Exploitation strategy of animal resources by ancient humans at the Late Pleistocene site of Banjingzi, Nihewan basin
Received date: 2021-06-09
Revised date: 2021-08-29
Online published: 2022-12-19
This paper provides a detailed taphonomic analysis of animal remains from the Banjingzi site dating about 90 kaBP, in the Nihewan Basin, North China. The quantification of bone surface modifications, skeletal profiles, and breakage patterns of long bones are presented, indicating strategies of prey acquisition, transportation, and consumption by humans during Marine Isotope Stage 5 in the northern China. The results show that 1) humans were the predominant accumulator of bones in Layer 5 as indicated by the frequency of percussion marks, cut marks and carnivore toothmarks; 2) horses were the dominant prey, with most brought back to the site completely; 3) limb bones (that is, portions with the most flesh and marrow) had the highest frequencies of cutmarks, percussion marks and fragmentation index. Combined with zooarchaeological results from the Lingjing site in Henan Province, we conclude that there were probably regular hunters of large games in steppe environment of North China around MIS5.
Key words： North China; Banjingzi; taphonomy; fauna; hunting
Xiaomin WANG , Fagang WANG , Fuyou CHEN , Feng LI , Xing GAO . Exploitation strategy of animal resources by ancient humans at the Late Pleistocene site of Banjingzi, Nihewan basin[J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica, 2022 , 41(06) : 1005 -1016 . DOI: 10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2021.0085
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