Analyses On Faunal Remains From Longshangang Site, In Xichuan County, Henan Province

The excavation work at the Longshangang site in Xichuan County, Henan province started from May 2008. So far, a large quantity of animal bones has been found, which offers abundant faunal materials for this study of zooarchaeology. In the 5000-square-meter area of the first field season, a total of 15286 fragements weighing 234834.69 grams, ranging from the Yangshao Culture, Qujialing Culture to Shijiahe Culture, have been identified to the species, genus or family level. In this faunal assemblage, pigs account for the majority, no matter in NISP, MNI or weight.The whole structure of this thesis can be devied into the following parts:Initially, we briefly review the history of zooarchaeology and its current situation, as well as introducing the main methodology of this thesis. In the first and second chapters, we respectively explain the cultural character of this site and picture the ancient environment around according to the faunal information. Subsequently in the third chapter, we achieve the conclusion domestic pigs already exsited in the site from the late Yangshao Period, based on data comparisons with modern wild boar in Wangwushan Mountain. In the following chapter, we are focusing on the age structure of ancient pigs. The majority of young adult individual pigs in the age structure reflect ancient human's intended behaviors, that is to obtain both meat and fat from those young adult pigs. In chapter five, the high mandible frequency in the residental area of this site may indicate that ancient people did not treat those mandibles in a special way. Apart from this, since most of the bones show little sign of weathering and animal gnawing, we tend to believe those bones were not exposed to the air for a long time after consumption. What's more, the requirement for marrow and grease probably is the main reason responsible for bone fragmentation in this site. The final part of this thesis is the sixth chapter, in which the experiment of burnt pig mandibles is carried out. After a series of tests on this spot, we consider that the burnt bones found in H160 are not mandibles with meat and the firing material ancient people used is straw placed on those target bones. Besides this, the whole burning ceremony lasted no longer than half an hour and those burnt mandibles, in most cases, were not buried immediately after the ritual.