Abstract:
Seven mid Holocene individual burials were excavated at the Liyudun site between 2002 and 2003. The site locates at the western coast of Leizhou Peninsula, southern China. The Liyudun site is the first mid Holocene site ever discovered in the peninsula. Therefore understanding the subsistence strategy of this site serves great importance to the understanding of prehistoric human occupation on this peninsula. The primary aim of this research portfolio is to investigate the subsistence strategy of these mid Holocene Liyudun occupants by examining the skeletal remains recovered from the site. The secondary aim of this research portfolio is to test the conclusion drawn from the previous archaeological study and stable isotope study that these occupants were marine foragers. This research portfolio consists of three interrelated parts. Part One is a review of the existing evidence regarding the paleoenvironment, archaeology, and paleopathology of samples from the Liyudun site and adjacent areas. This part provided context for Part Two and Part Three. Part Two is a preliminary report on all seven individual skeletal remains. This report summarised all the observed characteristics of the skeletal remains. It also presented the summary statistics for a series of dental pathologies. It was found that the dental pathology profile of these Liyudun occupants is contrary to what the previous studies have suggested. The combination of high caries rate, severe dental wear, low calculus rate and low level of ante-mortem tooth loss did not show typical characteristics of a marine forager profile. Base on these findings, Part Three carried out a series of comparative analyses focus on these dental pathologies, and also used dental microwear analysis to investigate the subsistence practice from a micro scale. The results from these analyses suggest that the importance of plant foods were overlooked in both archaeological study and stable isotope study. A variety of high carbohydrate and fibrous plant foods were responsible for the „unusual‟ dental pathology profile, which should be added to the existing assumption of a foraging based subsistence strategy.
