Animal Dietary Ecology and Livestock Domestication in the Lower Yellow River Region during the Early and Middle Neolithic Age

Archaeological Science Forum No. 74

Animal Dietary Ecology and Livestock Domestication in the Lower Yellow River Region during the Early and Middle Neolithic Age

Speaker: Dr. Zhang Quan, Postdoctoral Fellow (School of History and Culture, Shandong University)
Host: Zhang Zhengwei, Assistant Research Fellow (Center for Archaeological Sciences, Sichuan University)

Lecture Overview:

In the Neolithic Age of Northern China, animal domestication was closely related to millet cultivation. Although cultivated millets appeared very early in the lower Yellow River region, the specific circumstances regarding the domestication and husbandry of livestock in this area remain unclear. This lecture focuses on carbon and nitrogen stable isotope evidence from humans, animals, and plants in the lower Yellow River region during the Early to Middle Neolithic Age (approx. 10,000–5,700 BP). It traces the diachronic trajectories of animal dietary ecology, interpreting the ecological adaptation mechanisms within the interactions between millets and various animals, as well as the patterns of livestock domestication and husbandry.

Time: December 26, 2025   10:00 - 12:00 AM

Venue: Conference Room 518, Zone 2, Liberal Arts Building, Jiang'an Campus, Sichuan University