant diet. the Yangshao Culture period and both carbon and nitrogen isotope values of Sus samples to Han River in and to BP, the of the and or Longshan Culture periods. isotope ratios of Sus from the Yangshao at indicate a diet of C3 the values became from the period, suggesting that C4 plants were incorporated the diet of pigs. Increasing in the nitrogen isotope between and is also observed starting in the Yangshao was observed at with values between C3 and C4 plants had among the Yangshao period Sus between the samples C3 and C4 was observed in the Longshan period The samples with values to also have values at the and Culture which suggest the of both kitchen and C4 plants and nitrogen isotope ratios of Sus samples from Neolithic sites in the Han and Huai River Valley. The of third of the Sus from the of and were for strontium isotope The strontium isotope ratios were both and between each from to and the of variation at the sites was The strontium in the vicinity of was and values to the Sus samples were found in the locations about to from the sites. This that the Sus found at sites were from multiple locations to the sites for The strontium isotope ratios of Sus from the samples from and of the Yellow River Valley were more and were from the values of the sites 2012). The of variation found among the samples was compared with the Yangtze Delta sites. The strontium values suggest that the pigs at the two Neolithic sites were and were possibly the sites for of millets and kitchen to the pigs was by the in both carbon and nitrogen isotope values of the samples from these two sites. a more and intensive management of pigs integrated in the of the settlements was at the Yellow River Valley Neolithic sites compared with that in the Yangtze River Valley sites. morphological and isotopic evidences suggest that the Neolithic sites in the Yellow River Valley and the Yangtze different strategies of pig In the Yellow River Valley sites, pigs were more were probably and kitchen and C4 plants were as The of C4 plants became significant from the Yangshao period, when millet cultivation became in northern China, suggesting that pigs were millet or to in the millet after the millet The of of nitrogen isotope ratios between sites, the values are each each site probably used a different of fodder according to their economy and the Hunting of wild pigs was rare. In the Yangtze Delta sites as and pigs were more than those in the Yellow River Valley sites. some pigs had or were kitchen and C3 Hunting of wild pigs and between wild and was probably The in the pig management strategies between the Yellow River Valley and Yangtze River Valley sites probably the environmental differences in the two the period from the to a and around BP. The Yellow River Valley sites in the north were more by the and had to a more intensive strategy to increase production in both agriculture and animal husbandry to the with C4 plants have at the initial stage of domestication of pigs in the north, which became practice in pig more was to farming in the effort to increase agricultural extensive management of pigs probably became is of the of pigs with C4 plants at the southern sites, even after millets were introduced to Yangtze River Valley sites as Rice was the major crop, the major food in the of broad-spectrum utilization in southern China. of food resources and wild were rice production in the Yangtze Delta sites the Neolithic. were added as food where was In the Yangtze Valley, the effort to increase production took the form of more of while production of rice was by as to the and were added to the agricultural and agricultural productivity was increased by the to In the course of in agricultural pig management also found a niche by the as as for control over pig was The of wild in the probably the Neolithic, as as the with the of sites in the This with the more millet production in the Yellow River Valley where probably between animal husbandry and plant cultivation over pig management in the north took the of more intensive control over pig of millet and between wild and domestic pig possibly by of pigs at the sites. The management strategies of pigs were more at sites in the Huai and Han River between the two major river that an extensive management to that in the Yangtze River sites, was at sites, a small number of pigs at these sites were C4 The variation in both and values starting from the Yangshao period a versatile strategy probably at the we have data at to the initial process of domestication of pigs in China had or multiple evidence that management of pigs around 9000 to 8000 BP in both north and south China. trajectories in the intensification of pig management between the northern and southern can be observed in the Middle Neolithic period, beginning around BP. Morphological and data as as the isotope data of pig suggest a of control over pigs in northern China. and nitrogen isotope analyses of bone collagen of Sus suggest a in the diet in northern China from the Yangshao Culture period, when dry-land farming of millets was in the Yellow River Valley. In the north, pigs were at sites and kitchen and C4 plants as The intensification of pig management in the north which the Longshan Culture period be in the of overall intensification of food production in northern China in the period from the to a and with the of wheat, cattle, and sheep around BP In the Yangtze Delta sites, of nitrogen isotope ratios in the bone collagen of some of the Sus samples is observed as early as 8000 BP, the hunting of wild boar to have and morphological differences between domestic and wild pigs are The abundance of in the and in southern China and of nuts and probably more extensive management of pigs The of pigs at sites in the Culture Period that the sites on pigs to from Hunting of wild boar and the Late Neolithic, and even the millets were in the Yangtze River Valley by BP, is of the of millets or other C4 plants to the pigs. variation in pig management practice was observed at sites of the Huai and Han river between the two major river The region received from both northern and southern Neolithic cultures, and the was for both dry-land farming of millets and rice We more pig isotope data from sites in the Yangtze River Valley, from the sites where millets were found to the differences in practice from the sites in north China. Hongo is an at of The for received in from main is the domestication process of both in and has as an in of sites in and is a at of The for is a in and has about of in in China. on the in received in from the for of has the Yangtze River as a and has the at the Yangtze in China. is an of the for at the of on plant domestication and the of agriculture in and The are to the and the two for their and The was supported by the for and

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