Raising girls and boys in early China: Stable isotope data reveal sex differences in weaning and childhood diets during the eastern Zhou era.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Using stable isotope analysis of incremental dentin segments, we reconstruct breastfeeding, weaning, and childhood dietary patterns of Eastern Zhou period (771-221 BC) individuals from the Central Plains of China. Previous isotopic research on the Eastern Zhou demonstrated dietary difference between male and female diets in adulthood via bone collagen analysis. To understand the development of gendered dietary patterns we must examine the early life period. We aim to identify the timing of the weaning process, whether childhood diets were the same as adulthood diets, and if there were differences between the diets of boys and girls during childhood.

Materials and methods

We present incremental dentin and bone collagen δ¹³ C and δ¹⁵ N isotope

SUBMITTER: Miller MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7496748 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature