Stable Isotope Analysis Of Human Bone From The Northern Wei Cemetery Of Datong Erzhong South Campus

Around the time when the Northern Wei dynasty settled its captial at Pingcheng,large-scale migration activities were frequent under the migration policies of the rulers,causing a dramatic increase in the number of people and a sudden complexity in the demographic composition of the Pingcheng area.With the discovery of new archaeological materials,multiple lines of evidence such as the discovery of pottery and its assemblage groups and cooking utensils in tomb,and the excavation of plant remains,indicate that there was a diversified economic subsistence in the Pingcheng area（Datong,Shanxi Province）during the Northern Wei Dynasty.In order to reveal the economic subsistence in the Datong Erzhong cemetery during the Northern Wei period and agriculturalization development in diverse subsistence economies in human life,carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses were conducted on human bones（n=41）excavated from the cemetery.The results showed that most humans（-10.3±0.8‰,9.6±0.5‰,n=36）primarily relied on C₄food（millet-based）;a few individuals（-14.5±2.3‰,10.9±1.4‰,n=5）lived on C₃/C₄mixed food with abundant animal proteins.Combined with the stable isotope analysis of human and animal bones and charred millet from ten cemeteries（or sites）of the same period,indicates that millet-based agriculture was the dominant form of subsistence economy during the Pingcheng period（398～494 CE）,and with the continuous socio-economic development of the Northern Wei period,the food structure of humans changed in different time periods.In general,the proportion of C₄-based food consumed by the humans showed an upward trend,this change is closely related to the transformation of the subsistence economy in which they were engaged,that is,the livestock economy was gradually shrinking,the important position of millet-based agriculture in the subsistence economy of was gradually established.The trend towards agrarianism not only provided strong support for the stable development of the Northern Wei dynasty,but also promoted inter-ethnic exchanges and integration to a certain extent,making the food structure of humans convergent.This is not only an important embodiment of the continuous Chinesization of the Tuoba Xianbei,but also a historical scene of the intermingling and convergence of various ethnic groups,and a typical case of the formation of a Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation...