Herding or Hunting? Animal Exploitation at Jiangzhuang (Jiangsu, China) During the Liangzhu Period (3300–2300 BC)

The lower Yangtze Valley provides a rich context for studying the interplay between the origins and intensification of agriculture and socio-political complexity. While the adoption of agriculture was closely associated with the developing societal complexity in major core centres during the Liangzhu period (3300-2300 BC), smaller and peripheral sites, which were also integral parts of the regional social fabric, exhibited contrasting subsistence choices and varying societal development. By examining these locations, a better understanding of the core-hinterland relationships within the region's complex social structure and agricultural background would be clarified. In this paper, we present a zooarchaeological study of the Jiangzhuang site, located on the northern periphery of the Liangzhu culture. The faunal assemblage is primarily composed of cervids with a small proportion of suids, indicating subsistence heavily relying on wild resources. The morphological variation in suids is likely a result of the co-existence of domesticated pigs, wild boar, feral pigs, and probably the hybrid of the three, unveiling a complex human-suid relationship. The intensive utilisation of cervid bones for tool production is also a distinctive feature. While the Jiangzhuang community might have been articulated with the Liangzhu centre through the circulation of ritual jades, the subsistence economy there remained largely self-sufficient. The economic independence in the peripheral region might have contributed to the increasing decentralisation in the late Liangzhu period, providing a plausible explanation for the collapse of Liangzhu society.