A Research On The Ming And Qing Dynasties Human Skeletal Remains From Wenchi Cemetery In Yu County,Shanxi

Yu County in Shanxi Province,where Wenchi cemetery is located,is an important hub connecting the Loess Plateau and the North China Plain.During the Ming and Qing Dynasties,it was an important node linking Shanxi Province and the capital,and was also a remarkable economic center in eastern Shanxi.The favorable and unfavorable factors of the Yu County,including superior natural geographical conditions,convenient transportation,prominent manland contradictions,and frequent natural disasters all shaped the Shanxi region in economic development,population mobility,custom changes,and other social aspects in the late feudal society.As Wenchi cemetery is the largest Ming-Qing dynasties family cemetery discovered in Shanxi,the unearthed human skeletal collection unearthed from provides representative anthropological data from the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Shanxi.By combining the osteoarchaeological analysis with local chronicles,economic history,medical history and other research results,issues of commoner in this area at the end of feudal rule,such as the family structure,health level,behavioral patterns,population mobility,etc.,can be discussed with important academic value for further reconstructing the social life.From an osteoarchaeological perspective,this research analyzes the paleodemographic characteristics,skeletal trauma and disease,behavioral patterns,body shape and skull morphological characteristics of the Wenchi collection through morphological observation,linear measurement,and statistical analysis..A relatively comprehensive study has been carried out to investigate the social structure,health status,subsistence strategy,and population mobility of residents in the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Shanxi.The full text is divided into seven chapters.Chapter 1 introduces the natural geography and historical evolution of Yu County,describes the archaeological background of Wenchi cemetery,reviews research on human bones unearthed from Ming and Qing dynasties archaeological sites,and explains the purpose and significance of this study.Chapter 2 consists the paleodemographic study of the Wenchi residents.the population structure of Wenchi residents was preliminarily analyzed through physical anthropology and paleodemographic methods,combined with historical documents from the Ming and Qing dynasties.The results show that the sex ratio of Wenchi collection is 118.9.Compared with the data recorded in historical documents such as the Qing Wen Xian Tong Kao,the sex ratio in the documents is far higher than that of the residents in the Ming and Qing dynasties unearthed from archaeological sites,which should be related to the omission of female population in the census of registered residence during the Ming and Qing dynasties.There is not much difference between the average age at death and life expectancy,yet there are sexual differences in the mortality peak,indicating that reproductive pressure puts mature females at a higher risk of death.Paleodemographic research on the Ming and Qing populations has also further proved that,compared with the ancient population data recorded in historical documents,the sex and age analysis of human skeletal remains excavated from archaeological sites plays an irreplaceable supplementary role in the in-depth exploration of population structure,average life expectancy,and other issues of the Ming and Qing populations,especially the non-elite populations.Chapter 3 focusses on the study on skeletal diseases and trauma among Wenchi collection.Regarding skeletal diseases,firstly,an individual with a congenital cleft lip and palate was found in the cemetery.Considering the disease risk,individual burial characteristics,and historical medical records,the individual does not seem to have been subject to discrimination from the family or society during their lifetime.It also proves the existence of mature cleft lip repair surgery and a social security system that benefited commoners with disabilities in ancient Chinese feudal society.Additionally,the male group shows a higher risk of osteoarthritis than the female group among the Wenchi population.The distribution and prevalence of osteoarthritis indicate that women are equally involved in physical labor as men;male residents mostly undertake jobs with higher loads on the upper and lower limbs and waist in daily life,while women are more likely be engaged in productive activities that mainly rely on the upper limbs.By combining the differential diagnosis of fluorosis on skeletons with the living conditions of the Ming and Qing dynasties in the Wenchi area,it was determined that 102 individuals had suffered from fluorosis(skeletal fluorosis and dental fluorosis)during their lifetime.Factors such as the fluoride content in local groundwater and residents’ lifestyles indicate that fluorosis among the Wenchi residents during the Ming and Qing dynasties was induced by groundwater pollution and the use of large amounts of fluorine-containing coal.Secondly,dental diseases such as dental calculus,dental caries,dental abscess,periodontal disease,antemortem tooth loss,and dental enamel hypoplasia were observed and statistically analyzed.The overall oral condition of the Wenchi population was good.Residents are widely affected by dental fluorosis,resulting in a much lower caries rate compared to that of the traditional agricultural population.However,they still suffer from dental caries,periodontal disease,apical abscesses,and antemortem tooth loss in a high-fluoride environment,which may be attributed to the population’s lifestyles,such as habitual smoking and alcohol consumption.The high prevalence of dental calculus,dental caries,and dental abscesses indicate that the Wenchi population did not receive effective dental cleaning during their lifetime.Thirdly,statistical results of population skeletal trauma show lower rates of cranial trauma and postcranial bone trauma of Wenchi residents.Skull fractures are all non-fatal trauma,while postcranial bone traumas are similar to accidental injuries from tripping or falling,with a higher risk in the male group than the female group.All fractures healed well.Accidental injuries resulting fractures were related to occupation or daily production activities.The gender division of labor among the Wenchi population determines which skeletal parts were more affected by accidental trauma.Finally,footbinding,a widely practiced custom among female residents during the Ming and Qing dynasties,was also identified in the skeletal remains of Wenchi female samples.Of the 165 female individuals at Wenchi cemetery,119 were found to have had footbinding(72.12%).Their foot bones,especially the metatarsals and foot phalanges,are significantly slender,with the increased degree of deformation distally and laterally.A comparative analysis of footbinding bones in the Xifengbu cemetery confirmed that the footbinding samples found in Wenchi females were also identified as the Talipes Calcaneus type.As a cultural practice,the essence of footbinding is to directly transform and control female bodies,limiting their behavioral abilities and damaging their health.Ultimately,it continuously strengthens the perception of female identity as weak,vulnerable and subordinate to men.It provides direct bioarchaeological evidence that ideology,violence,and power are applied to maintain social control over female bodies.Chapter 4 focuses on the behavioral patterns of Wenchi residents.Using the Mariotti method,23 postcranial skeletal entheseal changes and 6 functional complexes were visually examined.26 linear measurements were collected from limb bones,and 9 indices were calculated for limb bones.The results indicate that the data on linear measurements and entheseal changes remain consistent,with a higher level of entheseal robustness on the upper limbs than the lower limbs.Males exhibited higher levels of entheseal robustness and more significant entheseal changes.Male residents are engaged in activities that involve long-term,long-distance trekking and weight-bearing,while women,whether with or without bound feet,are responsible for tasks that require more stretching,flexion,and extension activities of the acromioclavicular joints and elbow joints.The differences in the starting and ending points of the lower limbs and bone thickness between females with and without bound feet should be attributed to the adaptive skeletal and muscle characteristics of the lower limbs formed by foot-binding behavior.The differences in the entheseal robustness of the lower limbs between footbinding and non-footbinding females should be related to the adaptive skeletal and muscle characteristics induced by footbinding practice.Based on the geographical environment,mineral resources profile,and historical documents of Yu County,it is further speculated that male residents may be more engaged in coal mining,coal trafficking,and iron smelting,while female residents are all involved in textile work in household production.Additionally,nonfootbinding females may have to undertake more agricultural production activities due to their unrestricted lower limb mobility.Chapter 5 discusses the diet of Wenchi residents.The carbon and nitrogen stable isotope results of Wenchi residents show that the population’s diet consists of a mixture of C3 and C4 plants,with a slightly higher proportion of C4 food is,while the influence of C3 plants can also be observed.Additionally,some individuals consume more C3 plants than C4 plants,indicating differences in the composition of grain foods within the population.The food structure of the population contains a certain amount of animal protein sourced from terrestrial mammals.Comparison with the diets of the elites and non-elites in the Central Plains and Northeastern Border Areas of the Ming Dynasty further clarifies the diet composition of the Wenchi population.Millet was likely the main food of Shanxi residents during the Ming and Qing Dynasties and also severed as the main source of C4 food in the diet of the Wenchi people.The C3 food signal reflected by the δ13C value is more likely the result of wheat consumption.There are also notable sexual differences in the daily food structure of the population.Male residents show significantly higher C3 food intake than females,and female residents show more fixed types of food than males.C3 foods during the Ming and Qing Dynasties can also reflect the differences in diet among people of different socioeconomic statuses.Higher socioeconomic status allows men to access more foods with higher economic value.Difference in mobility and activity between male and female residents also contributed to gender disparities.There is no gender difference in the consumption of animal protein among the population.This result not only shows that the limited consumption level of animal protein among the non-elite classes in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was insufficient to cause significant consumption differences within the population,but also reflects the male-dominated patterns of society.In the context of a traditional feudal society dominated by men and a socioeconomic status gap between the sexes,women,especially those of childbearing age,may experience a certain degree of cultural buffering to compensate for the difference in animal protein consumption between the sexes caused by men’s preferential treatment in diet.Chapter 6 discussed the anthropological types of Wenchi residents.Based on cranial non-metric and metric traits,the skull morphological characteristics of male and female residents were summarized.Comparative analysis with other Ming-Qing and modern populations revealed that the Wenchi population is most closely related to two other groups of Ming and Qing populations in Shanxi-the Yuci population and the Xifengbu population.In contrast,they are distantly related to the Dongshandao population,Taiyuan population,Hunan population and Taoyuan population.As the Ming and Qing dynasties were a period with great population mobility in Shanxi Province,to solve the problem of uneven population distribution and the following economic losses,the Ming and Qing governments promoted immigration as a policy.Since then,the development of Shanxi merchants and the influx of refugees intensified the twoway migration of the population.These factors also explain the distance between the phylotypes of the Wenchi Ming and Qing residents and the Taiyuan aboriginal population and their mixed ethnic factors.Chapter 7 is the summary of this research.With the application of biocultural methods,the physical characteristics of the Wenchi population,a representative group of the Jinzhong region,reveal that socio-economic,political,and cultural factors,along with the complex historical processes of the Ming and Qing dynasties,shaped the social life of the local population with a blend of openness and conservative.The bioarchaeological perspective on social life of the nonelite populations in the region during the Ming and Qing Dynasties provides new evidence for further exploration of the interaction between the health level,medical care,population mobility,and the changes in economic patterns.Meanwhile,we review the limitations of this research and summarise the methodological approaches to improve future studies.