Breastfeeding, weaning, and dietary practices during the Western Zhou Dynasty (1122-771 BC) at Boyangcheng, Anhui Province, China

Infancy, childhood, and puberty on the Silk Road revealed with isotopic analysis of incremental dentine

Childhood is a unique phase in human life history, in which newborns are breastfed and weaned, and are progressively familiarized to adult diets. By investigating dietary changes from infancy to adolescence, valuable information regarding past cultural behaviors and aspects of human lives can be explored and elucidated. Here, in conjunction with published isotopic results of serial dentine (n = 21) from Yingpan Man, new δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N results are obtained from 172 samples of incremental dentine from 8 teeth of 8 individuals of the Yingpan cemetery, located in Xinjiang, China. The δ¹³C values range from - 18.2 to - 14.6‰ with a mean ± SD value of - 16.3 ± 0.9‰, and the δ¹⁵N results range between 13.4 and 19.9‰ with a mean ± SD value of 16.0 ± 1.4‰. This indicates that the childhood diets were mixtures of C₃ and C₄ dietary resources and were clearly influenced by breastfeeding and weaning practices. In particular, the findings indicate that there were significant inter-individual differences in terms of the timing and duration of breastfeeding and weaning practices as well as childhood dietary practices at Yingpan. For instance, three individuals were exclusively breastfed after birth, while, two individuals and Yingpan Man were not. In addition, the post-weaning diets of most Yingpan individuals were relatively stable, but one individual and Yingpan Man displayed clear evidence of increased consumption of C₄ foods, likely millet, during late and post-weaning periods. Further, 7 individuals had unique dietary changes between 9 to 14 years old. Potential factors related to this are presented from the perspective of changes in social roles that might be caused by their early participation in the social division of labor or puberty and marriage.

Compound specific isotope evidence points to use of freshwater resources as weaning food in Middle Neolithic Paris Basin

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Revealing lost secrets about Yingpan Man and the Silk Road

Yingpan Man, is one of the most exquisitely preserved mummies found in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Here links between Yingpan Man and the Silk Road are explored through a detailed isotopic and bioarchaeological investigation of his life history. Analytical techniques of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur stable isotope ratio analysis on hair, teeth, muscle and bones as well as associated animal and plant remains, radiocarbon dating and starch grain analysis of dental calculus are presented to visualize never before seen aspects of Yingpan Man’s life, including: environment, breastfeeding and weaning practices, adolescent and adult diet, disease and nutritional status as well as season of death. Furthermore, in combination with a detailed review of his associated grave goods, this research examines the social status and identity of Yingpan Man, and demonstrates the profound impact and cultural fusion that the Silk Road had upon the peoples of Xinjiang and Eurasia.

Collagen stable isotope data from East and Northeast Asia, c. 7000 BC-1000 AD

Stable isotope analysis is routinely used in archaeology to answer questions related to past diets. As the technique matures, data from archaeological sites have been generated at an exponential rate over the past several decades, thus provided an invaluable opportunity to examine past dietary practices and subsistence economies in much larger geographical and temporal settings. In Asia, a significant proportion of isotopic data is published in non-English journals or in grey literature, therefore remains largely inaccessible to general researchers. In order to provide easier access to these data, and to encourage future large-scale meta-data analyses in Asia, this collection presents the most comprehensive set of collagen stable isotope data of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur from East and Northeast Asia (29–51˚N, 96–136˚ E) to date, including sites located within the modern territories of the People's Republic of China, Mongolia, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Korea. Using academic search engines such as Google Scholar, the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and ScienceON, a total of 3,304 previously published archaeological human and faunal stable isotope data from 136 archaeological sites in East and Northeast Asia, spanning over a period of 8,000 years (c. 7000 BC to AD 1000) are collected. The collated data are deposited on the open-access platform IsoArcH (https://isoarch.eu/) for any interested parties to use.

The prehistoric roots of Chinese cuisines: Mapping staple food systems of China, 6000 BC-220 AD

We conducted a meta-analysis of published carbon and nitrogen isotope data from archaeological human skeletal remains (n = 2448) from 128 sites cross China in order to investigate broad spatial and temporal patterns in the formation of staple cuisines. Between 6000-5000 cal BC we found evidence for an already distinct north versus south divide in the use of main crop staples (namely millet vs. a broad spectrum of C3 plant based diet including rice) that became more pronounced between 5000-2000 cal BC. We infer that this pattern can be understood as a difference in the spectrum of subsistence activities employed in the Loess Plateau and the Yangtze-Huai regions, which can be partly explained by differences in environmental conditions. We argue that regional differentiation in dietary tradition are not driven by differences in the conventional "stages" of shifting modes of subsistence (hunting-foraging-pastoralism-farming), but rather by myriad subsistence choices that combined and discarded modes in a number of innovative ways over thousands of years. The introduction of wheat and barley from southwestern Asia after 2000 cal BC resulted in the development of an additional east to west gradient in the degree of incorporation of the different staple products into human diets. Wheat and barley were rapidly adopted as staple foods in the Continental Interior contra the very gradual pace of adoption of these western crops in the Loess Plateau. While environmental and social factors likely contributed to their slow adoption, we explored local cooking practice as a third explanation; wheat and barley may have been more readily folded into grinding-and-baking cooking traditions than into steaming-and-boiling traditions. Changes in these culinary practices may have begun in the female sector of society.

Raising girls and boys in early China: Stable isotope data reveal sex differences in weaning and childhood diets during the eastern Zhou era

Objectives

Using stable isotope analysis of incremental dentin segments, we reconstruct breastfeeding, weaning, and childhood dietary patterns of Eastern Zhou period (771–221 BC) individuals from the Central Plains of China. Previous isotopic research on the Eastern Zhou demonstrated dietary difference between male and female diets in adulthood via bone collagen analysis. To understand the development of gendered dietary patterns we must examine the early life period. We aim to identify the timing of the weaning process, whether childhood diets were the same as adulthood diets, and if there were differences between the diets of boys and girls during childhood.

Materials and Methods

We present incremental dentin and bone collagen δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N isotope data from 23 individuals from two Eastern Zhou archaeological sites (Xiyasi 西亚斯and Changxinyuan 畅馨苑).

Results

Weaning was completed between ages 2.5 and 4 years. Females were weaned slightly earlier than males. Early childhood diets show significant incorporation of C₃ foods, such as wheat and soybean, for almost all children, while later adulthood diets indicate greater incorporation of C₄ foods (millets), particularly for males.

Discussion

Childhood diets included greater amounts of C₃ foods than expected, suggesting that grains such as wheat may have been adopted in these communities as foods for children. Nevertheless, dietary differentiation between females and males began in childhood, with boys eating more millets (C₄ foods) than girls. The findings suggest that feeding children was a significant aspect of socialization and cultural gendering of individuals in ancient China.