A Study On Animal Exploitation Strategies From The Late Neolithic To Bronze Age In Northeastern Tibetan Plateau And Its Surrounding Areas,China

The history of prehistoric human activities on the Tibetan Plateau and its driving mechanism are the frontier issues in the international academia.One of the current hotspots is that what kind of strategies prehistoric humans adopted to adapt themselves to the high altitude environment.Diverse landscapes and abundant archaeological remains in the northeast Tibetan Plateau make the area an ideal place to investigate various utilization strategies of animal and plant resources for prehistoric human surviving in different environment.Archaeobotanical researches in this area have already obtained plenteous achievements,revealing that the incoming and utilization of drought-resistant and thermophilic millet,cold-resistant wheat and barley play the key role in ensuring prehistoric humans settle permanently in different-altitude environment.The animal resource is another important food sources for prehistoric humans,but its role in subsistence strategies of the ancestors in northeastern Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding areas is still not clear.From the late Neolithic to Bronze Age,Eurasia agricultural communication and cultural exchange between the East and the West have significantly affected planting structures of ancients in the northeast Tibetan Plateau.However,their influences on utilization strategies of animal resources have not been fully investigated.Here we present the results of animal remains identification and stable isotopic of animal bone collagen in northeastern Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding areas.30581 pieces of animas bones were collected and identified from three sites excavated systematically and three ones investigated scientifically.In addition,carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of the 406 samples of animals and human bones from five archaeological sites,and ¹⁴C ages of 14 samples from three archaeological sites,were analyzed.Combined to the published data in the study area,we attempt to investigate ways for ancestors obtaining meat resources and breeding strategies for livestock during the late Neolithic to Bronze Age,and explore the cultural exchange between the East and the West and the impact of variations in climate and altitude on utilization strategies of animal resources.The main conclusions are listed below:?1?c.5400⁴500BP,humans obtained their meat resources mainly depending on hunting wild animals,such as deer,caprinae and so on.At the same time,a small number of domesticated animals only pigs and dogs also were included in their diet.Additionally,pigs were mainly fed in captivity and free-ranging occasionally.However,dogs were fed in diverse strategies,probably related with their different functions in human daily life.?2?c.4500³600BP,the strategies human adopted for meat resources are quite diverse.The greatest number of wild animals human hunted is deer,caprinae and antilopinae.The livestock contain dog,pig,sheep or goat and cattle,and sheep or goat and cattle have taken up the majority of all livestock.Furthermore,human used consistent strategies to feed pigs and dogs,while they adopted herding,and herding and supplementing crops together for new incoming sheep or goat and cattle based on the richness of wild natural vegetation.?3?c.3600²000BP,human accessed to meat resources mainly by domesticated animals and a few wild ones,and followed the same strategies with that during c.4500³600BP to feed sheep or goat and cattle.In addition,yak has been domesticated and utilized in Nuomuhong culture sites located in Qaidam Basin during this period.?4?There is a transformation that mainly relying on wild animals,supplemented by livestock?c.5400³600BP?turned into relying on livestock,supplemented by wild animals?c.3600²000BP?about human obtaining meat resources in northestern Tibetan Plateau during the late Neolithic to Bronze Age.In addition,c.4500BP the diet of pigs changed from mainly C₄foodstuff to mixed C₃ and C₄ foodstuff,while the diet of sheep and goat from mixed C₃ and C₄foodstuff to mainly C₃ foodstuff during c.3600²000BP.?5?We compare strategies for humans'animal utilization from different-altitude environment in northestern Tibetan Plateau at three stages.The results show that there is a small difference in human acquiring meat resources and feeding strategies for livestock during c.5400⁴500BP and c.3600²000BP,while an obvious difference exists about human meat ways and feeding livestock in c.4500³600BP.Specially,ancients who lived above 2500 m asl relyed on hunting deer,caprinae and antelope to get meat resources,while others who live below 2500 m asl feeding sheep or goat,dog,pig and cattle.?6?There are significant spatio-temporal variations of utilization strategies of animal resources existing in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding areas during the late Neolithic to Bronze Age,which is mainly related to the Eurasian cultural exchange which led to the import and utilization of new livestock?including cattle,sheep and horses?into this area.In addition,the living environment differences resulted from altitude variation and climate change also play an important role in determining the various utilization strategies for animal resources.Our research has not only enriched data of animas remains identification and carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic compositions of animas bones for understanding the history of utilization strategies of animal resources in the northeast Tibetan Plateau and its spatio-temporal variations,which is a pioneering attempt and exploration of multi-disciplinary zooarchaeologocal research in this area,but also proved important evidences for revealing the history of appearances and utilizations of different domestic animals on the Tibetan Plateau.