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Abstract Documenting tangible cultural heritage using 3D modeling techniques is gradually becoming an indispensable component of archaeological practice. The 3D modeling techniques based on photogrammetry and LiDAR scanning enable high-accuracy and high-realistic reconstruction of archaeological sites, and have been proven a powerful tool for documenting archaeological excavations. However, dynamically documenting an ongoing excavation using these techniques is still considered tedious, time-consuming, expensive, and dependent on expertise. Moreover, the application of 3D modeling techniques in archaeological excavations still faces some technical challenges, such as modeling with multi-source and multi-scale data, fusing local models at different times into a whole, achieving fast modeling while GPU workstations are not available in the field, and evaluating the quality of 3D models. As a result, there are still very few archaeological teams deeply engaged in dynamic documentation with 3D modeling techniques, and traditional drawing sketches and taking photographs still dominate. In these senses, documenting the archaeological excavation at the Yunxian Man site (located in Hubei, China) is an invaluable opportunity for exploration and practice. Archaeologists determined to conduct dynamically documenting at the beginning of the 6th excavation project for the site, and established a rotation system to reconcile physical excavation with digital preservation. Through repeated practice and communication, we proposed a workflow and pursued several new methods to enhance the feasibility of dynamically documenting, and obtained 4D models of the ongoing archaeological excavations. In 2022, the Yunxian Man site unearthed the most intact fossil of hominin cranium from about one million years ago in the Eurasian continent, preserving important and scarce anatomical features of early humans in Asia. As the original taphonomic context of the fossil corroded away during physical excavations, the digital documentation consisting of 4D models serves as permanent original data source in subsequent archaeological research. Moreover, we obtained cross-scale 3D models from geographical environment to archaeological site, excavation area, and cultural remains, and all of these 3D models are in an actual, unified coordinate framework. Thus, we can contribute to multidisciplinary cross-collaborative research through data sharing. Considering that digital documentations serve a great value in archaeological research, this paper focuses on sharing the workflow and methods to facilitate digital preservation for more archaeological projects.

The site of Qujialing experienced a long, sustained process of the development of Neolithic culture in the Jianghan Plain, with a period of some1600 years. Our previous studies based on macrofossil remains and phytoliths revealed that rice (Oryza sativa) from Qujialing was already domesticated, and millet (Setaria italica and Panicum miliaceum) had also been spread into the site since the Youziling Culture period (5800-5100 BP). Nevertheless, no direct evidence has been provided regarding the daily consumed plant foods, especially plant foods obtained by gathering, throughout the site occupation. This paper thus examines pottery sherds (n=41) associated with culinary practices from Qujialing with starch grain analysis. Apart from starch grains from rice and millet, the results indicate that job’s tears (Coix lacryma-jobi), lotus roots (Nelumbo nucifera), tubers possibly from Chinese yam (Dioscorea panthainca), acorns (Quercus sp.), and beans (Vigna sp. or/and Vicia sp.) were consumed by the ancient Qujialing people, within job’s tears and lotus roots were not discovered before in the macrofossil remains and phytoliths. Combining the starch data and multiple lines of evidence from macrofossil remains and phytoliths, it is suggested that rice was among the most frequently consumed plant foods since the first occupation phase at Qujialing, while acorns could have been gradually replaced by other agricultural products (i.e., rice) and became less important food ingredients, especially when agriculture was more developed in the last occupation phase at Qujialing. These novel findings not only complement our previous research by providing the first line of evidence of paleodiet in the Jianghan Plain from the perspective of starch grain analysis but also delivers a better understanding of the characterized dietary trends and agricultural development in the research region.

The Wanfunao site was a large Chu settlement in Zhou Dynasty. It was located on an alluvial plain along the Yangtze River in the Yichang section. The region around the site comprised mountains, hills, and plains, which was a compatible environment for the cultivation of various crops. Previous studies have suggested that the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are one of the most productive regions for rice cultivation. Besides rice, however, seven dryland crops have been found at the Wanfunao site: foxtail millet, broomcorn millet, wheat, barley, oat, buckwheat, and adzuki bean. Among them, foxtail millet and rice are most ubiquitous. The crop assemblage has revealed that the northern dryland crops, including those were newly adapted cereals such as foxtail millet, wheat, and barley, gradually dispersed southward and became a part of the diet along with rice. This can be attributed to southern Chinese inhabitants’ reclamation of the hilly environment for agriculture. Although communities in southern China had cultivated rice on the plains for thousands of years, newly introduced dryland crops from north China adapted to mountainous environments better. The development of multi-cropping systems in southern China likely involved changes in agricultural ontology associated with the adaptation of northern crops in southern environments newly encountered. Additionally, the assemblage of foxtail millet grain/rice spikelet base in the site may have been used for livestock feeding. A wide range of landforms, compatible farming, and surplus agricultural products for husbandry may have been a part of the economic foundation that facilitated the rise of Chu.

Abstract It is widely accepted that modern pigs were domesticated independently at least twice, and Chinese native pigs are deemed as direct descendants of the first domesticated pigs in the corresponding domestication centers. By analyzing mitochondrial DNA sequences of an extensive sample set spanning 10,000 years, we find that the earliest pigs from the middle Yellow River region already carried the maternal lineages that are dominant in both younger archaeological populations and modern Chinese pigs. Our data set also supports early Neolithic pig utilization and a long-term in situ origin for northeastern Chinese pigs during 8,000–3,500 BP, suggesting a possibly independent domestication in northeast China. Additionally, we observe a genetic replacement in ancient northeast Chinese pigs since 3,500 BP. The results not only provide increasing evidence for pig origin in the middle Yellow River region but also depict an outline for the process of early pig domestication in northeast China.