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ABSTRACT The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture is a major turning point in human history. In North China, although crops were cultivated as early as 10,000 BP, they only became staple foods with the establishment of a fully functional agricultural system between 6000 and 5000 BP. Thus, exploring the subsistence strategies of this transitional period is crucial for understanding how hunter‐gatherers gradually evolved into farmers. The Peiligang culture (c. 9000–7000 BP) is one of the most significant early Neolithic cultures in this region. In this study, we investigated the crust residues from the pottery Ding‐tripods (鼎) dating to the middle Peiligang culture (8800–8200 cal bp) at the Xielaozhuang site using a multidisciplinary approach that includes FTIR, XRD, SEM‐EDS, and starch granule analyses. Our results indicate that a mixture containing bone powder, Panicoideae, Triticeae, and acorns was prepared in these pottery Ding‐tripods. This finding represents one of the earliest known uses of bone powder globally, contributing valuable insights to the ongoing debate regarding fragmented bone assemblages and bone grease extraction. Moreover, combined with macrobotanical and zooarchaeological data, our findings suggest that agriculture had not yet fully supplanted hunting and gathering, as wild plants and animals continued to play a critical role in the diet at the Xielaozhuang site during the Peiligang culture. The use of bone powder alongside wild plant starches illustrates how these early communities invested significant time and effort into transforming inedible resources into consumable food, a strategy crucial for obtaining sufficient calories to sustain a sedentary lifestyle, especially during periods of resource scarcity. These insights illuminate the subsistence strategies of early Neolithic societies transitioning from reliance on hunting‐gathering to more settled practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human societies face challenges in transitioning towards low‐carbon economies and sustainable management of land use and natural resources. Documenting and learning from past transitions helps policy‐makers cope with such challenges. The agricultural revolution in Cantabrian Spain (ca. 7000 cal a bp) was one major adaptation of hunter‐gatherers to a changing environment that started with the Last Glacial Maximum (ca. 24 000 cal a bp) and lasted until the Mid‐Holocene (ca. 5300 cal a bp). Classic approaches to documenting prehistoric cultural timelines are based on manufacturing and technology, thus limited in their ability to describe the sustainability of past societies. Energy regimes, a functional societal approach independent from time, investigate and consider patterns of resource and energy use in various cohabiting and cooperating cultural phases. To examine past energy regimes, a database of archaeological remains was compiled to document four indicators: mobility, economy, overexploitation and societal complexity. Statistical analyses were conducted to elucidate trends, changes and continuity in subsistence strategies by hunter‐gatherers and sedentary societies. Results show that energy regimes act as a complement to cultural phases, adding novel functional analyses of past societies to cultural stratigraphy units common in archaeology, shedding light on the sustainability of past societal transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we analyze the diet of forager–horticulturalist societies of southeast South America through different isotopic markers (δ13Ccollagen, δ13Capatite, and δ15N). The economy of these populations was based on hunting, fishing, gathering, and, to a greater or lesser extent, horticulture, showing a different emphasis on each one of these options. The samples analyzed here were recovered from different environments, including the Atlantic coast, the highlands of the Brazilian plateau, and the lowland forests of the upper valleys of the Uruguay and Paraná rivers, within a general east–west sampling transect. Most of the samples correspond to individuals recovered from the Guarani and Itararé‐Taquara archeological units. We have also included a smaller sample of foragers clustered in the so‐called Vieira Tradition, perhaps with some food production, and two individuals buried in shell mounds ("sambaquis") of the south Brazilian Atlantic coast ("Coastal Tradition"), whose economy was strongly based on marine resources and wild plants. The results indicate that, regardless of the archeological unit in question, the individuals recovered from the seashore settlements show a diet based mostly on marine protein, with a minor contribution of other resources, except in a Guarani sample, where a significant intake of maize is observed. The individuals recovered in the highlands of the Brazilian plateau ("Itararé‐Taquara") present the highest incidence of plant consumption of the entire sample analyzed, within a C3 monoisotopic pattern, probably strongly influenced by the consumption of the araucaria pine nut, and no isotopic signals related to maize intake. Guarani samples recovered from sites located in tropical forests in the interior of the continent show an unquestionable and systematic impact of maize on the diet, in addition to an important consumption of C3 animal proteins. The individuals assigned to the so‐called Vieira Tradition show a diet based on C3 protein and both C3 and C4 lipids and carbohydrates. The latter could be related to a small consumption of maize. These results demonstrate the multidirectionality of subsistence strategies in southeastern South America during the late Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study examines long bone diaphyseal rigidity and shape of hunter‐gatherers at Roonka to make inferences about subsistence strategies and mobility of inhabitants of semi‐arid southeastern Australia. Roonka is a cemetery site adjacent to the Lower Murray River, which contains over 200 individuals buried throughout the Holocene. Archaeological evidence indicates that populations living near this river corridor employed mobile, risk averse foraging strategies. Methods: This prediction of lifestyle was tested by comparing the cross‐sectional geometric properties of the humerus, radius, ulna, femur, tibia, and fibula of individuals from Roonka to samples of varying subsistence strategies. Bilateral asymmetry of the upper limb bones was also examined. Results: Roonka males and females have moderately high lower limb diaphyseal rigidity and shape. In the upper limb, females have low rigidity and bilateral asymmetry while males have moderately high rigidity and bilateral asymmetry. This pattern is similar to other foraging groups from Australia and southern Africa that have behaviorally adapted to arid and semi‐arid environments. Discussion: Lower limb results suggest that populations in the Lower Murray River Valley had relatively elevated foraging mobility. Upper limb rigidity and bilateral asymmetry indicate a sexual division of labor at Roonka. Females resemble other samples that had mixed subsistence strategies that involved hunting, gathering, and processing tasks. Males display a pattern similar to groups that preferentially hunted large game, but that supplemented this source with smaller game and riverine resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multicrop agricultural system, including millet, wheat, rice, and soybeans, first emerged in China in the Late Longhang period and is considered to be one of the most important basic foundations underpinning the origin and development of early states in China. However, there is still a lack of studies on the specific subsistence strategies of humans from the Bronze Age, specifically addressing how widespread the multicrop agricultural system was. To explore these questions above, carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis on human bones from the Nanwa site (ca 1720–256 BC & 960–1279 AD) was undertaken to investigate the palaeodiet and subsistence strategies of the Nanwa humans. This paper also reviews the existing stable isotope data of Bronze Age humans on the Central Plains of China. The Nanwa humans from the Erlitou and Yinxu periods have a mean δ13C value of −9.4 ± 0.7‰ and −9.1 ± 0.9‰, suggesting a predominantly C4 diet, probably derived from millet agriculture or domesticated animals fed on millet. Nanwa humans of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty have a relatively low mean δ13C value of −10.5 ± 2.4‰, indicating a consumption of much more C3 foods, likely derived from rice, wheat, soybean, or animals that fed on those plants. A temporal stable isotopic comparison from the Erlitou period to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty on the Central Plains of China shows the majority of the Bronze Age humans have high mean δ13C value (−9.5 ± 1.8‰), suggesting a predominantly C4‐based diet. We infer that millet agriculture was still the primary economy for humans during the Bronze Age. However, there is a relatively large proportion of humans from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty that have decreased δ13C values, indicating a much more C3 foods consumption and diversity diet, presumably derived from a multicrop agricultural system of millet, wheat, rice, and soybean. It is possible that the trend moved from a narrowly focused, mainly millet‐based diet, to a more diverse agricultural system and was triggered by a combination of factors such as climate change, agricultural reform, social stratification, wars, migration, and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arbreda Cave is one of the most important sites in the Reclau Caves complex (Serinyà, north‐east Iberian Peninsula). Its stratigraphy reveals that the cave was intensively occupied during the Upper Palaeolithic. As in other archaeological sites in the western Mediterranean regions, a shift towards an intensification in small prey exploitation has been observed over the course of this period. This trend is indicated by the presence of large quantities of small mammal remains, mainly rabbits, in the archaeofaunal assemblages. However, the anthropogenic origin of these bone accumulations requires to be proved through the detailed taphonomic analysis because their presence in the archaeological record may be consequence of the activity of different agents. On this question, neotaphonomic studies have become a valuable tool with which to distinguish the taphonomic signatures produced by terrestrial carnivores, birds of prey, and humans. Although most researchers agree on the importance of small prey in the human diet during this period, this issue has not yet been resolved. Because data are still scarce, subsistence in some Upper Palaeolithic episodes, such as the final Gravettian, is not well understood. The aim of this paper is to establish the origin of the small mammal prey assemblages from Level D of Arbreda Cave and to assess the importance of these animals for the subsistence of humans in western Mediterranean regions. This level has been dated to ca. 25–20 kyr 14C BP and is mainly contemporary with the palaeoenvironmental cold conditions derived from the Greenland Stadial 3. The results of this study indicate that Level D small mammal prey assemblages have a remarkable anthropogenic footprint. Rabbits were intensively exploited, but other small mammals, such as hedgehogs, were also part of the human diet. The animal carcasses were brought whole to the cave, where they were butchered, cooked, and consumed. In addition, marrow exploitation was also practiced in the case of the rabbits. Although at Arbreda Cave, ungulates were a primary resource in the subsistence of hunter–gatherers; small prey also played an important role in human diet during the final Gravettian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The primate talus is known to have a shape that varies according to differences in locomotion and substrate use. While the modern human talus is morphologically specialized for bipedal walking, relatively little is known on how its morphology varies in relation to cultural and environmental differences across time. Here we compare tali of modern human populations with different subsistence economies and lifestyles to explore how cultural practices and environmental factors influence external talar shape. Materials and Methods: The sample consists of digital models of 142 tali from 11 archaeological and post‐industrial modern human groups. Talar morphology was investigated through 3D (semi)landmark based geometric morphometric methods. Results: Our results show distinct differences between highly mobile hunter‐gatherers and more sedentary groups belonging to a mixed post‐agricultural/industrial background. Hunter‐gatherers exhibit a more "flexible" talar shape, everted posture, and a more robust and medially oriented talar neck/head, which we interpret as reflecting long‐distance walking strictly performed barefoot, or wearing minimalistic footwear, along uneven ground. The talus of the post‐industrial population exhibits a "stable" profile, neutral posture, and a less robust and orthogonally oriented talar neck/head, which we interpret as a consequence of sedentary lifestyle and use of stiff footwear. Discussion: We suggest that talar morphological variation is related to the adoption of constraining footwear in post‐industrial society, which reduces ankle range of motion. This contrasts with hunter‐gatherers, where talar shape shows a more flexible profile, likely resulting from a lack of footwear while traversing uneven terrain. We conclude that modern human tali vary with differences in locomotor and cultural behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objectives: Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) were used to reconstruct the history of subsistence strategies in the middle Euphrates valley, NE Syria, in six temporal subsets dating from the Early Bronze Age (c. 2300 BCE) to the Modern period (19th/20th century CE). The study aims to demonstrate that changes in political and social organization over time, for which the archaeological record suggests different goals of land use and modes of production, register through dietary patterns that are reflected in isotopic data. Materials and methods: 173 dentin samples were taken from human individuals buried at three sites (Tell Ashara, Tell Masaikh and Gebel Mashtale) together with 15 animal bone samples. Distribution of the δ13C and δ15N values in collagen was interpreted in diachronic perspective, and with regard to lifetime shifts between childhood and adolescence. Results: Diachronically, isotope signatures indicate a clear decrease in δ15N values accompanied by a small shift in δ13C values between the Old Babylonian (c. 1800–1600 BCE) and the Neo‐Assyrian (c. 850–600 BCE) subsets. A major shift in δ13C values occurred between the Early Islamic (c. 600–1200 CE) and Modern (c. 1800–1950) periods. Ontogenetic changes only occur in a few individuals, but these suggest change of residence between childhood and adolescence. Discussion: The depletion in 15N from the Neo‐Assyrian period onwards is best explained in terms of a shift from intensive to extensive farming, triggered by the fall of regional city‐states after the Old Babylonian period and the formation of large supra‐regional polities in the Neo‐Assyrian period and later. The enrichment in 13C during the Modern period was most likely the effect of more widely utilizing the dry steppes, abundant in C4 plants, as pasture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]