ABSTRACT
Millets were the major source of dietary carbohydrates for early farmers during the Yangshao. Stable isotope data accumulated over the last 15 years show that human diets during the Yangshao were very diverse, despite having millet as their major component. These differences were likely shaped by site-specific food preferences and ecological settings. Comparing isotopic values with the skeletal pathology data from each site, we infer that dietary differences reflected by stable isotope values affected variation in oral health between Yangshao communities. Cranial lesions show less clear correspondence with dietary variation and were likely affected by many other factors, such as local population density, hygiene, and parasitic loads. Despite considerable diet variation during the Yangshao, the composition of male and female diets appears to have been very similar, suggesting that access to food resources was not gender biased at the time. A dietary shift toward C3 plants, likely wheat, barley, and beans, is clear during the Eastern Zhou era. Unlike during the Neolithic, the evidence for Eastern Zhou diets shows considerable differences between males and females, suggesting unequal access to food resources, indicating the rise of gender inequality in China. The presence of C3 cereals in pig feed is also seen during the Eastern Zhou, indicating that C3 cereals had become a common part of the household refuse, which was used to provision pigs.
