Early childhood nurturing strategies in groups of the Yellow River's middle reaches from the late Yangshao culture (3500-2800 BCE)

A stable isotope perspective

Bibliographic Data

ID4687794
AuthorsShuai Lei (0000-0003-4339-6116, Department of Archaeology, Cultural Heritage and Museology Zhejiang University Hangzhou China), Wanfa Gu (Zhengzhou Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology Zhengzhou China), Qian Wu (0000-0001-5828-6468, Zhengzhou Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology Zhengzhou China), Yingjun Xin (Zhengzhou Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology Zhengzhou China, corresponding author), Yi Guo (0000-0001-8622-2314, Department of Archaeology, Cultural Heritage and Museology Zhejiang University Hangzhou China, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume33
Issue5
Pages920-937
Publication date2023-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1047-482X • E-ISSN: 1099-1212
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/oa.3254
OpenAlexW4385766069
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited65

We have reconstructed the feeding patterns, weaning age, dietary structure, and physiological stress experienced by the late Yangshao culture (3500-2800 BCE) of the Middle Yellow River in different individuals early years through comparative carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses of dentin incremental sections, limb bones, or rib assemblages. We present dentin incremental and bone collagen δ13C and δ15N isotope data from 17 individuals from two late Yangshao culture archeological sites (Qingtai 青台 and Shuanghuaishu 双槐树). The result showed that all individuals in the sample weaned between 2.5 and 3.8 years old, and other than the fact that females weaned slightly sooner than males in the Qingtai sites, there were no sex variations in dietary trends across life history stages. The majority of individuals consistently consumed C4 foods (millets) from early childhood onward. A small number of individuals consumed both C3 and C4 foods at an early age, and the proportion of C3 foods (rice) consumed declined or gradually disappeared with increasing age. In addition to the traditional local foods based on millets, a small number of individual families added rice, a newly accessible resource, in varying proportions for young children's foods, which has directly contributed to the dichotomy within this research group in terms of dietary patterns and child-rearing concepts. The emergence of early childhood nurturing strategies in this study serves as a significant microcosm of the social context in which individual families, private ownership, and civilization progressively took shape in early China

Animal science · Archaeology · Bioarchaeology · Biology · China · Geography · Weaning · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Demography · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies