Henan Erlitou Site Animals Archaeological Research

The Erlitou site, in which the main cultural deposits belong to Erlitou culture, is situated at Erlitou Village of Zhaizhen Town, Yanshi city, Henan province. This site is an exceedingly large settlement of Erlitou culture, and it can be dated to 3800-3500BP.The faunal remains of Erlitou site are unearthed from seven cultural layers, which are erlitouⅠ, erlitouⅡ, erlitouⅢ, erlitouⅣ, erligang lower layer, erligang upper layer, Han Dynasty layer. The total number of the unearthed faunal remains is 39429, and the NISP is 22116, which accounts for 56.09% of the total number. These faunal remains represent at least 45 species. By analyzing the ecological habit of wild animals in the site, it can be inferred that the environment of Erlitou site at that time was better than that of present day.It's sure that five species are domestic animals raised by ancient settlers of Erlitou site. They are Canis familiaris, Sus scrofa domesticus, Ovis sp., Capra sp., and Bos sp.. As far as animals'NISP is concerned, domestic animals occupy a very large proportion, while the proportion of wild animals doesn't exceed 25% all the time. Based on such statistics, it can be inferred that the manner by which ancient settlers of Erlitou site acquired their meal resources can be defined as"exploiting type".In the dietary contribution of this site four species, which are Sus scrofa domesticus, Ovis sp., Capra sp., Bos sp. and Cervus nippon, formed the most important and stable meal source of ancient settlers of Erlitou site. Meanwhile, Sus scrofa domesticus played the most important role among the four species.According to the material and the manufacturing technique of the oracle bones, it's evident that Erlitou culture period's oracle bones of Erlitou site came down in one continuous line with that of Henan Longshan culture, Erligang culture and Yin Ruins culture. Meanwhile, the ancient settlers of Erlitou site were specialized in choosing the material and manufacturing the artifacts which are made of bone, antler and mussel from Erlitou site.By comparing and analyzing the faunal remains unearthed fromⅢregion andⅤregion of Erlitou site, we have a better understanding about the commonness and difference in animal-utilizing of Erlitou's ancient settlers who lived in these two different regions.After the analysis with other archaeological sites of different time and area, we are acquainted more clearly with the means of exploiting the animal resource and the animal resource's function in the economic and social life of Erlitou's ancient settlers.