Feeding Status: A Comparative Study of Animal Foodways and Social Status in the Chinese Bronze Age (Guandimiao, Anyang, and Zhougongmiao, 13th-8th Century BCE)

Abstract

In the dissertation, I generally investigate how the analysis of animal bone remains, as well as ceramic vessels from residential contexts and correlated human skeletons from tombs, can shed light on the relationship between foodways and social status in the Chinese Bronze Age. This study is based on archaeological work at three sites, Guandimiao 關帝廟, Xiaomintun 孝民屯, and Zhougongmiao 周公廟, which cover the core area of the Chinese Bronze Age in the Central Plains, extend from the late Shang period (13th-11th century BCE) to the Western Zhou period (11th-8th century BCE), and represent settlements of different contexts (rural vs. urban, Shang vs. Zhou). Animal remains of the three sites can roughly be attributed to daily food waste of local residents, the vast majority of whom are people of lower status and have long been neglected in received texts and by most historical and archaeological studies. The main part of this dissertation focuses on solving the basic question of how animal food was prepared and consumed by non-elites in this period. A review and discussion of animal food production shows that meat consumption was based on a relatively stable structure of animal husbandry in this period, which offered reliable meat resources for both rural and urban settlements and also allowed the development of some degree of separation and specialization in production at the same time. Most of my work is on analyses of patterns of bone modification (bone breakage and butchery marks), as well as the regular skeletal element representation which reveals many details of cattle and pig butchering and meat cooking in communities of non-elites. It shows that large animal carcasses were processed following roughly similar procedures in the three sites. And, meanwhile, the rich evidence shows an interaction of butchery techniques, available tools, butchery skills and butchers, preparation and consumption vessels and techniques, and possibly other cultural variables (such as gustatory preference) distinguish the three social groups. The comparisons prove that, in stratified Shang and Western Zhou societies, there was significant differentiation even between non-elites (urban vs. rural, and Shang vs. Zhou) and it was prevalent indeed in the details of daily life. It will be very interesting to further discuss the underlying causes and implications. It should be pointed out that this study offers a chance to reconstruct the social life of communities of non-elites, especially that of the small rural settlement Guandimiao. Analysis of Guandimiao indicates the poverty and uniformity of the rural households and a relatively loose village-level organization. It suggests a degree of independence of the community as a unit in daily life, while it had to depend on outside powers and communities as previous studies have shown. In addition, I would like to emphasize the methodological purpose of this dissertation, which aims to explore a possibility to excavate new information from animal bones in the study of complex societies in China based on studies of the most common animal bone remains from daily food waste. Following this method, close attention should be paid to evidence on bone modification and the analysis of taphonomic attritions. This dissertation demonstrates both the viability of this kind of approach in Chinese archaeology and its necessity.