Nomadic pastoralists and the Chinese empire: A bioarchaeological study of China's northern frontier

Frontier interaction between nomadic pastoralists and the agrarian-based Chinese empire was a complex phenomenon that was shaped by ecological and cultural constraints. Previous studies and interpretations of this interaction have focused on the Chinese perspective and relied upon textual data from ancient Chinese sources, as well as archaeological evidence of material culture. In this study, the nature and health consequences of the interactions between agriculturalists and pastoralists were documented using multiple lines of bioarchaeological evidence to test longstanding assumptions about dietary dependency and violent conflict between ancient China and nomadic societies of the northern steppe frontier.;This research has had two major aims: (1) to examine the extent to which differing economic strategies affected populations in paleopathological markers and (2) to determine the health impact upon peripheral and frontier societies associated with the level of Chinese imperial influence as measured over different time periods and geographic distances. I collected bioarchaeological data from the skeletal remains of 979 people from 11 archaeological sites. These data open a new window into the health and socioeconomic consequences of long-term core-periphery interactions. Furthermore, these skeletal studies of stress markers, patterns of violence, and dietary change document the physical manifestations of frontier interaction.;This research has shown that the link between diet and violence in the interaction between nomads and China was dependent on several components, including distance and temporal considerations. Thus, the relationship between nomads and China was dynamic and fluid, influenced by a complex array of ecological, social, and historical factors.