Think of the Children: Early Holocene Individual Diet at the Qingshuiyuan Cave Site, Southwest China

ABSTRACT Skeletal remains dating to 11,000 BP, excavated from the Qingshuiyuan Dadong site in Guizhou, are the earliest directly dated Early Holocene remains in southwestern China. This study applies carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis to the first molar dentin and rib samples from the relevant burial, revealing a diet primarily composed of C 3 foods and suggesting the preponderance of a freshwater fish diet. Dentin serial sampling revealed a late weaning, completed at approximately 2.75 years of age. This study of subsistence strategies and infant care practices of an Early Holocene individual in Guizhou, southwest China provides new evidence for depicting the lifeways of Holocene hunter‐gatherers in this area.