UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Santa Barbara

Nomadic Pastoralists and the Chinese Empire:

A Bioarchaeological Study of ’s Northern Frontier

A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the

requirements for the degree Doctor of

in

by

Jacqueline Trey Eng

Committee in charge:

Professor Phillip L. Walker, Chair

Professor Katharina Schreiber

Professor Stuart Tyson Smith

September 2007

The dissertation of Jacqueline Trey Eng is approved.

Katharina Schreiber

Stuart Tyson Smith

Phillip L. Walker, Committee Chair

July 2007

Nomadic Pastoralists and the Chinese Empire:

A Bioarchaeological Study of China’s Northern Frontier

Copyright © 2007

by

Jacqueline Trey Eng

iii Dedication

This dissertation is dedicated to: my parents, Jackson Eng and Deborah Eng,

and

in loving memory of my grandparents,

Bing Don Eng and Kam Shui (Seto) Eng Kam Yuk Ho and Chuck Kin (Chan) Ho

iv Acknowledgements

My love of physical anthropology was nurtured and thrived under the guidance of my undergraduate adviser, the ever gracious and kind Dr. Henry

McHenry. He started me on the path of human osteology, from the Laetoli footprints to early Native Californian societies, and he encouraged my research, which culminated in my first bioarchaeological project. The Anthropology

Department at UC Davis was a second home, and the professors, including Drs.

David Glenn Smith and Peter Rodman, and graduate students were all wonderful.

In graduate school at UC Santa Barbara, I have benefited greatly from the stimulating research and prolific work of the faculty and fellow graduate students.

Dr. Kathy Schreiber has been a wonderful committee member and instructor who was always available for consultation, from guidance about archaeological concepts to advice about professionalism and the job market. Dr. Stuart Smith has also been a valuable committee member, whose seminar on “Culture Contact” got me interested in my current project and whose grant writing class helped me secure funding for research. Dr. Mayfair Yang provided my first contact to China, Weimin , and I am very grateful for her interest and his help in establishing guanxi. I have enjoyed and benefited from a very rewarding working relationship with my graduate advisor, Dr. Phillip Walker, who not only offers continually relevant advice on my research and career, but also provided excellent opportunities to work on forensic cases and archaeological projects that have vastly improved my research skills.

v The Walkerlab has been my staunchest support network in graduate school, with wonderful labmates throughout the years who have not only provided advice, but also fantastic friendships. I have greatly enjoyed all our conversations, the culinary , and the collegial atmosphere that was brightened by their presence. I admire all you ladies, who have the bar so high for the rest of us.

Gratitude and warm thoughts go to: Corina Kellner, Bonnie Yoshida, Christina

Torres-Rouff, Michele Buzon, Valerie Andrushko, Kaethin Prizer, Rebecca

Richman, Susan Kuzminsky, and Sabrina Sholts. The lab was also livened by

“associated” Walkerlab folk who have been great colleagues, from scholars of previous years, such as Pat Lambert and Tiffiny Tung, to our phenomenal postdoc

Rhonda Bathhurst. Let’s not forget the male members of the lab: Phil Walker, Ed

Hagen, Kenny Maes, and the spouses of some of our labmates, David Torres-Rouff and Kory Cooper. Reunions at the AAPA meetings are always fun.

My graduate peers have been the best company one could wish for in terms of academic support and valued friendships. Thanks go to my grant writing group:

Valerie Andrushko, Alison Borek, Choonghwan Park, and Hugo Santos-Gomez.

Much gratitude also goes to my dissertation writing group, who got me started on writing those early chapters and were great for moral support along the way:

Valerie, Hillary Haldane, and Mark Schuller. Thanks also to readers of that (close to) last draft: my Walker labmates, Christina, Michele, Rebecca, Rhonda, and

Valerie, and also Susan McArver. Special thanks to those who graciously lent technical support: Elizabeth Klarich and Michele Buzon for Access setup pre-

vi fieldwork, Elsa Ermer for SPSS and stats tips, Nico Tripevich for all-around tech support, and Rebecca Richman for map help. Friends who have shared in all the ups and downs that is part and parcel of graduate life and been fantastic cheerleaders include Sarah Abraham (my hand twin), Kate Ballantyne, Brent Leftwich, Ian and

Talin Lindsay, Susan McArver (thanks for the laughter!), James Tate, Jason

Toohey, and all above-mentioned colleagues.

I am grateful for the early friendship of Germilda “Jimmie” Garbarino who shared her love of reading with me, and whose travels around the world even in her

80’s inspired me. Jen Chin, Amy Gong, Joanne Kim, Carrie Lee, Michelle Woo,

Miranda Yee, and Chimi have also been fabulous life-long friends who have joined me in all my adventures in and out of school.

In the course of fieldwork I have made numerous collaborative partnerships and learned a great deal. In Iceland, I was fortunate to work with Jesse Byock, Jon

Erlandson, Per Holck, Mark Tveskov, and Davide Zori. In Romania, I worked very well Peter Szoçs. For my dissertation, I have enjoyed collaborations with several

Chinese researchers, including those at the Research Center for Frontier Interaction at Jilin University: Dr. Zhu Hong and his students Dr. Quanchao Zhang, Linhu

Zhang, and Wei Dong, and was often helped by the foreign students administrator,

He Fenghua. My wonderful friends in China include He Chunxü, Cindy Li, Liu

Mingshi, Peiran Su, Miranda Wong, Constanze Angermann, Fontoh Herbert, Aziz

Klebleyev, and Koontin Yeow. Fellow East Asian researchers Christine Lee and

Kate Pechenkina have also provided great advice and shared experiences.

vii My dissertation research was funded by the Fulbright-Hays Dissertation

Research Abroad Program (Award #: p022a040064) and the University of

California Pacific Rim Research Grant (reference #: 04TPRRP 08-0011). The

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the UCSB

Chancellor’s Fellowship funded my early graduate expenses, while a pre- dissertation site visit was funded by the UCSB Humanities and Social Sciences

Research Grant. Jenny Bisheff was an able administrator in handling the NSF and

Fulbright-Hays fellowships, and the staff members at ISBER were always quick in response and advice regarding Pacific Rim funds and other grants.

My family has been so fantastic; I am humbled by how much they have given me. I have the deepest gratitude to my grandparents, Bing Don and Kam Shui

Eng and Kam Yuk and Chuck Kin Ho, for their love and for instilling in me the drive to better my life through education and hard work. I thank Betty Ho for always excessively diverting and Adam Ng for marvelous technical help.

Thanks go to Donald and Maria Ho and my cousins for continual support. Much appreciation to Jenny Eng for patient explanations of all things related to graphics and the web, as well as the care packages that cheered me during tough times. I thank my brother, David Eng, who has always been a great friend and a sweet, calming influence. Finally, all my love to my parents, Jackson and Deborah Eng, whose unwavering in me has given me strength and belief in myself. Many thanks to them, especially for the past few years, with the trip to China, the late night translations and map searches, and for always being my greatest supporters.

viii Vita Jacqueline Trey Eng July 2007

EDUCATION 2007 Ph.D. in Anthropology (expected) U. of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) 2 002 M.A. in Anthropology, UCSB 1999 B.S. with High Honors in Anthropology, U. of California, Davis (UCD) Minors: Biological Sciences, English

POSITIONS HELD 2 005-06 Instructor, Department of Anthropology, UCSB, Summer Session 2 003-04 Teaching Assistant, Department of Anthropology, UCSB 2 003, 2006 Reader, Department of Anthropology, UCSB 1996-99 Writing Tutor, Learning Skills Center, UCD

PUBLICATIONS 2005 Bioarchaeological Methods. In Handbook of Archaeological Methods, Vol.II, H.D.G. Maschner and C. Chippindale (eds.). Walnut Creek: Altamira Press, pp.871-918. (M.R. Buzon, J.T. Eng, P.M. Lambert, P.L. Walker). 2005 A nagykároly-bobáldi temető és templom 2001. évi régészeti kutatása [Archaeological investigation of the Carei-Bobald cemetery and church in 2001]. In "A halál árnyékának völgyében járok." A középkori templom körüli temetők kutatása ["I Walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death." Research of the Medieval Churchyard Cemeteries], R. Ágnes and S. Erika (eds.). Budapest: Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum [Hungarian National Museum], pp. 315-324. (P.L. Szöçs, D.M. Dóra, J. Eng). 2003 A Viking Age farm, church, and cemetery at Hrísbrú, Mosfell Valley, Iceland. Antiquity. v.77, n.297. P.L. Walker, J. Erlandson, P. Holck, J.T. Eng, M. Tveskov, M. Sigurgeisson, P. Lambert, M. Moss, K. Prizer, M. Reid, D. Zori, A. Byock, H. Fyllingen).

CONFERENCE PAPERS 2007 Patterns of trauma in pastoralists of the Donghu culture in northern China. Symposium: “Bioarchaeological Perspectives of Migration and Human Health in Ancient East Asia.” Poster presented at the 76th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical

ix Anthropologists, Philadelphia, PA. (J.T. Eng, H. Zhu, Q.C. Zhang). Abstract in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Supplement 44:105-106. 2007 Long bone dimensions as an index of the socioeconomic change in ancient Asian populations. Symposium: “Bioarchaeological Perspectives of Migration and Human Health in Ancient East Asia.” Poster presented at the 76th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Philadelphia, PA. (P.L. Walker, J.T. Eng). Abstract in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Supplement 44:241. 2006 Health effects of the Han Dynasty collapse on a peripheral population in Northeast China. Symposium: "Bioarchaeological Insights into Ancient Imperialism: Perspectives from the Old and New Worlds." Paper presented at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Juan, Puerto Rico. (J.T. Eng) 2004 Activity patterns of an early Icelandic population. Symposium: “Viking Archaeology in Iceland: The Mosfell Archaeological Project.” Paper presented at the 69th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Montreal, Canada. (J.T. Eng, P. Holck, K. Prizer, P.L. Walker). 2004 Stature as an indicator of nutritional status in Viking Age Iceland. Symposium: “Viking Archaeology in Iceland: The Mosfell Archaeological Project.” Paper presented at the 69th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Montreal, Canada. (K. Prizer, J.T. Eng, P. Holck, P.L. Walker). 2004 Bioarchaeological evidence for the health status of an early Icelandic population. Poster presented at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Tampa, FL. Abstract in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Supplement 38:202. (P.L. Walker, J. Byock, J.T. Eng, J.M. Erlandson, P. Holck, K. Prizer, M.A. Tveskov). 2003 Bioarchaeological analysis of an agricultural population from late medieval Transylvania. Poster presented at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Tempe, AZ. Abstract in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Supplement 36:93. (J.T. Eng, P.L. Szoçs). 2002 Resolving cultural affiliation through multiple methods: a case study. Poster presented at the 71st Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Buffalo, NY. Abstract in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Supplement 34:67. (J.T. Eng, P.L. Walker).

x FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS 2006, 2002 Graduate Student Conference Travel Grant, Graduate Division, UCSB 2004-05 Fulbright-Hays: Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program (Co-PI, Award #: p022a040064)) 2004-05 Pacific Rim Research Grant, University of California: Dissertation Research 2003 Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant, UCSB

2 001-06 National Science Foundation: Graduate Research Fellowship 2 000-06 Chancellor’s Fellowship, UCSB 2 000 James and Aida Siff Educational Foundation Fellowship, UCSB

FIELD RESEARCH 2006 Bioarchaeological Study of Health and Social Change in Ancient China, (Multiple cites) China (PI: Phillip Walker) 2 004-05 Dissertation Fieldwork, Jilin University, China 2 003 Pre-dissertation Site Visit, Jilin University, China 2 001-03 Mosfell Archaeological Project, Hrísbrú, Iceland 2 002 Satu Mare County Museum: Bobald Carei Cemetery, Romania 2 002 Dayton Canyon Project, Canoga Park, CA 2 000-06 Research Assistant: Forensic cases, UCSB

PEDAGOGICAL TRAINING (UCSB) 2005 Summer Teaching Institute for Associates, Office of Instructional Consultation 2003-04 Teaching Assistant Practicum, Department of Anthropology

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP 2000 – present American Association of Physical Anthropologists 2004 – present Society for American Archaeology 2002 Paleopathology Association

FIELDS OF STUDY Bioarchaeology, Paleopathology, Interregional Interaction, , China, Inner Asian Frontier, California, Romania, Iceland

xi Abstract

Nomadic Pastoralists and the Chinese Empire: A Bioarchaeological Study of China’s Northern Frontier

by

Jacqueline Trey Eng

Frontier interaction between nomadic pastoralists and the agrarian-based

Chinese empire was a complex phenomenon that was shaped by ecological and cultural constraints. Previous studies and interpretations of this interaction have focused on the Chinese perspective and relied upon textual data from ancient

Chinese sources, as well as archaeological evidence of material culture. In this study, the and health consequences of the interactions between agriculturalists and pastoralists were documented using multiple lines of bioarchaeological evidence to test longstanding assumptions about dietary dependency and violent conflict between ancient China and nomadic societies of the northern frontier.

This research has had two major aims: 1) to examine the extent to which differing economic strategies affected populations in paleopathological markers and

2) to determine the health impact upon peripheral and frontier societies associated with the level of Chinese imperial influence as measured over different time periods and geographic distances. I collected bioarchaeological data from the skeletal remains of 979 people from 11 archaeological sites. These data open a new window

xii into the health and socioeconomic consequences of long-term core–periphery interactions. Furthermore, these skeletal studies of stress markers, patterns of violence, and dietary change document the physical manifestations of frontier interaction.

This research has shown that the link between diet and violence in the interaction between and China was dependent on several components, including distance and temporal considerations. Thus, the relationship between nomads and China was dynamic and fluid, influenced by a complex array of ecological, social, and historical factors.

xiii Table of Contents

Acknowledgements______v

Vita______ix

Abstract ______xii

Table of Contents ______xiv

List of Tables______xix

List of Figures ______xxii

Chapter 1: Introduction______1

Bioarchaeological Approach ______3

The Present Research ______4

Structure of Dissertation______5

Chapter 2: Culture History and Ecological Context______7

Introduction ______7

Brief Chronology ______8

Geography and Ecological Context ______16 Northern China______19 Manchuria ______20 Mongolia______22 ______23

History of Research ______24

Research in Sociopolitical Organization and Interregional Interaction ______29

Conclusion ______31

xiv Chapter 3: Theories and Research Models of Chinese–Frontier Interaction_ 32

Introduction ______32

Traditional Chinese View of Foreign Relations______33

Culture Contact______39

Frontiers ______42 Inner Asian Frontier: The “Needy” Model ______44 “Shadow Empires”: Model of Nomadic ______46

Bioarchaeological Implications ______51

Conclusion ______53

Chapter 4: Bioarchaeological Models and Research Hypotheses ______55

Bioarchaeological Approach ______56

Impact of Stress on Human Health______57

Bioarchaeological Correlates: Shifts in Subsistence and Social Organization ___ 62 Agriculturalism______62 Nomadic Pastoralism ______64

Agricultural and Nomadic Pastoral Subsistence in China and the Frontier ______67 : Diet ______67 Pastoral Nomadism: Animal Products______68

Bioarchaeological Correlations and Implications ______71 Dietary Reconstruction______71 Health Status ______74 Activity Patterns and Interpersonal Violence______77

Hypotheses and Expectations______79 Regional Differences ______80 Subsistence Mode ______81 Level of Imperial Influence: Time Period and Geographic Distance ______83

Conclusion ______87

Chapter 5: Materials ______88

Sampling Issues ______90

xv Storage ______90 Burial Treatment ______91 Sampling Problems______92

Previous Research on Affiliation ______93

Nomadic Pastoral Samples______94 Sites: ED, HTB, LJ ______96 Iron Age Sites: BYJH, YNQ, SAY ______99

Agropastoral Sample ______101

Agricultural Samples ______103 Neolithic Site: QM ______103 Middle Imperial Period Sites: SJC, BWS, DZX ______104

Conclusion ______107

Chapter 6: Methods ______108

The Bioarchaeological Approach______108

Working Conditions ______109

Minimum Number of Individuals______112

Age Determination ______113

Sex Determination ______116

Health Data______116 Dental Health ______117 Nutritional Status and Stress ______117 Activity Patterns and Trauma______119

Statistical Analysis ______121

Conclusion ______122

Chapter 7: Demographic Profile and Within-Group Comparisons ______123

Demographic Profiles______123 Age Distribution ______125 Sex Distribution ______128

xvi Pooling Samples ______129 Nomadic Pastoral Samples______130 Agropastoral Sample ______131 Agricultural Samples ______131

Intra-group Comparisons ______132 Regional Populations ______133 Subsistence: By Time Period ______135 Subsistence: By Age and Sex ______137

Discussion and Conclusion______144

Chapter 8: Inter-Group Comparisons of Regional Variation, Subsistence Mode, and Level of Imperial Influence ______148

Regional Comparisons ______148

Subsistence Mode______152 Juveniles ______155 Adult Males______156 Adult Females______157 Total Adult Population ______159 Age Correlations ______161

Level of Imperial Influence ______170 Pre-imperial vs. Early Imperial ______172 Pre-imperial vs. Middle Imperial______173 Early Imperial vs. Middle Imperial ______174

Inner Zone vs. Outer Zone ______175 Pre-imperial Inner Zone vs. Outer Zone ______178 Early Imperial Inner Zone vs. Outer Zone ______179

Conclusion ______181

Chapter 9: Discussion______182

Regional Variations? ______182

Nomadic Pastoral and Agricultural Comparisons ______186 Diet ______187 Health and Nutrition______189 Activity Patterns and Degenerative Joint Disease ______194 Trauma and Interpersonal Violence______196

xvii Level of Imperial Influence ______200 Imperial Periods______201 Inner Zone vs. Outer Zone ______209

Conclusion ______215

Chapter 10: Conclusions ______217

Bioarchaeological Hypotheses ______218 Regional Variation ______218 Subsistence Mode ______219 Levels of Imperial Influence ______221

Implications for Research of Frontier Interaction ______222

Future Research ______224

Appendix: Tables and Figures ______226

References Cited ______247

xviii List of Tables

Table 2.1. Chronology of China and peoples of the Northern Zone 10

Table 5.1. Total sample used in study, categorized by economic, with sites

presented in chronological order according to economic grouping 89

Table 5.2. Samples sorted by consideration of research questions 90

Table 6.1. Age categories used in this study 113

Table 7.1. Sites organized by economic mode and time period 124

Table 7.2. Age distribution of individuals by site 126

Table 7.3. Mean long bone lengths by region and time period 133

Table 7.4. Mean long bone lengths by economic mode and time period 136

Table 7.5. Frequencies of pathological conditions in economic groups by age

category 138

Table 7.6. Frequencies of pathological conditions in economic groups by sex 139

Table 8.1. Frequencies of pathological conditions among regional groups 149

Table 8.2. Mean long bone lengths by region 151

Table 8.3. Significance of differences in long bone lengths by region 151

Table 8.4. Frequencies of pathological conditions by economic mode 154

Table 8.5. Mean long bone lengths by economic mode 157

Table 8.6. Inter-economy comparison of male long bong lengths 157

Table 8.7. Inter-economy comparison of female long bong lengths 158

Table 8.8. Adult frequencies of pathological conditions by economic mode 159

Table 8.9. Sexual dimorphism in long bone lengths by economic groups 161

xix Table 8.10. Distribution of affected cases in age cohorts by economic mode 163

Table 8.11. Pathological conditions among economic groups within each

age cohort 165-166

Table 8.12. Frequencies of health variables by level of imperial influence

by time 171

Table 8.13. Mean long bone lengths by period of imperial influence 172

Table 8.14. Cranial trauma in the Pre-imperial Jinggouzi female sample 173

Table 8.15. Frequencies of health variables by imperial influence and zone 177

Table 8.16. Mean long bone lengths by proximity to imperial influence 178

Table A7.1. Age and sex distribution of samples 226

Table A7.2. Statistical comparison of long bone measures in the regions by

time period 227

Table A7.3. Statistical comparison of long bone measures in each economic

mode by time period 228

Table A7.4. Statistical comparison of pathological conditions within

economic modes by age and sex 229-230

Table A8.1. Statistical comparison of pathological conditions among

pooled regional groups 231

Table A8.2. Statistical comparison of pathological conditions by economic

mode 232-233

Table A8.3. Statistical comparison of age cohorts across economic groups 234-235

Table A8.4. Pattern and distribution of fractures by economic mode 236-237

xx Table A8.5. Statistical comparison of levels of imperial influence by time 238-239

Table A8.6. Statistical comparison of means of long bone lengths from

different periods of imperial influence 240

Table A8.7 Statistical comparison by proximity to imperial influence 241–242

Table A8.8. Statistical comparison of long bone lengths according to

proximity to imperial influence 243

xxi List of Figures

Figure 2.1. Map of area of study in China’s northern frontier zone 19

Figure 5.1. Map of sites in study 89

Figure 5.2. Map of sites in Xinjiang province 95

Figure 5.3. Map of sites in Inner and Manchuria 95

Figure 7.1. Sample sizes of each site 125

Figure 7.2. Distribution of sexes by site 129

Figure 7.3. Age and sex distribution of samples pooled by subsistence mode 130

Figure 8.1. Cranial trauma in Pre-imperial Inner zone females 179

Figure A5.1. Weapons found with burial assemblages 244

Figure A8.1. Peri-mortem cranial trauma 245

Figure A9.1. Two male victims of interpersonal violence 246

xxii Chapter 1: Introduction

The word “frontier” evokes exotic images of an untamed land at the edge of , a fluid landscape between governed realms and independent terrain.

Frontiers do not exist in a vacuum; this zone develops along side an emerging

“core” and its perceived borders relative to outside societies (Rodseth and Parker

2005). Thus frontiers provide a rich setting for research in culture contact situations, as they are the dynamic stage upon which differing societies meet and continuously negotiate their interactions. In this dissertation, I explore the nature and forms of frontier interaction between ancient China and the nomads of the northern steppe through the examination of paleopathological and dietary data from archaeological collections of human skeletal remains.

The northern frontier has long been an interaction zone between politically and economically opposing cultures: nomadic pastoralists of the north and the sedentary Chinese agriculturalists to the south. In ecological terms, the Central

Plains of China is more suitable for cultivation of crops such as millet and than the vast grasslands for in the . These environmental conditions in turn helped to structure different cultural developments in these regions in terms of subsistence strategies and social organization. The Great Wall and other such fortifications geographically demarcated this ecological and cultural boundary, and were erected by the Chinese to limit and control their interactions with the nomads, as well as for defensive purposes against them (Yang 1968).

1 Despite the evident symbolism of the Great Wall as a physical and cultural divide between two apparently antagonistic peoples, the relationship between sedentary Chinese and nomadic pastoralists was by no means rigid, nor was there a strict dichotomy between them. The walls and fortifications along the frontier were not impermeable barricades. Instead, they functioned like screens that allowed for economic and cultural exchanges (Williams 2002:62).

The study of frontier socioeconomic interactions has benefited from the documentation left by ancient and medieval Chinese historians. These records are core-centric, however, and this focus on both textual evidence and the Chinese perspective it promulgates has influenced theories on past interaction. The traditional model of Chinese–nomadic interaction assumes that nomadic pastoral populations relied heavily upon the goods of the sedentary China, especially their agricultural products and textiles. These goods are assumed to have not only supplemented the deficiencies of a pastoral diet (Khazanov 1984), but also underwritten the political power of nomadic leaders (Barfield 2001). This dependency is believed to have driven the pastoralists to assert a “trade or raid” strategy to obtain/extort China for access to these goods (Jagchid and Symons

1989).

My research provides insights into a seldom addressed dimension of the core–periphery interaction: how areas adjacent to, but not incorporated into, the empire negotiated this frontier relationship. I explore the biological implications of

2 such processes through the comparative analysis of health data obtained from human skeletal remains of the ancient people who occupied the Chinese frontier.

Bioarchaeological Approach

The goal of this study is to determine the nature of the relationships between the Chinese empire and frontier groups as well as to document the role this interaction played in the health of pastoral societies. I do this through a bioarchaeological analysis of archaeological skeletal collections from sites in the northern frontier and in the adjacent Chinese peripheral area. These data open a new window into the health and socioeconomic consequences of long-term core– periphery interactions. I also explore the health consequences related to the agricultural and pastoral modes of economy and examine how the health of people from different social groups within these societies was affected by their interactions with the Chinese empire.

The bioarchaeological approach, which uses integrative and multidisciplinary methods and theories to examine biocultural data, is a useful means to address these multifaceted questions (Buzon et al. 2005).

Bioarchaeological data provide a direct measure of relevant variables that are used in this study to independently test research questions about the nature and mode of interaction. If interactions between nomads and China were predicated on the pastoral “need” for agricultural goods, there should be corresponding changes in diet and possibly level of violence to gain these goods. Dietary data provided by

3 skeletal studies are used to measure changes in the flow of agricultural produce into these pastoral societies. Skeletal data are also used to identify changes in levels of interpersonal violence and to assess the health consequences of increases in and dependence on agricultural goods. These skeletal studies of stress markers, patterns of violence, and dietary change document the physical manifestations of frontier interaction, whether via violent conflict or the more peaceful means of tribute and trade.

The Present Research

In this dissertation, the health consequences of interaction between the peoples of the Chinese empire and the northern frontier are examined through the study of human skeletal remains. This study includes observation of 979 individuals from 11 archaeological sites that date from the Neolithic to the 14th century AD.

The samples are derived from three regions along the northern frontier: Manchuria

(which comprises the modern provinces of Jilin, Liaoning, and Heilongjiang) to

China’s northeast, Mongolia (including the modern Chinese province of Inner

Mongolia) to the north-central, and Xinjiang province to the northwest. The broad temporal and spatial dimensions encompassed by these samples provide a basis for exploring the changing relationships between nomads and China over different periods of imperial control and China’s influence over nomads based on their distance from the core.

4 I argue that the relationship between nomadic pastoralists and China was a dynamic one that was influenced not only by differences that arose from their subsistence strategies and subsequent social organizations, but also by the political and distance constraints. That is, the interaction was mediated by how much control

China had over their borders (which in turn was related to its infrastructure and available resources), as well as by the relative proximity between frontier groups and the Chinese core. Those groups near the core may have had more access to

Chinese goods, either through raiding activity, or through trade, or their incorporation into China and subsequent shift in under imperial rule.

Structure of Dissertation

I begin this dissertation with an overview of the cultural, geographical, and ecological context of the study area, as well as a review of the research on the relationship between China and the frontier. Chapter 3 describes the ancient

Chinese , which structured interactions between China and foreigners and influenced modern models of that interaction. This chapter also reviews anthropological literature on culture contact and frontier studies, and discusses the applicability of the bioarchaeological approach to address research questions in this study.

Chapter 4 continues this discussion of bioarchaeological models and presents the hypotheses and expectations that are explored in this study. In Chapter

5, I provide about the samples, including the archaeological context and

5 consideration of the key variables under consideration: subsistence mode, time period, and regional location. The methods used to collect and analyze data are presented in Chapter 6.

I divided the data analysis into two stages and the results are described in two separate chapters. Chapter 7 presents the results of the determination of population structure and pooling samples, as well as the results and interpretations from comparisons between groups that have been pooled together according to region and subsistence mode. These intra-group comparisons assessed the relative homogeneity of sites that had been pooled despite differences in the time period from which they had derived and evaluated their suitability as pooled samples to be tested in the following stage of analysis. This second stage of analysis is found in

Chapter 8, which presents the results of comparisons between the subsistence strategies and comparisons of groups differing in level of imperial influence by time period and geographic distance from the core. Chapter 9 presents a discussion of these results and their implications, followed by suggestions for future directions for research in Chapter 10.

This research provides new insights into the biological consequences of the interactions that influenced the sociopolitical and economic changes that transformed these ancient societies. The results of this study also offer new information on the living conditions of nomadic pastoral groups from a varied context.

6 Chapter 2: Culture History and Ecological Context

Introduction

The goal of this study is to explore the dynamic relationships between nomadic pastoral tribal societies and the emerging Chinese empire, as well as to assess the health and dietary changes related to their interactions. Bioarchaeological analysis of skeletal collections from archaeological sites in the northern frontier provides data to explore this issue. These data on the lives of people living at the periphery of the Chinese polity offer a new perspective on the health consequences of long-term core–periphery interactions.

When anthropologists and historians consider cultural change in peripheral populations such as those in this study, the focus is usually on how the marginal group was affected by their interactions with the central polity, not on how the outsiders may have induced structural changes in the more powerful dominant society (Nelson 1995; von Falkenhausen 1995). My research offers insights into another dimension of the core–periphery interaction: how areas adjacent to, but not incorporated into, the empire negotiated this frontier relationship. In my research the biological implications of such processes are explored through the analysis of health data obtained from human skeletal remains. This study is designed to use bioarchaeological data to test current theories of core–periphery interaction in

7 China’s northern zone that have been formulated from analysis of historical Chinese records.

The study of these frontier socioeconomic interactions is immensely enriched by the documentation left by ancient and medieval Chinese historians and officials. These detailed imperial records, which are available as early as the Han

Dynasty (207 BC – AD 220), often focused on the “ problem” various courts faced. This historical material has been the basis of several investigations into Han frontier relations (e.g., Loewe 1967; Yü 1967), as well as for studies of later dynasties such as the Tang in the 7th to 10th centuries AD (e.g., Mackerras 1972).

These accounts, though core-centric, provide much information regarding court policies, military forays, treaties with the nomads, and details about the flow of goods and other economic relations. The pattern of imperial–frontier relations shows that the Chinese policy towards the nomads was usually one of appeasement.

The government signed expensive peace treaties that supplied agricultural products and luxury items to emerging leaders of powerful nomadic tribes (Barfield 2001).

The skeletal analysis used in this study adds a biological perspective to studies of these core–periphery interactions and allows testing of the validity of models and based upon historical accounts.

Brief Chronology

Analysis of interregional interaction between China and the northern frontier requires consideration of vast geographical expanses and long periods of time.

8 Presented here is a review of the histories of China and the ancient frontier regions of Manchuria (northeast provinces of China), Mongolia (includes the modern

Chinese province of Inner Mongolia), and Xinjiang (northwest Chinese province).

This historical survey is necessarily very broad, and does not delve into the minutiae of the culture history of each particular region from which samples are derived. Further, the following chronology encompasses only the periods and events relevant to the particular samples of this study. These periods range from the

Neolithic shift to agriculture and the Bronze Age emergence of nomadic pastoralism, to China’s imperial Yuan Dynasty of the 13th – 14th century AD. As most documentary sources come from ancient Chinese accounts, the history of the

“Northern Zone” (the culture area of the northern frontier, e.g., Pak 1999) is situated in reference to Chinese dates and dynastic periods, with particular attention given to those nomadic polities that established kingdoms within China (Table 2.1).

9 Table 2.1. Chronology of China and peoples of the Northern Zone (adapted from Kessler 1993:14). Foreign rule of north China (or entire empire) in italics. Time Frame China Northern Zone Peoples Neolithic, pre-dynastic cultures, Xinglongwa, Zhaobaogou, ~8th to 3rd e.g., Peiligang, Yangshao, Hongshan, Laohushan, millennium BC Dawenkou, Longshan Xiajiadian 3rd to 2nd (Erlitou? ca.2050-1650 BC) , millennium BC Shang (ca.1650-1100 BC) Zhou (ca.1100-256 BC) 11th to 2nd Rong, , Linhu, Loufan, Spring and Autumn (722-481 BC) centuries BC Warring States (403-221 BC) Eastern Hu, Qin (221-207 BC) 2nd century BC Han (206BC-220 AD) Xiongnu, , , to 2nd century Western Han (206 BC-8 AD) , AD (8-23 AD) Eastern Han (25-220 AD) Three Kingdoms (220-280 AD) Western Jin (265-316 AD) Eastern Jin (317-420 AD) (301-439 AD) Wuhu ("5 nomadic Southern Dynasties (317-589 AD) peoples"): Xiongnu, Xianbei 2nd to 6th Northern Dynasties (founded ), centuries Northern Wei (386-534 AD) Qiang, Di, Jie; Rouran, , Eastern Wei (534-550 AD) Wuhuan (535-556 AD) Northern (550-577 AD) (557-581 AD) Tujic (Turk), Huigu 6th to 9th Sui (581-617 AD) (Uighur), , Mohe, centuries Tang (618-907 AD) Xi Five Kingdoms (907-960 AD) Qidan (Khitan, founded Liao (907-1125 AD) Liao Dynasty ), Nuzhen 9th to 13th Northern Song (960-1127 AD) (Jurchen, founded Jin centuries Southern Song (1127-1279 AD) Dynasty ), Dangxiang Jin (1115-1234 AD) (Tangut: founded Xixia 13th to 14th (founded Yuan centuries Yuan (1279-1368 AD) Dynasty ) 14th century to Ming (1368-1644 AD) Mongols, Tartars, Manchus 1911 (1644-1911 AD) (founded Qing Dynasty )

Neolithic cultures in China are characterized by farming as the main subsistence strategy, reliance on pottery for food preparation and consumption, and ground stone tools (Underhill and Habu 2006). Archaeological evidence suggests

10 that by at least 9000 BP early societies in northeast China began plant , pottery production, and sedentary lifestyles. Evidence of domestication include millet (Crawford 2006), along with domestication dogs and of pigs by 8000 BP (Chang 1986; Yan 1992; Yuan and Flad 2002).

Substantial intensification of agriculture, concomitant with aggregated living, craft specialization, and social stratification by the third millennium BC marked the beginnings of increasingly complex societies such as Yangshao,

Dawenkou, and the stratified, chiefdom-level Longshan culture in the plains of north China (Liu 1996a). The transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age occurred in the early part of the second millennium BC, which coincides with the development of the oldest documented state-level Chinese societies (Liu and Chen

2006). These ancient “Three Dynasties,” Xia, Shang, and Zhou, collectively lasted from approximately 2000 – 256 BC, and centered within the valley.

While the of the Xia Dynasty was considered mythical in modern studies until relatively recently1, much more is known about the Shang (ca. 17th –

12th century BC) through large scale excavations of Shang centers such as Anyang and from their inscriptions on oracle bones (Chang 1986). Shang society was highly stratified and the role of kings were to lead ancestor worship with ritualized use of bronze ware (Keightley 1999). The succeeding kings of the (ca. 12th century – 256 BC) legitimized their rule by claiming it was sanctioned by divine

1 Archaeological evidence suggests that the Erlitou culture is that of the Xia. The type site in Yanshi, Henan province dates to ca. 2100 to 1800 BC, which coincides in time and space with descriptions of the Xia dynasty in (Chang 1999:72-73).

11 right (the ), and kings relied on a hereditary system of segmentary lineage, sending out relatives to govern districts (Feng 2005). The Zhou

Dynasty was a time of great change in pre-imperial China. During this period the nature of warfare changed to conquest as the Zhou state expanded (Underhill 2006).

The fall of the Western Zhou Dynasty in 770 BC initiated a period of continual civil wars during the succeeding Eastern Zhou, which is divided into the

Spring and Autumn (722 – 481 BC) and Warring States (481 – 221 BC) periods.

While the ruler of Eastern Zhou was titular head of state, rival hegemonic states vied for control. Many philosophical schools of thought on statecraft emerged during the (Gernet 1998). The two most prominent from the so-called “Hundred Schools of Thought” were and the Legalist philosophy, both of which profoundly influenced imperial rule for centuries. This influence extended to Chinese policies regarding interaction with foreigners, which continuously fluctuated between pacifist (Confucian) and aggressive (Legalist) stances as nomadic pastoral societies developed in the north.

While the art of Chinese state rule was developing around the fertile Yellow

River valley, northward in the Eurasian steppe, pastoral nomadic societies were emerging. Archaeological evidence suggests that riding cultures first arose in western Asia in the first millennium BC and spread eastward to the Mongolian steppe by the fourth century BC ( 2002; Volkov 1995). At this time, tensions between agrarian Chinese states and nomads occupying the neighboring northern

12 steppe became increasingly evident as Chinese states along the north erected defensive long walls that eventually would form the Great Wall.

The imperial age began when the warring kingdoms of China were unified into an empire under the first emperor of the (221 – 206 BC), Qin Shi

Huangdi. His method of centralizing government over disparate peoples included standardizing the writing system, measuring system, and currency (Morton 1995).

Having subdued the local populace, the emperor then turned his military attention to the north. He connected the older defensive walls to construct the Great Wall along the Inner Asian frontier, which firmly demarcated the boundary between China and the neighboring pastoral nomads. Within 15 years of its establishment, the Qin

Dynasty collapsed as the populace rebelled against the harsh Legalist2 measures of the totalitarian Qin rulers. Qin was followed by the more stable Han Dynasty (206

BC – AD 220).

Contemporaneous with the Han Dynasty and a constant threat on their northern borders were the Xiongnu nomadic tribes of the Ordos steppe region of

Mongolia, first mentioned in Qin chronicles. As documented in Han records,3 the

Xiongnu were a constant problem to the Han court, with raids breaching the Great

Wall defenses, and frequent demands for tribute for appeasement. The Xiongnu nomadic federation formed a “shadow empire” (209 BC – AD 155) (Barfield 2001),

2 Legalism was the that emphasized the rule of law, and was central to Qin governance. After Qin’s fall, Legalism was discredited and Confucianism, with its emphasis on loyalty to the emperor and gained prominence, although modern scholars believe some Legalist ideas merged with Confucianism (Graham 1989). 3 The Han Dynasty Grand Historian ’s Shi Ji devotes a whole chapter to the Xiongnu of the Mongolian steppe.

13 the first of several Inner Asian nomadic federations whose sociopolitical unity rose and fell in tandem with China’s cycle of dynastic emergence and collapse (see

Table 1.1 in Barfield 1989:13).

Nearly 400 years of division and political instability followed the collapse of the Han Dynasty, which marks China’s “medieval” period, with successive states known as the Three Kingdoms (AD 221 – 265) and Northern and Southern

Dynasties (AD 265 – 581). While the Chinese court fled southward to establish a series of southern dynasties in the Yangtze River valley, numerous short-lived non-

Chinese dynasties of nomadic “” ethnicities ruled parts or all of northern

China during the 130 year period (AD 304 – 439) known as the “Sixteen Kingdoms of the Five Barbarian Peoples” (Gernet 1998). The strongest states of the Sixteen

Kingdoms were founded by several subclans of the Xianbei tribe occupying

Manchuria. These included the clan, which established three Yan dynasties

(AD 337 – 439), while the clan founded the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 386

– 534), which managed to unite all of northern China for over a century.

While the great houses of elite Han Chinese4 that remained in the north often collaborated and intermarried with the steppe rulers (Barfield 1989), the peasant population suffered heavily during the chaotic years of the Sixteen

Kingdoms. They had to endure constant military campaigns, payment of taxes, and conscription as corvée labor. Short-sighted measures to alleviate the government’s

4 “Han Chinese” refers to the majority ethnic group in China and differentiates this group from the more general term “Chinese,” which currently encompasses 55 other recognized ethnic groups within China. The name derives from the long-lasting Han Dynasty.

14 economical and fiscal needs included re-settlement of peasants around the capital

(Gernet 1998:191). By and large the more successful of the formerly nomadic and semi-nomadic courts elected to adopt Chinese customs and political institutions

(“sinicize”).

All aspiring foreign rulers in China faced the problem of effective rule over heterogeneous groups. They were unacceptable to their Chinese subjects unless they adopted Chinese customs, but if they wholly sinicized, these rulers lost support within their ethnic nomadic tribes. Sinicization meant not only adopting Chinese legal concepts and institutions for legitimacy to rule, fundamentally it also meant adopting a sedentary lifestyle (Barfield 1991:42). Thus, foreign invaders often had difficulty establishing control of any permanence without partial, if not complete sinicization. For example, by the end of the 5th century AD, the Tuoba court forbade the use of Tuoba language, dress, and surnames (Gernet 1998:193). Despite attempts at sinicization, these non-Han Chinese courts were always regarded as

“foreign,” and invariably disintegrated from mismanagement of the large agrarian populace or other internal/external pressures such as uprisings or military threats

(Honey 1992).

China was not fully “re-unified” by native Chinese rulers until the short- lived Sui Dynasty (AD 581 – 618), followed by the (AD 618 – 908), which in turn had its own shadow empire of the Uighurs (AD 744 – 840) in the northwest area of modern Xinjiang province (Mackerras 1972). After a time of cultural florescence during the Tang, China once again fell to political collapse with

15 sporadic resurgences of unity under various Chinese courts, or rule by Manchurians encroaching from the northeast. In the 13th century, Mongolians under Ghengis

Khan forged a vast empire that stretched from Southeast Asia to Central . In

China the khan of the Mongols went under the ruling dynastic name of Yuan (AD

1279 – 1367), and they too tried to co-opt existing Chinese customs and for effective rule (Fairbank et al. 1989). The most recent samples in the present study date to this Yuan period, considered here as a “Middle Imperial” stage.

Geography and Ecological Context

In this study, the northern frontier stretches from northeastern China to the northwestern province of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. This area roughly corresponds with the Asian part of the vast Eurasian Steppe, which is also known as “Inner Asia.” The Inner Asian frontier has been defined as a zone of interaction between politically and economically opposing cultures: nomadic pastoralists and sedentary Chinese agriculturalists.

In ecological terms, the Central Plains of China, centered within the Yellow

River valley, was much more suitable for cultivation of staples such as millet and wheat than the northern steppes, where the temperate grasslands were better suited to seasonal migrations of herd animals. The Great Wall geographically reinforced this ecological boundary, and was erected by the Chinese to limit and control their interactions with the nomads (Yang 1968). As a result of this cultural and ecological divide, cultural developments in these regions followed different trajectories in

16 terms of subsistence strategies, social organization, and adaptations to the environment as early as the Bronze Age (Watson 1971).

In ancient China, the fundamental between civilized people and was seen as the practice of agriculture, the importance of which was so highly emphasized in the government that rites and ceremonies revolved around farming (Meserve 1982). Even in modern times, nomadic pastoralism has been seen as “uncivilized” and a simple form of organization compared to the complexity in social structure enabled by agriculture (Shelach 1999:14-15). However, this subsistence strategy is an effective way to exploit marginal environments by aiding the conversion of low quality plant resources into portable high quality goods

(Crawford and Leonard 2002). Moreover, pastoralism often has complementary production cycles with farmers, which makes efficient use of large parts of lands that are otherwise unsuitable for agriculture (Barfield 1993). Climatic changes to colder and drier conditions during the early first half of the millennium BC may have made nomadic pastoralism more economically feasible in the steppe region of the northeast (Linduff et al. 2002; Shelach 1994). Thus the nomadic pastoral pattern in the northern steppe may be seen as a successful adaptive strategy to deteriorating environmental conditions (Barfield 1993).

Pastoral nomadism refers to an economic specialization whereby mobile groups migrate with their animals to exploit the extensive, but seasonal grasslands of the steppes and mountains in an annual cycle (Barfield 1989:20). The Eurasian

17 steppe complex5 emphasizes , , , , and Bactrian (two- humped) (Barfield 1993). The most economically important of

Inner Asian pastoral subsistence was sheep, which provided a variety of products including and meat for food, wool and hides for clothes and shelter (yurts), and dung for fuel (ibid.). Inner Asian societies also had a close association with horses, which provided another source of meat and milk (and blood). More importantly, horses aided in mobility and transportation of portable goods, as well as in military strikes (Barfield 1989:21), such as during raids against sedentary China.

To understand how the neighboring cultures of China and the northern frontier developed with such striking differences in political, economic, and social organization, it is necessary to survey the ecological context in which these cultures emerged. Differences in ecological conditions help explain how the environment influenced the trajectories of their development.

The Eurasian steppe extends from the Hungarian plains to northern Asia, and though bordered by different terrains, is essentially a semi-arid grassland. The

Asian portion of the steppe covers approximately 2.6 million square kilometers. The geographic range encompassed within the term “Inner Asia,” popularized by

Lattimore (1940), has been described in various ways including the “Northern

Zone” (see Di Cosmo 2002:13-15). Definitions are made difficult by the fact that the northern frontier was fluid. However, the northern zone of interaction between

China and Inner Asia can be divided into four recognizable ecological and cultural

5 “Complex” as used by Barfield (1993) refers to the key animals in a pastoral economy.

18 areas (Barfield 1989:16), which for purposes here include north China, Manchuria to the east, Mongolia (and Inner Mongolia) in the center, and Xinjiang to the west

(Figure 2.1). While China and Mongolia, demarcated by the Great Wall, are fairly easy to define in opposing ecological terms, Manchuria and Xinjiang supported mixed economies. The four major regions of interaction and its peoples are briefly discussed here.

Figure 2.1. Map of area of study in China’s northern frontier zone. Note that Manchuria encompasses three modern provinces.

Northern China

The geographic range of Chinese borders was constantly in flux as imperial control expanded or contracted and fragmented following internal collapse. Since the fourth millennium BC, however, China has maintained a sense of unity, with the civilization centered around the Yellow River region (Chang 1999; Yates 2001).

China’s ancient heartland can be divided into four distinct regions. The flat, low-level Yellow River valley (also known as the Central Plains) lay to the east, and its depositional properties supported intensive irrigated agriculture and fostered

19 some of the earliest agricultural cultures in China, as well as many ancient capital cities, including , Kaifeng, and Beijing. This was an arid land of wheat and millet, with alternating cold winters and hot summers. To the north of the Central

Plains, China is separated from Mongolia by the hills and mountains of Jehol, while in the northeast a narrow pass connects China to the Manchurian plain of the lower

Liao River Valley. To the west are the loess highlands, home to the capital city of

Chang’an (modern Xi’an) during the Han and Tang dynasties. The Ordos steppe and , north of these loess highlands, was occupied by nomads and was thus a contentious region. Finally, southern China begins around the drainage of the lower

Yangtze River. While the temperate environment of the northern Central Plains was suited for millet and wheat agriculture, southern China was a region of lakes and rivers, with a warm humid climate that supported wet rice agriculture (Fairbank et al. 1989), and was inhospitable to mounted cavalry (Barfield 1989:18). Thus, northern imperial courts often escaped to the south when nomads overran the north.

While no samples in this study derive from North China, this area is important for understanding the relationship between China and the steppe peoples.

Not only was northern China the center stage for the emergence of many early

Chinese states, it was the area where frontier interaction occurred between Chinese agriculturalists and their northern nomadic neighbors.

Manchuria

China’s northeastern frontier lay in Manchuria. “Manchuria,” which encompasses the modern Chinese provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang, is

20 a term that did not exist in ancient times, but is a modern creation by western geographers. Today, the region is known as Dongbei (the Northeast) in China, but to be consistent with western literature, the term Manchuria is retained here.

The Manchurian plain differs from China’s Yellow River valley in that it is erosional rather than depositional. The rolling topography of Manchuria has three natural environments: forest in the northern uplands, in the river valleys, and grasslands in the west (Di Cosmo 2002). Barfield has further divided

Manchuria into four major ecological zones (1989:19). The first is the agricultural region of the lower Liao River plain and the , which was linked to the northern Chinese plain through a narrow mountain pass in ancient times.

While this region had been Chinese in culture since the Warring States period, its physical isolation made it vulnerable to attacks by pastoral nomads and forest tribes.

During times of political weakness in China, this zone fell to nomadic control. The second zone was the western steppe of Liaoxi and the Jehol Mountains, home to pastoral nomads whose proximity to agriculturalists of the Manchurian plain provided them with a sedentary economic base. The third, and largest, zone was the forested area that bordered Korea and Siberia, occupied by villagers who practiced a mixed economy of stock-raising and agriculture. The fourth zone was the coastal zone of the far north, which supported hunters and fishers.

The mixed environment in Manchuria provided not only conditions for mixed agricultural and pastoral economies, but was also the staging ground for northern invasion by China’s most successful foreign dynasties due to its narrow

21 mountain corridor to China’s northern plain (Barfield 1989). The proximity of this area to north China and to Mongolia’s nomadic tribes meant that inhabitants here are heterogeneous, with many ethnic groups occupying these lands in ancient times.

In this study, the people derived from this region are categorized as “North- eastern.”

Mongolia

Directly north of China’s core area is Mongolia. The is mostly steppe (temperate grasslands), punctuated by high mountain ranges. While the Gobi Desert, which divides the northern and southern area, accounts for two-thirds of Mongolia’s area, the Gobi is better described as a dry steppe rather than a desert (Barfield 1989). Inner Mongolia (today an autonomous region of

China) is the southern part of the Mongolian plateau that lies on the Chinese side of the Gobi Desert and is described as the “country of long grass” (Naval Intelligence

Division 1944). The margins of the plateau have higher rates of precipitation and support the most intense aggregation of human habitation.

The elevation of the Mongolian steppe (approximately 1,500 meters) is higher than the sea level-Turkic steppe to the west. This change in elevation marks

Mongolia’s western ecological boundary, and demarcates the traditional limit of the political and cultural influence of its peoples (Barfield 1989:16-17). To the north and northeast of the plateau lay Siberian forests, home to small forest tribes of hunters and (Barfield 1993). Of importance to this study is the southern Mongolia region, which marked the frontier with China. Southern/Inner

22 Mongolia is a transitional zone that could support either nomads or farmers, but more importantly served as a gateway to Chinese goods. This area was one of constant tension, epitomized by the construction and maintenance of the Great Wall by the Chinese state. In ancient times the largest numbers of nomads were located in the southern steppe region bordering China, particularly the Ordos Plains, Jehol

Mountains, and western Manchuria. The occupants of this area are categorized as

“North-central” in this study.

Xinjiang

Northwest of central China lie the arid lands of Xinjiang (also known as the autonomous region of Chinese Turkestan), which extend from the corridor into China on the east and into Central Asia on the west. Xinjiang traditionally was the region of international trade that connected western and eastern Asia through caravan routes along the famed . The eastern border with Mongolia was not distinct, but rather a gradual transition from the Mongolian plains to an increasingly arid zone that no longer supported nomadic pastoralism. Xinjiang is bounded on the north by the Tianshan Mountains and Eurasian steppe, and to the south by the mountains of , the Pamirs, and the Hindu Kush. The Pamir

Mountains separate Xinjiang into eastern and western sections. This divide was not only a physical barrier, but also a cultural divide of Eurasia, separating those who focused toward and Europe to the west versus those who interacted more with

China to the east. The western area had drainage from the Amu Darya and Syr

23 Darya Rivers (also known as the Oxus and Jaxartes), which supported heavier population densities, and had major cities such as Bukhara and Samarkand.

This study focuses on several populations from the northern Xinjiang area, which had a series of oases encircling the that supported sparse settlement within the Taklamakan desert. Nomads of this area are categorized as

“North-western” in this study.

History of Research

Most modern archaeological research on the rise of social complexity in

China has centered around the North China (Central) Plains in the Yellow River valley and the Yangtze River valley in central China (Underhill 1997). These studies emphasize the importance of agriculture, concomitant with food storage, a shift to aggregated living, and status differentiation as paramount to the development of Chinese social stratification and state formation (Chang 1986).

Thus the ancient Chinese civilization is seen as inexorably intertwined with sedentary agriculture and its associated high population density and centralized bureaucratic government. These attributes seemed diametrically opposed to the migratory pastoralists with their low population densities and tribal organization.

China saw imperial expansion as the spread of its civilizing influence to the

“barbarians,” people with external ethnic affiliations (Nelson 1995), namely the nomads along the northern frontier.

24 The study of culture contact between ancient China and the northern frontier benefits immensely from Chinese written documents dating from the first appearance of nomads during the late Bronze Age (Barfield 1989). Official Chinese records provide much information regarding court policy and include descriptions of foreign tribes along China’s northern frontier. More importantly, these accounts emphasize the confrontation between China and the steppe nomads, who continually presented a political and military problem to China, a theme that has persisted in modern studies (Di Cosmo 2002).

Frequently studied are the accounts by Han court historian, Sima Qian (ca.

145 – 90 BC), the Grand Historian to the Han Emperor Wu-di and China’s foremost historian through the centuries. Having studied ruins, relics, and texts dating from

841 BC, he completed the 130-chapter Shi Ji (Historical Records), a synthesis of ancient Chinese history for the previous 2000 years, from the semi-mythical prehistoric era to his own time.

With regards to the history of the northern nomads, Sima Qian relied on oral accounts from those who had lived among them or had gained from diplomatic encounters (Di Cosmo 2002:268-270). Thus, our knowledge of nomadic groups such as the Xiongnu of Mongolia may be biased in several perspectives.

These include the persons from whom Sima Qian obtained his information, Sima

Qian himself, and the influence of the current ideological thought during his lifetime. Nevertheless, these sources provide rich descriptions and contemporary ethnographic information, and his systematic work set the standard for succeeding

25 court historiographers and government-sponsored histories. With each new ruler and/or dynasty, court historians modeled his thoroughness in providing a review of previous dynasties, documenting current court policies, and paying special attention to the requisite section on foreign relations with the steppe nomads (Barfield 1989).

This backward-looking orientation in the Chinese, whose scholar-literati bureaucratic elite had to pass grueling exams on ancient texts, meant that the study of ancient relics and writings began early in China (Gungwu 1985). However,

“archaeology” in this early form was antiquarian in approach, focusing on cultural relics (Trigger 1989), as is exemplified by Northern Song scholar Lü Dalin’s An

Illustrated Study of Ancient Things, published in AD 1092.

Formal archaeological studies of the northern frontier began in the late 19th century when Russian and Swedish scholars focused on the ancient history of cultures occupying and traversing Xinjiang, while Japanese researchers initiated investigations into Manchuria’s past. Modern archaeological research began in

China’s heartland after the end of World War I (see Table 1.1 in Pak 1995:8 for list of expeditions). In 1916, the Geological Survey was organized in Beijing by

Western scientists such as Swedish geologist, John Andersson, who introduced western field methods (Olsen 1987; von Falkenhausen 1993). Having seen the traditional worldview of Chinese superiority severely tested during interactions with

Western colonial powers, Chinese scholars began to critically examine ancient historical texts (Shelach 1999:49). Following this intellectual critique (dubbed the

May 4th movement) in 1919, scholarly disciplines such as archaeology were

26 embraced by academics as a means to test the validity and accuracy of these ancient texts (Olsen 1987:283).

Archaeology in China, however, has been used primarily as a method to illustrate known historical events and as a means to support nationalistic agendas, such as proof of China’s glorious past. Moreover, research questions were (and continue to some extent to be) oriented under a Marxist unilineal evolutionary framework for social evolution derived from the work of Engels and Morgan

(Chang 1986; Olsen 1987; von Falkenhausen 1993). Many have leveled critiques against this framework, arguing that Engels lacked ethnological, archaeological, and historical cases to back his premises, and that the work was a product of his own cultural biases (e.g., Reiter 1977). Nevertheless, it is important to briefly review the major premises because it is the leading in Chinese archaeology used to explain social evolution (Chang 1986), and has been virtually unquestioned until recently.

Following L.H. Morgan’s evolutionary scheme (1877), Engels (1972

[1884]) in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, posited that pre-state societies were matriarchal. The Chinese Marxist perspective on the prehistoric past holds that early prehistoric society in China is presumed to have been matrilocally organized and matriarchally administered (Jiao 2001). This paradigm assumes that there was a concomitant shift from matriarchal tribes to patriarchal clans with the shift to plow agriculture. Moreover, it is believed cultures unfolded in predictable ways, with matriarchal tribes inevitably turning into

27 patriarchal clans, then ancient slave states, followed by feudal society. The levels are treated as if they were inevitable and are not seen as requiring any explanation

(Nelson 1995). This matriarchal-to-patriarchal has for the most part been unquestioned and untested by Chinese scholars.

This rigid and sterile model, as adopted from the works of Morgan (1877) and Engels (1972 [1884] ), guided research for decades, especially during Mao

Zedong’s tenure, to the detriment of advancement in theoretical construction (Tong

1995) and the exploration of alternative types of social complexity (Shelach 1999).

In the 1970s, new archaeological discoveries in sites located in the “periphery” that had art objects of comparable and even superior quality to those from the core in the

Central Plains marked the beginning of a regional perspective, known as the

“regional systems and cultural types” approach (Chang 1999), which incorporated consideration of interaction spheres. Thus, the past few decades have seen a more broad interest that shifted focus from archaeological sites associated with

“traditional” centers to neglected regions and to considerations of alternative views of the past (Bingqi 1999; von Falkenhausen 1995).

In recent years China has dramatically increased research in the Great Wall frontier region, for instance with establishment of the Frontier Archeology Center at

Jilin University in 2000 (located in Manchuria) from an earlier incarnation in 1986.

While systematic archaeological surveys were rarely conducted in the past, there have been recent long-term surveys to elucidate settlement patterns and spheres of interaction. Following regulation for foreign participation in archaeological work in

28 1991, there has also been an increase in international collaborative endeavors

(Murowchick 1997). These include the Chifeng International Collaborative

Archaeological Research Project, which has taken a regional approach to studying the northern frontier (Linduff et al. 2002; Neimenggu 2003) as well as other projects in the Chinese core (e.g., Underhill et al. 2002).

In particular, western researchers have been drawn to the history of pastoralism and frontier interaction between China and the northern steppes cultures

(e.g., Barfield 1989; Di Cosmo 1994; Hulsewé 1979; Jagchid and Symons 1989;

Prušek 1971; Pulleyblank 1983; Rossabi 1983; Wang 1983; Watson 1971; Yang

1968). Most archaeological investigations focus on burial treatment and grave goods as a means to study the nomad cultures. Based on these findings, archaeologists have developed several criteria for use in identifying early northern steppe nomads. These attributes include the lack of settlements, a predominance of animal bones, numerous remains of sacrificed animals, and the appearance of the

“Scythian triad” assemblage of weapons, animal-style decorations, and horse harnesses (Di Cosmo 2002:56).

Research in Sociopolitical Organization and Interregional Interaction

The influential research of Lattimore (1940) on the history of relations between China and Inner Asia described nomads and agriculturalists as separated by a boundary that was not only ecological, but also political and economic.

Chinese conceptions of world order centered on China as an island of civilization

29 surrounded by uncivilized peoples (hence China’s self description as the “Middle

Kingdom”). As the ancient Chinese empire expanded, it encountered frontier polities that were external to the “civilized” Chinese center and considered

“barbarian” by the ruling ethnic majority, Han Chinese (Tao 1983). Periodic emergence of nomadic states in Inner Asia that were able to encroach on Chinese territories threatened the Chinese worldview.

China’s forms of imperial control and governance have been studied extensively (e.g., see the 15-volume Cambridge ; Balazs 1964;

Loewe 1990; Ropp 1990; Twitchett and Fairbank 1978). A pattern of dynastic emergence and collapse has been ascribed to the series of China’s courts, and all had several features in common, whether dynasties were native or non-Chinese in origin. Each required a large centralized bureaucracy to rule over vast geographic expanses and disparate groups. Further, each new dynasty needed to establish legitimacy for rule, by providing a persuasive argument for having obtained the

“Mandate of Heaven.” Military control was also necessary to maintain defenses, and each dynasty was concerned with fortifications along the northern frontier (e.g.,

Loewe 1967; Williams 2002).

Occasionally nomadic confederacies proved strong enough and organized enough to dictate the terms of their relationship with China. When China was unable to deal effectively with the nomads, imperial courts appeased them by paying expensive tributes to maintain peace. These payments were an embarrassing undertaking which Chinese historians euphemistically recorded in texts as a more

30 palatable tributary relationship, with China giving “gifts” to subject powers that recognized China’s supremacy (Rossabi 1983). Marriage treaties between Chinese princesses and tribal leaders were also a means of appeasement and recognition of equal status between China and powerful nomadic tribes, such as exemplified by the (ho-chi’in) treaty, “peace through kinship relations” (Di Cosmo 2002:192-

194). As be discussed in the next chapter, the different forms of frontier interaction between China and steppe nomads were shaped not only by the policies of the imperial court and the strength of China’s influence, but also by the social organization within the pastoral tribes and their proximity to China (Barfield 1989,

1991, 2001).

Conclusion

This section has provided a brief history of China and the northern frontier cultures. Their sociopolitical and economic development was largely influenced by ecological conditions, which in turn structured interregional interaction between imperial China and the pastoral nomads. While I gave a short overview of the history of research and investigations into culture contact here, the following chapter provides more detailed discussion of theoretical models proposed for the relationship between China and the nomadic steppe peoples.

31 Chapter 3: Theories and Research Models of Chinese–Frontier

Interaction

Introduction

The pervading trend in previous research on the relationship between China and nomads has been not only reliance on Chinese textual evidence for interpretations, but also a core-centric (in this region, sinocentric) focus that highlights the influential impact of Chinese culture. Moreover, when nomadic pastoral societies are considered, their lifeways are often generalized, thus ignoring the variety in ecology, economy, and sociopolitical organization found among them

(Irons 1979). In the present study I attempt to counter the gaps in our understanding of Chinese history produced by this myopic view by: 1) critically examining previous theoretical constructions of culture contact and frontier studies, and 2) using bioarchaeological evidence as an independent means of testing models and providing new perspective on the diversity of pastoral nomadic lifestyles and experiences along the northern frontier.

This chapter begins with consideration of the traditional Chinese worldview and how it has influenced methods of studying frontier interaction. This section is followed by a brief review of Western anthropological models of culture contact, core–periphery relations, and frontier studies. More recent models that focus on the role of nomadic pastoralist in interregional interaction with China are presented as a

32 framework to be tested through bioarchaeological analyses. Finally, a discussion of the bioarchaeological approach addresses its potential contribution to the present questions with respect to the biological consequences of differences in subsistence mode, sociopolitical organization, and the impact of imperial control.

Traditional Chinese View of Foreign Relations

The idea of “China” as a country and of the people as “Chinese” (Hua-Xia1) seems to have emerged prior to the imperial age, which commenced in the 3rd century BC. By 4000 BC adjacent regional cultures in the Central Plains (North

China) appear to have been in contact, with sphere-wide distribution of shared ceramic styles in cooking vessels, knives, and art motifs, suggesting a broad, regional interaction sphere (Chang 1999). Chang has proposed that the shared cultural attributes in this interaction sphere be labeled as “Chinese,” as this region was the central staging area of processes leading to the formation of China

(idid:59). It was here around the Yellow River Basin that several chiefdom-level polities, then states, arose, while societies external to this “core” area, especially those that did not engage in that hallmark of civilization, agriculture, were viewed as foreigners.

This conception of a cultural and political cohesiveness is evident during the political decentralization of the latter half of the (Eastern) Zhou Dynasty (770 – 256

BC), which immediately preceded the imperial age. Zhou states clearly had a

1 While “Han Chinese” refers to the majority ethnic group in China, an older (pre-Han Dynasty) name for this ethnic group is Hua-Xia.

33 conception of the political boundary of an inner Chinese core as they vied for power and simultaneously fended off attacks from foreign polities (Di Cosmo 2002:93).

This boundary rested on the notion of a radiating civilization, so that people who were farther not only in geographical distance but also who differed more radically in moral and cultural attributes from those of the Hua-Xia people were considered less “civilized.”

The various forms of interaction China had with outside groups were influenced by this geographically- and culturally-based perception of world order that accounted for where outsiders fit into the scheme. Studies of Chinese relations with foreigners have been heavily reliant on the historical accounts available, which are especially rich beginning with the Han Dynasty (206 BC – AD 220). While the

Chinese empire was classically identified as encompassing “all under Heaven” ( xia), as Han Chinese expanded in territory and in geographical knowledge, China’s self-image of its own geographical position transformed under the realization that

China was not the only “civilized” country in the world (Twitchett and Loewe

1986:378-379). However, Han Chinese remained firmly sinocentric in the politico- cultural sense, and their concern was entrenched in the “establishment and maintenance of the Chinese world order, which was by definition sinocentric…

[and which] expressed itself in an institutional form” (ibid.:379). This perception structured how the government negotiated their internal and external interactions.

Han world order was idealized by the five-zone (wu-hu) theory, whereby

China was divided into five concentric and hierarchical zones or areas (Twitchett

34 and Loewe 1986:378-379). The innermost “central” zone was the royal domain.

Next, surrounding this inner zone was the “lords” zone, which consisted of peripheral states established by the king/emperor. Circumscribing these was the

“pacified” zone, made of those states conquered by the reigning dynasties.

“Barbarians2” occupied the outer fourth and fifth zones. In particular, the fourth,

“controlled” zone was home to those groups supposedly under Chinese control, albeit loosely, while the outermost “wild” zone was occupied by independent groups. At the basic level, the five zones described a dichotomy between the inner and outer areas. With respect to foreign relations, this dichotomy contrasted the inner Chinese-ordered region with the disorderly, outer barbarian regions.

Moreover, this scheme not only identified foreigners based on geographic distance, but also differentiated those foreigners who were either allies, or at least assimilated, from those who were hostile.

While the five-zone theory was an idealized image of China and China’s position relative to its neighbors, it was very influential in the development and structure of foreign relations, especially during the Han Dynasty. These five levels of hierarchy were (in principal) recreated in tributary relationships with the center.

Tributes of goods and labor were offered by groups within the five zones in descending order, so that zones further outside the royal domain were sequentially less regular in paying tributes. Although pre-imperial courts such as those of the

2 There is no exact Chinese equivalent to the western term; ancient Chinese distinguishes between those foreigners allied with or under Chinese control (yao) vs. those who were outside of Chinese influence and possibly hostile (fan), and later Chinese used hu to designate nomads in general (Di Cosmo 2002:96-97, 129).

35 Shang Dynasty (ca. 17th – 12th century BC) had some form of a tributary system, the institutionalization and systemic application of tributary practices to foreign relations was largely developed by the Han imperial court (Twitchett and Loewe

1986).

Historical records from dynastic courts describe the flow of resources between China and the “tributary” nomadic pastoralists (Yang 1968). These detailed records, which are available as early as the Han Dynasty, describe the often problematic relations between China and nomads. Perhaps owing to the source of this documentary evidence, theories of the mode and consequences of these interactions are often sinocentric, focusing on the policies and motivations of the

Chinese empire. The traditional model of interaction assumes that nomadic pastoral populations relied heavily upon the goods of imperial China, especially their agricultural comestibles and textiles. This dependency is believed to have driven the nomads to assert a “trade or raid” political position and was the external force that incited the development of a more hierarchal militaristic social organization in nomadic pastoral societies (Jagchid and Symons 1989).

Chinese imperial relations with foreigners were fluid, however, and were dependent on an array of factors. These included the dynamics of the reigning court and the relative political, economic, and military strengths and weaknesses of the empire and the nomadic polity in question. Chinese policy was also influenced by the Confucian and Legalist underpinnings of imperial political philosophy. As mentioned previously, while hegemonic states vied for control during the pre-

36 imperial Warring States period (481 – 221 BC), several philosophical schools of thought on statecraft arose. The two that had the longest lasting effects were

Confucianism, which emphasized morality, and Legalism, which emphasized the strict “rule of law” (Gernet 1998).

Owing to the ideological dichotomy of these , analysis of

Chinese interaction with foreigners has often fallen into two categories of

“morality.” Researchers make interpretations on the influences of Confucianism or

Legalism depending on the tone of the policy in question; that is, whether it promoted peace, or instead promoted war (Di Cosmo 2002:104). When a policy emphasized pacifist actions, such as educating and influencing foreigners through exposure to and exemplary behavior, these endeavors have been ascribed to

Confucian influence, which stressed moral cultivation. When policies were more military in nature, these actions have been attributed to Legalist emphasis on taming and imposing order by force.

However, interaction with outsiders was rather more fluid and pragmatic than the simple peace or war dichotomy characterized by these two philosophies.

Interactions varied from active military engagement, expansion, and resettlement, to treaties and trade and marriage alliances (Twitchett and Loewe 1986:196). For example, it was often logistically impractical and a dangerous gamble to mount an extended military campaign against the impressive nomadic mounted warriors, so nomadic rulers of powerful confederacies were often treated generously. However, on occasions when the nomads demanded too much or broke treaties, or at the other

37 end, Chinese rulers were secure on domestic affairs and wanted to enforce their control or wanted to expand their territory, warfare ensued.

During the politically fragmented Eastern Zhou period, these policies were influenced by the Zhou states’ need to survive and expand. Thus, the first strategy was to conquer; the second to adopt peaceful diplomatic relations when conquest was not viable; the third to govern and assimilate foreigners; and the fourth to use foreigners for military aid or economic gains (Di Cosmo 2002:106). Later in the

Han Dynasty, Confucianists and Legalists heatedly debated the government’s course of action in the face of constant threat from the powerful Xiongnu nomadic confederacy to the north. In particular they disagreed on the merit of maintaining frontier outposts and continuing military campaigns (Meserve 1982).

The policies fluctuated depending on practical concerns over the economic resources and manpower available as well as the immediacy of the nomadic threat.

By the late imperial age (China’s last two dynasties), three imperial approaches to control over the northern frontier had emerged, which scholars have identified as: 1) military expansion (until it became too expensive); 2) trade through licensed merchants at frontier markets and “tribute” sent to the emperor, where nomads presented horses and other pastoral goods in exchange for Chinese products (all to decrease border raids); and 3) defensive segregation through wall-building (Perdue

2005:34).

It is obvious, then, that imperial historical documentation, though often core-centric, furnish valuable information regarding these court policies, military

38 forays, treaties with the nomads, and details about the flow of goods and other economic relations. From these accounts, a cyclical pattern of imperial–frontier relations emerges, whereby the Chinese policy was usually one of appeasement: signing expensive peace treaties that provided nomads with direct subsidies and markets that supplied agricultural products and luxury items to underwrite the political power of emerging nomadic leaders (Barfield 2001). However, as Di

Cosmo notes, the textual evidence that has “traditionally been used to support the view that a cultural and moral divide existed may actually reflect aspects of political change [in response to actual circumstances] behind the foreign policy strategies”

(2002:97). Thus, while historical texts are useful for guiding research, interpretations derived from such document-based sources benefit from multiple, independent lines of evidence. These include testing assumptions through models of culture contact.

Culture Contact

Investigation into the interregional interaction between the peoples of China and the northern frontier necessitates a brief review of culture contact studies. The framework for investigation into culture contact in China has traditionally depended on models of acculturation, diffusion, and assimilation. These themes are so entrenched in Chinese studies that “sinification” or “sinicization” (broadly defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as the act of “invest[ing] with a Chinese character”) are commonly used in the social sciences to describe the assimilation of

39 non-Han Chinese peoples into Chinese identity. These terms imply the unidirectionality of cultural transmission and the seemingly inevitable adoption of

Chinese behavior and culture by non-Han people, as well as ignoring issues of , resistance, identity, and transculturation. Nonetheless the terms and their

“sinocentric” associations permeate the literature (Chinese and western) of situations of culture contact between China and other groups.

A great deal of early anthropological literature is focused upon the issues of acculturation and culture change (e.g., Bohannan and Plog 1967; Redfield et al.

1936). While early uses of acculturation as a research framework have been critiqued extensively3, these critiques have led to models with more integrative considerations in culture contact. Current culture contact studies in anthropology seek not only to explore how contacts between populations influence social change, but also how culture contact, often resulting in conflict, relates to social structure and the nature of power relations (Cusick 1998b). Models of imperial organization have been influenced by Wallerstein’s (1974) work on world systems that describes empires in terms of the core and periphery. Often embedded in world systems and core–periphery models are assumptions of unequal relations, with a core that exploits a less socially organized, passive periphery (D'Altroy 1992).

Wallerstein’s (1974; 1980; 1989) world systems theory (WST) provides a framework for understanding and explaining long-term, large-scale social change in

3 Criticisms of the acculturation concept by American scholars concentrate on the assumptions regarding western and non-Western groups. These include the emphasis on one-sided Western impact, unbalanced view of power relations, and its lack of effectiveness as a predictor of culture contact effects (Cusick 1998a).

40 terms of forces that originate from the outside. This framework, developed from studies of capitalism in modern European contexts, incorporates aspects of core– periphery models in which a less productive/complex periphery is exploited by a more powerful core in fundamentally asymmetrical power relations. Three main assumptions are that: 1) the core dominates the periphery through a combination of military, technological, or organizational superiority; 2) the core controls asymmetric long-distance exchanges; and 3) interregional trade determines peripheral political economy and is a prime mover of social change. Some researchers have been attracted to this theory as a means to address intersocietal contact in the pre-industrial age, extending its applicability from the 13th century

AD to five millennia in the past (e.g., Abu-Lughod 1989; Frank and Gills 1993).

While there was a spate of research using this framework, several criticisms have been leveled at WST. Not only has there been concern with applying the model to pre-modern archaeological studies, but there are also critiques that the paradigm is too abstract, core-centric, and emphasizes a passive periphery and trade of bulk goods (Blanton and Feinman 1984; Santley and Alexander 1992; Schneider

1977). Recent studies have transformed this core-centric view into one that incorporates considerations of peripheral peoples as active agents (Rice 1998).

More specifically, some researchers have adapted Wallerstein’s work as a paradigm of interregional interaction by incorporating ideas of agency, resistance of local actors, non-static (fluctuations), the importance of distance in relation to power, and

41 incorporation of an interregional interaction perspective, which address the fact that interactions are not uniform throughout the network (Hall 1999; Stein 1999).

Through this new focus, current studies address ways that different forms of power (political, ideological, economic, and military) are distributed over the social landscape, thus providing a richer view of the dynamics of interaction (Stein 1999).

This alternative paradigm also places on emphasis on treating assumptions of the

WST as hypotheses to be tested. The current investigation of interactions between

China and neighboring pastoral societies is structured around these new considerations of the “core” and the “periphery.” The bioarchaeological data address whether interregional relations among China and these societies were based on core exploitation of the periphery, the motivations and initiatives of peripheral polities, or an amalgamation of both.

Frontiers

While the Chinese state had a long history of interactions with pastoral groups, especially those along the northern steppe, these nomadic societies continually fluctuated in their status (from the Chinese state’s perspective) as either a controlled “pacified” or a wild “barbarian” zone of outsiders. These outsiders occupied that dynamic space that scholars frequently label the “Inner Asian frontier” (e.g., Lattimore 1940). Frontiers are intriguing because they serve spatially and temporally as the stage for cultural contact.

42 As anthropologists and archaeologists have expanded their attention from the core to frontier and culture contact situations, there has been a recognized need for a systematic framework for “frontier studies,” including clarification of terminology, defining factors influencing frontier dynamics, and determining how these dynamics affected the core and regions beyond the frontier (e.g., Parker and

Rodseth 2005; Rice 1998; Roësler and Wendl 1999). According to Parker

(2002:373), frontiers differ from the geo-political dividing line marked by borders in that frontiers encompass a loosely defined area or transitional zone between two distinct political, administrative, or cultural units of varying degrees of complexity.

Thus, as Lattimore noted, although China’s Great Wall was meant to demarcate a strict divide, “the linear Frontier never existed except in concept” (Lattimore

1962:115).

Beyond issues of terminology, Parker (2002; 2006) has emphasized the need to study frontiers through comparisons of different frontier situations and through the use of models that characterize and analyze common themes. He has created two models to study interregional interaction. The “continuum of boundary dynamics” model aids in characterizing the types of boundary situations, while a

“borderland matrix” elucidates the dynamic interaction between different types of boundaries through time. These models evaluate forms of interaction among the frontier populations based on geographic, political, demographic, cultural, and economic data of the regions in question. The models, which recognize the range of situations from a static, restrictive border to a porous, fluid frontier, are useful for

43 categorizing, describing, and comparing different types of boundaries and frontiers, especially in the present study where China and its northern neighbors continually negotiated shifting frontiers and changing relationships. While the primary source of data is from human remains, this study follows Parker’s recommendation in that samples are grouped in consideration of geographical location, mode of economy, level of imperial influence/time period, and population demographic structure.

Inner Asian Frontier: The “Needy” Model

As mentioned previously, the influential research of Lattimore (1940) on the history of interaction between China and the Inner Asian frontier described the pastoral steppe nomads and agricultural empire as separated by a boundary that was not only ecological, but also political and economic. The historiography of ancient

China portrays non-Han people as greedy and aggressive barbarians with a never- ending lust for Chinese goods (Honey 1992). Di Cosmo (1994) notes that this stereotype was used by the ancient Chinese to explain the development of powerful nomadic states that confronted China militarily and politically.

In modern studies this “greedy” theory has developed into a “needy” theory, based upon the premise that nomadic pastoralism does not exist outside of a symbiotic relationship with farming communities that provide the pastoralists with essential carbohydrates in the form of staple cultigens, while pastoralists provide animals and their products. For example, Khazanov, in his study of modern

Eurasian steppe societies, argues that nomadic pastoral populations are not self- sufficient because agricultural foods are an essential part of their diet (1984:69-84).

44 Thus, the dependency of pastoralists on agrarian goods is supposed to have induced a “trade or raid” strategy with the Chinese state, in which agriculturalists provided pastoralists with a stable supply of essential resources such as grain (Jagchid and

Symons 1989).

Trade relations between nomads and China spanning since at least the

Warring States period are well documented in text references and by archaeological evidence (Jacobson 1988). Exchanged products included, from China, cultigens, tea, cotton, and luxury items, while pastoralists provided livestock and the products thereof (wool, felt, foodstuffs), as well as transport camels and horses (Krader

1979:225). Di Cosmo has suggested that early Chinese polities had two main motivations for trade with the steppe people, which ultimately had consequences for state formation and imperial expansion (2002:131-134). The proximate reason for trade was for access to horses, which the nomads had in abundance. This trade in horses ultimately had far-reaching economic and military significance for the process of state formation and later imperial expansion in China as rulers adopted cavalry and mounted archers in their military strategy for strengthening defenses and expansion. Moreover, through conquest of peripheral nomadic groups and through expansion, Chinese states were able to cut out potential nomadic middlemen and secure direct access to markets and communication routes with distant foreigners.

Although focus on the relationship between Inner Asian nomads and China has often centered on the wars of conquest, Krader (1979:226) contends warfare

45 was the atypical situation; instead a vast continent-wide exchange system was the . Lattimore (1979) concurs that relations between nomads and sedentary peoples were not necessarily rooted in aggression. However, he suggests that the steppe nomads’ demand for Chinese goods, especially grain, textiles, and iron, exceeded the Chinese demand for pastoral products. He further suggests that this discrepancy accounts for the development of the powerful Xiongnu empire (209 BC

– AD 155) in the steppes, which successfully forced the reluctant Han Dynasty to deliver such goods. He described an interdependent relationship between China and

Inner Asian polities, which appear to have risen and fallen in power together

(Lattimore 1940).

Krader (1979), however, critiqued the premise that the nomadic state only formed in conjunction with state formation of agricultural China as one that was rooted in the theory of diffusionism and that was unidirectional in focus. The recent works of Barfield (1989; 1991; 2001) and Di Cosmo (1994; 1996; 2002) address this issue by concentrating on the nomadic perspective, including the synchronic and diachronic diversity in forms of interaction.

“Shadow Empires”: Model of Nomadic State Formation

Barfield (1989) has expanded upon Lattimore’s work to create a model of cycles of Chinese dynastic history, and has made an important distinction between the Mongolian and Manchurian nomadic pastoralists. He contends that steppe tribes of Mongolia played a key role in frontier politics without conquering China (except the brief Yuan Dynasty). Their nomadic states rose and fell in symbiotic

46 relationship with Chinese dynasties. For political and ecological reasons, Manchuria to China’s northeast was, in contrast, a breeding ground of foreign dynasties within

China proper when native dynasties collapsed from internal rebellions. Barfield’s model of interaction and state formation, which is described in more detail below, has challenged core-centric views. His underlying assumption—that pastoral populations needed agricultural goods, thus influencing nomadic-imperial relations—has important bioarchaeological implications that I test in this study.

The political organization of the Mongolian nomads is closely intertwined with the fate of Chinese dynasties. Barfield (1989; 1991; 2001) argues that complex nomadic states arose to extort needed agricultural and luxury goods from a strong

Chinese empire that denied such access until threatened. The nomadic state’s success lay in the military advantage of its horse cavalry and in its ability to maintain cohesion of the tribal confederation through redistribution of exploited goods to leaders of the participant tribes. The emerging nomadic elites became dependent upon their trade/tribute relationship with a prosperous China that underwrote their political power.

This relationship also benefited Chinese dynasties. In addition to pastoral comestibles and products, nomadic leaders would send military assistance to declining dynasties in order to maintain mutually beneficial trade relations

(Fairbank 1968). Thus, when a Chinese dynasty was weak or ultimately fell, the nomadic states similarly disintegrated back to tribal organization with the demise of

47 their source of trade and tribute. Further, China’s alliances meant less risk of border raids and avoiding costly military campaigns against the nomads.

When China was conquered by foreign peoples, they came from the mixed economy populations of the Manchurian marginal zone. These foreigners maintained smaller polities along the frontier that combined both Chinese and tribal traditions within a single administration. Barfield suggests that most foreign dynasties emerged from the Manchurian borderlands because these regions were inhabited by both Chinese and tribal peoples. Local rulers learned by adoption of

Chinese administrative policy and by experimentation how to organize and govern such a dual system. Thus, when their forces moved from the northeast into the

Chinese core, they had already developed the rudiments of political organization suited for ruling China.

When native Chinese dynasties fell, Manchurians were able to establish several foreign dynasties in north China, including Northern Wei (AD 386 – 556),

Liao (AD 907 – 1125), Jin (AD 1115 – 1234), and finally the Manchu/Qing (AD

1644 – 1912), the last imperial dynasty of China. Barfield (1989) attributes this phenomenon in part to the more egalitarian Manchurian pattern of tribal organization. Lacking the unified military and diplomatic pressure of the Mongolian nomadic confederacies, Manchurian tribes could not access the closed tributary system until such confederacies collapsed, at which point they negotiated their own relations with China, usually of a more hostile nature. Their violent policy towards

China stemmed from their lack of strong central leadership and their fragmented

48 political structure. This prompted their leaders to use constant raiding of China as a way to preserve unity. While both the nomads of Mongolia and Manchuria occupied lands in close proximity to China, which often provoked aggressive relations, the ability of Manchurians to effectively conquer and hold Chinese lands meant the scale of warfare between tribes from Manchuria and China was more intense if not also more frequent.

One final area under consideration here is the frontier region to the northwest, which linked China to Central Asia. While the skeletal material from the

Xinjiang region observed for this study for the most part precedes the imperial age, and thus can not directly address questions about interaction with the Chinese empire, the collections do extend to the period of state formation (the Three

Dynasties era) and some into the early imperial age. Further, a brief discussion of the nature of interaction gathered from historical views highlights the importance of economic and geographic circumstances on intersocietal relationships between

China and pastoralists, what Stein (1998) described in his “distance-parity” model for interregional interaction.

The ecology of Xinjiang was similar to Manchuria in that it could support mixed economies, yet this similarity did not extend to its peoples’ relationship and interactions with China, mainly because of geographical constraints. China was connected to the northwest through the Gansu corridor leading into Xinjiang.

Around this corridor a string of oases ran from the Ordos desert in Inner Mongolia

49 west toward Xinjiang’s Hami County4. These oases were occupied by large numbers of ethnic Han Chinese people, and since the early Han Dynasty, these inhabitants had been an important part of the frontier defense (Hsu 1965). Like other steppe regions following the Han Dynasty collapse, the northwest saw several new dynasties arise, the most prominent under the name of the Liang state. Like

Manchuria, these dynasties incorporated a mixed population of nomads and sedentary villagers, but unlike the northeast, the region played a marginal role in

China’s political history. The reasons for this discrepancy are related to the Liang’s strategic position and its economic structure (Barfield 1989:117).

The Liang state, and any power that arose in Xinjiang, was separated from central China by distance and arid terrain. Thus, it was a poor base for expansion, as supplies and reinforcement would be severely constrained. In contrast, the relatively short distance from Manchuria’s Liao area to the China’s Central Plains meant that supplies were easily obtained and retreat relatively unproblematic for the

Manchurian invaders. The distance between oases also dictated that the economy centered around a series of self-sufficient oases and caravan trade in exotic goods, which largely insulated them from external economic pressures.

Therefore, when China collapsed, the Liang/Xinjiang region became autonomous, but was too distant to mount a successful invasion. Thus Xinjiang only formed regional states such as the three Liang states (~AD 397 – 421) during the

Sixteen Kingdoms period, or the Tangut state of Xixia (AD 990 – 1227). These

4 Hami is where several samples in this study are derived, see Chapter 5: Materials.

50 states promptly fell to whatever strong power unified the whole of north China. The

Han Dynasty sent forces to occupy this region when battling the nomadic Xiongnu confederacy in the 1st century BC, but China lost control to the Uzbek tribes in the

2nd century AD and did not reoccupy the region for another 500 years. When that unifying power came from the frontier, they usually came from Mongolia or

Manchuria.

To sum, Barfield’s model proposes that different forms of interregional interaction were influenced by the social organization of the pastoral tribes and logistical proximity to China. His model is premised on the primacy of agricultural trade products as vital to supplementing the inadequate nutrition base of the pastoralist economy. This deficit is assumed to have acted as a major inducement for steppe nomadic interaction policies to attain goods from China. Barfield’s model also assumes that China had more violent encounters with tribes from Manchuria than those from Mongolia owing to the former’s lack of centralized leadership, prompting constant raiding as a means to preserve tribal unity. This violence may also have been associated with geographic constraints that provided Manchurians a logistic advantage for invasion while Mongolians and those further in the northwest found sustained violence unfeasible.

Bioarchaeological Implications

My research examines the nature of these relationships between the Chinese empire and the frontier populations, and how differences in political and economic

51 organization as well as geographical distance within the Inner Asian frontier

(namely, Manchuria, Mongolia, and Xinjiang) structured social interactions with

China. As discussed in more detail in the following chapter, bioarchaeological data provide a direct measure of relevant variables that are used to independently test models of interregional frontier interaction with China. Here, I will summarize the biological implications of the models of Chinese interaction with frontier populations.

The preceding discussion of culture contact and world systems theory and their modified application for more specific models of Chinese-nomadic interaction in the “Needy” model and Barfield’s model show that all of these models share common elements:

1) The Chinese “core” and nomadic pastoral “periphery” 2) Chinese imperialism as an influential force on pastoral life 3) The periphery’s, or nomadic pastoralist’s need for core goods, in this case cultigens and luxury items

These commonalities may be extended further to suggest a contentious relationship between the Chinese core and the frontier societies who continually penetrated

Chinese borders. Indeed, Chinese records give testimony to the frequent military clashes and a series of appeasement treaties. These lucrative trade treaties may have indicated periods of relatively peaceful relations between China and nomadic societies.

However, while China was characterized by unified governance, rarely did such organization exist among the many disparate nomadic tribes, and treaties brokered under one tribal authority rarely lasted beyond his passing (Di Cosmo

52 2002:224). Beyond the question of whether there was predominantly a “trade” or

“raid” relationship between China and the nomads, or whether China “civilized” the nomads or the nomads actively chose to adopt Chinese agricultural life and settlement practices, the underlying assumption in either scenario is that the pastoral nomads wanted access to Chinese goods, notably agricultural food products.

Thus, interaction between imperial China and pastoral nomads of the northern frontier, shaped by ecological and cultural constraints, may be expected to have impacted the biological health of the people and center on the issue of diet and the means of food procurement. Diet directly correlates with health, and expected shifts in subsistence from a pastoral diet to one incorporating more agricultural products will leave a signature in populations undergoing this shift. Further, if violence was a means to obtain food, evidence of injury and trauma may be expected to be manifest in the remains of those who raided. A shift in subsistence mode from nomadic pastoralism to settled agricultural life would not only signify major changes in sociopolitical and economic transitions in the frontier groups, but also changes to the health, diet, and activity markers of those populations. The next chapter will explore the hypotheses and expectations of changes shaped by long- term interregional interaction between China and the frontier pastoral nomads.

Conclusion

This chapter has reviewed the major influences on studies of culture contact and interaction and in studies of Chinese–frontier relations. The ancient Chinese

53 worldview greatly impacted not only China’s dealings with those outside of their

“civilized” zones, but also later interpretations of China’s relationship with steppe nomads. The focus on core–periphery issues has traditionally been core-centric, a view that was not limited to China, but in more generalized western models of core–periphery interactions as well. This emphasis has shifted to incorporate considerations of the motivations of peripheral societies, especially those of the dynamic frontier zone.

The models of interaction between China and the nomads of the northern frontier have emphasized the differences in subsistence strategy and the means to procure comestibles and luxury items from the Chinese empire. Bioarchaeological studies provide a biological perspective on these core–periphery interactions and allow testing of the validity of these historically-based models and inferences. The next chapter outlines the major hypotheses and bioarchaeological test implications that are used to evaluate the processes and dynamics of interregional interaction.

54 Chapter 4: Bioarchaeological Models and Research Hypotheses

The study of skeletal and dental remains yields much information that is pertinent to the issues surrounding the present study. These data on the lives of people living at the periphery and outer frontier of the Chinese polity open a new window into the health and socioeconomic consequences of long-term core– periphery interactions. Through examination of skeletal stress markers of health, diet, and patterns of activity and violence, my goal is to explore the nature and mechanism of socioeconomic interaction in consideration of what has been proposed by previous scholars, that is, whether relations centered on violent conflict or the more peaceful forms of tribute and trade.

This chapter presents the bioarchaeological models and hypotheses that address the two principal goals of this study: 1) exploring the ways in which the different economic systems affected the health and nutritional status of these populations, and 2) determining the health impact upon peripheral and frontier societies associated with the level of imperial (that is, Chinese) influence as measured over different time periods and geographic distances from the core. I also assess the health consequences that increases in sociopolitical complexity and agricultural dependence had for people living along the Chinese frontier. Further I explore how the health of different segments of these frontier societies (men, women, and children) was affected by these key variables (subsistence mode and their interactions with the Chinese empire).

55 Bioarchaeological Approach

Bioarchaeology, with its emphasis on a biocultural perspective and integrative, multidisciplinary methods for making inferences about the past (Buzon et al. 2005), is an ideal approach for exploring the consequences of interaction along the northern frontier. Data from human skeletal remains are a key for reconstructing the lives of individuals and populations. At the individual level, observations can be made upon health, biological affiliation, childhood stress, disease, trauma, occupational markers, and diet. When multiple individuals are recovered, inferences can be made upon the profiles of health, disease, and stress of the population, as well as genetic relatedness, demography, diet, and activity.

Burials also give insights into the social aspects of the population to which the buried belonged (e.g., Binford 1971; Saxe 1970; Tainter 1978). Researchers can reconstruct a population’s level of social complexity through evidence of status and differential treatment based on gender and age as seen in grave accoutrements, health, trauma, and burial location. Evidence for war can be inferred by the pattern of skeletal trauma and presence of mass burials, while political and economic stability is reflected in a population’s health, and cultural boundaries through variations in the forms of burial. Ideological information comes in the form of discovering sacred space via location of remains, and information on cosmological or religious beliefs can come through burial treatment (Pearson 1999).

Since the 1970s there has been a shift by many investigators to the

“biocultural” perspective, which rejects the traditional clinical mode of skeletal

56 study that focused on the diagnosis of individual “cases” and instead attempts to characterize the biological status of the population to which that individual belonged (Bush and Zvelebil 1991). This biocultural view is shared by the bioarchaeological approach, which extends the population-oriented view to that of ancient societies by taking consideration of archaeological context in reconstructing the past. This approach answers questions about the general health of a population through the analysis of a range of skeletal and dental features. In addition, the pattern of disease in populations can be used to reconstruct differential access to resources and exposure to stress (Goodman 1991). Thus, through the broad regional and temporal sample of the present study, I can measure the health effects of hypothesized stress from interregional interaction between agricultural China and the nomadic pastoralists, including shifts in subsistence mode and violent conflict between groups.

Impact of Stress on Human Health

As Goodman (1991) points out, skeletal markers of stress are signs of a body’s struggle to adapt. The body reacts to stressors through a hierarchical series of responses, with the skeletal system being one of the last to be affected. Thus, for there to be any observable skeletal indicators of stress, the stress would have to be severe and/or of substantial duration. Anthropologists studying these markers are in fact looking at nonspecific indicators of stress since observation depends on the

57 indirect evidence of neuro-endocrine activity which can be detected in the teeth and bone (Bush 1991).

From Neolithic to recent times, general trends in the fluctuations of stress frequencies—that is, the impact of stress on human health—have been observed.

They appear to have been closely associated with major changes in human diet and social organization that have occurred during this period, including subsistence changes, sedentism, population growth, living conditions, and social changes (Huss-

Ashmore et al. 1982). The Selyean model of human response to stress (Selye 1936,

1956, 1973) has been applied by anthropologists to prehistoric populations because the model can provide a useful time depth to the study of adaptation (Goodman

1988).

With Seyle’s work providing the framework, Goodman and coworkers

(1984) developed a model for the interpretation of skeletal indicators of stress which shows how stressors affect the individual and the overall population’s adaptation. They describe stress as a product of three factors: environmental constraints, cultural systems, and host resistance. The environment is the source of both essential resources and potential stressors that detrimentally affect adaptation.

Similarly, cultural systems may provide needed resources and act as a buffer to environmental stressors, as well as magnify existing stresses or create new ones.

Host resistance depends on age, sex, genetic susceptibility, and resiliency. If the physiological response is ineffective, then the population’s ability to survive may be challenged (Goodman 1988:177).

58 Goodman and colleagues (1984:15) organize indicators of stress into three categories: indicators of general, cumulative stress; indicators of general, episodic stress; and indicators of stress associated with specific diseases. They propose that when host resistance and environmental constraints are held relatively constant, variation in stress may be attributed to cultural differences. In cases where environmental factors are not sufficiently buffered, either culturally or biologically, then physiologic disruption, or stress, can result (Martin et al. 1985).

However, while it is useful for bioarchaeological analysis that stress may manifest pathological lesions on human remains, some insults will not affect the dental and skeletal systems, while others may induce death before those systems are involved (Goodman 1991). Thus the remains of a person who has no skeletal indicators of stress may have suffered from pathological conditions that led to rapid death before symptoms appeared on the skeleton, or that person may have suffered no such conditions at all. On the other hand, a person with skeletal lesions from a pathological condition may actually be more “healthy” than the person who died rapidly from similar conditions by virtue of the fact of survival for some period of time long enough for the skeletal response. Such a paradoxical situation has the potential to confound osteological interpretation, which was recognized by Wood and colleagues (1992), who gave it the label of the “osteological paradox.”

Wood and coworkers (1992) argued that inferences about prehistoric health from paleodemographic and paleopathological data are unreliable because three fundamental problems complicate the interpretation of statistics calculated from

59 archaeological skeletal material. One is demographic nonstationarity, where small deviations in fertility have large effects on age-at-death distributions in a population, while large changes in mortality have almost no effect. Thus, a higher number of immature individuals in a skeletal collection may reflect increased fertility rather than higher mortality rates. A second problem involves selective mortality in which under-representation of the true demographic structure of a population occurs because data are only available for those who actually died at a given age, but do not include the sample of all the individuals who were at risk of disease or death at that age. The third problem is hidden heterogeneity in risks, which refers to the fact that individuals differ in their susceptibility to disease and death (frailty), but the susceptibility of any given individual from a skeletal population remains unknown to researchers.

Wood and colleagues (1992) asserted that with these problems, it is impossible to determine direct estimates of demographic or epidemiological rates from osteological samples. Furthermore, they recommended that inferences about health must be based on aggregate or population level statistics. For more accurate representations of the past, the authors suggest: 1) developing better insight into the likely sources of heterogeneity and the shape of the frailty distribution in real populations; 2) understanding how a given frailty distribution is related to the distribution of risks of death among individuals; 3) gaining more knowledge about the pathological processes at the cell, tissue and organ level; and 4) developing a

60 better understanding of the role played by cultural contexts in determining heterogeneous frailty and the level of selective mortality.

Goodman (1993) has addressed these problems by noting that Wood and coworkers only focused on single, rather than multiple indicators of health in their critiques. In addition, he suggests that they misinterpret the goals of paleoepidemiology, and that their models do not accurately reflect biological , nor do these models recognize credible cultural contexts. When addressing selective mortality, Goodman notes that most skeletal pathological indicators actually are lesions that signify survival for some time after the morbidity .

With regard to hidden heterogeneity, he states that there is a direct correlation between individual and group frailty. That is, if group frailty changes, then either the size of subgroups or the frailty of one or more subgroups must change. Further, in response to Wood and colleagues’ pessimistic view of osteological research,

Goodman calls attention to the numerous advances made in paleopathology. These include the biocultural shift in focus from disease in individuals to rates of disease in the population; reconstruction of prehistoric health through examination of multiple pathological indicators; and the development of multiple lines of investigation to aid in understanding and interpreting the cultural contexts of skeletal lesions and the biological processes that led to their development.

Thus, in response to the valid concerns over the “osteological paradox” presented by Wood and coworkers, bioarchaeologists today have developed more comprehensive and systematic means to collect and evaluate their data to avoid or

61 at least minimize mistaken interpretations (Wright and Yoder 2003). Such measures include the regular use of multiple indicators of health to get a more comprehensive understanding of stress and adaptation (Steckel et al. 2002). This multiple indicator approach is useful because health is a composite of nutrition, disease, and other aspects of life history, and while bioarchaeologists may not always be able to tease out the etiology of a specific disease or stress event, with multiple indicators, we develop a more precise picture and more in our interpretations.

Bioarchaeological Correlates: Shifts in Subsistence and Social Organization

Agriculturalism

Arguably, one of the most significant events in human biocultural history was the , when hunter-gatherer populations shifted to dependence on cultivated plants. Price and Gebauer (1995:6) have argued that

“the most important factors in the transition (from foraging to farming) ... include, in order of suggested importance, available protodomesticates, human sedentism, higher population density, resource abundance, geographic and/or social constraints, processing and harvesting technology, storage, and wealth accumulation."

Adopting an intensive agricultural mode of subsistence necessitates settled life, which affects population density and social organization, as well as providing a surplus that may lead to unequal access and social differentiation (Hayden 1995).

Not only is social organization dramatically affected, but the health of populations is profoundly affected as well, possibly for worse (Cohen and Armelagos 1984;

Lambert 2000; Larsen 1987). Cohen and Armelagos (1984) and Roosevelt (1984)

62 note that the adoption of agriculture and sedentary settlement in ancient populations is often associated with a reduced mean age at death and comparatively high frequency of pathological lesions, including those connected to malnutrition and infectious disease. They interpret this tendency as indication of increased stress and reduced survival at various ages, both signs of an apparent deterioration in general health among early agriculturists. Cohen (1992) notes that in contrast to agriculturalists, modern hunter-gatherers have low rates of anemia as well as low rates of deficiency in proteins, vitamins, and minerals. In addition, highly mobile hunter-gatherer groups are more likely to escape acute, epidemic “crowd” diseases and parasitic load, unlike more sedentary, dense populations, leading to better health in the former (Cohen and Armelagos 1984).

Concomitant with adoption of an agricultural lifestyle are major social changes that include aggregated communal living, social stratification and inequality, sexual division of labor and craft specialization, changes in exchange networks, warfare, and technological innovations, as well as demographic transitions and a host of biological consequences (e.g., Brumfiel and Earle 1987;

Cohen and Armelagos 1984; LeBlanc 2006; Price 1995; Steckel and Rose 2002).

These changes are amplified as societies increase in sociopolitical complexity, from egalitarian bands to ranked chiefdoms, from stratified chiefdoms to states, and from states to empires. Subsets within a society may be differentially exposed to and buffered from various stresses. Elites for example, may be buffered from stresses afflicting non-elites, or conversely, may suffer from situations introduced by their

63 status. In many societies, when comparing the sexes males may be accorded the same status as elites. When comparing across age groups, adults may be more privileged than juveniles in access to goods.

There is undeniably a link between status and health as shown by many studies, prehistoric and modern (Larsen 1997). Stress is important to the study of health and well-being and to the reconstruction of adaptation and behavior in prehistoric societies. As noted above, stress is a product of three key variables: environmental constraints, cultural systems, and host resistance. If we hold environmental and host resistance constant, it is possible to measure the effect of cultural systems as a potential buffer or inducer of stress and poor health. More specifically, we can test the hypothesis that higher status individuals, because of differential access to wealth and resources amongst other advantages, less stress than lower status individuals.

Nomadic Pastoralism

Pastoralism requires mobility to maximize “the use of an extensive resource, the natural pasture, spread over the terrain” (Salzman 2004:3), while nomadic pastoralism refers to “populations that specialize in animal herding, which requires periodic movement for purposes of grazing” (Crawford and Leonard 2002:1-2). It is important to remember that the domestication of plants did not always lead to a predictable trajectory for settled life, but also enabled domestication of animals and the specialization in a pastoral lifestyle for some groups, including several in this

64 study. It has been argued that some form of plant domestication was a precondition for domestication of animals (Vejnshtein 1984); thus farming pre-dates the advent of pastoralism.

Among the variety of nomadic pastoral lifestyles, each society has its own unique pattern of development and interaction with nearby sedentary populations.

They do share, however, an economic reliance on domesticated herds (Barfield

1993). There are two basic strategies to care for livestock. The first is to have a main sedentary residential group, with a subset following and overseeing the mobile livestock. The second, the nomadic strategy, involves the movement the entire residential group and the livestock (Barfield 1993). Thus, there is a continuum of the type of nomadic pastoralism practiced, from those living in settled communities, to those moving in nomadic camps. In this study, some sites employed the first mixed economic strategy (e.g., the Manchurians, who engaged in agropastoralism, which is characterized by close interactions between activities related to crops and livestock, and sometimes by seasonal ), while others were nomadic pastoralists (e.g., samples from Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang).

The recent tide of research into issues of inequality (e.g., Paynter 1989) are relevant to studies of pastoral societies, where previous accounts have often painted nomadic pastoral societies as essentially egalitarian (e.g., of the Nuer in Sudan by Evans-Pritchard 1940). However, organization in pastoral societies varies and is influenced by the degree of mobility within each group.

65 In his studies of modern pastoralists, Salzman (1999; 2004:5-6) has described the forms that pastoral organization may take. In those communities where a subset of a stable community engage fulltime in pastoralist activities away from the home base, there is a sharp divide between the sexes and age groups (older to younger people), which may lead to not only greater independence of each subgroup, but also greater potential for conflicts. Conversely, among nomadic pastoralists that migrate as a community, there is more cohesiveness in the group, but less independence. For example, most pastoral populations, especially those where the whole community is mobile, are relatively unstructured in sexual division of labor (Leonard et al. 2002). Thus, the pastoral strategy adopted is believed by have influenced social organization, and ultimately, health.

Bioarchaeological research of the health consequences of subsistence changes has focused primarily on the impact of the shift of subsistence from hunting and gathering to agriculture, and relatively few studies have been conducted on the health of pastoral populations (Leonard and Crawford 2002). Hunters and gatherers do, however, share several characteristics with nomadic pastoralists

(relative to sedentary agriculturalists) that are useful in consideration of comparisons between pastoral nomads and farmers. These similarities include high mobility, low population density, and a more diversified diet, relative to sedentary agricultural populations. The health of nomadic pastoralists is thus expected to have declined as their dependence and access to agricultural products increased, as delineated in finer detail below.

66 Agricultural and Nomadic Pastoral Subsistence in China and the Frontier

Agriculture: Millet Diet

Millet, a small seeded plant, was the main cultigen of communities in northern China around the Yellow River valley (Chang 1983; Yan 1992), especially the foxtail (Setaria italica) and broomcorn (Panicum miliaceum) varieties

(Crawford 2006). The earliest site with evidence of seed-processing tools has charcoal samples with radiocarbon dates close to 10,000 years ago (Zhou 1992).

Evidence of agriculture has been found in association with pottery and stone polishing around this period (Chang 1999:47). The drier climate of northern China was better suited to millet cultivation than was true in the south, where rice dominated, and millet farming spread to the middle and lower Yellow River valley by 7000 B.P. (Lu 1999).

Cultivation experiments on the domestication process of foxtail millet suggest that the time and labor commitment needed to produce a valuable yield may have encouraged sedentism in early Chinese cultivators, initiating a gradual change from foraging to farming (Lu 1999, 2006). As agricultural intensification and sedentism spread, agriculture continued to develop in the Central Plains as well as outside this region. New crops were introduced and incorporated in the diet, so that by 1000 – 500 BC, other cereal grains such as barley, wheat and rice, as well as soybeans, beefsteak plants, melons, and gourds were part of the staple crops

(Crawford 2006).

67 In terms of nutritional value, millet is similar to wheat in protein value, with some varieties providing 11% protein by weight. are also rich in B vitamins especially niacin, B6 and folic acid, as well as calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, and zinc. However, milled cereal grains like millet and wheat have low values of iron and are high in phytate, which inhibits human absorption of iron and can leave skeletal leions. Studies of the Wadi Hafa populations in Nubia who relied heavily on millet demonstrate high prevalence of orbital lesions from iron deficiency anemia (Carlson et al. 1974) and premature osteoporosis in females (Martin et al.

1985). Chinese skeletal samples spanning the transition from small-scale farming to heavy millet dependence had an increase in cranial porosities along with higher rates of tooth decay and stature decreases (Pechenkina et al. 2002). A similar decline in these health indices is expected among Inner Asian pastoralists as they increased their dietary intake of such milled cereal grains.

Pastoral Nomadism: Animal Products

The Eurasian steppe is occupied by horse riding and herding nomads of

Central Asia. Archaeological evidence for the nomadic pastoralist economic pattern suggests horse riding cultures first emerged in western Asia, and spread to the

Chinese northern steppe frontier by the fourth century BC1 (Tao 2002; Volkov

1995). In the Eurasian steppe zone, which was marginal in resource availability,

1 Horses were used in China before the appearance of mounted steppe nomads, but only in association with chariots, which were symbols of power during early states such as the Shang Dynasty (Chang 1986). These horse riding nomads combined innovations for riding and mounted archery (Barfield 1993:134).

68 nomads depended on horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and Bactrian camels (Barfield

1993).

Salzman (2004:1) has succinctly listed the importance of livestock for pastoralists: 1) food (milk, meat, butter, and blood); 2) raw materials (wool, hair, bones, and skin); 3) power for pulling loads and plowing; 4) transport of goods; 5) riding for travel, warfare, and recreational purposes; and 6) ritual activities, including sacrifice. Unlike pastoralists elsewhere, did not make a distinction between transport and subsistence animals, but instead took advantage of the multiple uses of their animals. For example, a horse was used for riding, milking, for meat, or skinned for leather (Barfield 1993:137). They were also unique in their emphasis on horse riding and archery, carts for transport, and yurts for housing. Yurts were easily transportable as Eurasian nomads conducted their seasonal migrations, from more densely settled winter camps, to summer that were more dispersed. Herds were split so that milking animals remained near the camp and women expended much effort to milk processing (Barfield 1993:142), while males cared for the animals grazing in distant pastures.

The diet of pastoral nomads derived in large part from pastoral products, namely the milk and meat of their livestock, and occasionally blood (Barfield

1993:137). Meat products are high in nutrients essential to human diet, including protein and essential amino acids. While modern domesticated livestock for countries like the United States have muscle tissue that is high in fat, wild animals

(and those that are herded) are lean (Leonard et al. 2002), and relatively high in

69 polyunsaturated fatty acids, not saturated fats (Naughton et al. 1986). While horses are strongly associated with the steppe nomads, sheep and goats are central to steppe pastoralism because they reproduce more rapidly and consume a wider selection of grasses, as well as provide the main source of food in milk and meat, and other raw material products (Barfield 1993:139).

Studies of the diet and energy expenditures of modern pastoral and herding groups provide useful insights into the diets of earlier nomadic Inner Asian pastoralists. Among the nomadic pastoralists of Turkana in semi-arid East Africa, milk from their livestock is the primary staple food, with blood and meat as supplemental or emergency foods during drought situations when animals are starving or dying (Little 2002). Meat consumption is relatively low except in these instances of drought, during which meat (and protein) intakes rise dramatically.

Seasonal variations influence livestock productivity and hence dietary intake of nutrients that affect the health status of the population, notably mothers and the growth of offspring. Work is structured by age and sex and includes sedentary and herding activities. Women’s labor is very diverse and depends on age, position in household, care for children, and whether workers are needed for herding

(ibid.:170). Boys begin herding small flocks by the age of five years, and girls will assist with domestic tasks during that same period. Until that age, nomadic children are taller than their more settled counterparts within the same community; this may result from dietary supplements given to settled children in mission schools (Little

2002:166).

70 Closer to our study area are investigations of the Evenki reindeer hunters of the circumpolar northern Siberia. Evenki males and females derive about 30% of their daily energy from animal foods (the reindeer and other wild game) (Leonard et al. 2002:213-214). Such protein intakes are high, with an average of about 2.1g of protein per kilogram of body weight, which is about 2.5 times the 0.8g/kg minimum requirements recommended by FAO/WHO/UNU (1985). There is a significant age- related increase in dietary protein, with 13% as the proportion of energy derived from protein in young males (16-18 years), while it is over 19% for males over 40 years old. This age-related trend for protein intake is not found in females, but women do show significant age-related increase in energy derived from fat. This trend in fat intake is not found in men and may be related to reproductive needs in adult females (e.g., Stini 1985).

Bioarchaeological Correlations and Implications

One of the key assumptions of the models of Chinese–frontier interaction described in the previous chapter is that the insufficiencies of the pastoral diet created a demand for agricultural foods. Another assumption is that this need led to violent confrontations to procure these goods. Such assumptions can be tested with biological correlates seen in changes to diet and health, and in evidence of injury.

Dietary Reconstruction

Isotopic studies of bone collagen provide a direct approach to assessing the extent that different pastoralist groups were dependent on cultigens (Schoeninger

71 1995; Schwarcz et al. 1985). Stable isotopic analysis as a method for reconstructing prehistoric human and faunal diets has hugely impacted palaeodietary reconstructions in the past 25 years. Studies have shown that stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in animal tissues reflect the animal’s diet (DeNiro and Epstein

1978, 1981). Values of 13C/12C in human bone collagen have been used to determine the relative proportion of C3 and C4 plants in an individual’s diet

(Katzenberg et al. 1995; Schwarcz et al. 1985; van der Merwe and Vogel 1978).

Differences in carbon isotope fractionation between the two photosynthetic

13 pathways (C3 and C4) discriminate against the heavier C, which makes it possible to trace the introduction of maize (C4 plant) into human diet in the New World.

Likewise, millet is a C4 plant with isotopic signatures similar to maize.

Millet is a tropical grass that follows the C4 photosynthetic pathway and has a high δ13C value (the standardized ratio of 13C/12C) in bone. Stable isotopic studies of skeletal remains from northern China suggest that the proportion of dietary protein coming from millet increased markedly during the transition from the broad-spectrum diet of the Neolithic Yangshao culture that included millet and animal products, to the agricultural intensification of the chiefdom-level Longshan culture (Cai and Qiu 1984). Isotopic studies thus provide a way to study how pastoralist dependence on agriculturalists varied through time.

During the Neolithic, millet was a major cultigen in the Yellow River valley, with δ13C values in previous studies indicating that millet contributed the majority

(50-80%) of the dietary carbon in these communities (Schwarcz and Schoeninger

72 1991; van der Merwe 1992). Millet dominated the region for thousands of years as suggested by the 13C contents in skeletons dating from 5000 – 500 BC. These collagen values become increasingly negative in later periods, indicating that the

Chinese shifted from a C4 (millet-based) diet to a C3 diet of rice and wheat (van der

Merwe 1992). This transition occurs throughout the Warring States period to the

Han Dynasty (5th century BC to the 2nd century AD). During this period the Chinese states were unified into an empire and had irrigation systems that supported a variety of crops (Chang 1983).

Studies of dental disease such as tooth decay and tooth loss provide another measure of dependence on plant carbohydrates. Dental caries is a disease process caused by organic acids produced by bacterial fermentation of carbohydrates, which leads to local demineralization of dental hard tissues in affected areas (Larsen

1997). Dental caries and associated antemortem tooth loss increase significantly with the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture owing to the cariogenic effects of high-carbohydrate cultigens (Cohen and Armelagos 1984; Hillson 1979;

Walker 1986a). Caries rates among pastoralists with diets high in animal protein, in contrast, tend to be low (Walker and Yablonski 1997). It has been shown that a diet composed of protein, fat, and calcium was associated with low rates of cavities in laboratory rats (Mundorff-Shrestha et al. 1994). Dental caries and the oral health problems associated with tooth decay are thus likely to increase among pastoralists if their consumption of cultigens increased.

73 Another index of diet is osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint

(TMJ). This joint is subject to mechanical loading forces, and since diet influences masticatory forces, dietary habits ultimately affect areas associated with chewing, namely the shape of the face and head. Carlson and Van Gerven (1977; 1979) have posited a “masticatory-functional hypothesis” to explain craniofacial changes in

Nubian populations who had reduced facial robusticity and other morphological changes compared to earlier populations after a shift in subsistence.

They propose that the shift from foraging to agriculture and incorporation of softer foods led to these craniofacial changes. Studies of other populations that shifted in subsistence show a similar response to change in diet and food preparation (e.g., Larsen 1982). Research has also explored the possible association between degenerative changes in the TMJ with tooth loss and attrition, as well as with age and sex. While studies have shown no significant correlation to age, results are mixed as to correlation with tooth loss and attrition (Hodges 1991; Sheridan et al. 1991). Nonetheless, osteoarthritis of TMJ does seem a good indicator of shift in subsistence and food preparation techniques.

Health Status

Differences in the living conditions of nomadic pastoralists and agriculturalists have important health-related implications. The economic shift to intensive agriculture is typically associated with decreased spatial mobility, increased population densities, decreased dietary diversity, and increased carbohydrate consumption. All of these factors act synergistically to produce a

74 decline in health (Cohen and Armelagos 1984). Pastoralists, in contrast, tend to be relatively healthy owing to their spatial mobility, low population density, low disease load, and a rich, high-protein diet (Crawford and Leonard 2002; Prince and

Steckel 2003). The health of Inner Asian pastoralists is thus likely to have declined as they had increased access to agricultural products, especially for those in close proximity to China who shifted to sedentary life.

A variety of skeletal health indices were recorded to document the health consequences of the shift from nomadic pastoralism to increased agricultural dependence. Long bone dimensions are useful health indicators of growth and development because nutritional inadequacy, disease, and other unfavorable environmental conditions prevent people from attaining their full growth potential

(Bogin 1999; Goodman 1991; Steckel 1995; Stini 1969). For example, presumably because of increases in disease-load and malnutrition, stature reduction typically accompanies the shift from foraging to agricultural subsistence (e.g., Larsen 1982).

Thus, the stature of the nomads who are the focus of this study is likely to have decreased as they increased their intake of cultigens and their spatial mobility decreased.

Moreover, a study of a series of time-successive populations of ancient

Egypt has shown that there are significant differences in long bone dimensions between the earlier semi-pastoral population and the later intensive population, especially within males (Zakrzewski 2003). The author attributes these findings to nutritional changes and to the increase in social complexity, with concomitant

75 differential access to resources by males. Thus, as nomadic pastoral societies came under imperial control and shifted subsistence practices, sexual dimorphism in adult height among populations may also have been affected by changing social organization and preferential treatment for males.

Varied health problems with a host of possible causes including malnutrition and disease and synergistic reactions between them may leave skeletal and dental imprints known as non-specific stress indicators. Nutritional problems associated with anemia can be caused not only by dietary nutritional deficiencies and genetic disorders, but also by nutrient losses associated with diarrheal disease and high parasite loads (Stuart-Macadam 1992; Walker 1985, 1986b). In the cranium, these may manifest in the form of porotic hyperostosis (cranial vault porosities) and cribra orbitalia (orbital roof porosities), which appear to share a common etiology as they often occur together (Stuart-Macadam 1989). These lesions occur as a response to the loss of red blood cells, which is especially detrimental to children as they do not have the same capacity to cope with this loss as do adults; hence, there is a greater likelihood of these lesions in immature individuals. The frequency of these conditions within a population tends to increase as living conditions decline.

They are especially prevalent among sedentary agriculturalists with nutritionally deficient diets dominated by a single cultigen, such as millet (Larsen 1997:281).

Dental studies provide additional evidence concerning stress associated with increased interaction between nomadic pastoralists and agriculturalists. Enamel hypoplasia is a deficiency in enamel thickness resulting from stress that disrupts

76 tooth formation. The frequency of hypoplastic lesions thus provides a useful index of childhood growth disturbance (Goodman and Rose 1990). Studies in eastern

North America, south Asia, the Near East, and South America have shown that foraging populations shifting to agriculture or agricultural intensification experienced increases in rates of these enamel defects (Larsen 1995). Similar changes might be expected among pastoralists of the Inner Asian frontier as they incorporated greater amounts of agricultural food products into their diet.

The frequency of osteoperiostitis provides another useful health index. This condition is the apposition of new bone on cortical surfaces, usually in response to bacterial infection or trauma. Osteoperiostitis also may be caused by a variety of other insults and often is rampant in people with nutritional deficiency diseases such as scurvy (Ortner 2003). Osteoperiostitis tends to increase in populations undergoing agricultural transition (Goodman et al. 1984) as well as other forms of economic intensification associated with increased sedentism and population densities (Lambert and Walker 1991). In the current study, densely populated sedentary populations are expected to display increased prevalence of osteoperiostitis as compared to frontier nomadic populations with low population densities.

Activity Patterns and Interpersonal Violence

Studies of traumatic injuries and degenerative joint disease offer direct evidence concerning activity pattern differences associated with different degrees of dependence upon pastoralism and farming. These data also provide direct evidence

77 of the extent to which warfare and violence structured pastoralist–agriculturalist social relations. Data collected to address these issues include observations of osteoarthritis, fracture patterns, and weapon wounds.

Osteoarthritis is commonly associated with chronic, mechanical stress on synovial joints arising from habitual physical activities. Its pattern within the skeleton can thus provide information on a group’s subsistence activities (Capasso et al. 1999; Walker and Hollimon 1989). For example, Reinhard and coworkers

(1994) found that the equestrian lifestyle of the Omaha and Ponca from Nebraska caused distinctive patterns of osteoarthritis in the vertebral and hip elements, usually of males, who were likely more habitual riders, while Hamilton (1982) noted distinctive joint changes in the arms of an agricultural sample compared to an earlier foraging sample. Thus, the patterns of joint trauma and osteoarthritis are expected to differ significantly between agricultural and pastoral populations, and perhaps between the sexes depending on sexual division of labor.

Traumatic injuries, whether accidental or the result of interpersonal violence, can also provide insight into risks associated with certain physical environments and activities (e.g., Lambert 1997; Lambert 2002; Walker 1989,

1997, 2001). Agriculturalists generally show low prevalence of traumatic injuries

(Larsen 1997), and there has been an overall decrease in the frequency of fractures with increasing sedentism and the shift to agriculture (Steinbock 1976). The equestrian lifestyle of Inner Asian pastoralists, in contrast, is expected to result in comparatively high frequencies of fractures and dislocations associated with riding

78 injuries and the dangers of dealing with livestock. Skeletal injuries such as embedded projectile points, cutmarks, and certain types of cranial injures also offer direct evident of interpersonal violence (Ortner 2003). Data on the prevalence of such indicators of violence provide important information on the role of warfare and raiding in the negotiation of pastoralist–agriculturalist social relations.

Hypotheses and Expectations

The samples considered here derive from a broad temporal and geographic sample series. As such, there may be differences in skeletal observations of paleopathology and diet that are a result of these disparities in historical circumstances and geographic location. These include potential differences owing to 1) genetic variability and local adaptation, 2) subsistence mode, and 3) the level of imperial influence. To explore issues of frontier interaction over time, potential differences among groups arising from each of these three conditions must be examined separately and concurrently, as these processes affecting the population are by no means mutually exclusive. The data are thus pooled for comparisons by regional location, by subsistence mode, and by level of imperial influence (which includes consideration of time period and geographic proximity of the frontier to

China). In each stage of the hypothesis testing I examine the significance of differences between adults and juveniles and between male and females, to identify the age and sex-related differences in health.

79 Regional Differences

The samples in the study derive from sites that are broadly distributed along the northern frontier (see Figure 2.1). Sites cluster in three regions: Xinjiang to the northwest, Inner Mongolia to the north-central, and Manchuria to the northeast.

Historically, inhabitants of Xinjiang have close connections with populations from

Central Asia, while tribes in Inner Mongolia shared ties with tribes occupying

Mongolia. Manchuria was home to nomads migrating from Mongolia as well as local populations and northern Chinese sedentary communities.

I have categorized samples into three regional groupings: North-western

(sites located in Xinjiang), North-central (those in modern day Inner Mongolia), and

North-eastern (single site in Manchuria). The formulation of these categories are based not only on geographical location of the sites along the frontier relative to

China, but also on archaeological reports on the background of the sites (see

Chapter 5) and discussions with Chinese researchers who have studied the migration and “racial” or ethnic identity of the samples. It is problematic to categorize many of these collections based on biological affinity since these are broad groupings that include possible admixture within the samples, especially if they derive from zones of interaction.

The vast regional and ecological diversity encompassed by these three areas may have resulted in isolation by distance and genetic adaptation to local environments. That is, some populations (gene pools) may have higher frequencies of certain traits owing to evolutionary processes such as natural selection, gene

80 flow, and genetic drift. As a result, there may be a genetic component to some differences observed among regional populations. The possible significance of such regional differences is explored in conjunction with the analysis of the biological responses to socioeconomic changes that are central to this study.

Differences identified through comparisons of these pooled regional groups may conceivably be explained by genetic differences between populations. The null hypothesis is that there are no significant genetic differences and that local genetic adaptations within each area did not influence the expression of traits. In that case,

North-western, North-central, and North-eastern samples are expected to be similar in the phenotypic expression of traits, including susceptibility to certain pathological conditions. The alternate hypothesis is that differences resulting from regional local adaptations and genetic isolation will manifest themselves in the expression of some morphological traits studied. In that case, North-western, North- central, and North-eastern samples will show differences in the frequency of expressed traits. Such differences may especially be seen in comparison of adult height, a trait whose variability is strongly influenced by both genetics and environmental conditions (Terrenato and Ulizzi 1983).

Subsistence Mode

One of the main questions addressed in this investigation of frontier interaction is the impact of differences in subsistence mode, which, in this study, largely corresponds with geographical location. Those populations in the Xinjiang region practiced nomadic pastoralism, as did those to the east in Inner Mongolia and

81 Manchuria. However, Manchuria was suitable for a variety of economies and had populations that practiced agropastoralism as well as agriculture. The expectation is that mode of economy greatly impacted diet, health, and skeletal indicators of activity and trauma. The underlying hypotheses that state control and subsistence mode were key factors that greatly impacted frontier populations is addressed with the following hypotheses and expectations.

Comparing Nomadic Pastoral and Agricultural Indicators of Diet, Health, and

Activity

Data were collected from early period collections including the Neolithic and the Bronze Age to determine the baseline dietary and health status of each group prior to the increased socioeconomic interaction associated with the rise of the Chinese empire. This analysis focuses on establishing the magnitude of the differences in health and diet that existed within and between populations of agriculturalists, nomadic pastoralists, and people with a mixed economy2.

Hypothesis 1: The subsistence practices of pastoral nomads and sedentary

agriculturalists will result in observable differences in diet, health, and

activity patterns.

Expectation 1a – diet: Agriculturalists with carbohydrate-rich diets are

expected to have higher frequencies of carious lesions and associated

antemortem tooth loss, but lower rates of TMJ disease from their diet of

softer processed foods than pastoralists.

2 Agropastoral people are expected to display results intermediate between that of agriculturalists and pastoralists in diet, health, and activity.

82 Expectation 1b – health: Nomadic pastoral populations, whose mobility and

high-protein diets are expected to result in lower disease loads, should

display lower frequencies of pathological conditions than sedentary

agriculturalists who had protein-poor diets That is, pastoral populations

should have lower rates of porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia, enamel

hypoplasia, and osteoperiostitis, while also greater stature from better

overall health.

Expectation 1c – activity: Differences in activities (e.g., horse riding versus

agricultural fieldwork) can be observed in patterns of degenerative joint

disease. Close association with large animals such as horses should also lead

to higher rates of fractures in nomadic pastoralists than in sedentary

populations.

Level of Imperial Influence: Time Period and Geographic Distance

In consideration of dynamic sociopolitical processes, samples are also dealt with in terms of imperial influence in the northern steppe frontier, from the pre- imperial age to later imperial periods. For instance, with samples from the “Pre- imperial” period, the Neolithic sample did not experience state control, whereas powerful states emerged in China during the Bronze Age so samples from this period may have had some interactions with China. In the “Early Imperial” period, which coincides with the Iron Age, the Chinese empire began to extend its borders and increasingly came into conflict with nomadic populations to the north, where tribal confederacies also emerged. Finally, another large subset of samples derives

83 from the period of the Mongolian empire (Yuan Dynasty in China, AD 1279 –

1368), which may be considered part of the “Middle Imperial” period in China, since imperial governance had existed for over a millennium. Furthermore, not only does the level of imperial control depend on the time period under consideration, but also geographic distance to the Chinese core. Thus, two frontier zones are considered: 1) the “Inner” zone located in Inner Mongolia and Manchuria where borders were fluid and control shifted between nomads and China, and 2) the

“Outer” zone which comprises those samples derived from the northwest, in

Xinjiang province.

Testing the “Needy” Theory – Did Pastoralists Rely on an Agricultural Diet?

The next stage of research evaluates health data to explore the nature and mode of interregional interaction. First, I assess the extent to which pastoralists may have “relied” upon Chinese agricultural goods during the different periods of imperial control, and depending on proximity to China. An increased dependence on low-protein agricultural products has clear bioarchaeological implications.

Populations undergoing such a shift would likely show a general decline in health owing to a less nutritious diet and a loss of mobility, which in turn is associated with living conditions that promote the spread of disease (Larsen 1995).

Hypothesis 2: The nature of interaction between nomadic pastoralists and

China was primarily focused on nomadic access to agricultural products,

and access to agricultural goods was a function of distance to China.

84 Expectation 2a – temporal consideration: Nomads are proposed to have

coveted Chinese goods. Over time they increased their access to the

agricultural cultigens as Chinese imperial influence increased. As a result,

their health status should decline owing to the negative health consequences

of increased carbohydrate consumption. A decline in overall health from

early to late period samples is expected, including increased frequencies of

dental caries, antemortem tooth loss, enamel hypoplasia, porotic

hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia, and decreased stature, as well as observation

of osteoarthritic patterns similar to agricultural samples.

Expectation 2b – geographical consideration: Nomads in closer proximity to

China during Early Imperial and Middle Imperial periods had increased

imperial influence and hence, access to agricultural goods and sedentary

lifestyles. So a decline in overall health is expected for samples in the

imperial age Inner zone as compared to pastoral populations in the Outer

zone. The Inner zone samples are expected to share similar trends in

indicators of nutrition, health, and activity stress with the agrarian

populations.

Determining the Mode of Interaction: Violent or Not?

Another assumption tested is the extent to which imperial–frontier economic relations involved warfare or less violent exchanges such as trade. If conflict was common, burials, particularly of males, may show frequent signs of interpersonal violence (Walker 2001). It is argued that the shift from violent interactions through

85 raiding to more stable trade relations would be concomitant with increased grain- dependence of pastoralist populations (Barfield 1989; Di Cosmo 1994; Khazanov

2001). I thus expect evidence of violent conflict among pastoralists to decrease with evidence of increased agricultural dependence.

Hypothesis 3: Pastoralists had violent relations with China to gain access to

Chinese goods, especially those who occupied lands near China; however,

those pastoral groups who were under imperial influence had decreased

levels of interpersonal violence as their relationship to the China became

more stable.

Expectation 3a – temporal consideration: Frequencies of interpersonal

violence will be higher in earlier pre-imperial pastoral samples when

compared to later, imperial age samples. These frequencies will be higher in

male than female samples, as males are typically the people most directly

involved in warfare.

Expectation 3b – geographical consideration: Those populations that were

geographically closer to the border with the Chinese polities experienced

more violent conflict. In this study, these would be the Inner zone samples

located in the north-eastern region near the Great Wall, as opposed to the

north-western Outer zone samples from Xinjiang.

86 Conclusion

An underlying difference between ancient peoples of the frontier and China was subsistence mode. Bioarchaeological data provide a means to explore questions of interregional interaction between China and the steppe frontier over periods of increases in social complexity and economic changes. These data on the lives of nomadic people living at the periphery and outer frontier relative to the Chinese polity provide a new perspective into the health consequences of long-term interactions from populations who experienced imperial influence at different scales. This chapter has outlined the health, diet, and activity correlates of subsistence mode and associated social organization. This chapter has also provided the hypotheses and expectations that will be the focus of analysis and discussion in

Chapters 7 – 9. The following two chapters provide information on the samples

(Chapter 5: Materials) and data collection techniques (Chapter 6: Methods).

87 Chapter 5: Materials

To address the questions posed by the hypotheses, I collected data from temporally and geographically diverse samples. The humans remains studied are stored for research at Jilin University in the city of Changchun, capital of Jilin province in the People’s Republic of China. There are 11 sites, with a total of 979 individuals analyzed (Table 5.1). In trying to determine a “natural” way to order the sites for description below, grouping sites based on geographic location and chronological order was determined to be most useful, as this order roughly corresponds to different modes of subsistence. Included in each site description is information about the chronological and historical context, ecological conditions, and culture history. Note that although the descriptions list sites in broad territories such as Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, and Xinjiang (Figure 5.1), political boundaries constantly shifted during the periods under consideration and the borders of these areas are modern permutations.

88 Table 5.1. Total sample (N=979) used in study, categorized by economic mode, with sites presented in chronological order according to economic grouping. Site Site ID Territory Time (BP) Economy N Dunmaili ED Xinjiang 4000-3000 Nom.pastoral 4 Hami HTB Xinjiang 3800-3300 Nom.pastoral 86 Heigouliang BYJH Xinjiang 2500 Nom.pastoral 82 Jinggouzi LJ Inner Mongolia 2600-2300 Nom.pastoral 125 Nileke YNQ Xinjiang 2500 Nom.pastoral 48 Yanghai SAY Xinjiang 2450-1750 Nom.pastoral 85 Lamadong BL Manchuria 1650-1550 Agropastoral 492 Chengbozi SJC Inner Mongolia 850-600 Agriculture 16 Miaozigou QM Inner Mongolia 6000-5000 Agriculture 14 Sanmian BWS Inner Mongolia 700-600 Agriculture 7 Zhenzishan DZX Inner Mongolia 700-600 Agriculture 19

Figure 5.1. Map of sites in study

In addition to mode of economy, I have also sorted data according to time period, which is indicative of the level of imperial influence from China, as well as

89 according to the relative geographic proximity to that influence. A further consideration is the regional “biological” influence from local adaptation, so I have also categorized samples by regional location (Table 5.2).

Table 5.2. Samples sorted by consideration of research questions Imperial Site Zone Influence Age/Dynasty Region Economy North- Miaozigou N/A Pre-imperial Neolithic eastern Agriculture Outer North- Dunmaili frontier Pre-imperial Bronze western Pastoral Outer North- Hami frontier Pre-imperial Bronze western Pastoral Outer North- Heigouliang frontier Early Imperial Early Iron western Pastoral Outer North- Nileke frontier Early Imperial Early Iron western Pastoral Outer Warring North- Yanghai frontier Early Imperial States/Han western Pastoral Inner North- Jinggouzi frontier Early Imperial Late Bronze central Pastoral Inner San Yan/ North- Lamadong frontier Early Imperial WeiJin eastern Agropastoral Inner Middle North- Chengbozi frontier Imperial Jin/Yuan central Agriculture Inner Middle North- Sanmian frontier Imperial Yuan central Agriculture

Sampling Issues

Storage

I examined all collections except for that of one site, Linxi Jinggouzi, at the

Research Center for Frontier Archaeology at Jilin University during 2004-2005. I initially analyzed a portion of the remains from Linxi Jinggouzi in 2003 at the Inner

90 Mongolia Research Center of Jilin University in the city of Chifeng, Inner

Mongolia. These remains from the 2003 season had been excavated just prior to my analysis, and subsequently were transported back to Jilin University, which also held material from a 2002 excavation. During 2004-2005, I had the opportunity to re-examine the remains from the 2003 excavation, as well as the remains from the

2002 excavation of the same cemetery site.

The remains that have been processed for research and curation are generally separated with skulls and postcranial elements stored in different collection rooms. The postcranial elements retained in these collections tend to be the more sturdy elements such as the long bones, as well as those that provide the most information for age and sex of the deceased, such as pelvic bones.

Occasionally, if collections or a portion thereof had not been previously examined by other researchers, then cranial and associated postcranial elements were boxed together. Generally, these individuals had a more complete inventory, including axial elements.

Burial Treatment

The fact that several individuals within a given collection had the same burial number, occasionally demarcated with alphabetical ordering (e.g., M1:A,

M1:B, etc., where “M” is the abbreviation for mu, the Chinese word for tomb) indicates that several individuals had been buried together in the same tomb. Since the Neolithic period, there has been evidence of the use of extended family or lineage graves and the association of cemetery organization along kinship affiliation

91 (Qiang and Yun 1993), so those burials spatially clustered together may be those of family members (Liu 1996b). Even in modern times villages often will contain members of extended families, many sharing the same surname (Wolf and Huang

1980). Unfortunately, the lack of detailed archaeological documentation for the majority of the burials makes determination of familial relationships among burials uncertain.

Several of these collections were also used for teaching purposes by the

University, so some had been studied previously and marked with writing implements, though these usually did not obscure pathological conditions or other features. Some bones had their burial numbers written on the surface. In a few instances, burial numbers were followed by the characters, wang or fu, suggesting wealthy or elite individuals, or the burial of these individuals in wealthy tombs, but the general lack of corresponding information regarding the grave goods and burial treatment associated with individual burials hindered attempts to substantiate burial status of these individuals.

Sampling Problems

I analyzed a total of 979 individuals in this study, although I had examined over 1000 individuals. Those that were too poorly preserved for observation of diagnostic features, pathological markers or measurement were not included in the analysis. Most collections were limited to cranial remains and when postcranial elements were collected, these usually consisted of the large long bones such as the femur or other limb bones. Thus much information from the axial skeleton and

92 smaller bones has been potentially lost. Moreover it is unclear whether burials sampled constitute the whole population or a representative cross-section of the total population. Despite these limitations, many burials within the collection were relatively complete, and what was present offered a wealth of information on many traits under consideration.

Previous Research on Affiliation

Scholars have performed studies of the biological affiliations of several of these collections. For example, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis of samples in this study include testing of the Chengbozi (SJC) site of Inner Mongolia from the

Middle Imperial period (Fu et al. 2007). Further, a recent study showing the similarity between ancient DNA (from a 2,300 year old Xiongnu population) with modern North Asian1 populations indicate at least 2,400 years of genetic continuity between North Asians from different periods and geographic locations (Keyser-

Tracqui et al. 2006). This suggests that all Inner Mongolian collections I studied are sampled from a relatively genetically homogenous population.

Cultural evidence also provides clues to the biological affinities of most of the samples in this study. For example, archaeological material associated with the

Inner Mongolian Jinggouzi site suggests that they are descendents of the “Eastern

Hu,” a “North Asian” people from Mongolia (Wang 2004; Wang et al. 2005; Zhu

2002; Zhu 2005). While textual evidence and cultural material found in association

1 Classified as “North-central” in this study.

93 with Middle Imperial graves in Chinese territories clarify the biological affinity of those sites, those of nomadic pastoralists without written evidence (such as those from Xinjiang and Mongolia) are less straightforward and determination of their biological affinity has relied on craniometric studies and excavated material culture.

Site reports, if they are available, often provide limited contextual information. They usually include information about the excavation and speculation on the possible historical association of the site with information on contemporaneous local cultures in ancient times. A short artifact summary is occasionally included. Any detailed inventory is often limited to descriptions of expensive prestige goods or artifacts of an unusual nature. In cases where contextual evidence of the burial population was scanty, I only present what was known and relevant to this study here.

Nomadic Pastoral Samples

The collections that are comprised of nomadic pastoral populations are subdivided into two time periods, the Bronze Age and Iron Age. This separation is useful for later analysis as the level of imperial influence from China differs markedly between these two chronological stages. During the Bronze Age, the territory that would form the core of China had not unified as an empire, but was ruled by kings in smaller states, while by the Iron Age, China was under imperial governance. Note that only one nomadic pastoral site is located outside of Xinjiang

(Figure 5.2), the Linxi Jinggouzi site of Inner Mongolia to the east (Figure 5.3).

94

Figure 5.2. Map of sites in Xinjiang province, the North-western frontier

Figure 5.3. Map of sites in Inner Mongolia and Manchuria in the North-central and North-eastern frontier respectively

95 Bronze Age Sites: ED, HTB, LJ

Site: Dunmaili (ED)

Time: Bronze Age (possibly early Iron Age) Region: Xinjiang Latitude/Longitude: 43.90N, 81.20E

There is little information available about the background and the provenience of this collection. Records from the inventory of Jilin University’s collection indicate that the material is dated to the Bronze Age, possibly Iron Age.

Excavations were conducted in Xinjiang in 2000 and the site was located in the village of Dunmaili (ED).

I have placed this sample in the “North-western” regional grouping. The bones were in a relatively good state of preservation. I examined four individuals, all adult: one male and three females.

Site: Hami (HTB)

Time: 1800 – 1200 BC Region: Xinjiang Latitude/Longitude: 42.80N, 93.45E

This site is located in the city of Hami at the site of Tianshan Beilu (HTB).

A brief report on excavations conducted from 1988-1997 describes 13 burials out of the 700 tombs excavated (Wang et al. 2003). The funerary objects, mostly bronze, stone, bone, and decorative items, share similarities to styles found in societies to the east in Gansu province, in particular the Siba and Qijia Cultures. Researchers have hypothesized that perhaps people from those cultures fled to this area, explaining the apparent cultural similarities with inhabitants of this site.

96 The authors of the report suggest that the majority of these individuals

(10/13) are Mongolian in cranial morphology, and the remaining individuals are

European in features (3/13). Note however, that only 13 burials were examined for

“racial” grouping by these authors, and the results suggest the community was multi-ethnic. Another study using cluster analysis and principal components analysis of skeletal finds from a nearby site in the site of Wubao, Hami also suggest heterogeneity in the local population (He and Xu 2002). They analyzed burials from over 100 individuals from this 4th – 10th century BC site and compared them to other Central Asian and Mongolian samples and found that the majority had

“Caucasian-type” features.

I have placed the HTB population in the “North-western” regional population grouping. Preservation of the material was good. I examined 86 individuals from this collection: 15 juveniles and 71 adults.

Site: Linxi Jinggouzi (LJ)

Time: 650 – 350 BC Region: Inner Mongolia Latitude/Longitude: 42.27N, 118.96E

This late Bronze Age site is located in the county and village of Linxi

Jinggouzi (LJ) in the modern city of Chifeng, Inner Mongolia. A cemetery collection of 59 tombs was excavated in 2002 and 2003 by archaeologist Wang

Lixin and colleagues. There was evidence of much grave disturbance in the tombs

(several of which held multiple individuals, often adults with children), likely from ancient looting (Zhang 2005). Otherwise, preservation of bones was relatively fair.

97 In the 31 tombs from the 2002 excavation, grave goods included numerous instances of animal bones (found in 25/28 tombs, likely sacrificial) and items associated with and horse riding, but none directly associated with agriculture (Wang et al. 2005). There were six kinds of animals in the cemetery burials, all of them domesticated forms: horse (37.3%), cow (23.5%),

(25.5%), (7.8%), mules (3.7%), and dogs (2%). There were also bones of wild animals like deer, fox, clams, and freshwater snails, likely from the nearby

Xilamulun River. Other items included numerous pieces of pottery, items made of bone, bronze, and shell. Also of note is the large collection of weapons made of bronze and bone among the funerary objects (see Appendix, Figure A5.1). One young male was buried with 26 bone arrowheads, bone daggers, and a short bronze sword. These implements give an indication of the potential for violence within this population, which occupied lands near Chinese borders.

The grave good assemblage has led Wang and colleagues to propose that these individuals are associated with, or descend from the Donghu (Eastern Tu) culture, who were mentioned in ancient Chinese records as nomadic peoples in the northeast (Wang 2004; Wang et al. 2005; Zhu 2005). In particular, Wang proposes that these people were immigrants, who migrated slowly (over a period of several decades) southward from Mongolia into the Inner Mongolian region, and mixed with local farmers. Research in the Chifeng region suggests that environmental change during the Bronze Age led to colder, drier conditions that precipitated the

98 shift in economic strategies to increased reliance on pastoral nomadism (Linduff et al. 2002; Shelach 1994).

These were the finds I examined initially in 2003 (that year’s excavation) and again in 2004-2005, along with the material from the 2002 season. According to geographical location and the research conducted on their cultural affiliation that suggests origins in Mongolia, I have grouped them under “North-central.” Bone preservation was fair, with some postmortem damage. I examined 125 individuals:

61 juveniles and 64 adults.

Iron Age Sites: BYJH, YNQ, SAY

Site: Heigouliang (BYJH)

Time: 1200 – 200 BC Region: Xinjiang Latitude/Longitude: 42.80N, 93.45E

This early Iron Age site is located at the site of Heigouliang (BYJH) in

Hami, Xinjiang. The site was discovered in the course of a highway project and salvage excavations commenced in 1993 (Chang and Zhou 1994). Most of the burials had been disturbed by either natural or cultural processes. The grave goods found were not elaborate and consisted of iron implements associated with an equestrian culture. Also found in the burials were bones from horses, goats, and cows, which indicate that these people were animal herders. The date of these finds range from the pre-imperial Shang/Zhou Dynasties to the Sui Dynasty 1000 years later, but I have placed them in the Iron Age category since artifacts suggest the burials are from this period.

99 These individuals are placed in the “North-western” regional grouping. The bones had not been examined prior to my analysis, but the material was relatively well preserved. I examined 82 individuals from this collection: 12 juveniles and 70 adults.

Site: Nileke (YNQ)

Time: 500 – 221 BC Region: Xinjiang Latitude/Longitude: 43.78N, 82.40E

This site is located in site of Nileke (YNQ) near the Yiling River tributary system in Xinjiang. There were 55 graves in two cemeteries, some with stone coffins. As reported by Liu and Li (2002), the majority of the burials had their heads toward the west, facing up, extended, and many were missing the distal phalanges of the hand or toes, and some skulls had artificial holes. These features suggest ritualistic activity that is apparently not seen elsewhere in this region or in

China (ibid.).

The grave items associated with the burials were not prestige goods, but instead the typical accoutrements found in graves on non-elites, that is pottery and knives, as well as some iron implements. Among the excavated artifacts were sacrificial goat bones, colorful pottery, tools made of wood and iron, and one copper tool.

The finds I examined, while very well preserved, unfortunately did not include finger or toe bones for analysis. Most burials were represented by skulls and limb bones. Based on material culture and geographical location, this collection

100 falls in the “North-western” regional grouping. I examined 48 individuals, nine of them juveniles and 39 adults.

Site: Yanghai (SAY)

Time: 475 BC – AD 220 (Warring States – Han Dynasty) Region: Xinjiang Latitude/Longitude: 42.87N, 90.17E

The Yanghai site (SAY) is located in the village of Xiacun in

County, Xinjiang. In 2003 the Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Turpan Prefectural Bureau of Cultural Relics excavated 510 tombs in three cemeteries. Funerary goods associated with the burials included pottery, implements made of bronze, stone, bone, iron, antler, and shell, straw-woven and leather objects, as well as woolen, silk, and cotton articles (Lu et al. 2004).

Bones were well enough preserved to indicate that whole burials would have been recoverable, but my observations were limited to skulls and long bones. Most bones had some textiles and body tissue still adhering, but this did not impede observation of pathological conditions. I examined 85 individuals (32 juveniles and

53 adults), who fall in the “North-western” grouping.

Agropastoral Sample

Site: Beipiao Lamadong (BL)

Time: 337 – 441 AD (Weijin) Region: Manchuria Latitude/Longitude: 41.79N, 120.78E

101 This large collection comes from the site of Lama Cave (BL) in Beipiao city, Liaoning province (one province in Manchuria). The Liaoning Archaeology

Research Center began excavations of these tombs in 1993 as a large-scale effort to study the Sixteen Kingdoms period (AD 304 – 439) when this area and much of northern China was ruled by the ethnic pastoral group, the Xianbei (Zhang and Jiu

2000). The Xianbei originally occupied the steppes of Mongolia and around the 3rd century moved to the northeast, where they became allies with the Han court against other nomadic groups (Bai 1979). The Eastern Han court (latter half of the Han

Dynasty, AD 25–220) instituted a policy of mixed frontier settlements that complicated the ethnic situation in the north (Hsu 1988). Thus, while the sample population has biological affinity with nomadic pastoralists from the Mongolian steppe, there are indications of genetic admixture with Han Chinese (Shan 2002).

The finds I examined derive mostly from the 1998 excavation, when 369 tombs and about 5000 cultural artifacts were unearthed (Zhongguo 1998). Artifacts included decorative and utilitarian objects (gold, silver, copper, stone, bone, and pottery) as well as iron, mainly in the form of weapons and farm tools such as sickles and plows. While agricultural tools suggest adoption of Chinese farming practices, other artifacts included numerous horse riding items (e.g., iron saddles) and helmets. The horse riding helmet was the product of war for cavalrymen, and the technique of manufacturing them improved with the intensification of war during this politically fragmented period. These finds suggest a mixed economy that has Han and pastoral influence, and the people seemed to have engaged in farming,

102 animal husbandry, and military activities (Zhang and Jiu 2000). Of note is the fact that the higher the rank of the tomb (as determined by quantity and quality of goods), the larger the amount of weapons and tools of production which co-existed together in the tomb.

I have classified these individuals as “North-eastern” as this site is located in

Manchuria. Moreover, while the rulers in this area were Xianbei, this sample is apparently comprised mostly of local people from the northeast region (Zhang, personal communication). Bone preservation was very good, although few remains of immature individuals were available. I examined 493 individuals, 49 of them juveniles, 444 adults.

Agricultural Samples

Neolithic Site: QM

Site: Miaozigou (QM)

Time: 3800 – 3000 BC Region: Inner Mongolia Latitude/Longitude: 40.78N, 113.20E

This site is located in the Qahar site in the village of Miaozigou (QM), Ural

Har eral, Inner Mongolia. There has been long continuous settlement in the area, from the Neolithic Yangshao culture to the modern period. Excavations began in

1985 and owing to interruptions, did not complete until 1987 (Xu 2003). Findings indicate an early sedentary farming community, with stone tools for farming including axes, knives, shovels, and a large millstone, as well as pottery. Animal

103 bones associated with the site include goats, horses, deer, wild oxen, horse, antelope, wild hogs, dogs, foxes, raccoons, weasels, and some bird bones. Of these, dog and pig bones dominated, suggesting they were domesticated. Shellfish from the nearby water source was also discovered, and these were used as decorative items as well as toys for children.

Study of morphological dental traits from suggests they share similarities with northeast Asians such as later Shang Dynasty populations (Liu and Zhu 1995).

As Howells (1983) posited, by the Neolithic period (5000 BC or earlier), the morphological features of people in North China had already acquired local variation that is indistinguishable from modern Chinese. Thus, while this site is located in Inner Mongolia, it is the southernmost site in that region and the people of this site were settled farmers like those in North China. Accordingly, I have grouped this sample in the “North-eastern” category. Preservation of the material was good. I examined 14 individuals from this site: two juveniles and 12 adults.

Middle Imperial Period Sites: SJC, BWS, DZX

The following three sites all stem from agricultural populations during a much more recent period than the other samples already discussed. They roughly correspond to the time when China (and much of the Old World) was under the rule of the Mongolian Empire forged by Ghengis Khan. In China, the great khans went under the ruling name of the Yuan Dynasty, which may be considered the “Middle” period of imperialism in China. Note that each of these sites contains some burials

104 that had been cremated. This burial treatment is indicative of the Buddhist influence in China, which popularized that form of burial (Wenwu 2001). I did not observe any of these cremated remains.

Site: Chengbozi (SJC)

Time: AD 1125 – 1368 (Jin – Yuan dynasties) Region: Inner Mongolia Latitude/Longitude: 41.51N, 111.70E

The site of Chengbozi (SJC) is located in the town of Ulan Hua in the

Siziwang Banner of Inner Mongolia. There were 30 tombs, of which a third had been looted and two were cremations in urns with a gold coin or two (Zhongguo

1995). Among the grave goods were pottery, gold earrings, wood combs, leather objects, a few mirrors, and coins. Most burials had a leather pillow and had faces covered. The style of the grave items and burial treatment suggests that this population was of the Wanggu tribe (Wei 1997), who lived in the city of Chenbozi during the Jin (1115 – 1234) and Yuan (1260 – 1368) dynasties (Gai 1991; Zhou

2001).

Analysis of mtDNA suggests that these individuals share similarities with

Siberian, East Asian, and European populations as well as genetic similarities to the

Uzbek and Uighur people (Fu et al. 2007). Based on the geographical location of this site in Inner Mongolia, I placed these individuals under the regional grouping of

“North-central.” Bone preservation was relatively good. I examined 16 individuals: three juveniles and 13 adults.

Site: Sanmian (BWS)

105 Time: AD 1271 – 1368 Region: Inner Mongolia Latitude/Longitude: 42.30N, 114.99E

The Sanmian tomb site (BWS) is located in Ulinbatosomu, Inner Mongolia.

In 2000, several research institutes (Inner Mongolia Autonomous region’s Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology; Xiling Gol Mong Cultural Heritage

Department; Zheng Xiangbai Qi Cultural Heritage Department; and Xianghuang Qi

Cultural Heritage Department) excavated tombs from two banners (the White and

Yellow Banners) of Xiling Gol Mong in Inner Mongolia (Zhongguo 2000). There were 10 tombs, dating to the Yuan Dynasty era. These tombs contained rectangular wooden coffins that had valuable items including iron knives, a horse lamp, a copper mirror, rings, and some items made of birch and leather. Another associated tomb site, Ying Tu, had 20 tombs (but no artifacts) and several instances of cremated remains.

The Sanmian individuals fall into the “North-central” grouping. Preservation of the material available was good, though no juveniles were observed. I examined seven individuals (all adult): three males and four females.

Site: Zhenzishan (DZX)

Time: AD 1271 – 1368 Region: Inner Mongolia Latitude/Longitude: 42.19N, 116.48E

This cemetery is located in the Zhenzi hill (DZX) in Inner Mongolia, just southeast of the former Upper capital of the Yuan Dynasty. During 1998-1999, archaeologists excavated 49 tombs with 73 graves (Wenwu 2001). There were three

106 styles of tombs, from brick chambered to stone slabs with a wooden coffin chamber

(which usually held the skeletal or cremated human remains), and finally earthen shafts. The grave items were varied, with a large amount of porcelain and decorative glazed pottery, as well as coins. This cemetery was in use for about 100 years, until the fall of the capital.

Along with artifacts that have Chinese writing, the inscriptions on the tombs are Chinese, with information on the names of those interred, where they came from, and dates of birth and death (Wenwu 2001). According to this information, and the cultural attributes from burial treatment, these individuals are ethnic Han

Chinese and are grouped along with other sites from Inner Mongolia as “North- eastern.” These burials were well preserved. While several burials were unavailable for analysis because they were in use as a teaching collection for Jilin University, I examined 19 individuals from this site: one juvenile and 18 adults.

Conclusion

This chapter has described the excavation and contextual information for each of the 11 skeletal collections under analysis. I grouped these data into different categories depending on subsistence mode, time period (and associated level of imperial influence), and regional location. These divisions aid in answering the questions about mode of interregional interaction among different groups during different periods in time. The following chapter provides information on the methods for data collection to address these research questions.

107 Chapter 6: Methods

The Bioarchaeological Approach

Over the past thirty years, Western researchers have made great advances in bioarchaeological method and theory, emphasizing a multidisciplinary approach to study the biocultural histories of earlier human populations. The bioarchaeological approach incorporates information obtained from human remains with associated archaeological, historical, ecological, and other related data to make comprehensive reconstructions of health, behavior, and population history (Buzon et al. 2005). The integrative use of independent data sources is an effective means to test alternative hypotheses about human responses to the changing conditions of their natural and sociocultural environments (Walker 1996).

The present investigation benefits from multiple lines of evidence in the form of historical documentation from Chinese records and archaeological projects that have yielded information about material culture and, more importantly for this study, burials with human remains. Data from human skeletal remains provide valuable information about the effects of biocultural processes on the body. I collected data following standardized osteological procedures presented in

Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains (Buikstra and

Ubelaker 1994) and those described in The Backbone of History (Steckel and Rose

2002), as well as outlined in the Global History of Health Project (Steckel et al.

2004), with a modified scoring system where appropriate. This chapter will detail

108 the methods of data collection from skeletal remains in this study, including data used to determine the minimum number of individuals, sex and age, dental health, dietary information, body size, disease, and patterns of activity and trauma.

Working Conditions

At Jilin University’s Research Center for Frontier Archaeology, I examined data from the 11 sites. As mentioned in the previous chapter, I initially examined some of the 2003 recovered burials from one site, Linxi Jinggouzi, on-site at the university’s Inner Mongolian Institute in Chifeng city after their excavation. This initial observation of that small sample occurred under constrained conditions. That is, there was limited lighting and time available for full analysis. However, these remains were later transported to Jilin University for curation and I was able to re- examine them under the same conditions as all other material during 2004-2005.

At Jilin University I was allotted generous laboratory space and lighting for photography. I was able to lay out bones fully on metal examination tables. The level of curation of the material may be divided into two forms: 1) those that had been examined by previous researchers were sorted with skulls in individual boxes and long bones commingled with similar elements (such as all femora and all tibiae) in plastic storage bins, or 2) bones of individuals that had not been processed were wrapped in newspapers. In the former case, generally only the skull, pelvis, and limb bones were curated, while in the latter, these included generally all bones recovered from a burial, including smaller axial elements and more fragmentary

109 remains. In addition, for skeletal material that had been previously researched, the remains had been cleared of the soil matrix, and bones that had postmortem breaks had been glued back together and in some instances teeth were secured in the dental arcade with masking tape. For those that were unexamined prior to my observation, these usually required some cleaning to be able to identify diagnostic features and possible pathological conditions.

Following recommendations by Ubelaker (1989), bones with adhering material that hindered observation were cleaned with brushes and wooden tools, and water was applied if hard soil remained. Care was taken to ensure that there was no further breakage of bones that appeared fragile. Where needed for metric data collection (e.g., that of long bones), I used glue to join pieces damaged by postmortem breaks. The glue was provided by the Research Center and was the substance they regularly used on their skeletal material. Despite some postmortem breakage and changes from taphonomic processes, the skeletal material from all sites was otherwise relatively well-preserved.

Bioarchaeological analyses on skeletal collections were performed to obtain demographic information as well as data on health status, diet, pathological conditions, and evidence of trauma. I collected osteometric data following standardized osteological procedures presented in Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994). My observations included gross examination and use of loop magnification (16x/64D). I used spreading and sliding Mitutoyo calipers to record metric data and I measured long

110 bone lengths on a Paleo-TechTM Field Osteometric Board. I wore sterile surgical gloves at all times to avoid any further contamination in the event that biochemical tests were to be performed in the future.

On occasion, remains were so fragmentary, or few in number that no analysis was performed other than to note element, and possibly age for a final inventory. Digital photographs were taken of all pathological lesions for documentation and future cross-checking. I recorded all data (inventory, age, sex, and pathological conditions) in a Microsoft Access database, and the resulting spreadsheet information was modeled after the Western Hemisphere Project

(Goodman and Martin 2002; Steckel et al. 2002). Most of the variables recorded follow the recommendations of the European Workshops (Ferembach et al. 1977;

Workshop of European Anthropologists 1980) and Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994).

I collected all of the data under analysis to avoid inter-observer error, and conducted intra-observer studies during the course of data collection by re- measuring and re-scoring a random subset of the sample. There was good consistency in results, and digital photographic documentation also helped clarify any inconclusive findings once I had access to more resources. With regards to age and sex determination, previous studies of these collections conducted by Chinese physical anthropologists also served as an independent check on my determinations.

111 Minimum Number of Individuals

Determining the Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) is crucial for comparative analysis that depends on an accurate total number of individuals to make counts and frequencies of particular observations. Establishing MNI was made somewhat difficult by the fact that some burials were commingled. I determined MNI following recommendations as per White (2000).

I laid out all elements associated with a burial and made a detailed inventory of remains to help sort out commingled remains. The sorting of individuals was accomplished through careful inventories of the number of elements per side and observation of differences in the preservation and coloration of elements, as well as differences in the probable age and sex of individual elements.

Most burials had been labeled with a burial number. For those burials that contained commingled elements of more than one person, after sorting the MNI, only those individuals that were associated with at least three elements (an arbitrary number) from different parts of the body were counted as an individual, unless the bone was particularly diagnostic for sex and/or age, such as an os coxa, cranium, or a major long bone. I designated those elements that had no known association and too few elements to age or sex in the “miscellaneous” or “isolate” category and did not include them in the final MNI count.

Another potential problem in accurate collection of demographic data relates to sampling. To address the problem of possible differential preservation or sampling bias, there are multiple methods for age and sex determination described

112 below that are useful in constructing a demographic profile that is an accurate reflection of the burial population.

Age Determination

Age can be more precisely estimated for immature individuals than adults, because skeletal and dental changes associated with growth and development are well known and follow a similar timeline in all human populations. Age categories can be most broadly divided into two categories, with individuals classified as either a juvenile (younger than 18 years old) or an adult (18 years and older). This broad categorization was useful because some burials had so few elements with which to make age estimates that only a determination of “juvenile” or “adult” was possible. In the majority of the burials, however, age could be more narrowly determined into several groups. In the determination of the age of individuals, I followed the age categories recommended in Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994), with slight modifications on the age ranges (Table 6.1).

Table 6.1. Age categories used in this study, modified from Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994) Age categories used in this study: Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994): F = Fetus (in utero – birth) same I = Infant (birth – 3 years) same C = Child (4 – 11 years) Child (3 – 12 years) Ad = Adolescent (12 – 17 years) Adolescent (12 – 20 years) YA = Young Adult (18 – 34 years) Young Adult (20 – 35 years) MA = Middle Adult (35 – 45 years) Middle Adult (35 – 50 years) OA = Old Adult (46+ years) Old Adult (50+ years) A = Adult (18+ years) indeterminate age Adult (20+ years) indeterminate age

113 I chose to modify the age ranges as described in Buikstra and Ubelaker

(1994) in regards to the Adolescent and Young Adult categories in order to include the long bone measurements of young adult individuals whose epiphyses of arm and leg elements had fully fused. These measurements provided additional information for mean long bone length estimates of the samples.

The age estimation of juveniles, those individuals under the age of 18, was based on dental development and tooth eruption (Moorees et al. 1963a, 1963b;

Smith 1991; Ubelaker 1989), epiphyseal union of postcranial elements (Bass 1995;

Steele and Bramblett 1988; White 2000), and long bone dimensions (Ubelaker,

1989). The development of teeth provides the most reliable age at death determination in children (Saunders 1992). Where teeth and alveolar bone were available for observation, dental information was the primary means to determine the age of younger individuals. The rate of dental calcification and eruption was compared to the dental Schour and Massler/Ubelaker Chart (Schour and Massler

1941; Ubelaker 1989:63). In the absence of teeth, assessment of the total pattern of epiphyseal closure was used following the chart of the relationship of epiphyseal union and fusion of ossification centers to chronological age found in the summary

Figure 20 of Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994:43).

If information from neither dental development nor union of epiphyses were available, then I determined the age of immature remains using long bones. The standards developed by Fazekas and Kośa (1978) for estimating fetal length and

114 corresponding age in lunar months from long bones were used to approximate the age of infants under the age of one year. The lengths of older juvenile long bones were compared against the long bone standards that Ubelaker (1989:69-71) developed for the correlation between chronological age and maximum diaphyseal length (without epiphyses). As he points out, these standards are best applied to the

Arikara or related Plains Indians on which the standards are derived, but they serve as a general estimate for age at death for juveniles from other populations if potential variability is accounted for. His standards thus served as a rough estimate of subadult age, and I also compared the measures of juvenile long bones in this study to those individuals who had been aged by teeth and/or epiphysis with long bone measurements, generally within that sample population, and recorded an estimated age range.

Age determination for adults was assessed in a hierarchical manner (in descending order) following criteria recommended by the pubic symphysis scoring systems developed by Brooks and Suchey (Brooks and Suchey 1990) and Todd

(1921a; 1921b), the auricular surface scoring system (Bedford et al. 1989; Meindl and Lovejoy 1989), cranial suture closure (Meindl and Lovejoy 1985), and tooth wear (Walker et al. 1991), with a modification of the Smith (1984) method. Each of these methods has its own weakness, but when used together they provide greater reliability of age estimation. For the youngest adults, observations were also made of epiphyseal unions that are the latest to close, such as the medial clavicle, iliac crest, vertebral rings, and sacral body fusion.

115 Sex Determination

I determined the sex of adult individuals by scoring the sexually dimorphic traits of the skull and pelvis as described in Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994). Sex estimates were not made for pre-adolescent individuals, as they had not developed secondary sex characteristics. Pelvic features used for sex estimates included the subpubic region and the greater sciatic notch, while sexually dimorphic traits in the skull included the nuchal crest, mastoid process, supra-orbital margin, glabella, and mental eminence. When these skeletal elements were not present, I followed recommendations from Human Osteology: A Laboratory and Field Manual (Bass

1995), including sex estimation based on relative post-cranial robusticity, such as femoral head diameter and discriminating measurements taken on the tibia (Symes and Jantz 1983), since at times one or both were the only diagnostic bone present for sex determination. Whenever possible, all sexually diagnostic traits observable were considered together for a final sex determination. When a burial did not have sexually dimorphic elements or was that of a pre-pubescent person, then sex was designated as “indeterminate.”

Health Data

Dental health data, nutritional and non-specific stress markers, and indicators of trauma and/or activity were recorded following procedures outlined in

Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994), as well as those developed in the Western History

Project and further refined in the Global History of Health Project Data Codebook

116 for 2004 (Steckel et al. 2004). Stress indicators were scored based on the presence or absence of the element in question, as well as the degree of expression. Metric data on long bone measurements and on the dimensions of lesions were recorded to the nearest millimeter.

Dental Health

I assessed dental health through the frequency of carious lesions and antemortem tooth loss, which I recorded by tooth type and location. Carious lesions were indicated by the presence of dark eroded regions and/or cavitations of tooth enamel, as determined with a dental probe and strong light. Antemortem tooth loss

(AMTL) was identified based on the absence of teeth and the extent of alveolar bone resorption. For both pathological conditions, my analysis used the frequency of individuals affected with a lesion rather than the frequency of affected teeth within an individual. For example, a person may have had five carious teeth, but I used the count of one individual affected by cavities. I also made observations of osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) as a dietary indicator since the mechanical forces produced by chewing influence the TMJ. I recorded the severity of degenerative changes on any part of the joint (right and left sides of the mandibular condyle and/or glenoid fossa).

Nutritional Status and Stress

Periods of stress during childhood owing to an inadequate diet and/or disease may disrupt the formation of enamel (amelogenesis), leading to enamel

117 hypoplasia (EH). Enamel hypoplastic lesions were scored on the maxillary and mandibular incisors, canines, and premolars. Lesions were identified by the presence of a continuous linear horizontal groove that was deep enough to be detected with the fingernail. While the counts of lesions were recorded for each tooth, the final count for analysis was based on the presence or absence of a lesion on any of the observed teeth per individual. As an example, a person may have had lesions on two incisors and a canine, but a total of one person affected was recorded

(not the number of teeth affected) as the same event may have resulted in multiple lesions.

Diseases associated with nutritional inadequacies as well as nutrient losses may manifest as lesions on the cranium. I scored porotic hyperostosis (PH) and cribra orbitalia (CO), on the posterior cranial vault and orbital roof respectively, following a four-phase system for degree of expression ranging from indistinct porosity to coalescing lesions with vault expansion. I noted healed and active lesions based on the morphology of the lesions’ margin.

Osteoperiostitis, caused by inflammation of the periosteum surrounding the bone, may be a symptom of bacterial infection, traumatic injury, or nutritional deficiencies (Ortner 2003), and is thus considered a sign of non-specific infection. It was identified by osseous plaques with defined margins or irregular elevations of bone surfaces (Larsen 1997:83). Lesions located on any skeletal element were recorded, along with information on severity and possible association with localized trauma or systemic infection. Although I collected data on osteoperiostitis on

118 several bones, the tibia was the bone most often affected and thus analysis was based on observation of bone inflammation in this long bone.

Growth assessment is often used for analysis of environmental stress, including nutritional adequacy and disease during childhood (Bogin 1999). Body size and stature estimates were determined by measurements I made of long bones, following protocol in Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994). Measurements included those of the humerus, femur, and tibia in adults, and various long bones in juveniles to aid in determining their age. The femur has been shown to be the most reliable long bone for any study on growth (Israelsohn 1960), and the maximum length of this bone more closely correlates with stature than does that of any other bone

(Krogman and Iscan 1986). The humerus and tibia give additional information on overall long bone dimensions. Measures were also used to investigate the degree of sexual dimorphism between adult males and females.

For the examination of adult body size, I only used the measures from complete long bones of adults. I selected the humerus, femur, and tibia as they were the more frequently observed complete long bones. If an individual had both the right and left elements of a given bone available, the average of the right and left lengths of that element was used as the measure for that individual

Activity Patterns and Trauma

The study of human remains for markers of activity related stress is useful for answering questions of physical activity. These questions include what forms of

119 trauma and degenerative changes occur based on work related to differing economic strategies (Groves 2007).

Degenerative joint disease (DJD) resulting from repeated activities and advancing age, such as osteoarthritis and osteophytosis, is skeletally manifest as lipping, porosity, and eburnation. DJD was scored for the four major joints of the body: shoulder and elbow for the upper limbs, and hip and knee for the lower limbs.

As recommended by Rogers and Waldron (1995), a compound joint was treated as a single joint, and if any bone surface that comprised that joint was present, it was recorded by location and lesion type, and scored for severity. For example, if the articular surface of at least one of the several bones that comprise the knee—distal femur, proximal tibia, and patella—was present, an observation for DJD of that knee could be made. The highest score of severity was recorded in the event that multiple parts of a joint were available.

For evidence of trauma, I used microscopic and macroscopic examination to distinguish between skeletal damage that had resulted from antemortem processes as opposed to taphonomic changes and postmortem damage, as delineated by

Galloway (1999), Micozzi (1991), Nawrocki (1995). Indicators of interpersonal violence include fractures of the cranial vault and nasal bones, cutmarks, and embedded projectiles (Bridges et al. 2000; Walker 1997). Traumatic injuries observed through fractures, dislocations, depressions, cutmarks, embedded points, and ossified connective tissue were recorded by location, type, and remodeling present. In the recording of long bone fractures, I noted whether an individual had

120 any fractures; thus, even if a person had multiple long bone fractures, the count would be for one individual affected by long bone trauma. Similarly, a person with multiple cranial fractures was recorded as one person with cranial trauma.

Statistical Analysis

I used univariate and multivariate statistical techniques in the analysis of these data. While in China, preliminary analysis included the examination of the metrical data for outliers that I then re-examined to check for recording errors. I used the SPSS statistical package in the analysis of data.

For non-parametric data such as those found in observations of pathological conditions, the chi-square test was used in the analysis of categorical data such as sex and age groups, as well as in comparisons of pooled samples (region, subsistence mode, and level of imperial influence). When samples were too small to meet the criteria for chi-square analysis, Fisher’s Exact Test was used to compare data in groups of two. The level of significance was set at p = 0.05.

Where appropriate, Student’s t-tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for metrical comparisons. When more than two groups were compared, a one way ANOVA test was performed. If it was determined that a significant difference existed among the group means (of three of more groups), then the

Fisher’s Least Significant Difference (LSD) post hoc test was used to determine the nature of the inter-group differences (i.e., which means differed from each other). In

121 cases where there were only two groups under consideration, a Student’s t-test was performed.

Conclusion

I have described the method of data collection in this chapter. These data include information to determine age and sex, as well as those variables that indicate disease and nutritional status, and patterns of activity and trauma. The meticulous and structured methods that have been established to collect multiple lines of evidence and diagnostic information for pathological information were ways to avoid or at least minimize potential problems in sample size biases.

To implement this research plan, I performed the analysis in two phases. In the first phase, demographic comparisons were made to assess the feasibility of pooling specific samples (Chapter 7). In the second phase of analysis, these pooled samples were used to address a specific set of hypotheses and expectations that link the theoretical models of frontier interaction to bioarchaeological data (Chapter 8).

122 Chapter 7: Demographic Profile and Within-Group Comparisons

This chapter presents the results from the first phase of data analysis. Before addressing the main research hypotheses regarding interregional frontier interaction, it was essential to determine the total number of individuals under analysis, including the age and sex distribution of the samples. The sample sizes of collections pooled into three larger groups were also determined and within-group comparisons of these pooled samples were conducted.

The criteria used to group samples include: 1) regional location; 2) economic mode; and 3) time period within each of these. Comparisons were conducted to identify possible significant intra-group differences owing to temporal differences within a group. For example Bronze Age and Iron Age samples were pooled according to shared regional location. If samples placed into a prospective pooled group diverge markedly in the frequency of several variables, then the grouping would appear to be invalid owing to these numerous within-group differences. If however, intra-groups comparisons show that there is general consistency within the pooled samples, then the pooled samples are valid and useful for addressing the research questions analyzed in the following chapter.

Demographic Profiles

Each site was examined independently to determine the minimum number of individuals and the demographic structure of that collection. Some sites, as seen in

123 the list of sample sizes in Table 7.1, are very small; others are quite large.

Therefore, the health and dietary variables observed from several sites were combined, not only because these were groupings that were suited to questions regarding regional populations, mode of economy, and level of state influence, but also because pooling data increased the power of statistical analyses.

Table 7.1. Sites under analysis, organized by economic mode and time period Site Territory Time (BP) Economy Region N Dunmaili 4000-3000 Nomadic North- Xinjiang 4 (ED) (Bronze) Pastoral western Hami 3800-3300 Nomadic North- Xinjiang 86 (HTB) (Bronze) Pastoral western Jinggouzi Inner 2600-2300 Nomadic North- 125 (LJ) Mongolia (Late Bronze) Pastoral central Heigouliang 3200-2200 Nomadic North- Xinjiang 82 (BYJH) (Early Iron) Pastoral western Nileke 2500-2200 Nomadic North- Xinjiang 48 (YNQ) (Iron) Pastoral western Yanghai 2450-1750 Nomadic North- Xinjiang 85 (SAY) (Iron) Pastoral western Lamadong 1650-1550 North- Manchuria Agropastoral 493 (BL) (Weijin) eastern Chengbozi Inner 850-600 North- Agriculture 16 (SJC) Mongolia (Jin/Yuan) central Miaozigou Inner 6000-5000 North- Agriculture 14 (QM) Mongolia (Neolithic) eastern Sanmian Inner 700-600 North- Agriculture 7 (BWS) Mongolia (Yuan) central Zhenzishan Inner 700-600 North- Agriculture 19 (DZX) Mongolia (Yuan) eastern

The minimum number of individuals for all sites is presented according to economic mode, time period, and region in Figure 7.1. The numbers of juveniles and adults are also displayed.

124

500

400

300 Total Subadult 200 Adult # Individuals #

100

0

J L Y H L S X TB l B a t W BYJ s ntr t a -e -ce es N N -w N-east DZ N-west H N z Ir N-west SAr ast Bz p N-central B NP Bz N-west ED P ro N NP Ir N-westNP YNQ an Yuan NP B NP I Ag AG Neo N-east QM u AG AG Yuan N-central SJC AG Y

Figure 7.1. Sample sizes of each site, listed by subsistence mode (NP = nomadic pastoralism, Agropast = agropastoral, AG = agricultural), time period (Bz = Bronze Age, Ir = Iron Age, Neo = Neolithic, Yuan = Yuan Dynasty), and region.

Age Distribution

There are many more adults than juveniles in the samples. In the pooled sample of all sites (N=979), there are 184 subadults (19%) and 795 adults (81%).

When the samples are divided into more refined age groups, older juveniles outnumber the youngest age categories, while among adults, young and middle aged adults outnumber the older adults (Table 7.2; see Appendix, Table A7.1 for distribution by age and sex).

There are many factors that can bias the age structure of cemetery collections and produce results like those seen here. Archaeological skeletal

125 assemblages are mortality samples, thus they are unlikely to be a direct reflection of a living population (Bush and Zvelebil 1991; Wood et al. 1992). Potential biasing factors in sampling fall into four general categories (Paine and Harpending 1998):

1) cultural biases in deposition with possible differential burial treatment; 2) taphonomic processes, such as differential preservation of infant and elderly remains that have less bone mass; 3) archaeological recovery; and 4) bias in age determination methods. Some of these same factors can affect the sex distribution found in an archaeological sample, including bias in sex determination (Walker

1995).

Table 7.2. Age distribution of individuals by site F I C Ad Sub YA MA OA A Site in utero-b b-3yr 4-11 12-17 <18 18-34 35-45 46+ indet ED 0 00001210 HTB 0 0 9 6 0 37 14 5 15 LJ 0 2721764195 9 H 0 1 6 5 0 27 21 9 13 YNQ 0 1 4 4 0 21 11 7 0 SAY 0 7 14 11 0 24 11 14 4 BL 0 2 11 36 0 174 154 39 77 QM 0 10103306 SJC 0 012010300 BWS 0 00003022 DZX 0 001024210

Understanding the sampling biases caused by taphonomic processes is integral to any attempt in extracting information about population structure from human skeletal assemblages. In addition to extrinsic factors that may bias preservation of samples, intrinsic anatomical factors that lead to differential susceptibility to decay must also be considered (Bello et al. 2006). For example, bone decay rates depend in part upon the ratio of cancellous to cortical bone.

126 Immature skeletons with thin cortical layers and relatively more cancellous bone that are poorly calcified decay more quickly than those of adults (Gordon and

Buikstra 1981; Walker 1995; Walker et al. 1988). Under conditions of poor preservation, skeletons with less bone mass, such as those of infants and the elderly, can be completely lost from the archaeological record.

Age-related variation in the preservation of skeletal remains can distort mortality profiles to the extent that they provide very little information about the age structure of the living population (Nawrocki 1995; Walker 1995; Walker et al.

1988). A demographic profile constructed from a sample thus affected could significantly misrepresent the actual structure of the death assemblage. To address this problem of possible differential preservation or sampling bias, the multiple methods for age and sex determination as outlined in established protocols (see

Chapter 6) were strictly followed to construct as accurate a demographic profile as possible.

In this study, the under-representation of the youngest and oldest individuals is likely related to differential preservation, where the smaller skeletal mass of infants and the osteoporotic loss of mass in elderly remains can result in increased susceptibility to disintegration after burial (Walker et al. 1988). Further, sampling bias during excavation and by curators for better preserved remains and for consideration of limited storage capacity may also account for the age distribution of samples. From my personal observation and handling of the bones, burials from many sites preserved exceptionally well. This preservation suggests the whole

127 burial could have been preserved, though I often only saw select “important” elements such as the skull, limb bones, and pelvis. Also, at least two sites have reported instances of looting activities that may have led to biased sampling when recovering burials (Zhongguo 1995; Zhang 2005). All of these issues may account for the resulting demographic profiles of each burial sample.

Sex Distribution

In the total sample, the frequency of males and females is approximately equal. There are 408 males (51%) and 379 females (48%), with eight adults (1%) who could not be accurately given a male or female sex designation (see Figure 7.2 for breakdown by site). The slight excess of adult males does not deviate significantly from an expected sex ratio of 1 to 1 (χ2 = 2.116, p ≤ 0.2).

The determination of the sex was impeded by three major constraints: the lack of elements in some burials with which to make a determination; commingling of remains; and the age of individuals, in particular infants and children. For adults, this label of “Indeterminate Adult” was relatively rare (n=8 from a total of 795 adults). In most instances, adult burials had enough sexually dimorphic traits available for observation so that the sex of individuals could be determined, while the sex of pre-pubescent individuals remains unknown.

128 250

200

150 Adult Male Adult Female 100 Indet.Adult # Individuals

50

0

Q M S N BL Q Y SJC SAY BYJH ral est -east -east ral BW -west N z N-west ED cent N-west HTB N N-west - cent B z Ir eo N - P B Ir N N N P P P N NP Bz N-centralN LJNP Ir N-wN gropast NAG A Yuan Yuan AG Yuan N-east DZX AG AG

Figure 7.2. Distribution of sexes by site

Pooling Samples

As mentioned above, the size of the skeletal collections from several of the sites is small and pooling was necessary to obtain samples large enough to address the questions about cultural (sociopolitical and economic) influences on health variables (Figure 7.3). Even with these pooled samples, the one site that comprises the Agropastoral sample (n=493) is larger than all other groupings. Where appropriate, Fisher’s Exact Test was used in testing of non-parametric data rather than chi-square to compensate for the sample size disparities.

129 500

450

400

350

300 Nomadic Pastoral 250 Agropastoral Agricultural

# Individuals # 200

150

100

50

0 Subadult *Adult Adult Male Adult Female

Figure 7.3. Age and sex distribution of samples pooled by subsistence mode

Nomadic Pastoral Samples

Within the samples that comprise the Nomadic Pastoral group (n=430) are those from two different time periods, Bronze Age and Iron Age, as well as two different regions1. Two of the three sites that comprise the pastoral Bronze Age grouping include Dunmaili (ED), with a sample size of four individuals (one male, three females) and Hami (HTB), with a sample size of 86 individuals (15 juveniles,

38 males, 33 females). Both of these sites are in the North-western group, as they are located in Xinjiang, the Outer zone of state influence. A third sample in the pastoral Bronze Age group is Jinggouzi (LJ), which is from Inner Mongolia and is

1 See Chapter 5 Materials for justification for each sample’s classification into one of three regional groupings (North-western, North-central, and North-eastern).

130 therefore in the “Inner” zone and considered North-central. This sample includes 61 juveniles, 29 males, and 35 females.

The second group of pastoralists is comprised of those samples from the

Iron Age, which all derive from the “Outer” zone of Xinjiang, and all are grouped as North-western. These samples include those from Heigouliang (BYJH), with 82 individuals (12 juveniles, 36 males, and 34 females), burials from Nileke (YNQ), with 48 individuals (9 juveniles, 23 males, and 16 females), and those from Yanghai

(SAY), with 85 individuals (32 juveniles, 30 males, and 23 females).

Agropastoral Sample

The Agropastoral group is comprised solely of the Lamadong (BL) collection, which is the largest out of all groups, with 493 individuals. There are 49 subadults and 444 adults (229 males, 214 females, and one adult of indeterminate sex). These individuals derive from the “Early Imperial” level of state control, and are roughly contemporaneous with the pastoral Iron Age samples. These individuals are classified into the North-eastern in regional grouping.

Agricultural Samples

The Agricultural group is comprised of several collections, the earliest of which comes from a Neolithic size, Miaogouzi (QM). This collection has 14 individuals (two juveniles, five males, three females and four adults of indeterminate sex), who are classified as North-eastern. The other three sites are from the “Middle Imperial” period, during the Mongolian (Yuan) Dynasty of the

131 13th and 14th centuries AD. Two of the sites are located in Inner Mongolian and placed into the North-central group: Chengbozi (SJC) with 16 individuals (three juveniles, seven males, and six females), and Sanmian (BWS) with seven individuals (three males and four females). The remaining Yuan Dynasty sample,

Dunmaili (DZX), is classified as North-eastern, with 19 individuals (one juvenile, seven males, and eight females).

Intra-group Comparisons

I conducted intra-group comparisons to determine if there were significant differences between skeletal collections that had been grouped from different time periods based on geographical location and economic mode. Over long periods of time, it might be expected that later populations differ from earlier populations in morphology, such as seen in modern examples of secular trends in height (Bogin

1999). To test whether temporally different samples within each pooled group differed, comparisons were made of group means of adult long bone dimensions.

These tests were conducted within regional groups and within economic groups.

Following these temporal intra-group tests, I tested subgroups in consideration of groups pooled by subsistence. These comparisons were made between adults and juveniles within each pooled economic group, as well as between males and females of a given pooled group. As subsistence strategy differences among groups are expected and these differences affect multiple indicators (health, diet, and activity), all pathological markers were compared

132 within these subgroups of age and sex to see if any within a pooled economic group deviated markedly. My interpretations of these findings follow presentation of the results.

Regional Populations

I have pooled together samples from sites located in similar regions into the geographical categories of North-western, North-central, and North-eastern, but within each grouping, samples come from different time periods. Within the North- western group are collections from the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Within the North- central group are those from the Bronze Age and those from the “Middle” imperial period of the Yuan Dynasty (AD 1279 – 1368). Within the North-eastern group are samples from the Neolithic, “Early Imperial” period of the Weijin (AD 337 – 441), and “Middle Imperial” samples from the Yuan Dynasty (Table 7.3).

Table 7.3. Mean long bone lengths (in cm) by region and time period HUMERUS FEMUR TIBIA #M#F#M#F#M#F N-western Bronze 5 31.14 5 28.88 5 44.50 8 41.61 5 36.58 4 33.34 N-western Iron 29 31.93 24 29.37 46 45.09 34 41.29 34 36.62 31 33.52 N-central Bronze 3 31.67 2 28.48 19 43.08 24 39.58 7 35.29 8 32.02 N-central Middle 0 0 1 28.05 5 43.66 4 39.56 2 34.73 2 31.78 N-eastern Neolithic 4 31.20 4 30.58 4 45.42 4 43.2 4 36.69 4 34.45 N-eastern Early 83 31.10 75 29.01 133 43.72 141 40.38 124 34.63 132 32.45 N-eastern Middle 4 33.50 0 0 4 43.60 4 40.03 3 35.83 1 33.20

133 North-western: Bronze Age vs. Iron Age

Comparisons between the Bronze and Iron Age North-western group in mean lengths for the humerus, femur, and tibia show there is no significant difference between males from the two time periods, nor in females (see Appendix,

Table A7.2). These results indicate that despite temporal differences, these samples are similar enough to be useful in analysis as a pooled regional group.

North-central: Bronze Age vs. Middle Imperial

Likewise, there are no significant differences found between the Bronze Age and Middle Imperial period North-central samples. Thus, they are suitable for analysis as a pooled group.

North-eastern: Neolithic, Early Imperial, Middle Imperial

There are some significant differences found within the North-eastern group of samples from the Neolithic, and imperial Early and Middle periods. In particular, in the comparison of males, the average length of the tibia is significantly greater

(LSD post hoc test, p = 0.014) in the Neolithic sample (x¯ = 36.69cm) than the Early

Imperial sample (x¯ = 34.63cm). In the comparison of females, the group means for the humerus, femur, and tibia were all significantly different among the North- eastern samples. Least Significant Difference post hoc tests show that the Neolithic collection has significantly greater group means than the Early Imperial sample for all three long bone lengths (Table A7.2).

Despite the apparent differences of the Neolithic samples from other North- eastern samples with regards to the male tibia and female measures of the humerus,

134 femur, and tibia, it must be noted that the Neolithic sample is relatively small, with a sample size of four compared to considerably larger sample sizes among the other

North-eastern samples (from n=75 up to n=141). Therefore, the Neolithic sample’s contribution is likewise relatively small to deviations from group means in the

North-eastern pooled sample. Many of the health, diet, and activity data are still applicable as they are heavily influenced by environmental factors such as shared subsistence mode.

Subsistence: By Time Period

There are two economic modes where samples from different time periods were pooled, the Nomadic Pastoral economy and the Agricultural economy. Only one site comprises the Agropastoral economy, the large collection from the

Manchurian site of Lamadong. Within the Nomadic Pastoral group, samples come from two broad time periods, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Within the

Agricultural group, samples come from the Neolithic and Middle Imperial period

(Yuan Dynasty). Comparisons were made with respect to the significance of group means in humeral, femoral, and tibial maximum length (Table 7.4; see Appendix,

Table A7.3 for statistical results). Although I offer a brief discussion of my interpretations of these results in each section, I conclude with more comprehensive discussion of general trends from all the results at the end.

135 Table 7.4. Mean long bone lengths (in cm) by economic mode and time period HUMERUS FEMUR TIBIA # M # F # M # F # M # F NP Bronze 8 31.34 7 28.76 24 43.37 32 40.08 12 35.83 12 32.63 NP Iron 29 31.93 24 29.37 46 45.09 34 41.29 34 36.62 31 33.52 Ag Neolithic 4 31.2 4 30.58 4 45.43 4 43.2 4 36.69 4 34.45 Ag Middle 1 33.5 2 28.5 9 43.63 8 39.79 5 35.39 3 32.25

Nomadic Pastoral: Bronze Age vs. Iron Age

The nomadic pastoral Bronze Age males have an average femur length that is significantly shorter (t = -3.036, p = 0.003) than that of Iron Age males. Likewise,

Bronze Age females have a significantly shorter (t = -2.341, p = 0.022) average femur length than Iron Age females. Although not at the level significance, the average humeral lengths of Bronze Age males and females are somewhat shorter than that of their Iron Age counterparts. The overall trend in all comparisons is that

Bronze Age samples are shorter in long bone lengths than the Iron Age samples.

The results in this intra-group comparison suggest that the different sites grouped into the “Nomadic Pastoral” economic group differ in some respects.

Namely, the Bronze Age samples have limbs that are somewhat shorter than Iron

Age samples. Factors that may have contributed to this temporal difference include:

1) improved living conditions in the Iron Age; 2) the geographic proximity of these samples to China’s influence (the Iron Age samples all derive from distant

Xinjiang, while one Bronze Age sample was near Chinese borders); and 3) regional differences between the samples as one Bronze Age sample is “North-central,” while all Iron Age samples are “North-western.”

136 Agricultural: Neolithic vs. Middle Imperial

There are no significant differences in average long bone lengths between the groups that comprise the Agricultural group except in one instance. The group mean of the femur length of the Neolithic female group is significantly greater than that of the Middle Imperial female group (t = 3.316, p = 0.008). While not at the level of significance, in all other instances (in both sexes) the Neolithic sample has longer mean lengths for all elements.

As discussed earlier, the Neolithic sample for males and females is small

(n=4 for each), while the Middle Imperial period sample is not much larger (e.g., in the humerus there is only one case). Nevertheless, results indicate that the Neolithic sample has longer limbs. This difference may reflect a secular trend for decrease in height that may be associated with changes in diet and socioeconomic and political organization, and the related stresses therein from the Neolithic to imperial age.

Subsistence: By Age and Sex

Within each economic mode, groups divided by age (adults and juveniles) and by sex were analyzed to identify differences in health, diet, and activity markers

(Tables 7.5, 7.6; see Appendix, Table A7.4 for results of statistical tests). These comparisons test the general consistency within pooled economic groups by the demographic subgroups of age and sex.

137 Table 7.5. Frequencies of pathological conditions in economic groups by age category JUVENILES Nomadic Pastoral Agropastoral Agricultural Cases % Cases % Cases % AMTL 2 / 61 3% 3 / 41 7% 0 / 5 0% Carious 2 / 71 3% 5 / 41 12% 0 / 5 0% EH 5 / 43 12% 3 / 37 8% 0 / 3 0% Tib osteoperi 1 / 45 2% 0 / 29 0% 0 / 3 0% PH 0 / 83 0% 1 / 40 3% 0 / 4 0% CO 17 / 74 23% 11 / 30 37% 0 / 4 0% Limb fx/indiv 0 / 68 0% 0 / 32 0% 0 / 3 0% Cranial fx 2 / 86 2% 0 / 38 0% 0 / 4 0% Nasal fx 0 / 33 0% 0 / 9 0% 0 / 4 0% ADULTS Nomadic Pastoral Agropastoral Agricultural Cases % Cases % Cases % AMTL 93 / 194 48% 173 / 350 49% 7 / 24 29% Carious 60 / 220 27% 192 / 341 56% 6 / 23 26% TMJ DJD 30 / 183 16% 48 / 336 14% 8 / 23 35% EH 19 / 193 10% 33 / 309 11% 5 / 21 24% Tib osteoperi 4 / 129 3% 18 / 310 6% 0 / 16 0% PH 4 / 198 2% 3 / 332 1% 0 / 22 0% CO 22 / 190 12% 20 / 306 7% 1 / 22 5% Limb fx 12 / 182 7% 22 / 353 6% 4 / 24 17% Cranial fx 22 / 204 11% 6 / 336 2% 2 / 21 10% Nasal fx 5 / 134 4% 2 / 138 1% 1 / 20 5% Shoulder DJD 28 / 105 27% 56 / 190 29% 3 / 11 27% Elbow DJD 37 / 112 33% 66 / 216 31% 4 / 13 31% Hip DJD 33 / 184 18% 37 / 309 12% 8 / 31 26%

138 Table 7.6. Frequencies of pathological conditions in economic groups by sex MALES Nomadic Pastoral Agropastoral Agricultural Cases % Cases % Cases % AMTL 43 / 100 43% 85 / 180 47% 3 / 12 25% Carious 24 / 115 21% 87 / 173 50% 3 / 12 25% TMJ DJD 16 / 93 17% 22 / 175 13% 3 / 11 27% EH 15 / 101 15% 18 / 158 11% 1 / 11 9% Tib osteoperi 2 / 69 3% 10 / 150 7% 0 / 9 0% PH 3 / 100 3% 1 / 169 1% 0 / 12 0% CO 10 / 93 11% 18 / 161 11% 1 / 12 8% Limb fx 8 / 96 8% 18 / 177 10% 2 / 13 15% Cranial fx 13 / 101 13% 5 / 174 3% 1 / 11 9% Nasal fx 4 / 69 6% 2 / 68 3% 1 / 11 9% Shoulder DJD 19 / 58 33% 31 / 100 31% 0 / 5 0% Elbow DJD 18 / 59 31% 42 / 112 38% 2 / 7 29% Hip DJD 15 / 97 15% 21 / 153 14% 4 / 16 25% Knee DJD 29 / 83 35% 60 / 155 39% 7 / 15 47% FEMALES Nomadic Pastoral Agropastoral Agricultural Cases % Cases % Cases % AMTL 50 / 94 53% 88 / 170 52% 4 / 12 33% Carious 36 / 105 34% 105 / 168 63% 3 / 11 27% TMJ DJD 14 / 90 16% 26 / 161 16% 5 / 12 42% EH 4 / 92 4% 15 / 151 10% 4 / 10 40% Tib osteoperi 2 / 60 3% 8 / 160 5% 0 / 7 0% PH 1 / 98 1% 2 / 163 1% 0 / 10 0% CO 12 / 97 12% 2 / 145 1% 0 / 10 0% Limb fx 4 / 86 5% 4 / 176 2% 2 / 11 18% Cranial fx 9 / 103 9% 1 / 162 1% 1 / 10 10% Nasal fx 1 / 65 2% 0 / 70 0% 0 / 9 0% Shoulder DJD 9 / 47 19% 25 / 90 28% 3 / 6 50% Elbow DJD 18 / 53 36% 24 / 104 23% 2 / 6 33% Hip DJD 18 / 87 21% 16 / 156 10% 4 / 15 27% Knee DJD 21 / 78 27% 43 / 159 27% 6 / 12 50%

139 Nomadic Pastoralists

Age Comparison

Nomadic pastoralist age group comparisons show a significant difference in cribra orbitalia (CO), with a higher frequency in juveniles (23%, p = 0.032, Table

A7.4) than in adults (12%). Conversely, adults have a higher rate of carious lesions

(27% to 3%, p ≤ 0.001), long bone fractures (12% to 0%, p = 0.04), as well as a significantly greater rate of cranial fractures (10% to 2%, p = 0.029).

These findings are consistent with expectations for age-related changes.

Immature individuals have marrow spaces filled with red marrow which expand to produce more red blood cells (RBC) during extreme oxygen deprivation, resulting in active lesions of cribra orbitalia, whereas adults produce RBCs without expansion into marrow space (Stuart-Macadam 1985). Furthermore, juveniles who survived this stress into adulthood would have healed orbital lesions. Age advancement does, however, lead to the accumulation of degenerative changes such as tooth decay, and increased risk for injuries, as seen in these results.

Sex Comparison

Between males and females of the pastoral sample, there are significant differences in the rate of individuals with carious lesions and with enamel hypoplastic (EH) lesions. Females have a significantly higher rate of carious lesions

(34%) than do males at 21% (p = 0.034). Fifteen percent of males have enamel hypoplastic lesions, while only 4% of females have this condition, which is a significant difference (p = 0.016). The frequencies of stress indicators such as

140 porotic hyperostosis (PH), cribra orbitalia, and tibial osteoperiostitis are not significantly different. Nor are there significant differences between the sexes in activity related markers such as fractures and degenerative joint disease

The higher frequency of enamel hypoplasia in males does suggest that as juveniles, boys had more stressful episodes than did girls. However, it has been posited that growing males are more sensitive to stresses than girls, who early on are apparently more hardy than boys under similar conditions of stress (Hamilton

1982; Stini 1985; Stinson 1992). While Stinson’s (1985) review of this hypothesis for greater sensitivity in males points out several studies with contrasting results, she did find that during the prenatal period, males show a greater response to improved nutrition after stress than females, while females have greater postnatal catch-up growth. Thus, this finding of higher rates in enamel hypoplasia in males may reflect an inherent tendency for boys to show greater susceptibility to stress.

The greater frequency of carious lesions in females, as well as antemortem tooth loss (AMTL, 53% to 43% in males) suggests that females had greater access to cariogenic foods, such as carbohydrates. The difference between the sexes is perhaps also an indication that in addition to differential access to agricultural goods, adult males and females had different settlement patterns. Females in some nomadic pastoral economies live in more settled locations such as a semi- permanent, or permanent home base while the males move with the grazing herds

(Barfield 1993). Thus, gender-based settlement and migratory patterns may have resulted in sexual differentiation in access to cariogenic cultigens. Furthermore,

141 studies of a diverse array of archaeological populations from different regions and settings show that in general, females have a higher caries prevalence compared to males (see Larsen 1997:72). Thus, the greater frequency of caries in Nomadic

Pastoral females (and in Agropastoral females, see below) may be an artifact of inherent biological attributes, as well as cultural factors.

Agropastoralists

Age Comparison

As was found for the pastoral sample, in the Agropastoral sample juveniles have a significantly greater rate of cribra orbitalia (37% to 7%, p ≤ 0.001, Table

A7.4). Adults have a significantly higher rate of carious lesions (56% vs. 7%) than juveniles (p ≤ 0.001). The conditions that explain the higher rate of cribra orbitalia in juveniles compared to adults, and the greater frequency of carious lesions in adults, especially adult females are probably similar to tho the physiological factors discussed above for the nomadic sample.

Sex Comparison

Comparison of males and females show several variables where they differ at the level of significance (see Table A7.4). In particular, females have a markedly higher rate of carious lesions, whereas males have a higher frequency of cribra orbitalia, long bone fractures, and degenerative joint changes of the elbow and knee.

Agropastoral females may have had greater access to cariogenic foods than males as a consequence of sexual division of labor that exists in an agropastoral economy, in which men are typically the primary labor force involved in herding

142 animals (Barfield 1993:146). This division of labor may also explain the higher rate of fractures and DJD in the elbow and knee joints of males. The higher frequency of cribra orbitalia in Agropastoral males may provide further evidence for the greater susceptibility of boys to childhood stress compared to females.

Agriculturalists

Age Comparison

Within the Agricultural group, there are no significant differences in the frequencies of health or diet related paleopathological markers between juveniles and adults (Table A7.4). Note, the sample size of juveniles is quite small (n=5 or lower in observations), which limited meaningful comparisons.

Sex Comparison

There also are no significant differences between adult males and females in frequencies of any of the pathological markers. However, it should be noted that, while not at the level of statistical significance (perhaps owing to the small sample sizes) females have a greater rate of enamel hypoplasia than males (38% vs. 0%), and a higher frequency of cranial trauma (14% to 0%).

The lack of significant differences between the sexes in the pooled

Agricultural sample is somewhat surprising because other studies have shown that sexual division of labor commonly found in agricultural societies leads to concomitant differential frequencies in the markers of health and activity (Larsen

1997). Perhaps this lack of difference is due to the size limitations in the

Agricultural sample where each sex usually had fewer than 15 observations per

143 variable. With respect to the apparently greater childhood stress experienced by females, Confucian ideology and patriarchal system in China, which gives preferential treatment for male children (e.g., Lavely and Wong 1998), may account for the higher rates of enamel growth disruption in females in this mostly “Middle

Imperial” period group.

Discussion and Conclusion

This chapter has presented the results of analysis performed on the demographic structure of the sites as well as the results of pooled sampling by regional location, mode of economy, and different time periods within each. Intra- group comparisons were made to determine the suitability of pooling these temporally distinct samples. That is, tests checked for significant differences within these pooled groups. Marked differences would suggest the unsuitability of grouping certain sites together, whereas the lack of significant differences would suggest they were natural groupings despite temporal differences.

At Jilin University’s Research Center for Frontier Archaeology, researchers used data from studies of craniometrics and nonmetric traits, as well as mitochondrial DNA and archaeological evidence to identify ethnic groups and labeled collections based upon these sources (e.g., Fu et al. 2007; He and Xu 2002;

Liu and Zhu 1995; Shan 2002; Wang 2004, see Chapter 5). Their assignments lend support for the manner in which I have pooled samples by geographical location.

144 The pooled groups for regions include North-western, North-central, and North- eastern samples along China’s northern frontier.

Comparisons of the regional groups for the maximum length of long bones

(humerus, femur, and tibia) show that despite within-group differences in time periods from which these samples derive, there was not much difference in group means. The instances of variation in mean long bone lengths across time periods were likely a result of small sample size (e.g., small Neolithic sample vs. larger samples from later periods in the North-eastern group), secular trends in body size, and more importantly, environmental changes through time.

I also pooled samples into groups depending on subsistence mode: Nomadic

Pastoral, Agropastoral, and Agricultural. I examined these pooled economic groups for differences in frequencies according to the time periods from which samples derived. I collected data from earlier populations such as the Neolithic and Bronze

Age to determine the baseline dietary and health status of each group prior to the increased socioeconomic interaction associated with the rise of the Chinese empire.

More recent samples derive from the Early Imperial and Middle Imperial periods.

In the pooled Nomadic Pastoral group, Bronze Age males and females had shorter long bone measurements than males and females of the Iron Age. This increase in body size over time may be a product of improved living conditions during the Iron Age. This inferred improvement in health status is somewhat contrary to expectations since China had established a united empire and was expanding into the frontier by the Iron Age. One factor to consider is that all sites in

145 the Iron Age sample are located in distant Xinjiang, while an Inner Mongolian

(“Inner” zone) sample contributes to the Bronze Age sample. Socioeconomic instabilities associated with living close to Chinese borders may have led to growth disruptions and hence decreased height in the Inner Mongolian site that contributed to the lower average height among Bronze Age samples.

In the intra-group comparison for the Agricultural group there was only one significant difference: greater Neolithic female femur lengths in comparison to those of the Middle Imperial females. Keeping in mind that the samples sizes for both periods are small, the general trend is for greater body size in the Neolithic period compared to the later period. This difference may reflect a secular trend for decrease in height that appears in many populations (Walker and Eng 2007), especially marked after the Neolithic (e.g., the 8000 year declines in height in Latin

America associated with social, economic, and political factors, Bogin 1999:248-

258). Intensification of agriculture, increased sedentism and disease loads, along with increased social inequality and overall decrease in health from the Neolithic to the imperial age may all contribute to decreased stature, and will be discussed in the following chapter.

Finally, a more fine-grained examination of differences in each mode of economy in relation to subsets of society revealed some differences based on age and sex. In particular, there were differences between adults and juveniles in the rates of certain childhood stresses and in the rates of paleopathological indicators of health and activity between the sexes. These differences are most marked within the

146 Nomadic Pastoral and Agropastoral samples. In these groups, juveniles had a greater incidence of cribra orbitalia than adults of the same economic group. In addition to greater susceptibility for red marrow expansion in childhood, these results may also be attributed to selective mortality of these children, who died before healing, whereas adults who survived such childhood stresses had healed (no longer visible) lesions. Adults in these samples, however, had greater risk of conditions related to cumulative exposure to insults (e.g., cariogenic food) and dangers (e.g., fractures).

The differences between the sexes in paleopathological indicators also point to possible differential buffering of females compared to males during childhood, which may be for reasons that are cultural or biological (girls as the more “hardy” sex). Cultural factors include sexual division of labor and differential access to resources, which may account for the greater rate of carious lesions in females, while males often suffered more risk of fractures and degenerative changes, likely a result of activity related to subsistence, and possibly warfare.

In this chapter, in addition to the results of demographic profiles, I have examined the suitability of pooling samples by region and mode of economy.

Despite differences from temporal disparity within groups, these groups appear to be appropriate for use in addressing issues of interregional interaction along the frontier. The following chapter presents the results of comparisons between groups pooled by regional location, subsistence mode, and level of imperial influence and geographic distance from China.

147 Chapter 8: Inter-Group Comparisons of Regional Variation,

Subsistence Mode, and Level of Imperial Influence

The preceding chapter dealt with results from analysis of the demographic composition of the total sample and the results of intra-group analyses of pathological conditions to assess whether there were differences within the pooled groups for regional locations and modes of economy. This chapter presents the second stage of analysis, first with the results of comparisons between the pooled regional groups, which determined the potential differences between the groups as related to local adaptations within these areas. As local adaptation is connected to ecological conditions that shaped decisions for subsistence strategies, this is followed by a presentation of the results of tests designed to explore the three major hypotheses discussed in Chapter 4. In particular, these include the analyses of the differences in samples pooled for mode of economy, and those populations under different levels of state influence from China depending on time period and depending on geographical proximity to China.

Regional Comparisons

I pooled samples into groups based on regional location (North-western,

North-central, and North-eastern). I compared adults from these groups with respect to variables related to dental health, health and nutrition, and activity patterns

(Table 8.1, see Appendix, Table A8.1 for statistical results). Although I highlight

148 those results for which there is a statistically significant difference between groups,

I also note trends that may not be at the level of significance.

Table 8.1. Frequencies of pathological conditions among regional groups MALE N-western N-central N-eastern Cases % Cases % Cases % AMTL 43 / 96 45% 3 / 13 23% 85 / 183 46% Cavity 24 / 98 24% 3 / 26 12% 87 / 176 49% TMJ DJD 16 / 90 18% 3 / 12 25% 22 / 177 12% EH 11 / 86 13% 4 / 8 50% 19 / 162 12% Tib osteoperi 2 / 46 4% 0 / 25 0% 10 / 157 6% PH 3 / 90 3% 0 / 19 0% 1 / 172 1% CO 10 / 84 12% 0 / 18 0% 19 / 164 12% Limb fx 5 / 69 7% 3 / 32 9% 19 / 185 10% Cranial fx 13 / 90 14% 0 / 20 0% 6 / 176 3% Nasal fx 4 / 60 7% 1 / 18 6% 2 / 69 3% Shoulder DJD 17 / 40 43% 2 / 18 11% 31 / 104 30% Elbow DJD 16 / 41 39% 3 / 20 15% 43 / 117 37% Hip DJD 13 / 73 18% 3 / 29 10% 24 / 164 15% Knee DJD 25 / 58 43% 8 / 32 25% 63 / 163 39% FEMALE N-western N-central N-eastern Cases % Cases % Cases % AMTL 45 / 83 54% 7 / 16 44% 90 / 177 51% Cavirty 34 / 81 42% 2 / 29 7% 107 / 172 62% TMJ DJD 13 / 82 16% 4 / 13 31% 28 / 168 17% EH 4 / 73 5% 1 / 26 4% 18 / 156 12% Tib osteoperi 2 / 41 5% 0 / 21 0% 8 / 165 5% PH 1 / 81 1% 0 / 22 0% 2 / 168 1% CO 11 / 82 13% 1 / 20 5% 22 / 150 15% Limb fx 1 / 57 2% 4 / 33 12% 5 / 183 3% Cranial fx 4 / 85 5% 6 / 23 26% 0 / 167 0% Nasal fx 1 / 53 2% 0 / 17 0% 0 / 74 0% Shoulder DJD 8 / 31 26% 2 / 17 12% 27 / 95 28% Elbow DJD 17 / 34 50% 3 / 30 10% 25 / 109 23% Hip DJD 18 / 61 30% 1 / 32 3% 19 / 165 12% Knee DJD 19 / 51 37% 3 / 31 10% 47 / 167 28%

149 Dental Health

The proportion of North-eastern males and females with carious lesions

(49% and 62% respectively) is significantly greater than that of their counterparts in the North-western (males, p ≤ 0.001; females p = 0.003) and North-central (males, p

≤ 0.001; females, p ≤ 0.001) groups.

On the other hand, though not at the level of significance the North-western and North-eastern samples show similar rates of antemortem tooth loss (AMTL)

(about half of the samples were affected), whereas only North-central females approximate that rate, while North-central males have 23%. In contrast, North- central males and females have higher rates of TMJ disease than their counterparts in the other two groups.

Health and Nutrition

For non-specific stress markers, the North-central males have a significantly greater incidence (50%) of enamel hypoplastic (EH) lesions than do North-western

(p = 0.021) and North-eastern males (p = 0.013). In contrast, males and females of the North-western and North-eastern groups have similar rates of porotic hyperostosis (PH) and cribra orbitalia (CO), which are somewhat higher than found in the North-central group, though not at the level of significance.

Comparison of mean of long bone lengths shows that the North-western,

North-central, and North-eastern samples differ significantly among each other in average femur and tibia lengths for both males and females (Tables 8.2, 8.3). The humeral lengths do differ somewhat between the North-western and North-eastern

150 male samples, but that difference is not statistically significant (p = 0.057).

Likewise, there are no significant differences in humeral lengths among the females from different regions.

Table 8.2. Mean long bone lengths (in cm) by region HUMERUS FEMUR TIBIA # M # F # M # F # M # F N-western 35 31.79 30 29.22 52 45.01 42 41.35 40 36.59 35 33.55 N-central 3 31.40 3 29.08 24 43.21 28 39.58 9 35.17 10 31.97 N-eastern 87 31.14 79 29.08 140 43.76 149 40.45 130 34.71 137 32.52

Table 8.3. Significance of differences in long bone lengths by region MALE Bone Significant Statistic d.f p-value LSD Post Hoc Humerus n.s. F=2.938 2, 122 0.057 - Femur Yes F=9.526 2, 213 0.000 West vs. Central + Tibia Yes F=16.171 2, 176 0.000 East Asian FEMALE Humerus n.s. F=0.120 2, 109 0.887 - Femur Yes F=8.631 2, 216 0.000 All f/ each other Tibia Yes F=7.079 2, 179 0.001 West vs. Central + East

Least Significant Difference (LSD) post hoc tests show that the North- western male sample has significantly longer average lengths of the femur and tibia compared to the other groups. Among females, all groups are significantly different from each other in femur length, with the longest average length in the North- western female group, followed by North-eastern, then by North-central females.

The North-western female sample also has a significantly greater average length of the tibia compared to the other groups.

151 Activity

With respect to activity markers, North-western males have a significantly higher rate of shoulder (p = 0.032) and elbow (p = 0.051) degenerative joint disease

(DJD) than do the North-central males. Likewise, the North-western female group has a significantly greater rate of DJD of the elbow, hip, and knee relative to the

North-central and North-eastern female groups (see Table A8.1). The overall trend is for higher rates of joint disease in the North-western and North-eastern samples

(especially in males of each group) relative to their North-central counterparts.

There are also significant differences in the rate of fractures. North-western males have a greater frequency of cranial trauma than do the North-eastern males (p

= 0.002). Among the female groups, the North-central group has the highest rate of cranial fractures, which is significantly greater than North-western females (p =

0.006), who in turn have significantly greater rate than the North-eastern females (p

= 0.012); the difference between North-central to North-eastern, then, is highly significant (p ≤ 0.001). In long bone fractures, the North-central female group also has a greater rate than the North-eastern sample (p = 0.033).

Subsistence Mode

To address the effects of subsistence strategy on these populations, I compared group means of variables according to subsistence mode (Nomadic

Pastoral, Agropastoral, and Agricultural pooled samples). It is possible that health stress associated with different economic lifestyles and workload allocations are

152 reflected in various segments of each society. For example, did juveniles experience more stress in the Agricultural or Nomadic Pastoral sample? Did males have more fractures in the Agropastoral or Agricultural sample? Did females have more joint disease under an agrarian lifestyle?

In order to determine possible effects of division of labor based on sex and age and associated health conditions within each economic mode, comparisons were made between juveniles in each group, as well as between adult males and between adult females (Table 8.4; see Appendix, Table A8.2 for associated results of statistical tests). The order in which I present the results of comparisons in pathological markers (for dental health, health and nutrition, and activity) is first

Juveniles, next Adult Males, and then Adult Females.

Finally, it is also recognized that there are age-related changes that can affect the frequency of several variables. Accordingly, I also examined degenerative changes that are correlated with age (see Appendix, Table A8.3), and noted the pattern and distribution of traumatic injuries among adult male and females from different age cohorts (Table A8.4).

153

Table 8.4. Frequencies of patholog ical conditions by economic mode JUVENILES Nom. Pastoral Agropastoral Agriculture Cases % Cases % Cases % AMTL 2 / 61 3% 3 / 41 7% 0 / 5 0% Cavity 2 / 71 3% 5 / 41 12% 0 / 5 0% EH 5 / 43 12% 3 / 37 8% 0 / 3 0% Tib ost.peri. 1 / 45 2% 0 / 29 0% 0 / 3 0% PH 0 / 83 0% 1 / 40 3% 0 / 4 0% CO 17 / 74 23% 11 / 30 37% 0 / 4 0% Upper fx 0 / 115 0% 0 / 40 0% 0 / 3 0% Lower fx 0 / 136 0% 0 / 74 0% 0 / 6 0% Limb fx/ind 0 / 68 0% 0 / 32 0% 0 / 3 0% Cranial fx 2 / 86 2% 0 / 38 0% 0 / 4 0% Nasal fx 0 / 33 0% 0 / 9 0% 0 / 4 0% ADULTS Nomadic Pastoral Agropastoral Agricultural 154 M cases % F cases % M cases % F cases % M cases % F cases % AMTL 43 / 100 43% 50 / 94 53% 85 / 180 47% 88 / 170 52% 3 / 12 25% 4 / 12 33% Cavity 24 / 115 21% 36 / 105 34% 87 / 173 50% 105 / 168 63% 3 / 12 25% 3 / 11 27% TMJ DJD 16 / 93 17% 14 / 90 16% 22 / 175 13% 26 / 161 16% 3 / 11 27% 5 / 12 42% EH 15 / 101 15% 4 / 92 4% 18 / 158 11% 15 / 151 10% 1 / 11 9% 4 / 10 40% Tib ost.peri. 2 / 69 3% 2 / 60 3% 10 / 150 7% 8 / 160 5% 0 / 9 0% 0 / 7 0% PH 3 / 100 3% 1 / 98 1% 1 / 169 1% 2 / 163 1% 0 / 12 0% 0 / 10 0% CO 10 / 93 11% 12 / 97 12% 18 / 161 11% 2 / 145 1% 1 / 12 8% 0 / 10 0% Upper fx 5 / 146 3% 2 / 131 2% 6 / 278 2% 3 / 264 1% 1 / 12 8% 1 / 14 7% Lower fx 4 / 200 2% 2 / 183 1% 12 / 383 3% 1 / 399 0% 1 / 27 4% 1 / 22 5% Limb fx/ind 8 / 96 9% 4 / 86 5% 18 / 177 10% 4 / 176 2% 2 / 13 15% 2 / 11 18% Cranial fx 13 / 101 13% 9 / 103 9% 5 / 174 3% 1 / 162 1% 1 / 11 9% 1 / 10 10% Nasal fx 4 / 69 6% 1 / 65 2% 2 / 67 3% 0 / 70 0% 1 / 11 9% 0 / 9 0% Shdr DJD 19 / 58 33% 9 / 47 19% 31 / 100 31% 25 / 90 28% 0 / 5 0% 3 / 6 50% Elbow DJD 18 / 59 31% 19 / 53 36% 42 / 112 38% 24 / 107 23% 2 / 7 29% 2 / 6 33% Hip DJD 15 / 97 15% 18 / 87 21% 21 / 153 14% 16 / 156 10% 4 / 16 25% 4 / 15 27% Knee DJD 29 / 83 35% 21 / 78 27% 60 / 155 39% 43 / 159 27% 7 / 15 47% 6 / 12 50%

Juveniles

Dental Health

There were no significant differences in the incidence of paleopathological and dietary variables in juveniles from difference subsistence modes (Table A8.2).

Despite the lack of differences at the level of significance, there were notable trends. In particular, Agropastoral children have a greater rate of AMTL (7%) and carious lesions (12%) than do the Nomadic Pastoral juvenile sample (3% for both).

Health and Nutrition

There is also a greater rate of cribra orbitalia in the Agropastoral juvenile sample (37%) relative to the Nomadic Pastoral sample (23%). However Nomadic

Pastoral children experienced a higher rate of enamel hypoplastic lesions (12%) compared to Agropastoral children (8%). The sample of Agricultural children was small and none had any observed incidences of paleopathological markers.

Activity

There were rarely any cases of fractures in any of the juvenile samples. The only instances of trauma were two cases of blunt force cranial fractures in the

Nomadic Pastoral juvenile sample that were healed, and one healed metatarsal fracture in an Agorpastoral juvenile. All cases were adolescents (between 12-17 years old).

155 Adult Males

Dental Health

Agropastoral males have a higher rate of carious lesions (87/173, 50%) than the Nomadic Pastoral (24/115, 21%) and Agricultural (3/12, 25%) samples, which is highly significant (p ≤ 0.001, Table A8.2). While not at the level of significance,

Nomadic Pastoral and Agropastoral males have higher rates of AMTL (43% and

47% respectively) than the Agricultural group (25%).

Health and Nutrition

There are no significant differences among the males in indicators of non- specific stress. However, there are slightly higher rates of the enamel hypoplasia and porotic hyperostosis in the Nomadic Pastoral group than the other two groups and both the Nomadic Pastoral and Agropastoral groups share a similar rate of cribra orbitalia (11%) that is higher than that in the Agropastoral sample (8%). The

Agropastoral sample has the highest rate of osteoperiostitis (9%) compared to the

Nomad ic Pastoral sample (4%) and zero cases among the Agricultural males.

In terms of long bone lengths, there are significant differences in group means of the humerus, femur, and tibia (Tables 8.5, 8.6). In all instances, the

Nomadic Pastoral male sample has significantly longer average measurements of these long bones compared to the Agropastoral male sample. While not at the level of significance, these measures are also slightly longer measures than those in the

Agricultural group.

156 Table 8.5. Mean long bone lengths (in cm) by economic mode HUMERUS FEMUR TIBIA # M # F # M # F # M # F Nom. Pastoral 38 31.84 32 29.2 71 44.49 66 40.7 47 36.39 43 33.27 Agropastoral 83 31.06 75 29.03 133 43.72 141 40.38 124 34.63 132 32.45 Agricu ltural 4 32.02 5 29.96 12 44.18 12 40.93 8 36.01 7 33.51

Table 8.6. Inter-economy statistical comparison of male long bong lengths Bone Significant Statistic d.f. p-value LSD Post Hoc Humerus Yes F=5.067 2, 122 0.008 NP vs. Agropast Femur Yes F=3.176 2, 213 0.044 NP vs. Agropast Tibia Yes F=16.770 2, 176 0 NP vs. Agropast

Activity

With respect to cranial fractures, Nomadic Pastoral males have a greater rate

(13%) than do Agropastoral males (3%) that is significant (p = 0.002). This rate is somewhat higher than the rate in Agricultural males (9%). While not at the level of significance, the Agricultural sample has higher frequencies of nasal and long bone fractures than the other groups, though the samples sizes are considerably smaller in the Agricultural sample. Also not at the level of significance are any differences in the frequencies of joint disease in the shoulder, elbow, hip and knee among the three economic groups. In fact there is much similarity, especially between the

Nomadic Pastoral and Agropastoral samples.

Adult Females

Dental Health

The carious lesion rate of Agropastoral females (63%) is significantly greater relative to the rates in the Nomadic Pastoral (34%, p ≤ 0.001) and

Agricultural (27%, p = 0.027) female samples. While not at the level of

157 significance, the Nomadic Pastoral and Agropastoral groups have higher rates of

AMTL (53% and 52% respectively) than the Agricultural group (33%). In contrast, the latter has a higher frequency of TMJ disease (42%) than the other two (both

16%).

Health a nd N utrition

Nomadic Pastoral females have a significantly greater rate of cribra orbitalia compared to the Agropastoral sample (p ≤ 0.001). The Agricultural sample has a greater incidence of enamel hypoplastic lesions relative to the Nomadic Pastoral (p

= 0.003) and Agropastoral (p = 0.019) female groups.

The comparisons of long bone measures show that only tibial length differs significantly among the samples, with Nomadic Pastoral female sample having longer average tibial length than the Agropastoral group (Tables 8.5, 8.7).

Table 8.7. Inter-economy statistical comparison of female long bong lengths Bone Significant Statistic d.f. p-value LSD Post Hoc Humerus n.s. F=1.370 2, 109 0.258 - Femur n.s. F=1.014 2, 216 0.364 - Tibia Yes F=5.208 2, 179 0.006 NP vs. Agropast

Activity

Nomadic Pastoral females suffered significantly (see Table A8.2) greater rates of hip DJD (21%, p = 0.033) and cranial trauma (9%, p = 0.001) compared to the Agropastoral sample (10% hip DJD; 1% cranial fracture). The Agricultural sample has a significantly greater incidence of long bone fractures relative (18%, p

= 0.042) to the Agropastoral sample (2%). This rate is also higher than that found among Nomadic Pastoral females (5%), though not at the level of significance.

158 Total Adult Population

To explore economic mode differences among “adults” in general, I combined adult male and female samples within each economic group to create a

“Total Adult Population” for each economic group (as discussed in Chapter 7, sex ratios are relatively similar among all groups). When this is done, a pattern of statistically significant differences in pathological conditions is found that parallels that seen when males and females were considered separately, as presented below

(Table 8.8, see Appendix, Table A8.2 for statistical results).

Table 8.8. Adult frequencies of pathological conditions by economic mode NP Adult Agpast Adult Ag Adult Cases % Cases % Cases % AMTL 93 / 194 48% 173 / 350 49% 7 / 24 29% Cavity 60 / 220 27% 192 / 341 56% 6 / 23 26% TMJ DJD 30 / 183 16% 48 / 336 14% 8 / 23 35% EH 19 / 193 10% 33 / 309 11% 5 / 21 24% Tib osteoperi. 5 / 129 4% 21 / 310 7% 0 / 16 0% PH 4 / 198 2% 3 / 332 1% 0 / 22 0% CO 22 / 190 12% 20 / 306 7% 1 / 22 5% Upper fx 7 / 277 3% 9 / 542 2% 2 / 26 8% Lower fx 6 / 383 2% 13 / 782 2% 2 / 49 4% Limb fx/ind 12 / 182 7% 22 / 353 6% 4 / 24 17% Cranial fx 22 / 204 11% 6 / 336 2% 2 / 21 10% Nasal fx 5 / 134 4% 2 / 137 1% 1 / 20 5% Shdr D JD 28 / 105 27% 56 / 190 29% 3 / 11 27% Elbow DJD 37 / 112 33% 66 / 216 31% 4 / 13 31% Hip DJD 33 / 184 18% 37 / 309 12% 8 / 31 26% Knee DJD 50 / 161 31% 103 / 314 33% 13 / 27 48%

Dental Health

For pathological conditions associated with diet, there are significant differences in several instances. The rate of carious lesions in the Agropastoral adult

159 sample is significantly higher than the other groups (p ≤ 0.001). In the prevalence of

TMJ disease, Agricultural adults have a higher rate than the Nomadic Pastoral (p =

0.044) and Agropastoral (p = 0.016) groups. In contrast, although not at the level of significance, the Nomadic Pastoral and Agropastoral groups have similarly higher rates (48%, 49%) of AMTL than the Agricultural (29%) total adult sample.

Health and Nutrition

The Agricultural adult sample has the highest rate of enamel hypoplasia among all three groups, whereas the Nomadic Pastoral group has the highest rate of cribra orbitalia. Osteoperiostitis is highest among the Agropastoral sample.

However, none of these differences were at the level of significance.

Sexual dimorphism was also addressed by calculating the ratio of female to male long bone measures (of the humerus, femur, and tibia) for each subsistence mode. I then compared these female to male ratios across the economic modes. The closer to 100% the female to male long bone measure ratio fell, then the more similar the sexes were and the smaller the degree of sexual dimorphism.

Conversely, the further from 100% the ratio fell, the greater the degree of sexual dimorphism (Table 8.9)

As seen in Table 8.9, sexual dimorphism is greatest among the Nomadic

Pastoralists in all cases, most often followed by the Agropastoral population, who in turn have greater sexual dimorphism than the Agricultural population (except the tibia, where the Agriculturalists have greater dimorphism than the Agropastoralists).

160 Table 8.9. Degree of sexual dimorphism in long bone lengths by economic groups (where NP = nomadic pastoral, Agpa = agropastoral, AG = agricultural) Nomadic Sexual Bone Pastoralism Agropastoralism Agriculture Dimorphism Humerus 92.10% 93.30% 94.40% NP>Agpa>AG Femur 91.30% 92.40% 92.60% NP>Agpa>AG Tibia 91.00% 93.70% 93.20% NP>AG>Agpa

Activity

For activity-related skeletal changes, the Nomadic Pastoralists have a significantly higher rate of cranial fractures than the Agropastoralists (p ≤ 0.001).

The Agricultural group has a significantly higher rate of hip DJD than the

Agropastoralists in the total adult sample (p = 0.047). Of note is the fact that in the adult female comparison, the Nomadic Pastoral sample has a higher rate of this condition than do the Agropastoralists.

Age Correlations

Included in this study are several health variables that are likely to have a strong association with age. That is, the frequency of certain degenerative changes may increase with age owing to cumulative exposure to insults and risk. The variables examined include: AMTL, carious lesions, fractures, and joint disease. I examined the distribution of these pathological conditions within each age cohort to investigate whether these variables do vary according to age. These age cohorts are

Young Adult (YA), Middle Adult (MA), and Old Adult (OA).

For each variable, the proportion that each age cohort contributed to the total count of affected adult individuals of a given variable was calculated to determine

161 the influence of differences in age structure on the results (Table 8.10). There is a pattern of higher frequencies of affected individuals overall in the Young Adult and

Middle Adult categories, which may reflect the age structures of the samples.

Specifically, there were sample size limitations in the Old Adult category from differential sampling problems as discussed in Chapter 7, so that in samples from all sites, younger adults were more prevalent. However, where individuals of this oldest age group were found, they often displayed pathological lesions.

162 Table 8.10. Distribution of affected cases in age cohorts by economic mode MALE FEMALE

# # Marker YA MA OA YA MA OA Affected Affected Nomadic Pastoral AMTL 41 / 94 37% 46% 17% 48 / 89 31% 31% 38% Cavity 22 / 107 59% 32% 9% 33 / 97 45% 27% 27% TMJ DJD 13 / 87 31% 46% 23% 14 / 83 14% 50% 36% Cranial fx 11 / 95 45% 36% 18% 9 / 96 67% 0% 33% Nasal fx 4 / 67 50% 25% 25% 1 / 64 0% 100% 0% Upper fx 4 / 129 75% 25% 0% 2 / 116 50% 0% 50% Lower fx 4 / 167 75% 25% 0% 1 / 165 0% 100% 0% Shd DJD 14 / 49 21% 50% 29% 8 / 40 25% 13% 63% Elb DJD 13 / 50 38% 46% 15% 18 / 46 39% 17% 44% Hip DJD 14 / 87 29% 43% 29% 18 / 82 11% 33% 56% Knee DJD 22 / 69 36% 41% 23% 20 / 70 25% 20% 55% Agropastoral AMTL 76 / 166 28% 64% 8% 79 / 150 24% 53% 23% Cavity 82 / 160 32% 61% 7% 93 / 148 35% 44% 20% TMJ DJD 22 / 164 32% 64% 5% 24 / 147 17% 67% 17% Cranial fx 5 / 164 20% 80% 0% 1 / 145 0% 100% 0% Nasal fx 1 / 67 0% 100% 0% 0 / 67 N/A N/A N/A Upper fx 6 / 242 83% 17% 0% 3 / 242 33% 67% 0% Lower fx 11 / 314 36% 55% 9% 1 / 354 0% 0% 100% Shd DJD 26 / 85 23% 54% 23% 24 / 82 21% 50% 29% Elb DJD 35 / 94 31% 54% 14% 24 / 95 21% 50% 29% Hip DJD 18 / 89 33% 56% 11% 16 / 136 0% 50% 50% Knee DJD 51 / 126 31% 57% 12% 35 / 134 11% 57% 31% Agricultural AMTL 3 / 12 67% 0% 33% 4 / 10 0% 75% 25% Cavity 3 / 10 67% 0% 33% 2 / 6 100% 0% 0% TMJ DJD 3 / 11 33% 33% 33% 5 / 10 20% 80% 0% Cranial fx 1 / 11 0% 100% 0% 1 / 10 100% 0% 0% Nasal fx 1 / 11 0% 0% 100% 0 / 9 N/A N/A N/A Upper fx 0 / 7 N/A N/A N/A 0 / 3 N/A N/A N/A Lower fx 0 / 18 N/A N/A N/A 0 / 4 N/A N/A N/A Shd DJD 0 / 2 N/A N/A N/A 1 / 1 0% 0% 100% Elb DJD 1 / 4 100% 0% 0% 1 / 4 0% 0% 100% Hip DJD 4 / 12 25% 75% 0% 3 / 6 0% 33% 67% Knee DJD 5 / 11 40% 40% 20% 3 / 3 0% 67% 33%

163

The percentage of affected individuals samples within each age cohort were then examined to determine which age cohort had the highest frequency of a given pathological condition (Table 8.11). Across all samples, the trend is for higher rates of affected individuals in the older age categories (Middle Adult and Old Adult), such as found in the indicators of dental disease and joint disease. However, with respect to fractures, there are some instances of higher frequencies of some forms of fractures in the younger age categories.

164 Table 8.11. Pathological conditions among economic groups within each age cohort MALE Marker Cases %YA Cases % MA Cases % OA Nomadic Pastoral AMTL 15 / 59 25% 19 / 27 15% 7 / 8 88% Cavity 13 / 70 19% 7 / 28 11% 2 / 9 22% TMJ DJD 4 / 53 8% 6 / 28 21% 3 / 6 50% Cranial fx 5 / 59 8% 4 / 27 15% 2 / 9 22% Nasal fx 2 / 42 5% 1 / 19 5% 1 / 6 17% Upper fx 3 / 86 3% 1 / 28 4% 0 / 15 0% Lower fx 3 / 103 3% 1 / 48 2% 0 / 16 0% Shd DJD 3 / 30 10% 7 / 14 50% 4 / 5 80% Elb DJD 5 / 32 16% 6 / 13 46% 2 / 5 40% Hip DJD 4 / 55 7% 6 / 24 25% 4 / 8 50% Knee DJD 8 / 43 19% 9 / 19 47% 5 / 7 71% Agropastoral AMTL 21 / 80 26% 49 / 76 64% 6 / 10 60% Cavity 26 / 77 34% 50 / 74 68% 6 / 9 67% TMJ DJD 7 / 77 9% 14 / 77 18% 1 / 10 10% Cranial fx 1 / 76 1% 4 / 78 5% 0 / 10 0% Nasal fx 0 / 32 0% 1 / 32 3% 0 / 3 0% Upper fx 5 / 127 4% 1 / 93 1% 0 / 22 0% Lower fx 4 /156 3% 6 / 138 4% 1 / 20 5% Shd DJD 6 / 45 13% 14 / 32 44% 6 / 8 75% Elb DJD 11 / 50 22% 19 / 36 53% 5 / 8 63% Hip DJD 6 / 47 13% 10 / 34 29% 2 / 8 25% Knee DJD 16 / 61 26% 29 / 57 51% 6 / 8 75% Agricultural AMTL 2 / 8 25% 0 / 2 0% 1 / 2 50% Cavity 2 / 7 29% 0 / 1 0% 1 / 2 50% TMJ DJD 1 / 8 13% 1 / 1 100% 1 / 2 50% Cranial fx 0 / 7 0% 1 / 2 50% 0 / 2 0% Nasal fx 0 / 8 0% 0 / 1 0% 1 / 2 50% Upper fx 0 / 7 0% 0 / 0 0% 0 / 0 0% Lower fx 0 / 14 0% 0 / 3 0% 0 / 1 0% Shd DJD 0 / 2 0% 0 / 0 0% 0 / 0 0% Elb DJD 1 / 4 25% 0 / 0 0% 0 / 0 0% Hip DJD 1 / 7 14% 3 / 4 75% 0 / 1 0% Knee DJD 2 / 8 25% 2 / 2 100% 1 / 1 100%

165 (Table 8.11 continued) FEMALE Marker Cases %YA Cases % MA Cases % OA Nomadic Pastoral AMTL 15 / 41 37% 15 / 22 68% 18 / 26 69% Cavity 15 / 50 30% 9 / 25 36% 9 / 22 41% TMJ DJD 2 / 37 5% 7 / 23 30% 5 / 23 22% Cranial fx 6 / 47 13% 0 / 22 0% 3 / 27 11% Nasal fx 0 / 30 0% 1 / 14 7% 0 / 20 0% Upper fx 1 / 59 2% 0 / 22 0% 1 / 35 3% Lower fx 0 / 82 0% 1 / 40 3% 0 / 43 0% Shd DJD 2 / 19 11% 1 / 8 13% 5 / 13 38% Elb DJD 7 / 23 30% 3 / 10 30% 8 / 13 62% Hip DJD 2 / 38 5% 6 / 22 27% 10 / 22 45% Knee DJD 5 / 35 14% 4 / 17 24% 11 / 18 61% Agropastoral AMTL 19 / 69 28% 42/ 60 70% 18 / 21 86% Cavity 33 / 69 48% 41 / 58 71% 19 / 21 90% TMJ DJD 4 / 68 6% 16 / 59 27% 4 / 20 20% Cranial fx 0 / 69 0% 1 / 58 2% 0 / 18 0% Nasal fx 0 / 33 0% 0 / 23 0% 0 / 11 0% Upper fx 1 / 100 1% 2 / 110 2% 0 / 32 0% Lower fx 0 / 144 0% 0 / 142 0% 1 / 68 1% Shd DJD 5 / 37 14% 12 / 32 38% 7 / 13 54% Elb DJD 5 / 39 13% 12 / 42 29% 7 / 14 50% Hip DJD 0 / 53 0% 8 / 57 14% 8 / 26 31% Knee DJD 4 / 56 7% 20 / 53 38% 11 /25 44% Agricultural AMTL 0 / 4 0% 3 / 5 60% 1 / 1 100% Cavity 2 / 3 67% 0 / 2 0% 0 / 1 0% TMJ DJD 1 / 4 25% 4 / 5 80% 0 / 1 0% Cranial fx 1 / 4 25% 0 / 5 0% 0 / 1 0% Nasal fx 0 / 40%0 / 40%0 / 10% Upper fx 0 / 00%0 / 40%0 / 30% Lower fx 0 / 00%0 / 00%0 / 30% Shd DJD 0 / 0 0% 0 / 1 0% 1 / 1 100% Elb DJD 0 / 0 0% 0 / 0 0% 1 / 1 100% Hip DJD 1 / 0 0% 1 / 2 50% 2 / 3 67% Knee DJD 0 / 0 0% 2 / 2 100% 1 / 1 100%

166 In the following section, the comparisons of each age cohort by mode of subsistence are described, referring to results in Table 8.10 (see Appendix, Table

A8.3 for results of statistical tests). Males are considered first, so that comparisons among Young Adult males from each economic group in paleopathological markers are discussed, followed by Middle Adult males, and Old Adult males. The same order applies in the description of female age cohorts. Significant results are highlighted, as are trends in finds, even if not at the level of significance.

Males

Among the males of the Young Adult cohort, the three economic groups differ significantly only in the rate of carious lesions, where the rate of Agropastoral males with carious lesions is significantly higher than that of Nomadic Pastoral males (p = 0.041). While not at the level of significance, Young Adult nomads have a higher rate than the other two groups in the rate of cranial trauma (p = 0.086 when compared to the Agropastoral sample). However, the trend in oral health is for a greater rate of AMTL, cavities, and TMJ disease in the Agropastoral and

Agricultural groups, while the Nomadic Pastoral sample has greater rates of nearly all types of fractures observed (except fractures of the upper limbs). The rates of degenerative changes the four joints are generally higher in the Agropastoral and

Agricultural groups.

Among Middle Adult males, there is a significant difference in the rate of individuals with carious lesions. Agropastoral males of that age group have a greater frequency (68%) of carious lesions compared to the Nomadic Pastoral group

167 (11%, p ≤ 0.001), while the Agricultural group has no cases of cavities. The Middle

Adult Agropastoral group also has a greater frequency of AMTL than the other two groups with 64% versus 15% in the Nomadic Pastoral group, and 0% in the

Agricultural group. In general, there are few Middle Adult males for observation in the Agricultural group, while the Agropastoral and Nomadic Pastoral samples share similar frequencies of joint disease and fractures, though the nomads have a higher rate of cranial trauma (if we ignore the single observation of an Agricultural cranium, which does have a fracture).

There are no significant differences among the male groups in the Old Adult cohort, but the Nomadic Pastoral group has a higher rate of AMTL, while carious lesions are higher in the Agropastoral group. Fractures are somewhat rare, but cranial fractures are highest (22%) in nomads, while the rates of DJD are generally high in all groups (hip DJD is highest among Nomadic Pastoral males, while

Agropastoral males have a higher rate of elbow DJD). Again, there were few observations from the Agricultural sample, but where available, their Old Adult individuals were affected.

Females

Among females of the Young Adult cohort, the Agricultural group has the highest rate (25%), but owing to the small sample size it is not at the level of significance (p = 0.457). Also not at the level of significance, Nomadic Pastoral females have a greater rate of AMTL (37%) than the other two groups, but the

Agricultural females have the highest rate of cavities (67%) and the highest rate of

168 TMJ osteoarthritis (25%). Nomadic Pastoral Young Adult females have a significantly higher rate (13%, p = 0.036) of cranial fractures than do the

Agropastoral females (0%). Other degenerative changes and fractures are relatively rare in all groups of Young Adult females.

In Middle Adult comparisons of females, there are two findings at the level of signficance. With respect to oral health, Agropastoral females have a significantly higher rate of carious lesions (71%, p = 0.006) than the Nomadic

Pastoral group (36%. The Agricultural group has a significantly greater rate of TMJ disease (80%, p = 0.030) than the Agropastoral sample (27%). The rates of AMTL are similar among all groups of Middle Adult females (60-70%). Fractures are generally rare occurrences in all groups, with the cases mostly in the Nomadic

Pastoral and Agropastoral samples. While not at the level of significance, the

Agropastoral group has a greater rate of shoulder DJD (38%) than Nomadic

Pastoral females (13%), and no cases in the Agricultural group. The latter group has the highest rates of joint disease in the hip and knee despite small samples sizes (1/2 and 2/2 affected cases respectively).

Among Older Adult females, indicators of oral disease were generally higher in the Agropastoral group, which has a significantly higher rate of carious lesions (90%, p = 0.001) than the Nomadic Pastoral group (41%). The Nomadic

Pastoral group also has a greater frequency of cranial fractures (11%) than both other samples, though not at the level of significance. While in general there were few Old Adult Agricultural samples, this group does have the highest rates of DJD

169 in the all limb joints, while Nomadic Pastoral females have higher rates of DJD compared to Agropastoral females in all joints except the shoulder.

Level of Imperial Influence

The following section presents the results of comparisons between samples that lived under different periods of imperial influence. These samples all derive from the “Inner” zone near Chinese borders such as the defensive long walls and the eventual Great Wall that marked the limits of Chinese control. The Pre-imperial sample consists of the Jinggouzi collection of the North-central Nomadic Pastoral people from Inner Mongolia. The Early Imperial sample derives from the

Lamadong North-eastern Agropastoral burial population from Manchuria. The

Middle Imperial sample consists of the pooled Yuan Dynasty sample from Inner

Mongolia, a mixture of North-eastern and North-central Agricultural people.

I compared the juvenile, male, and female groups in the health, diet, and activity paleopathological markers (Table 8.12) and with respect to group means of adult long bone lengths (Table 8.13). Within each discussion of compared period of influence (i.e., Pre- vs. Early Imperial, Pre- vs. Middle Imperial, Early vs. Middle

Imperial), I start with results pertaining to comparisons of the juvenile samples, followed by males, and then females. The results of tests for levels of significance for paleopathological variables are located in the Appendix (Table A8.5), as are the results of statistical tests conducted on long bone lengths (Table A8.6). One constraint to the statistical power of analysis to bear in mind is the relatively small sample size from the Middle Imperial period.

170 Table 8.12. Frequencies of health variables by level of imperial influence by time Pre-imperial Early Imperial Middle Imperial JUVENILES Cases % Cases % Cases % AMTL 0 / 6 0% 3 / 42 7% 0 / 3 0% Cavity 0 / 17 0% 5 / 40 13% 0 / 3 0% EH 0 / 10 0% 3 / 23 13% 0 / 1 0% Tib ost eoperi 0 / 19 0% 0 / 21 0% 0 / 2 0% PH 0 / 36 0% 1 / 35 3% 0 / 2 0% CO 2 / 28 7% 11 / 36 31% 0 / 2 0% Limb fx/indiv 0 / 31 0% 0 / 31 0% 0 / 2 0% Cranial fx 0 / 38 0% 0 / 37 0% 0 / 2 0% Nasal fx 0 / 3 0% 0 / 23 0% 0 / 2 0% MALE Cases % Cases % Cases % AMTL 0 / 4 0% 85 / 180 47% 3 / 10 30% Cavity 0 / 17 0% 87 / 173 50% 3 / 10 30% TMJ DJD 0 / 3 0% 22 / 175 13% 3 / 10 30% EH 0 / 15 0% 18 / 158 11% 0 / 9 0% Tib osteoperi 0 / 23 0% 10 / 150 7% 0 / 5 0% PH 0 / 10 0% 1 / 169 1% 0 / 10 0% CO 0 / 9 0% 18 / 161 11% 0 / 10 0% Limb fx/indiv 4 / 27 15% 18 / 177 10% 1 / 9 11% Cranial fx 0 / 11 0% 5 / 174 3% 0 / 9 0% Nasal fx 0 / 9 0% 2 / 67 3% 1 / 10 10% Shoulder DJD 2 / 18 11% 31 / 100 31% 0 / 1 0% Elbow DJD 2 / 18 11% 42 / 112 38% 2 / 3 67% Hip DJD 2 / 24 8% 21 / 153 14% 4 / 12 33% Knee DJD 4 / 25 16% 60 / 155 39% 7 / 11 64% FEMALE Cases % Cases % Cases % AMTL 5 / 11 45% 88 / 170 52% 4 / 9 44% Cavity 2 / 24 8% 105 / 168 63% 2 / 8 25% TMJ DJD 1 / 8 13% 26 / 161 16% 4 / 9 44% EH 0 / 21 0% 15 / 151 10% 3 / 8 38% Tib osteoperi 0 / 19 0% 8 / 160 5% 0 / 3 0% PH 0 / 17 0% 2 / 163 1% 0 / 7 0% CO 1 / 15 7% 22 / 145 15% 0 / 7 0% Limb fx/indiv 3 / 29 10% 4 / 176 2% 1 / 7 14% Cranial fx 5 / 18 28% 1 / 162 1% 1 / 7 14% Nasal fx 0 / 12 0% 0 / 70 0% 0 / 7 0% Shoulder DJD 1 / 16 6% 25 / 90 28% 2 / 2 100% Elbow DJD 2 / 19 11% 24 / 104 23% 2 / 2 100% Hip DJD 0 / 26 0% 16 / 156 10% 4 / 11 36% Knee DJD 1 / 27 4% 43 / 159 27% 4 / 8 50%

171 Table 8.13. Mean long bone lengths (in cm) by period of imperial influence HUMERUS FEMUR TIBIA # M # F # M # F # M # F Pre-Imperial 3 31.67 2 28.48 19 43.08 24 39.58 7 35.29 8 32.02 Early Imperial 84 31.1 75 29.01 133 43.72 141 40.38 124 34.63 132 32.45 Middle Imperial 1 33.5 2 28.50 9 43.63 8 39.79 5 35.39 3 32.25

Pre-imperial vs. Early Imperial

Juveniles of the different periods of Pre- and Early Imperial control differ significantly in one marker, cribra orbitalia. The Early Imperial sample has a higher frequency of cribra orbitalia (37%, p = 0.011) than the Pre-imperial sample (7%). In all other markers, the Pre-imperial juvenile sample has no cases of affected individuals.

Among adult males of these two periods, the Pre-imperial sample has a greater frequency of affected cases in only one variable, long bone fractures (15% vs. 10% in Early Imperial), which is not at the level of significance. In all other variables observed, the Early Imperial has higher incidences. In particular, the Early

Imperial sample has significantly greater frequencies of carious lesions (p ≤ 0.001) and DJD of the elbow (p = 0.032) and knee (p = 0.041). There are no significant differences between males in the group mean lengths of the humerus, femur, or tibia, though the Pre-imperial sample has slightly longer mean lengths of the femur and tibia.

Among the adult females under comparison, the Early Imperial sample has significantly greater rates of carious lesions (p ≤ 0.001), and DJD of the shoulder (p

= 0.048) and knee (p = 0.006). The rates of AMTL and TMJ disease are slightly

172 higher in the Early Imperial sample, as are non-specific markers of stress and rates of degenerative joint disease (not at level of significance). The Pre-imperial sample has higher rates of long bone fractures and has a significantly higher incidence of cranial trauma (p ≤ 0.001; Table 8.14). There is no significant difference in comparisons between humeral group means, nor tibial means, but the femoral group mean o f the Early Imperial sample (x¯ = 40.38cm) is significantly greater than that of the Pre-imperial sample (x¯ = 39.58cm, t = -2.266, d.f., 163, p = 0.025).

Table 8.14. Cranial trauma (5/18, 28%) in the Pre-imperial Jinggouzi female sample Age Side Bone Trauma State Weapon YA L Frontal Cut Healed Blade YA R Parietal/occipital Cut Healed Blade YA L Parietal Depressed fxHealed Blunt OA R Parietal Cut Healed Blade *OA 1) L Parietal Depressed fx Healed Blunt 2) L Parietal Depressed fx Healed Blunt 3) L Parietal Depressed fx Healed Blunt *Three depressed fractures in this Old Adult female

Pre-imperial vs. Middle Imperial

Within the juvenile samples of these two periods, there are no significant differences in any of the variables observed. It must be noted that in nearly all of these variables, the Middle Imperial juvenile sample did not have any affected individuals, perhaps owing to the small sample size.

Middle Imperial adult males have significantly higher rates of carious lesions (p = 0.041) and knee DJD (p = 0.008). Though not at the level of significance, the Middle Imperial sample has higher rates in all other variables except long bone fractures and shoulder osteoarthritis.

173 In the comparison of females, Middle Imperial females have a greater frequency of enamel hypoplasia that is at the level of significance (p = 0.015), as well as significantly greater rates of DJD in the shoulder (p = 0.020), elbow (p =

0.029), hip (p = 0.005), and knee (p = 0.006). The group also has slightly higher rates of carious lesions, TMJ disease, and long bone fractures, while the rates of cribra orbitalia and cranial trauma are somewhat higher in the Pre-imperial group.

In the comparison of group means of limb measures, there are no significant differences between Pre-imperial and Middle Imperial samples in mean lengths in any of the bones. This lack of significant differences is true for comparisons between both the male samples and female samples of each period.

Early Imperial vs. Middle Imperial

In the comparison of juveniles of these two time periods, there are no significant differences in any of the variables observed. Again, the small sample size of the Middle Imperial period must be considered.

Among adult males, there are also no differences in frequencies of health variables that are at the level of significance. Despite the lack of statistical significance, the Early Imperial male sample does have greater rates of AMTL and carious lesions, as well as non-specific markers of stress, while the rates of fractures are sim ilar between periods. Joint disease is higher in the Middle Imperial sample except for the shoulder.

Among adult females, the Early Imperial sample has a significantly higher frequency of carious lesions (p = 0.05) and a slightly higher rate of AMTL. While

174 not quite at the level of significance, the Middle Imperial female sample also has a greater rate of TMJ disease (p = 0.053). In markers of non-specific stress, the

Middle Imperial sample has greater rates of enamel hypoplasia (p = 0.048), while the Early period has greater rates of osteoperiostitis and cranial porosities (not at level of significance). The Middle Imperial period has greater rates of DJD in general (note small sample size), which is significant for the hip DJD (p = 0.029), and close to significant in the elbow DJD (p = 0.058).

The differences in group mean lengths of the humerus, tibia, and femur for comparisons within both the male and female samples of the Early Imperial and

Middle Imperial period are not at the level of significance. There is no consistent pattern to which period has greater body size based on the individual elements.

Inner Zone vs. Outer Zone

The “Inner” zone comprises those sites located in the northeast by the Great

Wall (or long walls that preceded it in the case of Pre-imperial collections). These

Inner zone samples are divided by time period. One is the site of Jinggouzi, the

North-central Nomadic Pastoral sample, which is from the Pre-imperial era. The second comes from the Early Imperial era site of Lamadong from Inner Mongolia, which is a North-eastern Agropastoral sample.

The “Outer” zone samples derive from Xinjiang to the northwest. Outer zone samples consist of the pooled Nomadic Pastoral Iron Age samples; these span

175 the Pre-imperial to Early Imperial era1. Note the differences in region of origin and mode of economy between all Inner and Outer zone samples, which have been addressed in other statistical tests previously. These regional and economic differences may also account for, or at least contribute to, any differences between

Inner and Outer zone comparisons seen in these results.

As in the previous section, results for comparisons are presented in the following order of juveniles, males, and females within the discussion of Inner zone

Pre-imp erial vs. Outer zone and Inner zone Early Imperial vs. Outer zone.

Frequencies of observed variables are found in Table 8.15 (statistical results in the

Appendix, Table A8.7), while long bone measures are presented in Table 8.16 and statistical results of those comparisons located in the Appendix (Table A8.8).

1 The Bronze Age sample is excluded because it was too small and preceded the imperial age in China, while it is the purpose of this section to examine Outer zone interaction in the imperial age. Likewise, the Middle Imperial sample was not included because it exceeded the time period of those in the Outer zone. The Outer zone samples overlapped with the range of dates in the Pre-imperial Jinggouzi and Early Imperial Lamadong sites of the Inner Zone.

176 Table 8.15. Frequencies of health variables by imperial influence and zone INNER ZONE INNER ZONE OUTER ZONE Pre-Imp. (N.Past) Early Imp. (Agpa) (Nomadic Past.) JUVENILES Cases % Cases % Cases % AMTL 0 / 6 0% 3 / 42 7% 0 / 42 0% Cavity 0 / 17 0% 5 / 40 13% 2 / 40 5% EH 0 / 10 0% 3 / 23 13% 3 / 23 13% Tib osteoperi 0 / 19 0% 0 / 21 0% 1 / 21 5% PH 0 / 36 0% 1 / 35 3% 0 / 35 0% CO 2 / 28 7% 11 / 36 31% 13 / 36 36% Limb f x/indiv 0 / 31 0% 0 / 31 0% 0 / 31 0% Cranial fx 0 / 38 0% 0 / 37 0% 1 / 37 3% Nasal fx 0 / 3 0% 0 / 23 0% 0 / 23 0% MALE Cases % Cases % Cases % AMTL 0 / 4 0% 85 / 180 47% 34 / 65 52% Cavity 0 / 17 0% 87 / 173 50% 17 / 65 26% TMJ DJD 0 / 3 0% 22 / 175 13% 13 / 61 21% EH 0 / 15 0% 18 / 158 11% 6 / 57 11% Tib osteoperi 0 / 23 0% 10 / 150 7% 1 / 37 3% PH 0 / 10 0% 1 / 169 1% 2 / 59 3% CO 0 / 9 0% 18 / 161 11% 9 / 56 16% Limb fx/indiv 4 / 27 15% 18 / 177 10% 4 / 57 7% Cranial fx 0 / 11 0% 5 / 174 3% 11 / 58 19% Nasal fx 0 / 9 0% 2 / 67 3% 4 / 51 8% Shoulder DJD 2 / 18 11% 31 / 100 31% 15 / 31 48% Elbow DJD 2 / 18 11% 42 / 112 38% 14 / 34 41% Hip DJD 2 / 24 8% 21 / 153 14% 10 / 54 19% Knee DJD 4 / 25 16% 60 / 155 39% 23 / 52 44% FEMALE Cases % Cases % Cases % AMTL 5 / 11 45% 88 / 170 52% 33 / 54 61% Cavity 2 / 24 8% 105 / 168 63% 20 / 53 38% TMJ DJD 1 / 8 13% 26 / 161 16% 10 / 54 19% EH 0 / 21 0% 15 / 151 10% 1 / 46 2% Tib osteoperi 0 / 19 0% 8 / 160 5% 2 / 33 6% PH 0 / 17 0% 2 / 163 1% 0 / 51 0% CO 1 / 15 7% 22 / 145 15% 9 / 52 17% Limb fx/indiv 3 / 29 10% 4 / 176 2% 1 / 44 2% Cranial fx 5 / 18 28% 1 / 162 1% 2 / 51 4% Nasal fx 0 / 12 0% 0 / 70 0% 1 / 43 2% Shoulder DJD 1 / 16 6% 25 / 90 28% 5 / 24 21% Elbow DJD 2 / 19 11% 24 / 104 23% 13 / 25 52% Hip DJD 0 / 26 0% 16 / 156 10% 14 / 45 31% Knee DJD 1 / 27 4% 43 / 159 27% 14 / 40 35%

177 Table 8.16. Mean long bone lengths (in cm) by proximity to imperial influence HUMERUS FEMUR TIBIA # M # F # M # F # M # F Pre-imp/Inner 3 31.67 2 28.48 19 43.08 24 39.58 7 35.29 8 32.02 Early Imp/Inner 84 31.1 75 29.01 133 43.72 141 40.38 124 34.63 132 32.45 Outer Zone 29 31.93 24 29.37 46 45.09 34 41.29 34 36.62 31 33.52

Pre-imperial Inner Zone vs. Outer Zone

Among juveniles of these two zones, there is only one instance of a significant difference between the two. Juveniles from the Outer zone have a greater rate of cribra orbitalia (36%, p = 0.008) than the Pre-imperial Inner zone sample

(7%). The Outer zone juvenile sample also has higher rates of cavities and markers of non-specific stress (enamel hypoplasia and osteoperiostitis), though not at the level of significance.

In the comparison of adult males, the Outer zone sample has a significantly greater prevalence of carious lesions (p = 0.017). Though not at the level of significance, the Outer zone male sample also has higher rates in indicators of dietary paleopathological markers in general, as well as markers of non-specific stress, except osteoperiostitis. The incidence of cranial trauma is more frequent in the Inner zone (see Appendix, Figure A8.1), while joint disease is more frequent in the Outer zone, significant in DJD of the shoulder (p = 0.012), elbow (p = 0.031), and knee (p = 0.021). In comparisons of group mean length of bones in males, the

Outer zone mean femur length (x¯ = 45.09cm) is significantly longer relative to the

Inner zone (x¯ = 43.08cm, t = -3.272, d.f. 63, p = 0.002). The Outer zone male

178 sample likewise has greater mean humeral and tibial lengths, though not at the level of significance.

Females of the Outer zone have higher rates of dietary and non-specific stress markers. The Pre-imperial Inner zone has a greater rate of long bone fractures and a significantly higher rate of cranial trauma in comparison with the Outer zone females (p = 0.011; Figure 8.1). The Outer zone females have significantly greater rates of DJD in the elbow (p = 0.005), hip (p = 0.001), and knee (p = 0.003). While there are no significant differences in humeral and tibial group mean lengths, the

Outer zone sample has a significantly longer femur length (x¯ = 41.29cm) compared to the Inner zone sample (x¯ = 39.58cm, t= -3.231, d.f. 56, p = 0.002).

Figure 8.1. Cranial trauma in Pre-imperial Inner zone females

Early Imperial Inner Zone vs. Outer Zone

In the comparison of juvenile samples from these two zones, there are no significant differences in paleopathological markers between Nomadic Pastoral juveniles of the Iron Age Outer zone and the Agropastoral sample from the Early

179 Imperial Inner zone. The Inner zone has somewhat higher rates of markers of dental disease, while the Outer zone has slightly higher rates of cribra orbitalia and osteoperiostitis.

The comparison of the Inner zone sample of males with those of the Outer zone shows similar rates of AMTL, though the former has a significantly higher rate of carious lesions (p = 0.001), while the Outer zone has a slightly greater frequency

TMJ disease (not significant). With respect to non-specific stress, the Inner zone males have a greater rate of osteoperiostitis, but males of the Outer zone have greater frequencies of cranial porosities, though not at the level of significance.

While the Inner zone sample has a somewhat higher incidence of long bone fractures, the Outer zone group has a significantly higher rate of cranial trauma (p =

0.002) and a slightly higher rate of nasal fractures (not significant). With respect to the comparison mean length of limbs, the Outer zone sample has significantly greater mean lengths in the humerus (t = -2.881, d.f. 110, p = 0.005), femur (t = -

4.005, d.f. 177, p ≤ 0.001), and tibia (t = -5.681, d.f. 156, p ≤ 0.001).

The comparison of females of the Early Imperial Inner zone to the Outer zone shows higher rates of AMTL and TMJ disease in the latter group, but significantly more frequent carious lesions in the Inner zone (p = 0.002). There is a somewhat higher frequency of enamel hyperplasia in the Inner zone, but similar rates be tween the two zones in the other stress markers (osteoperiostitis and cranial porosities). Also not at the level of significance, females of the Inner zone exhibit a higher rate of long bone fractures, while those of the Outer zone have more frequent

180 cranial and nasal trauma. With respect to osteoarthritis, the Outer zone has a greater rate of joint disease, with a significantly higher rate of DJD in the elbow (p = 0.007) and hip (p = 0.001). The comparison of the group means of the humerus shows no significant difference between the Inner and Outer zone female samples. However, the Outer zone sample has significantly longer group mean length of the femur (x¯ =

41.29cm) compared to the Inner zone sample (x¯ = 40.38cm, t = -2.690, d.f. 173, p

=0 .008), as well as the tibia (t = -3.467, d.f. 31, p = 0.001).

Conclusion

This chapter has described the results of the second stage of analysis, where inter-group comparisons in diet, health, and markers of activity and trauma are used to address the major hypotheses of this study. The groups compared include those pooled by region to examine possible local variability, those of different economic modes to test the influence of subsistence strategies on health, and finally those from different time periods and from different geographical proximity to the

Chinese core to assess health consequences of varied levels of imperial influence.

Within each of these groups, comparisons were made based on age and sex, so that appropriate measures of the differential frequencies of these independent variables could be made upon these subsets of society.

The next chapter provides the discussion of these results with respect to the research hypotheses of frontier interaction. Following that are conclusions and final interpretations of these findings.

181 Chapter 9: Discussion

In this study I have analyzed bioarchaeological data to measure the health effects of the hypothesized stress associated with interregional frontier interaction between agricultural China and the northern nomadic pastoralists, including correlations with subsistence mode and violent conflict between groups. This research has had two major aims: 1) to examine the extent to which the practice of differing economic strategies discriminately affected the body in paleopathological markers, and 2) to determine the health impact upon peripheral and frontier societie s associated with the level of imperial (that is, Chinese) influence as measured over different time periods and geographic distances. With respect to the latter consideration I assessed the health consequences that increases in sociopolitical complexity and agricultural dependence had for people living along the Chinese frontier. I also explored possible differences in the frequency of these health indicators among men, women and children to assess possible sex and age- related differences in resource access and activity patterns.

Regional Variations?

The skeletal samples examined in this study derive from sites that span great distanc es from each other, in areas that are diverse ecologically. Owing in large part to the geographic distances between these regional groups, they differ in cultural adaptations, including subsistence strategy, and also possibly different ancestral

182 affinities. In this study, the different regional populations vary in several health variables. The phenotypic expression of specific traits as well as the predispositions for developing specific pathological conditions result from complex gene– environment interactions. Nevertheless, most of this regional variability appears to be the product not of genetic differences between populations, but instead of culturally mediated environmental factors including mode of subsistence and culturally determined differences in resource access.

Males and females in the North-eastern pooled population have significantly higher caries rates than do their counterparts in the North-western and North-central regions. Although it is possible that North-eastern populations may have had some inherently greater susceptibility (Mandel 1994) to tooth decay, the finding in this analysis is likely to be primarily a reflection of subsistence mode (see more detailed discussion below). That is, the North-eastern group is comprised solely of populations that practiced agropastoralism and agriculture, so their diet likely included more cariogenic foods than the other populations (which consist primarily of nomadic samples). Likewise, the fact that the North-central population has a relatively high rate of AMTL (comparable to the North-eastern population) and the highest rate of TMJ disease is more likely to reflect the large proportion of pastoralists in the group and the masticatory stress and attrition (from chewing less processed food and/or use of teeth in processing or craft production) associated with this lifestyle than it is a reflection of any genetic predisposition.

183 Another important difference is the significantly greater rate of enamel hypoplasia found in the North-central male sample compared to males from the other regions, and females from their own population. This finding may be related in part to a greater sensitivity of males than females to developmental disruption

(Hamilton 1982; Stini 1969; but cf. Stinson 1985). However this does not fully explain the population differences found, where rates of osteoperiostitis and cranial porotic lesions are similar among the regional groups in both males and females.

Thus, it seems likely that this regional (and sexually dimorphic) difference in enamel hypoplasia is a result of cultural forces that differentially expose boys to environmental stressors in pastoral communities in particular, as discussed below.

Activity patterns associated with traumatic injuries and degenerative skeletal changes also show significant population differences. While North-central females had higher frequencies of long bone fractures compared to the North-eastern female cohort, and a greater frequency of cranial fractures than both other groups, the same was not true among males. The North-western males had the greatest rate of cranial trauma, relative to the North-eastern male sample, while the North-central males had no cases of head trauma. From these comparisons, the fact that there is no consistency within the sexes of a given region and their relationship to the corresponding sex cohort in other regions suggests the lack of a genetic correlation.

Thus, risk of fracture is more a product of environmental circumstances than genetic predisposition within pooled regional groups.

184 The three regional groups differ significantly in group means of average femur and tibia lengths for both males and females. The results here show that

North-western males and females have longer leg bones than do the other regional populations. This result is not surprising given the greater average height of North- western “Caucasian-type” 1 populations compared to eastern Asian populations from studies of modern populations, which also show that while modern Chinese are shorter, they have relatively longer total arm length (Baten n.d.; Eveleth and

Tanner 1990:224-235). From a selected survey of Asian and European stature data, the taller average height of Europeans has been a prehistoric trend for several millennia (Walker and Eng 2007).

Variation in growth is due to the combined interaction of hereditary and environmental factors (nutrition, disease, and other stresses). So although body size is strongly influenced by environment, in comparison to other health-related variables recorded in this study, genetic factors are likely to explain a relatively large proportion of the variance in long bone lengths. Comparisons of regional differences in mean long bone lengths seem to support the existence of regional differences in growth and adult height along the northern frontier, with greater average height among North-western populations. However, nutrition also plays a fundamental role in growth and it must be remembered that nomadic pastoral populations in the North-western group may have had a diet with higher intakes of

1 As discussed in Chapter 5, craniometric studies show that populations in Xinjiang have affinity to those from Central Asia, who traditionally have been classified as “Caucasoid” based on morphological characteristics that are similar to those of people with European ancestral affinities.

185 nutrients essential to attainment of maximum genetic growth potential, as well as lowered disease load from a mobile lifestyle. Thus, differences between groups in this study may have been heavily influenced by variation in subsistence strategy and concomitant differences in sociopolitical factors, as is discussed next.

Nomadic Pastoral and Agricultural Comparisons

Having addressed the possibility that differences between populations are a consequence of regional differences among populations in this study, remaining factors that can account for differences among groups are cultural conditions such as economic and sociopolitical differences. The expectation of this study is that the external forces of economic mode and imperial influence (as discussed after this section) greatly impacted diet, health, and skeletal patterns of activity and trauma.

With respect to variations in economic systems, I hypothesized that the subsistence strategies of pastoral nomads and sedentary agriculturalists would result in bioarchaeologically detectable differences in related dietary, health status, and activity patterns. The Agropastoral population was expected to display results that are somewhat intermediate between that of agriculturalists and pastoralists owing to their participation in both economic strategies. I also expected differences between the sexes owing to sex-based division of labor and differential access to resources.

In addition, several paleopathological variables examined are those whose rates are strongly correlated with age. These include AMTL, carious lesions, fractures, and osteoarthritis. I thus expected differences between age groups in the

186 frequency of such variables. It should be noted that the Agricultural sample size is relatively small compared to the other groups, so although I used Fisher’s Exact

Test to address this limitation in sample size, there are many instances of zero cases of affected Agricultural individuals. Similarly, although it is expected that the incidences of these pathological conditions would increase with age, the smaller samples of Older Adults in all populations may account for the lower frequencies of affected individuals than expected.

Diet

I hypothesized that the Agriculturalists, who are dependent upon cultivated cereals and an overall carbohydrate-rich diet, would have higher frequencies of dental disease than the Nomadic Pastoralists, as would the Agropastoralists to a lesser extent. Tests show significant differences in the patterns of paleopathological markers of oral disease in the predicted direction. As per the expectation, there are disparities in the frequencies of carious lesions and antemortem tooth loss. Among the juveniles of the three economic modes, these differences are not significant, possibly due to late weaning ages and/or loss of deciduous teeth for permanent teeth that had not accumulated tooth decay before death. However, the trend is for lower rates of cavities and associated AMTL in the Nomadic Pastoral sample relative to those that practiced agropastoralism. In the total adult population, the Nomadic

Pastoral and Agricultural samples have significantly lower rates of carious lesions relative to the Agropastoral sample.

187 It is surprising that the Agricultural sample experienced about the same frequencies as the nomads in these two variables of oral health. This finding may be a result of the limited sample size of Agricultural dental remains, especially compared to the other samples. Note that in both variables, however, nomads have a lower frequency of dental disease than compared to samples that practiced some form of agriculture, which agrees with the expectation.

Also, despite the unexpectedly lower rate of dental disease in the

Agricultural sample, even with its sample size limitation the Agricultural remains had significantly greater frequencies of TMJ disease than the Nomadic Pastoral and

Agropastoral groups. This result is contrary to expectations that an agrarian diet and food processing techniques such as milling in farming societies would provide softer foods and hence, less mechanical masticatory stress. For example, a study comparing a Neolithic (4000 – 3000 BC) sample from China (n=22) to modern

Chinese populations found that there were higher rates of TMJ disease in the

Neolithic sample (23%) and overall greater robusticity of the jaw, which the authors suggest is related to diets requiring stronger mastication in early samples (Zeng et al. 1986).

In this study, perhaps the Agricultural sample used teeth in non-eating contexts, as “tools” in activities such as food processing and craft production, which are often female activities (e.g., Larsen 1985). Females in the Agricultural group have the highest rate of TMJ disease (42% vs. 27% in the males, and 13-17% among the sexes in the other economic groups), which fits with this possibility.

188 With respect to the correlation between age and dental disease, I expected older individuals in general to have higher rates of oral disease. While it is true that within each economic group there is an increase in incidence from younger to older age groups, the degree of increased incidence is sharper in the Nomadic Pastoral

(and to a lesser degree, Agricultural) male sample than the corresponding

Agropastoral group. However, females in all economic groups show a steady increase of oral disease with increased age, but the increase is sharper in the

Agropastoral and Agricultural groups. This finding suggests that females in groups that practiced farming suffered more dental disease, while males of these agrarian communities may have had differential access to foods that were not as cariogenic.

As noted previously in the discussion of nomadic pastoralism in Eurasia

(Chapter 4), herding activities are split by gender so that women are in charge of milking animals while men care for grazing animals (Barfield 1993:142). It may be that women had a higher intake of milk than men of their society. It has been shown that cow milk is not cariogenic (Bowen and Lawrence 2005), so women of pastoral societies may be expected to have a lower incidence of caries relative to men of the same pastoral population and relative to agrarian populations. Despite apparent differences between the sexes, these results support the hypothesis that populations practicing agriculture have greater oral disease than nomadic pastoralists.

Health and Nutrition

The expectation is that Nomadic Pastoral populations, whose mobility and high-protein diets may have led to lower disease loads, should display lower

189 frequen cies of pathological conditions than sedentary agriculturalists who generally have protein-poor diets and live in crowded conditions. That is, pastoral populations should have lower rates of indicators of non-specific stress while also greater stature from overall better health.

Meeting nutritional requirements is important for growth, disease resistance, and body maintenance. A key nutrient is protein for its multiple uses in the body including its function to build and repair tissues and act as enzymes that catalyze reactions. Lactating mothers need a sufficient supply of protein to make colostrum and breastmilk to feed growing infants and aid in their development of an immune system (Jelliffe and Jelliffe 1978). It has been shown that colostrum and breastmilk of humans are comparable in energy and fat with cow milk, but that protein content of the former is only about a third of that found in cow milk (Stini 1985). Thus pastoralists and their children would have benefited from that ready, staple resource. Contrast this with studies of the modern rural Chinese diet, where weaning begins after 4-6 months and the traditional complementary food has been watery rice and other grain porridge, which contains less than half of the caloric density of breastmilk (Guldan 2000).

Indices of nutritional stress and disease show population differences according to mode of economy. With respect to lesions of the cranial vault and orbits, only in the comparison of female populations is there a significant difference, with a higher rate of cribra orbitalia among the Nomadic Pastoral females than the Agropastoral females. All instances of orbital lesions in adults

190 showed signs of healing, while some found in juveniles were active at death. While not at the level of significance, when looking at the total adult population, or at the total population (all age groups), there are higher rates of cribra orbitalia in the nomads. This finding is against expectations, as Nomadic Pastoral groups were expected to have more access to essential vitamins and minerals in their diet relative to Agricultural groups who relied on less diversified diets. Perhaps the Agricultural people in these samples, most of whom lived under an imperial infrastructure, were better able to secure food against times of food shortages and from trade within the imperial system so that they were able to meet nutritional needs more readily than were the nomads.

Childhood stress as observed through enamel hypoplasia shows that while comparisons were only significant when conducted between females (greater in

Agricultural samples than the other two economic groups), the overall trend is consistent with expectations. That is, in the total population counts, the Agricultural group has a higher frequency of lesions than the Agropastoral group, which in turn has a greater rate than the Nomadic Pastoral group. Thus, incidence of stress during development was greater in sedentary groups than those more mobile.

With the shift from a mobile to sedentary lifestyle, the conditions of close living quarters in denser groups provide more desirable conditions for infectious pathogens. Sedentism also leads to accumulation of waste products around living spaces and the lack of sanitation increases risk of infectious diseases including pathogenic and parasitic ones. Observation of osteoperiostitis in the tibia was

191 analyzed for non-specific infection since it was the bone that most commonly showed this pathological condition.

While the populations do not differ significantly in frequencies of infection, the total adult Agropastoral population (as well as separately in male and female subgroups) has a higher rate of osteoperiostitis than the Nomadic Pastoral population. This finding is consistent with expectations of increased risk of infection in more sedentary populations. Note there are no cases within the

Agricultural sample, but again, the small sample size in tibiae for observation

(n=12) and sample bias therein may account for this apparent inconsistency in expectations. Conversely, the Agropastoral population from Lamadong was one that lived during a period of political fragmentation (a series of short-lived dynasties, including foreign courts), which may also account for their higher signs of stress.

A further consideration is that close contact with domesticated animals results in continuous exposure to new pathogens that may jump species and infect humans (Brothwell 1967). For example, smallpox and measles are highly infectious diseases that were probably initially spread from animals to humans. While close association with animals is true for both nomadic pastoralists and agriculturalists (at least w ithin a specialized subset that handled livestock), perhaps the combination of that interaction with animals and a more sedentary life meant diseases spread more rapidly in the Agropastoral sample than either of the other two, accounting for the higher rate of osteoperiostits.

192 The results of decreased sexual dimorphism in long bone lengths with increased levels of agriculture (i.e., nomads > agropastoralists > agriculturalists in sexual dimorphism) appear inconsistent with several studies that have shown that agrarian populations tend to exhibit a greater degree of sexual dimorphism of stature than mobile foraging groups. For instance, based on his findings that agricultural groups off the Georgia coast had a greater degree of dimorphism than pre-agricultural groups, Larsen (1984) posits that this increase in sexual dimorphism is associated with increased stress related to agrarian life. However,

Frayer (1980) has suggested that hunting and gathering groups have more division of labor than in agricultural groups, and thus sexual dimorphism should be more marked in hunter-gatherer groups.

Perhaps the Nomadic Pastoral and Agropastoral female samples in this study had relatively higher levels of workload, and possibly malnutrition and other stresses, which decreased their growth potential. At the same me, males may have been buffered from these stresses by differential access to resources. For example, males of the pastoral Crow of the American Great Plains were generally tall in the

1800s, but the females relatively short, apparently due to their arduous work demands to prepare furs for trade (Prince and Steckel 2003; Reinhard et al. 1994).

Thus, the trend for decreased sexual dimorphism in more agrarian populations seen in the results may be due to the fact that the increasing reliance on an agricultural lifestyle decreased the stress on agrarian females relative to pastoral females, or conversely, increased stress on agrarian males during growth and development.

193 Further, the Agricultural sample is derived mostly of samples that lived under imperial control in the Middle Imperial period, which may have meant greater stability in access to food resources for both sexes relative to samples living during less politically stable situations, as discussed later.

Activity Patterns and Degenerative Joint Disease

Differences in subsistence activities, for instance horse riding versus agricultural fieldwork, were expected to result in different patterns of degenerative joint disease. Two key factors to consider in interpretation of degenerative changes are differences associated with sexual division of labor and the age structure of the groups. With respect to the division of labor, some scholars have shown that the shift from foraging bands to those that practiced farming included increased sexual dimorphism in osteoarthritis from subsistence-related activities (e.g., Bridges 1991; see Larsen 1997:176-178). In agrarian societies, males mainly manage large animals and are active in fieldwork, while female labor is domestically-centered, with possible exclusion from fields (however, see evidence for an increase in female activities after the shift from pre-agricultural to Mississippian period in

Hamilton 1982; Pickering 1984). These gendered subsistence activities might result in a differential pattern in the rate of arthritis based on sex.

The frequencies of degenerative joint disease are overall very similar across the economic groups. The Agropastoral group does not appear to be “intermediate” in frequencies relative to the other groups. In the comparison of hip DJD, the total

Agricultural sample has a significantly higher rate relative to the Agropastoral

194 sample. However, in the female sample comparisons (vs. total population), hip DJD is significantly higher in Nomadic Pastoral females relative to Agropastoral females. Perhaps the higher rate in the pastoral females relates to their more habitual participation in horse riding as the community migrated.

There are fairly similar rates in DJD of the shoulder and elbow among all the economic groups in observations of the total population, despite differences in subsistence activities. In the hip and knee, the total Agricultural population exceeds rates of DJD found in the other groups, but again, it has a small sample size that limits meaningful interpretation.

In addition to sample limitations in the Agricultural sample, it must be remembered that the proportion of adults in the oldest age category for all collections is relatively low compared to younger adults, which may explain the relative lack of variation in DJD patterns. Another consideration for these findings, which do not show any consistent trends, is that the occurrence of joint disease may be as much a factor of mode of economy as technological innovation. That is, the three groups not only practiced different food procurement strategies, but also derive from different time periods, with pastoral ones predominantly from the

Bronze and Iron Age, the Agropastoral sample roughly contemporaneous with the more recent pastoral Iron Age samples, and the majority of the Agricultural collections from nearly a millennium following that during the Middle Imperial period. Within these centuries, many innovations may have altered working conditions and associated joint problems.

195 Trauma and Interpersonal Violence

An expectation is that there is less risk of accidental fractures when a community is sedentary versus mobile and herding animals. A survey of animal related injury in a modern rural town in Sweden found that most animal-related fractures occurred with horses (Björnstig et al. 1991). The majority of horse-related injuries were caused by falls while riding, which most often led to upper extremity fractures, followed by injury to the lower extremity and head. Other injuries came from kicks, trampling, and bites. A study of Hungarian horse riding samples from the 10th century Conquest period show that the majority of activity-related injuries were found in males, who also had high frequencies of osteoarthritis of the wrist and elbow, suggestive of their role as mounted archers (Pálfi and Dutour 1996).

Nomadic Pastoral males in this study were expected to show such types of injuries.

In all samples, fractures of any sort were more common in adults than juveniles, likely owing to cumulative exposure to dangers, accidental or otherwise.

The long bone fractures were almost all well-healed, simple fractures, and most were solitary instances within the given individual, which suggests the fractures were accidental rather than a result of inter-personal violence.

While there is support for the hypothesis that males within any given group have a higher rate of fractures than females, there are higher rates of fractures among the Agricultural group’s total adult population than among adults of the other groups, contrary to expectations. Despite a limited sample size, Agricultural adults have a higher prevalence of long bone fractures (17%) than the Nomadic

196 Pastoral (7%) and Agropastoral (6%) adults. An explanation for this apparent contrad iction may lie in the fact that settled farmers do still deal with domesticated animals, and studies of modern farmers have shown that most injuries to farmers were fractures related to animals, which includes falls and injuries from milking cows and working with bulls (Nordstrom et al. 1995; Stueland et al. 1997).

Sedentism does not shield from chance accidents and injuries; as has been shown for Dickson Mounds, fracture rates increased from an earlier, less intensive agricultural phase to the later intensive agricultural period (Goodman et al. 1984) .

The pattern of injury in Nomadic Pastoral samples is similar to clinical reports of trauma from horseback-riding falls (e.g., Barber 1973). As was expected, adult males, and particularly younger to middle aged males, have a higher incidence of fractures. This prevalence may be attributed to the higher likelihood that young nomadi c males had active lifestyles and exposure to more danger including closer association with animals in subsistence-related activities, as well as interpersonal violence from inter- and intra-group conflict.

In contrast to the positive correlation with increasing age for arthritis, the expectation was that younger individuals and males in particular would have more injuries associated with interpersonal warfare than elderly males. Those who survived injuries into older ages might have well-healed lesions from youth-related injuries that may no longer be detectable. I also expected that the Nomadic Pastoral populations would have higher incidences of trauma associated with interpersonal

197 warfare (e.g., cranial and nasal fractures, and signs of injuries from weapons) in addition to other fractures from a mobile lifestyle (e.g., falls).

There is however, a correlation between settlement size and risk of violent injury. The aggregation of larger populations such as those found in agrarian societies may result in increased tension and concomitant social inequalities. These conditions may lead to conflicts over power or in the protection and expansion of resources, so that there is a potential for an escalation in the scope of violence with more densely populated and complex societies (e.g., increased levels of violence from th e Neolithic to era of kingdoms in China, Underhill 2006).

In general, cranial fractures are more prevalent in the Young Adult Nomadic

Pastoral group than in any other age category, and the majority of these injuries are perimortem (see Appendix, Figure A8.1). This finding accords with the expectation of a higher degree of interpersonal conflict among pastoral populations, especially of young men. For example, ethnographic accounts of Sardinian pastoralists have shown that livestock raids are common occurrences, so much so that the first successful raid is a rite of passage for younger members of the tribe (Salzman

2004:14). These forms of raiding are often reciprocal between neighboring tribes or villages. Thus, the risk for injury from interpersonal conflict may have started at a relatively early age among the nomads in this study. However, within each age cohort, the Old Adult Nomadic Pastoral group has the highest rate among males

(excluding the one case out of two observations of crania in Agricultural Middle

198 Adult males). These fractures on older adults were all well-healed, which suggests they had survived violent encounters from an earlier period in their lives.

One consideration when trying to interpret skeletal indicators of violence is the form of weaponry used. As discussed below in the comparison between samples from different periods of imperial influence, the scale of technological innovations influenced injury patterns. The types of cranial fractures in these younger Nomadic

Pastoral samples indicate blunt force trauma (Table A8.4, Figure A8.1) and the use of sharp implements including knives, swords, axes, and arrow points (Figure

A9.1). Of note is the fact that pastoral females have such a high incidence of cranial trauma , particularly in one site, Jinggouzi.

The high rate of trauma to females of this site (where no males had cranial fractures) may be a factor of a nomadic lifestyle that had a high risk of raiding activities and inter-tribal warfare, with women as victims of these raids and taken as slaves or even participating in raiding parties, as has been documented among

Native Americans of the Great Plains (Ewers 1994). Another possibility is that such trauma might be a factor of intra-community strife such as domestic violence, or self-inflicted to reflect mourning as has been reported for Aboriginal women (Webb

1995:205). The location of the wounds on mostly the parietal and on the left side might suggest face-to-face confrontations, such as might be expected in personal confrontations. However, three of the five women had wounds that came from bladed weapons, and this form of injury suggests some type of warfare. As discussed in the next section, the site’s proximity to China may also be a factor.

199 While there are no significant differences in the comparison of the total adult populations in fracture location in the limbs (upper and lower), among the female samples, the Agricultural group had a significantly greater rate than the comparative Nomadic Pastoral and Agropastoral female groups. Though this sample is small, which limits interpretation, these results suggest that while pastoral females were more at risk of interpersonal danger (whether domestic or inter-tribal), agrarian females had more risk of post-cranial injury.

Pastoral nomads had a relationship with the Chinese that has been characterized as “trade or raid” (Jagchid and Symons 1989), and warfare for pastures was common among pastoralists (Di Cosmo 1999). Regarding the latter, intra-group confrontations is often associated with facial/nasal fractures (Walker

1997), which was found more frequently in the Nomadic Pastoral and Agricultural samples; these findings may indicate increased tension within those groups relative to the Agropastoral population. The following section addresses the possibility of other contributing factors to these patterns of violence and health that can not be attributed solely to regional variability or subsistence mode.

Level of Imperial Influence

The level of imperial influence upon populations at China’s periphery and frontier changed frequently through time and according to distance from the core. I hypothesized that the impact of imperialism on health depended on the strength of the empire and on the logistics of imperial control over long distances. Therefore I

200 performed analyses of paleopathological markers across populations from different periods of imperial development and from varied proximity to China’s heartland.

Hypotheses I assessed here include the “needy” theory that pastoralists could not survive without access to agricultural goods to supplement their diet (and luxuries to underwrite elite power). Hence, one hypothesis derived from this theory is that dietary changes in Nomadic Pastoralists are expected to show increased access to agricultural goods over time.

A second hypothesis, connected to the first, is that violence was the mode of interaction, as nomadic need for agricultural goods drove nomads to obtain them using violent means when they could. Again, I hypothesized that this is a factor of how much control (and corresponding military strength) China had, as well as the nomads’ proximity to China. As has been noted in the history of Chinese interaction, zones furthest from the royal domain were less regular in payment of tributes and labor services to China (Twitchett and Loewe 1986), and hence had less regular interaction with China overall. Health indicators in the Outer zone should reflect this lack of interaction in contrast to populations of the Inner zone.

Imperial Periods

The samples studied to address the issue of health effects according to imperial age were Pre-imperial (the Jinggouzi site of the late Bronze Age in Inner

Mongolia), Early Imperial (the Lamadong collection from Manchuria), and Middle

Imperial (cluster of Yuan Dynasty samples from Inner Mongolia). Although all are considered “Inner” zone (relative to Xinjiang samples of the northwest), technically

201 the Pre-imperial site of Jinggouzi is located in the frontier, while the Early Imperial

Lamadong site and Middle Imperial samples fell within the borders of the Chinese empire , though they were peripheral to the heartland in the Yellow River valley.

In comparing the Pre-imperial Jinggouzi population with the Early Imperial

Lamadong population, it is important to note that the former comprised North- central Nomadic Pastoral people, while the latter comprised North-eastern

Agropastoral people. Further, the Middle Imperial pooled sample was a mix of ethnic Han and Mongolian people who practiced agriculture. These factors

(population differences between North-central and North-eastern samples, plus different subsistence strategies), in addition to level of imperial influence, may all be contributing factors to any disparities observed.

Underhill (2006) notes that warfare increased markedly in the northern

China region after states arose, and military technological innovations were key to this process. By the time China neared its imperial age, warfare had shifted to open battles and body armor had developed, first made of lacquered leather plates, later with metal. By the early imperial age, helmets were in known use by the time in which individuals of the Agropastoral sample lived. Thus, the lack of injuries from weapons in samples later than the Bronze Age may be a result of these innovations in protective gear2 .

2 These advances also meant that improved weapons were developed to “pierce” these defenses.

202 Pre-imperial vs. Early Imperial

Prior to Chinese unification as an empire under the Qin Dynasty (221 – 201

BC), Chinese states were more often fighting among themselves than attempting to exert influence outside “Chinese” borders. Thus, I expected the Pre-imperial population of Jinggouzi, which was beyond the borders, to have had less access to

Chinese agricultural goods, as well as more evidence of fighting for resources, either from inter-tribal fighting for pasture land or raids for agricultural goods. By the time of the Early Imperial period during which those from Lamadong lived, several imperial dynasties had ruled, the empire’s borders had extended, and trade was a regular occurrence along the Silk Road. So a comparison between the Pre- imperial sample and one from this period was expected to show increased signs of state control in the latter; namely the Early Imperial sample should display indicators of agricultural goods affecting diet and increased sedentism leading to greater signs of non-specific stress and infection.

The overall higher prevalence of oral health problems such as AMTL, carious lesions, and TMJ disease in the Agropastoral Lamadong sample accords not only with the expectation that a population that farmed would have higher frequencies of such conditions, but also that Lamadong had greater access to such cultigens as a result of their status within the Chinese polity. The fact that females of Pre-imperial Jinggouzi have high rates of oral problems more similar to the

Lamadong sample than with Jinggouzi males suggests females of this Pre-imperial population may have had differential access to cultigens. That is, perhaps these Pre-

203 imperial females had more access to crops from living in semi-permanent residences, or perhaps there were different eating customs between males and females. This higher prevalence of dental decay may also be a result of the genetic predisposition for higher caries in females (Larsen 1997).

Another sign of decreased overall health by Early Imperial times relative to the Pre-imperial era are the higher rates in the former group of enamel hypoplasia, porotic hyperostosis, and cribra orbitalia (the last is significant when comparing juveniles of the two periods). This decline in health may be attributed to several factors including the more sedentary and agrarian lifestyle of the Early Imperial sample, as well as the stress they experienced during the turbulent period following collapse of the Han Dynasty, when many short-lived dynasties ruled China (Eng

2006). Such declines in health from political disintegration are seen in several studies, such as those of post-collapse populations of Rome and Maya, which similarly show elevated rates of porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia, and enamel hypoplasia (Danforth 1997; Facchini et al. 2000; Saul 1972; Wright 1997).

However, health, as measured by growth patterns, is not markedly different between the two groups. In some long bone lengths the Early Imperial samples had a greater mean average, in others, the Pre-imperial did. Mean long bone length varied between the sexes as well. The fact that Early Imperial females had a significantly greater mean length of the femur relative to the Pre-imperial sample suggests that females in the imperial age may have had increased access to goods and buffering from stress that was beneficial to growth.

204 Degenerative joint disease is higher in frequency in the Lamadong sample, possibly attributable to their agropastoral subsistence activity more so than imperial control. However, as part of the Chinese empire, the populace was taxed and required to provide goods to the state as tribute, perform labor for state-projects each year (Fairbank et al. 1989:61), and serve in the military as needed (Gernet

1998). Several burials in the Lamadong sample had associated military grave goods, indicating that soldiers were part of this community. Training in arms may have increased stress to joints in addition to farm work.

With respect to indicators of trauma and violent interactions, as expected the pastoral Pre-imperial pastoral group displays greater rates of fractures overall.

While only Early Imperial Lamadong males have any incidences of nasal fractures,

Jinggouzi females show significantly more cranial fractures than either the

Lamadong group or males within Jinggouzi. As discussed previously, the high incidence of cranial trauma among the pastoral females may have been a factor of warfare (with other pastoral groups for pasture land or with Chinese forces) or from domestic issues. Also, a possible explanation for the lower frequency of cranial trauma among the Early Imperial Lamadong people is the innovation of protective helmets, which were found in the burial assemblage. Thus, populations from both periods experienced violence of some form, although it appears to have been more dangerous for women of the Pre-imperial period.

The greater rates of long bone fractures in the total Jinggouzi sample relative to the Lamadong sample corresponds to the different subsistence-related activities.

205 That is, mobile populations that dealt habitually with livestock were expected to have higher rates of trauma than those who were more sedentary. Overall, these findings agree with expectations for higher levels of violence in the Pre-imperial

Nomadic Pastoral group, and decreased health in Agropastoral people of the Early

Imperial period.

Pre-imperial vs. Middle Imperial

By the Yuan Dynasty, China had already been an empire for over a millennium and was in fact ruled by Mongolians (Ghengis Khan and descendents). I expected a decline in overall health from Pre-imperial to Middle Imperial period samples. A comparison between these samples was expected to show marked differences in indicators of diet and more signs of stress in the imperial sample, but greater signs of interpersonal violence in the Pre-imperial sample. This higher incidence of violence was predicted because the Jinggouzi population was not under unified state control and this may have led to increased fighting and raiding for resources.

As was the case with the comparison to the Early Imperial sample in oral health markers, the Pre-imperial sample has lower frequencies of dental disease.

While the females from these two periods have a similar rate of AMTL, the male and female rates of carious lesions and TMJ disease are greater in the Middle

Imperial group. These results support the hypothesis of a more cariogenic diet in imperia l populations than in pre-imperial ones, though females of nomadic groups may have had more access to cultigens.

206 The two samples are similar in the low rates of several indicators of stress, mostly due to small sample sizes. But the Middle Imperial period females do have a significantly greater rate of enamel hypoplasia than found in Pre-imperial females.

This finding suggests that childhood stress owing to malnutrition or disease, both byproducts of sedentary agricultural life, may account for the high rate of non- specific stress markers in an otherwise limited Agricultural Middle Imperial sample

(4/9, 44% females affected).

Agricultural subsistence and state-mandated work may account for the significantly higher rates of DJD found in the imperial sample, especially with respect to females. Perhaps work for craft production accounts for the high rates of

DJD in imperial era women.

The samples have similar rates of long bone fractures. Again, small sample sizes limit interpretations, but this similarity suggests that populations faced risk of injury regardless of differences in subsistence activity and time periods. However, as discussed earlier, Jinggouzi females had a greater risk of cranial trauma, which may be related to increased danger from their lifestyle as nomads that warred with each other and with China.

Early Imperial vs. Middle Imperial

A comparison between the Early Imperial sample and the later, Middle

Imperial, sample from the Yuan Dynasty was expected to show less marked differences than found in the comparison between the latter and the Pre-imperial

207 sample . That is, I expected these two imperial groups to be rather similar in frequencies of stress markers.

While it is true that there are no significant differences between juveniles of the two imperial populations, or between males, there are marked differences in frequencies of stress and DJD pathological indicators between females. Oral health seems to have been equally “bad” (relative to the Pre-imperial sample) in the Early and Middle Imperial samples, but Early Imperial females (and males) have a greater rate of carious lesions than the Middle Imperial sample. Again the small sample size of the Middle Imperial female sample may account for some of these results, but perhaps there were true health differences between the two imperial periods related to diet quality or access to cultigens.

Although Middle Imperial females had a significantly higher rate of enamel hypoplasia and greater rates of DJD in general, the Early Imperial females had somewhat higher frequencies in other indices of stress. Differences in the sociopolitical landscape between the two periods may explain these results. The

Early Imperial population lived in a somewhat unstable period following the collapse of the Han Dynasty and the rise of multiple short-lived dynasties, which may have led to relatively high levels of stress. On the other hand, the Middle

Imperia l population was under the control of the foreign Mongolian dynasty, and the stress from that dynasty’s attempts to rule effectively may have resulted in the high level of enamel hypoplasia seen in this sample.

208 Inner Zone vs. Outer Zone

Geographic distance to the Chinese heartland would also have been pertinent to imperial influence and the resulting effects on health, diet, and lifestyle.

Two zones relative to the Chinese center were considered: 1) the “Inner” frontier zone of sites located in Inner Mongolia and Manchuria where borders were fluid and control of these lands shifted between nomads and China, and 2) the “Outer” frontier zone, which comprises those samples derived from the northwest, in modern China’s Xinjiang province. Samples from these zones were separated by imperial period. The Inner zone site from Inner Mongolia is the Pre-imperial period site from Jinggouzi, and the Early Imperial site from Manchuria is Lamadong. The

Outer zone sample is the pooled group of nomads that occupied Xinjiang during the

Iron Age, which roughly overlaps the time periods of both the Jinggouzi and

Lamadong samples. The main expectation was that those populations that were geographically closer to the border with China experienced more violent conflict than those in the Outer zone. I also expected access to cultigens to be a reflection of proximity to China, and decreased dental health was expected in such contexts.

Pre-imperial Inner Zone vs. Outer Zone

The Pre-imperial sample from the Inner zone consists of people who practiced nomadic pastoralism, like the Outer zone sample. Thus, indicators of health, diet, and activity might be similar between the two. However, the Inner zone sample was in closer proximity to Chinese borders, so the expectation was that there would be more indicators of stress and/or violent conflict.

209 With respect to indicators of oral health, males of the Outer zone have a significantly greater rate of carious lesions, as well as higher rates of AMTL and

TMJ osteoarthritis. This pattern, though not at the level of significance, is found in the comparison of the females of each group as well. These results are contrary to expectations that the Inner zone might have had more immediate access to cultigens

(from raids or trade).

The people of the Outer zone may have had their own access to agricultural goods, either from semi-permanent segments of their populations practicing horticulture, or via trade or raid with agricultural societies in the northwest region, which had agricultural communities around oases. The differences in age structure of the samples may also explain this apparent discrepancy. The majority of adults in the Jinggouzi sample are Young Adults (64%), with only 8% classified as Older

Adults. In the Outer zone, a greater percentage of the sample falls in the Older

Adult category (19%)3. As the Outer zone had more cases of older individuals, the differences in age structure between these two zones may explain the overall higher incidence of dental disease in the Outer zone group.

The Outer zone samples had greater rates of stress-related markers, including enamel hypoplasia and cribra orbitalia, which was a significant difference between juveniles of the two zones. These findings suggest that stress experienced in childhood was greater in the Outer zone, contrary to expectations.

3 As discussed in previous chapters, the difference in age distribution between samples in the Inner and Outer zone may be due to differential preservation and sample bias in recovery after looting.

210 This stress may be associated with nutritional inadequacies and/or disease.

Those in the Inner zone may have benefited from either more favorable local resource availability, or possibly from contact with the Chinese who had resources for which they could trade or raid, which helped to better buffer their children from stress during development. However, the Outer zone males and females are significantly greater in femoral length and associated stature, indicating better health for them, or at least catch-up growth after early childhood stress. But this finding may also be attributed to genetic factors contributing to adult height, as the

Outer zone sample consists of North-western people, while the Jinggouzi Inner zone sample are North-central people.

Owing to the fact that both samples practiced nomadic pastoralism, an expectation was that patterns of activity would be similar. However, males and females of the Outer zone have significantly greater rates of DJD in the four major joints examined. As in the case with age-dependent variables such as carious lesions discussed above, an explanation for this apparently discordant pattern may lie in the age structure difference between the “younger” Inner zone sample and the “older”

Outer zone sample.

As expected, rates of long bone fractures are similar between the two zones, probably related to their shared subsistence strategy. On the other hand, trauma from interpersonal conflict was expected to be higher in the Inner zone group owing to its proximity to the Chinese border, especially as this sample was contemporaneous with the Warring States period in China.

211 Results show that the Outer zone males had more signs of interpersonal violence (16% cranial trauma and 8% nasal fractures versus zero cases of both variables in the Jinggouzi males). However, while 4% of the Outer zone females had cranial trauma, this rate is significantly lower than the 28% of females in the

Inner zone who suffered head injury. Do these results follow expectations? There are several possible interpretations.

Outer zone males could have higher rates of injury related to interpersonal violence owing to the increased chances of inter-tribal warfare over pasture in

Xinjiang as compared to Inner Mongolia, which had richer resources, both natural and from proximity to China. If their trauma was related to warfare of this form, females in the Outer zone may have been less at risk since males were the warriors who rode out. The pattern of cranial/facial fractures and weapon wounds (arrow points and cuts from bladed weapons) among males suggests that Outer zone males got their injuries from implements designed for warring.

Conversely, males of the Inner zone had no cranial or nasal fractures, suggesting they did not engage in as much inter-tribal warfare or in conflict with raids into China. However, two young adult males from Jinggouzi do have signs of interpersonal violence (see Appendix, Figure A9.1). One has a healed cut on the posterior distal humerus, suggesting this male had been sliced by a blade, possibly while holding reins for horse riding where the distal humerus would have been exposed. A more telling sign of interpersonal violence is the presence of an embedded bronze projectile in the right anterior ilium of a young male. Further, the

212 grave goods associated with this site have been well studied and many implements of warfare were found. So, conflict—either with other nomadic tribes or with

China—was likely, even if not at the same level of intensity or risk of injury as found in the Outer zone male samples (Eng et al. 2007).

The high frequency of cranial injury in Inner zone females of the pastoral

Jinggouzi sample may be attributed to raiding, retaliatory attacks from other tribes, self-inflicted wounds, or domestic violence. With respect to this latter possibility, there is one young adult female with a fracture of the ulna that may be a “parry fracture” for defensive blocking. One of the females with cranial injuries suffered three depressed fractures at similar stages of healing, suggesting repeated blows, possibly from a domestic violence event. However, the majority of females with cranial injuries (3/5, 60%) have cuts from bladed weapons, which suggests raid and/or warfare. The close proximity of this site to the contentious border may have meant increased risk for females in this zone.

Early Imperial Inner Zone vs. Outer Zone

The Early Imperial Inner zone site of Lamadong practiced agropastoralism, so some differences between this site and pastoral people of the Outer zone may be associated with subsistence mode (note that choice in subsistence strategy is also related to the ecology of the “zone” in which people lived). It is expected that the

Lamadong sample had health problems associated with sedentary living and agricultural diet, but less risk of violent injury from interpersonal violence as they were under imperial rule, which may have afforded them relative security and

213 stability. However, as mentioned, signs of soldiering were found among grave goods of the Inner zone Lamadong site.

The two zones are similar in rates of AMTL and TMJ disease, but

Agropastoral females of the Inner zone do have a significantly higher rate of carious lesions than the pastoral females of the Outer zone, as expected from dietary differences and access to cultigens. There is a higher ratio of male to female rates of enamel hypoplasia (11% to 2%) in the Outer zone, whereas the Inner zone ratio is more similar (10% to 11%). This difference in childhood stress between the sexes may have been a result of relatively more stress for pastoral boys than girls, whereas the children in the Inner zone may have had similar exposure to stress regardless of gender. Another indicator of “better” health in the Outer zone is in the significantly longer femur and tibia lengths in the male and female comparisons

(Outer zone males also have a significantly longer humerus group mean)4. Overall health appears to have been better in the Outer zone, likely a factor of their more mobile pastoral lifestyle, as well as the stresses associated with imperial control exerted over the Inner zone sample.

The Outer zone females did suffer significantly more DJD of the elbow and hip than their Inner zone counterparts. This may be related to the mobile lifestyle of the Outer zone nomads, where females were more likely to travel by horse than the

Agropastoral Inner zone females.

4 Note these longer mean lengths may also be attributed to inherently greater body size in samples from Xinjiang relative to those from Manchuria.

214 Outer zone males had a significantly higher rate of cranial fractures, and as discussed above, the types of injury and weaponry used indicated warfare. The

Outer zone males also suffered more nasal fractures than males of the Inner zone

(8% vs. 3%). Similarly, the Outer zone females had higher rates of cranial injury

(4% vs. 1%) and nasal fractures (2% vs. 0%). The higher rates of these fractures in males in general support interpretations for interpersonal violence being a predominantly male activity (e.g., Walker 1997). These findings also support the hypothesis that the Outer zone may have been a more contentious zone for inter- tribal warfare and raiding for goods. These findings also suggest that the imperial age sample from Inner zone had more readily available access to goods and specialized forces for military and law enforcement, so less people in the community were likely to be warriors than was true for the nomadic societies.

Conclusion

This chapter has discussed the results of the second stage of research and their implications for the main research questions. These interpretations give new understanding regarding the variation among populations along the northern frontier and provide information about the correlations between health, diet, and activity with subsistence mode and the level of imperial influence. In many instances, the research supported expectations, but there were several notable exceptions that indicate the complicated nature of sociocultural, economic, and political factors in

215 frontier interaction. The following chapter addresses the broader implications of these research findings and proposes new lines of future research.

216 Chapter 10: Conclusions

In this dissertation I have tested the hypotheses that frontier interaction between nomadic pastoralists of the Inner Asian steppe and agriculturalists of imperial China revolved around differences in mode of subsistence. In particular, I have explored the hypothesis that as a consequence of subsistence differences, there were disparities in diet, health, and activity-related injuries, as well as differences in the social organization that supported these contrasting economic systems. It has been hypothesized by previous researchers that the “need” for agrarian comestibles and luxury items had a large influence on nomadic pastoral relations with China. I tested the hypothesis that a desire for goods from sedentary peoples incited pastoral groups to obtain them from China, and I tested the hypothesis that violence was the main mode of interaction between nomads and China. I argue that the relationship and form of interaction between nomadic pastoralists and the Chinese empire depended on China’s level of imperial development over different periods and on the geographic extent of their control.

Bioarchaeological data on the variation in health, diet, and activity patterns of people from a broad spectrum of archaeological sites along China’s northern frontier provided an effective means to examine these questions. I collected data from the skeletal remains of 979 people from 11 archaeological sites. These data were then pooled to address potential differences stemming from regional variation, differences in subsistence, and proximity to China during different imperial periods.

217 I analyzed several variables that yield information on health and nutritional status, as well as indicators of activity and trauma. The results presented in Chapter

7 showed the suitability of these pooled samples as reasonably homogeneous

(despite temporal differences within pooled samples), while in Chapters 8 and 9 I presented and evaluated the results of these pooled samples with respect to the main research hypotheses.

In this chapter I summarize and interpret the main results of this investigation. I also discuss to the broader implications of this research to our understanding of frontier interaction and the biological consequences of a nomadic pastoral lifeway. Finally, I offer suggestions for some future directions for research.

Bioarchaeological Hypotheses

Regional Variation

The samples derive from a wide geographic swath of sites along China’s northern frontier, extending nearly 2000 miles from the desert landscape of

Xinjiang in Central Asia to the mixed steppe/forested zone of Manchuria in East

Asia. Furthermore, these samples are multiethnic in composition. Hence, there is the possibility that differences between groups are a result of genetic predispositions for certain biological and pathological conditions. One measure of overall health and stress in particular—adult height—is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, so potential population differences exist because of genetic influences such as localized gene flow and local adaptations.

218 The results of my analysis of long bone lengths, which serve as a summary health index, do support the hypothesized regional differences between the samples, with those from Xinjiang (North-western region) taller than populations in

Mongolia (North-central) and Manchuria (North-eastern); the latter two share relatively similar long bone lengths. This finding supports modern data of worldwide adult height comparisons, and suggests that that these trends extended into an tiquity, as far back as the Bronze Age.

However, while there may be regional differences in body size that have a genetic basis, external factors such as subsistence mode and dynamic social conditions likely strongly affected growth as well, in addition to other indicators of health, diet, and activity. Hence, the next series of hypotheses addressed these variables in relation to subsistence and imperial influences.

Subsistence Mode

Are there marked differences in health between populations that practiced different subsistence strategies along the frontier? This research suggests that this is the case. In general, populations that practiced some form of agriculture and were sedentary suffered more dental disease, as well as more childhood stress and non- specific infection. Sedentary males also had shorter long bones than nomadic males.

These findings are consistent with other bioarchaeological studies that show a general decrease in health when mobile foraging groups shifted to intensive agriculture.

219 However, there are several findings that are contrary to expectations. First, an indicator of non-specific stress (cribra orbitalia) was more frequent in the

Nomadic Pastoral group. Second, the Agricultural sample is the least sexually dimorphic of the three groups. Finally, agrarian females have greater long bone lengths than nomadic females. All point to relatively less stress in the Agricultural sample. These contradictory results may all be related to the stability afforded by the imperial infrastructure during the Yuan Dynasty (from which the majority of the

Agricultural group derives), including provisions for resources in times of scarcity and better cultural buffers against stress for agrarian females than found in pastoral societies.

There were no noticeable differences in rates of degenerative joint changes, but that may have been a factor of the relatively small sample of individuals from the oldest age category in all collections studied. As expected, fractures were more often found among adults than children and among males more often than among females. Long bone fractures were surprisingly more common among the

Agricultural group than those that practiced some form of pastoralism, but this may be attributed to the risk of accidents when dealing with domesticated animals in any setting and the vagaries of suffering accidents in general. Nomadic Pastoral populations did experience the greatest frequency of fractures from interpersonal violence, which supports the hypothesis that nomads engaged more frequently in conflicts such as inter-tribal warfare and raiding for agricultural goods.

220 Levels of Imperial Influence

The extent of imperial influence over the frontier appears to depend on the strength and development of the imperial infrastructure and governance as well as geographical constraints toward China’s expansion. The data show a trend of decreasing health from Pre-imperial to Middle Imperial times, particularly in oral health and non-specific stress. Furthermore, populations living under imperial control (and who practiced some form of agriculture) seem to have suffered higher rates of osteoarthritis, which may be associated with heavier demand for work in an agricultural setting, and/or to pay tributes or participate in imperial-mandated labor.

The risk of fractures from interpersonal conflict was higher in the Pre- imperia l population, suggesting that populations outside of imperial influence and access to imperial resources engaged in more violent conflict, possibly as a function of social organization within nomadic societies, but perhaps also in relation to fights for resources, including agrarian goods.

Chinese interaction with the frontier was also dependent on the geographic extent of China’s influence over time. In the comparison of pastoral populations from the Outer zone and the Inner zone during Pre-imperial times, those in the

Outer zone had greater frequencies of stress-related markers. These results suggest that populations further from agrarian Chinese states and access to its resources may have suffered more nutritional inadequacies relative to those in closer proximity.

However, the higher rate of trauma from interpersonal conflict in the Inner zone

221 sample, especially among females, suggests a higher risk of violence in populations that lived closer to China.

Likewise individuals from the Outer zone appear to have been relatively healthier than an Inner zone collection from the Early Imperial period, despite, or as a result of imperial influence in the latter. Agricultural goods were more plentiful in the Inner zone Agropastoral population, and accordingly oral health was worse, and decreased health from sedentary living is apparent. One potential benefit of living under imperial control may have been lower risks of violence, as the Outer zone pastoral group had higher rates of fractures overall, including those associated with interpersonal violence, which again may be associated with inter-tribal warfare and raids for agrarian goods.

Implications for Research of Frontier Interaction

The results of this research have provided new information into the biological correlates of frontier–imperial interaction between China and nomads along the Inner Asian steppe. Previous studies have focused on the Chinese perspective and relied upon textual data from ancient Chinese sources, as well as evidence of material culture from archaeological excavations. In this study, the nature of the interactions between agriculturalists and pastoralists and their health consequences were documented using multiple lines of bioarchaeological evidence to test longstanding assumptions about dietary dependency and violent conflict between ancient China and nomadic societies. These data also offer a new

222 perspective on the lives of nomadic pastoralists and the health consequences of interaction with the Chinese empire, which will be valuable for direct comparisons with other Asian and Eurasian populations.

My interpretations of these findings were broad generalizations by necessity

(owing to sample size limitations), but it is understood that historical processes occurring in each given site structured any potential interactions between the societies in unique ways, which unfortunately were not addressed in such fine- grained detail here. However, trends in interaction and the health consequences of that interaction are apparent.

It is clear from bioarchaeological and archaeological data that the more recent samples in the northern frontier had adopted a more agrarian lifestyle compared to their Bronze Age predecessors. Whether these frontier populations actively chose to adopt agriculture or had this subsistence strategy imposed on them by a conquering (“civilizing”) Chinese dynasty is unclear. However, what is evident from the bioarchaeological data is that health in general declined from the pre- imperial to imperial periods. These findings add support to the body of literature that suggests a decrease in health with agricultural intensification and with imperial control.

The data also show that violent interactions did occur more frequently among the nomadic pastoralists than in agrarian populations. Whether this violence was associated with raids to procure agricultural goods from sedentary agriculturalists or whether violence was associated with inter-tribal disputes over

223 pastures is also difficult to elucidate. More refined analysis of the weapon wounds might give clues as to what weapons caused the damage, and therefore who inflicted wounds among the nomads. However, these findings do lend tentative support for models of violent conflict among nomads, and between nomads and the

Chinese empire.

This research has shown that culture contact between China and frontier societies resulted in diverse forms of interaction, both expected and unexpected. In particular, frontier interaction between nomadic pastoralists and the Chinese empire was dependent on several components, including distance and temporal considerations. Thus, the relationship between nomads and China was dynamic and fluid, influenced by a complex array of ecological, social, and historical factors.

Future Research

This investigation offers a wealth of new information on diachronic and regional trends of the health consequences of interaction between steppe nomads and China. I used data from a varied and sizeable series of archaeological collections. These data were broad in scope and suitable for addressing the issues of this research, but the power of analyses and interpretations would have benefited greatly from increased sample sizes and more balanced distribution of sites from different regions and time periods. These gaps include larger samples that practiced agriculture, as well as samples from the Chinese core for comparative purposes with the frontier and periphery. More contextual information from the archaeological

224 analysis of these cemetery sites and associated settlements would greatly enhance interpretations and be useful in differentiating elite and non-elite individuals for the inclusion of social status as a component of analysis.

There are still many avenues for research into frontier interaction and the health of nomadic pastoralists. As mentioned, more fine-grained examination of each site may yield a clearer picture of the process of frontier interaction at a local level. A potentially fertile area of research concerns consideration of the health of elites in powerful nomadic tribes in comparison to heath of elites in urban China.

Excavations of sites associated with the Xiongnu Empire in Mongolia have yielded many burials with sumptuous goods, while there is much archaeological data from the elite of the Chinese core in the Yellow River valley.

Another research direction is to fully investigate dietary changes through isotopic analysis of populations from along the frontier and core during different periods. Plans are in to analyze the results of stable isotopic tests (carbon to nitrogen ratios and strontium ratios) to gain insight into the temporal and regional differences in the consumption of meat and grains in the diet of frontier peoples.

These studies will quantify these components of the diet and the level of agricultural dependency among different populations and they will expand our understanding of how ecological differences and constraints between the Central

Plains of China and the steppe grassland may have structured sociocultural development and interregional frontier interaction.

225 Appendix: Tables and Figures

Table A7.1. Age and sex distribution of the samples Ad Sample I (b- C (4- (12- Sub YA YA MA MA (OA (OA Adult Adult Indet Total 3yr) 11yr) 17) (<18) (M) (F) (M) (F) (M) (F) (M) (F) Adult N NP Bz Central 00000111010004 ED NP Bz Central 09662314771478086 HTB NP Bz 27217018233614720125 North LJ NP Ir Central 165013141384567082 YNQ NP Ir Central 7141101777421240085 SAY NP Ir Central 1440147653400048 BYJH Agropast 2 11 36 0 94 80 83 71 11 28 41 35 1 493 East BL

AG Neo 101021120020414 East QM AG Yuan North 012064120000016 SJC AG Yuan North 00003000020207 BWS AG Yuan 001020310225319 East DZX

226 Table A7.2. Statistical comparison of long bone measures in the three regions (where Neo = Neolithic, and Early and Middle = imperial periods) by time period MALE LSD Post Bone Significance Statistic d.f. p-value Hoc

Femur n.s. t=0.536 49 0.595 - N-western Bronze/Iron Tibia n.s. t=-0.035 37 0.973 -

Humerus n.s. t=1.108 32 0.270 -

Femur n.s. t=0.581 22 0.567 - N-central Bronze/Middle Tibia n.s. t=0.418 7 0.688 -

Humerus N/A -

Femur n.s. F=1.644 2, 138 0.197 - N-eastern F=3.825, 2, 128 0.024, Neo vs. Neo/Early/Middle Tibia Yes t=2.498 126 0.014 Early F=1.725, 2, 85 0.184, (too few Humerus n.s. t=0.158 85 0.875 Middle)

FEMALE LSD Post Bone Significance Statistic d.f. p-value Hoc

Femur n.s. t=0.367 40 0.716 - N-western Bronze/Iron Tibia n.s. t=0.278 33 0.783 -

Humerus n.s. t=0.701 27 0.489 -

Femur n.s. t=0.017 26 0.986 - N-central Bronze/Middle Tibia n.s. t=0.220 8 0.832 -

Humerus n.s. t=0.200 1 (no p) - Neo vs. Femur Yes F=5.966 2, 146 0.003 Early/Middle N-eastern F=4.153, 2, 134 0.018, Neo/Early/Middle Tibia Yes t=2.839 134 0.005 Neo vs.Early F=6.690, 1, 77 Humerus Yes t=2.586 77 0.012 Neo vs.Early

227 Table A7.3. Statistical comparison of long bone measures in each economic mode by time period (only one Agropastoral sample, no tests made) MALE LSD Post Bone Significance Statistic d.f. p-value Hoc Humerus n.s. t=1.045 35 0.030 - NP Bronze/Iron Femur Yes t=3.036 68 0.003 - Tibia n.s. t=-1.035 44 0.306 - - Humerus n.s. t=1.101 3 0.351 - Ag Neo/Middle Femur n.s. t=1.442 11 0.177 - Tibia n.s. t=0.834 7 0.429 - FEMALE LSD Post Bone Significance Statistic d.f. p-value Hoc Humerus n.s. t=0.999 29 0.330 - NP Bronze/Iron Femur Yes t=2.341 64 0.022 - Tibia n.s. t=-1.249 41 0.219 - - Humerus n.s. t=2.472 4 0.069 - Ag Neo/Middle Femur Yes t=3.316 10 0.008 - Tibia n.s. t=1.973 5 0.105 -

228 Table A7.4. Statistical comparison of pathological conditions within economic modes by age and sex NOMADIC PASTORAL Juvenile vs. Adults Males vs. Females Significant p-value Direction Significant p-value Direction AMTL Yes <0.0001 Adults> n.s. 0.1956 - Cavity Yes <0.0001 Adults> Yes 0.0336 F>M TMJ DJD - - - n.s. 0.8428 - EH n.s. 0.7801 - Yes 0.0159 M>F Tib osteoperi n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 - PH n.s. 0.3231 - n.s. 0.6212 - CO Yes 0.0320 Juv> n.s. 0.8221 - Limb fx/indiv Yes 0.0400 Adults> n.s. 0.3805 - Cranial fx Yes 0.0286 Adults> n.s. 0.6444 - Nasal fx n.s. 0.5841 - n.s. 0.3666 - Shoulder DJD - - - n.s. 0.1276 - Elbow DJD - - - n.s. 0.6877 - Hip DJD - - - n.s. 0.4421 - Knee DJD - - - n.s. 0.3088 - AGROPASTORAL Juvenile vs. Adults Males vs. Females Significant p-value Direction Significant p-value Direction AMTL Yes 0.0001 Adult> n.s. 0.2454 - Cavity Yes <0.0001 Adult> Yes 0.0289 F>M TMJ DJD --- n.s. 0.3548 - EH n.s. 0.7816 - n.s. 0.7157 - Tib osteoperi n.s. 0.2367 - n.s. 0.6297 - PH n.s. 0.3668 - n.s. 0.6172 - CO Yes <0.0001 Juv> Yes 0.0004 M>F Limb fx/indiv n.s. 0.2388 - Yes 0.0033 M>F Cranial fx n.s. 1 - n.s. 0.2163 - Nasal fx n.s. 1 - n.s. 0.2411 - Shoulder DJD - - - n.s. 0.6368 - Elbow DJD - - - Yes 0.0265 M>F Hip DJD - - - n.s. 0.3841 - Knee DJD - - - Yes 0.0308 M>F

229 (Table A7.4 continued) AGRICULTURAL Juvenile vs. Adults Males vs. Females Significant p-value Direction Significant p-value Direction AMTL n.s. 0.5590 - n.s. 1 - Cavity n.s. 0.5534 - n.s. 1 - TMJ DJD - - - n.s. 0.6668 - EH n.s. 1 - n.s. 0.1486 - Tib osteoperi n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 - PH n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 - CO n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 - Limb fx/indiv n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 - Cranial fx n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 - Nasal fx n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 - Shoulder DJD - - - n.s. 0.1819 - Elbow DJD - - - n.s. 1.0000 - Hip DJD - - - n.s. 1 - Knee DJD - - - n.s. 1 -

230 Table A8.1. Statistical comparison of pathological conditions among pooled regional groups (North- western, central, eastern) MALE Significant Statistic1 p value2 Direction AMTL n.s. χ2 = 2.6805 <1 - Cavity Yes F, χ2=25.0823 <0.0001, 0.0002 East>West+Central TMJ DJD n.s. χ2=2.424 <1 - EH Yes F, χ2=9.722 0.0207, 0.0126 Central>West+East Tibial osteoperi. n.s. χ2=1.737 <1 - PH n.s. χ2=3.483 <0.2 - CO n.s. χ2=2.368 <1 - LB fx/ind n.s. χ2=0.538 <1 - Cranial trauma Yes F, χ2=13.223 0.0018 West>East Nasal fracture n.s. χ2=1.033 <1 - Shoulder DJD Yes F, χ2=5.884 0.0322 West>Central Elbow DJD n.s. F, χ2=3.973 0.051 - Hip DJD n.s. χ2=0.096 <1 - 2 Knee DJD n.s. χ =2.967 <1 - FEMALE Significant Statistic p value Direction AMTL n.s. χ2=0.660 <1 - Cavity Yes F, χ2=33.844 0.0029, <0.0001 East>West>Central TMJ DJD n.s. χ2=1.825 <1 - EH n.s. χ2=3.169 <1 - Tibial osteoperi. n.s. χ2=1.067 <1 - PH n.s. χ2=0.269 <1 - CO n.s. χ2=1.414 <1 - LB fx/ind Yes F, χ2=7.728 0.0328 Central>East Cranial trauma Yes F, χ2=39.662 0.0060, <0.0001 Central>West>East Nasal fracture n.s. χ2=1.729 <1 - Shoulder DJD n.s. χ2=2.086 <1 - Elbow DJD Yes F, χ2=14.698 <0.0001, <0.0001 West>East>Central Hip DJD Yes F, χ2=15.397 0.0023, 0.0021 West>Central+East Knee DJD Yes F, χ2=7.237 0.0092, 0.0407 Central

1"F" here stands for Fisher's Exact Test, used when Chi-square test was significant 2 Where p<0.5, values from Fisher's Exact Test shown

231 Table A8.2. Statistical comparison of pathological conditions by economic mode (where AG = agricultural, NP = nomadic pastoral, Agpa = agropastoral) (1) JUVENILES Significant1 Statistic2 p-value3 Direction AMTL n.s. χ2=1.1548 <1 - Cavity n.s. χ2=4.3963 <1 - EH n.s. χ2=0.6149 <1 - Tib osteoperi. n.s. χ2=0.7205 <1 - PH n.s. χ2=2.1923 <1 - CO n.s. χ2=3.5381 <0.2 - Upper fx N/A - -- Lower fx N/A - -- Limb fx/indiv N/A - -- Cranial fx n.s. χ2=0.9922 <1 - Nasal fx N/A - -- TOTAL ADULT POPULATION Significant Statistic p-value Direction AMTL n.s χ2=3.6957 <0.20 - Cavity Yes χ2=48.8426 <0.0001 - TMJ DJD Yes F, χ2=6.8319 0.0444, 0.0156 AG>NP, Agpa EH n.s χ2=3.8408 <0.20 - Tib osteoperi. n.s χ2=2.179 <1 - PH n.s χ2=1.5294 <1 - CO n.s χ2=4.342 <0.2 - Upper fx n.s χ2=4.6410 <0.1 - Lower fx n.s χ2=1.6753 <1 - Limb fx/indiv n.s χ2=3.8795 <0.2 - Cranial fx Yes F, χ2=21.058 <0.0001 NP>Agpa Nasal fx n.s χ2=1.7143 <1 - Shoulder DJD n.s χ2=0.2694 <1 - Elbow DJD n.s χ2=0.2130 <1 - Hip DJD Yes F, χ2=6.3358 0.0466 AG>Agpa χ2=3.0786 Knee DJD n.s <1 -

232 (Table A8.2 continued) (2) MALE Significant Statistic p-value Direction AMTL n.s. χ2=2.4593 <1 - Cavity Yes F, χ2=26.2739 <0.0001 Agpa>NP, AG TMJ DJD n.s. χ2=2.4848 <1 - EH n.s. χ2=0.7975 <1 - Tib osteoperi. n.s. χ2=1.768 <1 - PH n.s. χ2=2.7777 <1 - CO n.s. χ2=0.0965 <1 - Upper fx n.s. χ2=2.0096 <1 - Lower fx n.s. χ2=0.7202 <1 - Limb fx/indiv n.s. χ2=0.4543 <1 - Cranial fx Yes F, χ2=10.41 0.0019 NP>Agpa Nasal fx n.s. χ2=0.9729 <1 - Shoulder DJD n.s. χ2=2.3358 <1 - Elbow DJD n.s. χ2=0.9580 <1 - Hip DJD n.s. χ2=1.4629 <1 - Knee DJD n.s. χ2=0.8414 <1 - FEMALE Significant Statistic p-value Direction AMTL n.s. χ2=1.6976 <1 - Cavity Yes F, χ2=23.0923 <0.0001,0.0271 Agpa>NP, AG TMJ DJD Yes F, χ2=5.36 0.0445,0.0420 AG>NP, Agpa EH Yes F, χ2=14.1941 0.0028, 0.0187 AG>NP, Agpa Tib osteoperi. n.s. χ2=0.6207 <1 - PH n.s. χ2=0.1407 <1 - CO Yes F, χ2=13.9957 0.0004 NP>Agpa Upper fx n.s. χ2=3.3231 <.2 - Lower fx n.s. F, χ2=6.5862 0.0371 AG>NP, Agpa Limb fx/indiv Yes F, χ2=7.7729 0.0416 AG>Agpa Cranial fx Yes F, χ2=11.786 0.0011 NP>Agpa Nasal fx n.s. χ2=1.2234 <1 - Shoulder DJD n.s. χ2=3.0993 <1 - Elbow DJD n.s. χ2=2.9678 <1 - Hip DJD Yes F, χ2=6.6479 0.0332 NP>Agpa χ2=2.9890 Knee DJD n.s. <1 - 1 N/A if one or more groups did not have affected cases 2 “F” here represents Fisher’s Exact Test, used if chi-square showed significance 3 Detailed p-values from Fisher’s Exact Test where there is a significant difference

233 Table A8.3. Statistical comparison of pathological conditions in age cohorts across economic groups 1 2 3 Significant Statistic p-value Direction MALE YOUNG ADULT AMTL n.s. χ2=0.015 <1 - Cavity Yes F, χ2=4.348 0.0414 Agpa>NP TMJ n.s. χ2=0.249 <1 - Cranial fx n.s. χ2=4.5311 <0.2 - Nasal fx n.s. χ2=1.9524 <1 - Upper fx n.s. χ2=0.3023 <1 - Lower fx n.s. χ2=0.1485 <1 - Shd DJD n.s. χ2=0.4655 <1 - Elb DJD n.s. χ2=0.5724 <1 - Hip DJD n.s. χ2=0.9879 <1 - Knee DJD n.s. χ2=0.838 <1 - MALE MIDDLE ADULT AMTL n.s. χ2=4.051 0.1319 - Cavity Yes F, χ2=16.145 <0.0001 Agpa>NP TMJ n.s. χ2=4.2224 <0.2 - Cranial fx n.s. Fisher's <0.2 - Nasal fx n.s. χ2=0.1882 <1 - Upper fx n.s. Fisher's <1 - Lower fx n.s. χ2=0.6293 <1 - Shd DJD n.s. Fisher's <1 - Elb DJD n.s. Fisher's <1 - Hip DJD n.s. χ2=4.0867 <0.2 - Knee DJD n.s. χ2=2.0202 <1 - MALE OLD ADULT AMTL n.s. χ2=2.024 <1 - Cavity n.s. χ2=3.614 <0.2 - TMJ n.s. χ2=3.5466 <0.2 - Cranial fx n.s. χ2=2.9474 <1 - Nasal fx n.s. χ2=2.037 <1 - Upper fx N/A - Lower fx n.s. χ2=0.8736 <1 - Shd DJD n.s. Fisher's <1 - Elb DJD n.s. Fisher's <1 - Hip DJD n.s. χ2=1.6742 <1 - 2 Knee DJD n.s. χ =0.381 <1 -

234 (Table A8.3 continued) 1 2 3 Significant Statistic p-value Direction FEMALE YOUNG ADULT AMTL n.s. χ2=2.768 <1 - Cavity n.s. χ2=4.648 <0.1 - TMJ n.s. χ2=2.3939 <1 - Cranial fx Yes F, χ2=11.0617 0.0036 NP>Agpa Nasal fx N/A - Upper fx N/A - Lower fx N/A - Shd DJD n.s. Fisher's <1 - Elb DJD n.s. Fisher's <0.2 - Hip DJD n.s. χ2=2.9053 <1 - Knee DJD n.s. Fisher's <1 - FEMALE MIDDLE ADULT AMTL n.s. χ2=0.224 <1 - Cavity Yes F, χ2=11.605 0.0064 Agpa>NP TMJ Yes F, χ2=6.0277 0.03 Ag>Agpa Cranial fx n.s. χ2=0.4711 <1 - Nasal fx n.s. χ2=1.9768 <1 - Upper fx N/A - Lower fx n.s. χ2=3.5946 <0.2 - Shd DJD n.s. Fisher's <1 - Elb DJD n.s. Fisher's <1 - Hip DJD n.s. χ2=3.1903 <1 - Knee DJD n.s. χ2=4.7655 <0.1 - FEMALE OLD ADULT AMTL n.s. χ2=2.09 <1 - Cavity Yes F, χ2=13.198 0.0011 Agpa>NP TMJ n.s. χ2=0.283 <1 - Cranial fx n.s. χ2=2.2584 <1 - Nasal fx N/A - Upper fx n.s. χ2=1.0145 <1 - Lower fx n.s. χ2=0.6825 <1 - Shd DJD n.s. χ2=1.7346 <1 - Elb DJD n.s. χ2=1.1442 <1 - Hip DJD n.s. χ2=2.0858 <1 - 2 Knee DJD n.s. χ =2.1624 <1 - 1 N/A if one or more groups did not have affected cases 2 “F” here represents Fisher’s Exact Test, used if chi-square showed significance 3 Detailed p-values from Fisher’s Exact Test where there is a significant difference

235 Table A8.4. Pattern and distribution of fractures by economic mode Nomadic Pastoral Samples Site Sex Age Bone Side Trauma State LJ M YA Ulna R Simple fx Healed LJ M YA Femur R Simple fx Healed LJ M MA 1) Ulna L Simple fx Healed LJ M MA 2) Tibia L Simple fx Healed LJ M YA Ilium R Projectile Slight LJ M YA Humerus L Cut Healed LJ F Indet. A Femur R Simple fx Healed LJ F YA Frontal L Cut Healed LJ F YA Pariet./occip. R Cut Healed LJ F YA Parietal L Depressed fx Healed LJ F YA Ulna L Simple fx Healed LJ F YA Sacrum L Compression? Healing LJ F YA Ribs L Simple fx Healed LJ F MA Tibia L Simple fx Healed LJ F OA Parietal R Cut Healed LJ F OA 1) Parietal L Depressed fx Healed 2) Parietal L Depressed fx Healed 3) Parietal L Depressed fx Healed HTB Juv Ad Frontal Mid Depressed fx Healed HTB M YA Frontal R Cut Healing HTB M YA Parietal R Depressed fx Healed HTB F YA 1) Parietal L Depressed fx Healed 2) Parietal L Depressed fx Healed HTB F OA Frontal L Depressed fx Healed BYJH Juv Ad Frontal Mid Depressed fx Healed BYJH M YA Frontal R Cut Healing BYJH MYAUlnaL Parry fx? Active/healing BYJH M MA Occipital L Cut Active/slight BYJH M MA Frontal Mid Depressed fx Healed BYJH M A Radius L Compression? Fall? Well-healed BYJH MYATibiaL Fall? Well-healed BYJH MYAFemurL Cut? Active/healing BYJH F YA Frontal Mid Depressed fx Healed BYJH F YA Frontal R Depressed fx Active/healing YNQ M YA Frontal R Depressed fx Perimortem YNQ M MA Parietal R Depressed fx Healing YNQ M MA Nasal L Fracture Active (non-union) YNQ M OA Parietal L Cut Active/slight YNQ M OA 1) Frontal Mid Depressed fx Healed 2) Frontal L Depressed fx Healed 3) Frontal R Depressed fx Healed 4) Nasal L Fracture Healing SAY M YA 1) Parietal R Depressed fx Perimortem 2) Parietal L Depressed fx Perimortem SAY M YA Parietal R Depressed fx Healed SAY M YA Parietal L Projectile Perimortem SAY M YA Nasal L Fracture Healed SAY M YA 1) Parietal R Sharp Perimortem 2) Parietal L Sharp Perimortem 3) Parietal L Sharp Perimortem 4) Parietal L Sharp Perimortem

236 (Table A8.4 continued) Nomadic Pastoral Samples Site Sex Age Bone Side Trauma State SAY M MA Cheek/zyg L Fracture Healed SAY F MA Nasal R Fracture Healed SAY F OA Parietal L Depressed fx Healed SAY F OA Ulna L Parry fx? nearly healed Agropastoral Sample Site Sex Age Bone Side Trauma State BL Juv Ad Metatarsal ? Fracture Healed BL M YA Clavicle R Fracture Well-healed BLII M YA 1) Humerus R Fracture Healed 2) Ulna R Fracture Healed BLII M YA Tibia L Simple fx Well-healed BLII M YA Fibula R Simple fx Active/healing BLI M YA Ulna L Parry fx? Well-healed BLII M YA Radius L Simple fx Well-healed BLII M YA 1) Tibia L Compound fx? Well-healed 2) Fibula L Compound fx? Well-healed BLII M MA Fibulae L+R Fracture Well-healed BLI M YA Ulna L Greenstick Active/healing BLII M MA Tibia L Simple fx Well-healed BLII M MA 1) Tibia L Compound fx? Active/healing 2) Fibula L Compound fx? Active/healing BLII M MA Fibula L Greenstick Active/healing BL M MA Metatarsal 3+4 R Fracture Well-healed BLII M M A Ankle L Fx=Ankylososis Healed BL M MA Femur R Fracture Well-healed 1) Well-healed BLII M OA Ribs (2) L Fracture 2) non-union BLII M OA Tibia R Fracture Active/healing BLII M OA Metatarsal ? Fracture Healed BLII M A Femur R Fracture Active/healing BL M A Ulna L Simple fx Well-healed BLII F YA 1) Ulna R Fracture Healed 2) Pubis LR Fracture? Non-union BLII F MA Humerus L Simple fx Well-healed BLII F MA Ulna L Simple fx Well-healed BLII F OA Tibia L Simple fx Healed Agricultural Samples Site Sex Age Bone Side Trauma State QM M MA Parietal R Depressed fx Healed QM M MA Parietal L Depressed fx Healed QM F A Radius R Simple fx Healed 95SJCI M OA Nasal L Fracture Healed BWS F A Fibula R Fracture? Healed BWS F A Fibula L Fracture? Healed DZX M A Ulna R Parry fx? Healed DZX M A Tibia R Simple fx Well-healed

237 Table A8.5. Statistical comparison of pathological comparisons in levels of imperial influence by time (Fisher’s Exact Test used in all instances) MALE FEMALE Pre-Imperial - Early Imperial Significant p value Direction Significant p value Direction AMTL n.s. 0.1253 - n.s. 0.7621 - Cavity Yes <0.0001 Early Yes <0.0001 - TMJ DJD n.s. 0.3716 - n.s. 0.2209 - EH n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 - Tib osteoperi n.s. 0.3622 - n.s. 1 - PH n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 - CO n.s. 0.5997 - n.s. 0.6982 - Limb fx n.s. 0.5034 - n.s. 0.0604 - Cranial fx n.s. 1 - Yes <0.0001 Pre Nasal fx n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 (no cases) Shoulder DJD n.s. 0.0953 - Yes 0.0475 Early Elbow DJD Yes 0.0320 Early n.s. 0.3590 - Hip DJD n.s. 0.7441 n.s. 0.1331 - Knee DJD Yes 0.0408 Early Yes 0.0062 Early Pre-Imperial - Middle Imperial Significant p value Direction Significant p value Direction AMTL n.s. 0.5055 - n.s. 1 - Cavity Yes 0.0410 Middle n.s. 0.2542 - TMJ DJD n.s. 1 (no cases) Yes 0.0153 Middle EH n.s. 0.5280 - n.s. 0.2941 - Tib osteoperi n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 (no cases) PH n.s. 1 (no cases) n.s. 1 (no cases) CO n.s. 1 (no cases) n.s. 1 - Limb fx n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 - Cranial fx n.s. 1 (no cases) n.s. 0.6372 - Nasal fx n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 (no cases) Shoulder DJD n.s. 1 - Yes 0.0196 Middle Elbow DJD n.s. 0.0797 - n.s. 0.0286 Middle Hip DJD n.s. 0.1495 - Yes 0.0050 Middle Knee DJD Yes 0.0076 Middle Yes 0.0060 Middle

238 (Table A8.5 continued) MALE FEMALE Early Imperial - Middle Imperial Significant p value Direction Significant p value Direction AMTL n.s. 0.3443 - n.s. 0.7417 - Cavity n.s. 0.3306 - Yes 0.05 Early TMJ DJD n.s. 0.5993 - Yes 0.0478 Middle EH n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 - Tib osteoperi n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 - PH n.s. 0.6020 - n.s. 0.5941 - CO n.s. 0.1375 - Yes 0.0527 Middle Limb fx n.s. 1 - n.s. 0.1790 - Cranial fx n.s. 0.7749 - n.s. 0.0814 - Nasal fx n.s. 0.3451 - n.s. 1 (no cases) Shoulder DJD n.s. 1 - n.s. 0.0839 - Elbow DJD n.s. 0.5572 - n.s. 0.0584 Middle Hip DJD n.s. 0.0872 - Yes 0.0288 Middle Knee DJD n.s. 0.1210 - n.s. 0.2229 -

239 Table A8.6. Statistical comparison of means of long bone lengths from different periods of imperial influence Male Bone Significant t-statistic d.f. p-value LSD Post Hoc Humerus n.s. 0.776 84 0.440 - Femur n.s. -1.42 150 0.158 - Pre-Imperial to Tibia n.s. 1.083 129 0.281 - Early Imperial Female Humerus n.s. -0.625 75 0.534 - Femur Yes -2.266 163 0.025 Early>Pre Tibia n.s. -0.86 138 0.391 -

Male Bone Significant t-statistic d.f. p-value LSD Post Hoc Humerus n.s. -2.599 2 0.122 - Femur n.s. -0.708 26 0.485 - Pre-Imperial to Tibia n.s. -0.098 10 0.924 - Middle Imperial Female Humerus n.s. -0.019 2 0.986 - Femur n.s. -0.325 30 0.747 - Tibia n.s. -0.248 9 0.810 -

Male Bone Significant t-statistic d.f. p-value LSD Post Hoc Humerus n.s. 1.893 82 0.062 - Femur n.s. 0.811 140 0.888 - Early Imperial to Tibia n.s. -1.053 127 0.295 - Middle Imperial Female Humerus n.s. 0.603 75 0.548 - Femur n.s. 0.992 147 0.323 - Tibia n.s. 0.252 133 0.802 -

240 Table A8.7. Statistical comparison (Fisher’s Exact Test) of pathological conditions by proximity to imperial influence (Juveniles presented first, Males and Females on following page) JUVENILE Pre-Imperial Inner vs.Outer Early Imperial Inner vs. Outer Significant p-value Direction Significant p-value Direction AMTL n.s. 1 (no cases) n.s. 0.1160 - Cavity n.s. 1 - n.s. 0.4321 - EH n.s. 0.5363 - n.s. 0.6662 - Tib osteoperi n.s. 1 - n.s. 0.4200 - PH n.s. 1 (no cases) n.s. 1 - CO Yes 0.0077 Outer n.s. 1 - Limb fx/indiv n.s. 1 (no cases) n.s. 1 (no cases) Cranial fx n.s. 0.4933 - n.s. 0.4933 - Nasal fx n.s. 1 (no cases) n.s. 1 (no cases)

241 (Table A8.7 continued) Pre-Imperial Inner Zone vs. Outer Zone MALE FEMALE Significant p-value Direction Significant p-value Direction AMTL n.s. 0.1142 - n.s. 0.5036 - Cavity Yes 0.0172 Outer Yes 0.0061 Outer TMJ DJD n.s. 1 - n.s. 0.2706 - EH n.s. 0.3325 - n.s. 1 - Tib osteoperi n.s. 1 - n.s. 0.5271 - PH n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 (no cases) CO n.s. 0.3389 - n.s. 0.4359 - Limb fx/indiv n.s. 0.2632 - n.s. 0.2943 - Cranial fx n.s. 0.1907 - Yes 0.0110 Pre/Inner Nasal fx n.s. 1 - n.s. 1 - Shd DJD Yes 0.0121 Outer n.s. 0.3725 - Elb DJD Yes 0.0306 Outer Yes 0.0048 Outer Hip DJD n.s. 0.3243 - Yes 0.0012 Outer Knee DJD n.s. 0.0211 Outer Yes 0.0025 Outer

Early Imperial Inner Zone vs. Outer Zone Significant p-value Direction Significant p-value Direction AMTL n.s 0.5628 - n.s 0.2733 - Cavity Yes 0.0012 Early/Inner Yes 0.0023 Early/Inner TMJ DJD n.s 0.1412 - n.s 0.6776 - EH n.s 1 - n.s 0.1247 - Tib osteoperi n.s 0.6957 - n.s 0.6812 - PH n.s 0.1650 - n.s 1 - CO n.s 0.3520 - n.s 0.8245 - Limb fx/indiv n.s 0.6069 - n.s 1 - Cranial fx Yes 0.0002 Outer n.s 0.1432 - Nasal fx n.s 0.4007 - n.s 0.3805 - Shd DJD n.s 0.0879 - n.s 0.6069 - Elb DJD n.s 0.6930 - Yes 0.0065 Outer Hip DJD n.s 0.3842 - Yes 0.0014 Outer Knee DJD n.s 0.5155 - n.s 0.3326 -

242 Table A8.8. Statistical comparison of long bone lengths according to proximity to imperial influence Pre-Imperial Inner Zone vs. Outer Zone Bone Significant t-statistic d.f. p-value LSD Post Hoc Femur Yes -3.272 63 0.002 Outer>Inner MALE Tibia n.s. -1.348 39 0.186 - Humerus n.s. -0.288 30 0.775 -

Femur Yes -3.231 56 0.002 Outer>Inner FEMALE Tibia n.s. -1.894 37 0.066 - Humerus n.s. -0.845 24 0.406 - Early Imperial Inner Zone vs. Outer zone Femur Yes -4.005 177 0.000 Outer>Inner MALE Tibia Yes -5.681 156 0.000 Outer>Inner Humerus Yes -2.881 110 0.005 Outer>Inner

Femur Yes -2.690 173 0.008 Outer>Inner FEMALE Tibia Yes -3.467 161 0.001 Outer>Inner Humerus n.s. -1.225 97 0.224 -

243 Figure A5.1. Weapons found with burial assemblages: (A) Jinggouzi site (Bronze Age nomads of Inner Mongolia), (B) Yanghai site (Iron Age nomads of Xinjiang) (adapted from Wang et al. 2005; Lu et al. 2004).

244 Figure A8.1. Peri-mortem cranial trauma in four Nomadic Pastoral, North-western, Young Adult males of the Iron Age (A, C, and D from SAY site, B from YNQ site).

245 Figure A9.1. Two male victims of interpersonal violence in the Pre-imperial, Inner zone Jinggouzi site

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