Sustainable intensification of millet–pig agriculture in Neolithic North China

Jishuai Yang, Dongju Zhang (), Xiaoyan Yang (), Weiwei Wang, Linda Perry, Dorian Q. Fuller, Haiming Li, Jian Wang, Lele Ren, Huan Xia, Xuke Shen, Hui Wang, Yishi Yang, Juanting Yao, Yu Gao and Fahu Chen
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Jishuai Yang: Lanzhou University
Dongju Zhang: Lanzhou University
Xiaoyan Yang: Lanzhou University
Weiwei Wang: Australian National University
Linda Perry: The Foundation for Archaeobotanical Research in Microfossils
Dorian Q. Fuller: University College London
Haiming Li: Nanjing Agricultural University
Jian Wang: Lanzhou University
Lele Ren: Lanzhou University
Huan Xia: Lanzhou University
Xuke Shen: Lanzhou University
Hui Wang: Fudan University
Yishi Yang: Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Juanting Yao: Lanzhou University
Yu Gao: Group of Alpine Paleoecology and Human Adaptation (ALPHA), State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fahu Chen: Lanzhou University

Nature Sustainability, 2022, vol. 5, issue 9, 780-786

Abstract: Abstract The emergence of complex societies represents one of the major developments of human prehistory. Diverse agricultural strategies were implemented to produce the increased grain surplus necessary to allow the development of complex societies across the world. Little is known, however, about the millet–pig system that developed in Neolithic North China and ultimately underpinned the more complex societies, such as cities and states, in this region. Our data from studies of phytoliths and starches from pig dental residues and stable isotopes of millet grains excavated from the Dadiwan site demonstrate that an intensive crop–livestock system was in practice by at least 5,500 years ago. This novel system, characterized by the feeding of millet crop residues to pigs and the fertilization of millet fields with pig and/or human dung, enabled sustainable intensification in agriculture and fed the early complex societies in North China.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41893-022-00905-9

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