聚落考古研究表明,二里头文化时期（1750~1530 BC）中原腹地出现了都邑和大、中、小型四级聚落系统,东亚地区由此进入了早期广域王权国家时代。二里头文化时期的生业经济研究对于理解中华文明形成与早期发展过程中的关键时期的社会变革与文化演进的骤然提速具有重要意义。家养动物及其副产品的开发和利用、管理和分配是生业经济研究和社会复杂化发展的重要内容。在以往研究中,尽管学界已对二里头文化时期的核心都邑二里头遗址和若干中小型聚落遗址开展了多项动物考古学研究,但是针对大型聚落的系统分析较少。鉴于此,本文以河南省新郑市望京楼遗址发掘出土的动物骨骼为研究对象,通过种属鉴定、数量统计、测量数据分析、死亡年龄推算等方法,尝试探讨居于大型聚落的先民对动物资源的消费和利用。结果显示,该遗址的家养动物有猪、黄牛、绵羊、山羊和狗,家养动物数量占多数。遗址的猪多数为未成年个体,说明肉食消费是遗址先民养猪的主要目的;绵羊多数为成年个体,说明获取羊毛是遗址先民养羊的主要目的。通过与二里头、南洼、煤山和皂角树等其他等级聚落遗址的比较可知,早期国家的都邑和大中型聚落的家养动物的种类更丰富,绵羊的数量比例随聚落等级的降低而减少,绵羊的身体尺寸随聚落等级的降低而变小,以获取羊毛为主要目的养羊业更容易在高等级聚落中出现。这一研究揭示了早期国家大型聚落和国家内部不同等级聚落开发利用动物资源的特点和差异,为从动物考古的角度探讨早期社会复杂化提供了可能性。

Settlement archaeology research has shown that the earliest ancient Chinese state was formed during the Erlitou culture period (1735-1530 BC) in the Central Plain. The exploitation, management, and distribution of primary and secondary products from domestic animals during this key period are important issues in zooarchaeological research. Although some research has been conducted on materials from the central capital, middle settlements, and small settlements, there remains a gap in our understanding of animal exploitations in large settlements. In this paper, our research on the animal bone assemblage at the Wangjinglou site explores the consumption and exploitation of animal resources by commoners living in the city during the Erlitou period. Our analysis includes the taxonomic identification and statistical comparison of species frequency; calculations and comparisons of metric data for sheep, estimations of age at death of pigs and sheep; and evaluations of possible animal exploitation strategies for meat and secondary products such as wool. Domestic animals, such as pigs and cattle, were dominant species in the faunal assemblage, while wild animals, mainly deer, were small in number. Moreover, estimation of age at death indicates that pigs were raised for specialized meat consumption. However, most sheep survived beyond 3-4 years, illustrating that wool production was the main objective of sheep husbandry. Within the multi-tiered settlement hierarchy for the Erlitou state, we compare the species of domestic animals, percentages of sheep among domestic animals by NISP and MNI, distribution values (d) of sheep body sizes calculated using the Logarithmic Size Index (LSI) method, and specializations of sheep husbandry. From this, we infer that the capital, large settlements, and middle settlements had a greater variety of species than small settlements. In addition, at high level settlements, the relative percentage of sheep was greater and the body size was larger than at low level settlements. Moreover, procuring wool was more likely to be the main purpose of sheep husbandry in the capital and large settlements. This research on Wangjinglou reveals the characteristics of the animal economy in large settlements and describes the differentiation of domestic animal exploitation within the multi-tiered settlement hierarchy of the earliest Bronze Age state in ancient China.