相近社会等级先民的食物结构差异——以山西聂店遗址为例

一般认为,先民食物结构的差异是人类不同社会等级的重要表现形式之一。然而,对于考古学资料中未见明显等级差异的先民来说,其是否存在食物结构上的差别,仍需认真加以探讨。为此,本文对山西聂店遗址墓葬(基本无随葬品或随葬品较少)中出土的人骨进行了C、N稳定同位素分析,研究结果表明:先民的食物结构,体现了典型中国北方农业经济的特点,即以粟作农业和家畜饲养为生。此外,尽管在考古学意义上聂店先民的等级相近,但其在食物资源的获取上却显示出明显差异,且这种差异与先民的性别、年龄和随葬品的种类和多寡无关。因此,在社会等级较为模糊的人类社会,先民对食物资源的获取,很可能更多地受到人群组成、生活习惯等因素的影响,而与社会等级的相对高低无关。

Dietary Differences in Humans with Similar Social Hierarchies: Example from the Niedian Site,Shanxi

In general, humans of different social status probably had different diets, but this type of variation of human diets in archaeological sites remains poorly understood. In this paper, carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of human bones and also a few burial objects from Niedian site, Shanxi, are analyzed. The carbon and nitrogen ratios show that ancestors in Niedian had a typical agricultural economy of northern China, i.e., relying on millet agriculture and domestic animals. Although humans at Niedian had similar social hierarchies, they still showed substantial dietary differences. These differences were not significantly related to sex, age or social status of humans. Therefore, in early human society without a definite social hierarchy, the ancestors’ access to food were more likely influenced by populations of different cultures, habits or other factors, and may have nothing to do with their social hierarchy.