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Meat-acquisition patterns in the Neolithic Yangzi river valley, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Yuan Jing,
Rowan Flad and
Luo Yunbing
Yuan Jing
Affiliation:
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, 27 Wangfujing St., Beijing 100710, China
Rowan Flad
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Department of Anthropology, 11 Divinity Ave., Peabody Museum 57G, Cambridge, MA 02141, USA (Email: rflad@fas.harvard.edu)
Luo Yunbing
Affiliation:
Wuhan University, Department of Archaeology, Luojiashan, Wuhan city, Hubei province, 430072, China
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Extract

The authors provide an overview of animal exploitation in the Chinese Neolithic, emphasising regional differences in meat procurement strategies. While the Yellow river peoples turned from hunting wild animals to the rearing of pigs, dogs, sheep and cattle during the Neolithic, the peoples of the Yangzi valley continued to rely on an abundant supply of wild creatures into their Bronze Age. Their staples were deer, fish and birds and there was a special relationship with fish that extended even to the grave.

Keywords

ChinaNeolithicYellow riverYangzi riverfaunal remainszooarchaeology

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Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 82 , Issue 316 , June 2008, pp. 351 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2008

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