Stable isotope and dental caries data reveal abrupt changes in subsistence economy in ancient China in response to global climate change.

ABSTRACT: Prior to the introduction of wheat and barley from Central Asia during the Neolithic period, northern Chinese agricultural groups subsisted heavily on millet. Despite being the focus of many decades of intensive interest and research, the exact route(s), date(s), and mechanisms of the spread and adoption of wheat and barley into the existing well-established millet-based diet in northern China are still debated. As the majority of the important introduced crops are C3 plants, while the indigenous millet is C4, archaeologists can effectively identify the consumption of any introduced crops using stable carbon isotope analysis. Here we examine published stable isotope and dental caries data of human skeletal remains from 77 archaeological sites across northern and northwestern China. These s

SUBMITTER: Cheung C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6645670 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature