Abstract:

This article focuses on the identification and analysis of faunal remains unearthed from the Gouwan site between 2007 and 2009 in Xichuan county, Henan Province. In the total excavation area of 5000 m², more than 7700 faunal bone specimens were discovered, representing at least 23 species, including pig (Sus scrofa domesticus), dog (Canis familiaris), buffalo (Buballus buballus), rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sp. ), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), bamboo rat (Rhizomys sinensis), masked civet (Paguma larvata taivana) and mandarin fish (Siniperca chuatsi). Based on the stratigraphy and the typology of unearthed artifacts, the cultural remains belongs to the Yangshao Culture period from the Gouwan site can be divided into four phases. Some thermophilic species, such as rhinoceros, Asian elephants and bamboo rats were discovered in the earlier three phases, but no thermophilic animals were found in the fourth phase. This contrast suggests that the climate of the earlier phases were warmer than that of the fourth phase. The numbers of hunted animals in the first and second phases are more than or equal to those of domestic animals, indicating that hunting outweighed or equaled with raising domestic animals in local subsistence. However, pig bones account for 90.7% and 87.9% of NISP in the third and the fourth phases respectively, showing that animal husbandry, instead of hunting and fishing became dominated in subsistence economy. In particular, three burials of animal bones were found dated to the third phase. Each has a complete skeleton of adult sow, among which one was in late pregnancy carrying at least 7 babies (No.K15), providing important materials for studying the early domestic pig breeding in China.

Key words: Gouwan site, Yangshao Culture, Zooarchaeology