Abstract:

The Xiaogao site is an early Holocene site discovered in Shandong Province in recent years. In 2017, the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Shandong Province and the Department of Archaeology of Shandong University conducted a rescue archaeological excavation and discovered a large number of cultural remains and animal bones, and Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis) is the most frequently found species among them. The Chinese water deer, as one of the main animal resources used by prehistoric humans in China, occupied an important position in the prehistoric subsistence activities, that can be confirmed by large amounts of bones, teeth and bone tools found in archaeological sites. Therefore, Chinese water deer from the Xiaogao site provide important materials for us to fully explore the hunting and utilization strategy of Chinese water deer, and further understand patterns of human subsistence strategies and complex relationship between humans and animals in the early Holocene. Based on five aspects of Chinses water deer bones, including age structure, sex ratio, seasonality, skeletal distribution pattern and bone fracture degree, this paper analyses the utilization pattern of Chinese water deer in the Xiaogao site. The age structure of Chinese water deer indicate that human hunting targets were mainly young and middle-aged individuals of 7-24 months, and a higher proportion of immature individuals were hunted in the late phase of site, indicating that most Chinese water deer became human hunting targets after approaching or reaching the maximum weight, and human hunting activities had a certain impact on population structure. Seasonality studies show that human hunting for Chinese water deer occurs mostly in winter and spring when food resources are scarce. The sex ratio study show that there was little difference in bone size between males and females, and it was difficult to analyze sex ratio with bone measurement data. Skeletal distribution pattern and bone fragmentation studies show that there may be full exploitation and utilization of meat and bone marrow. Combining with the biological characteristics of Chinese water deer, we propose that the utilization mode of Chinese water deer conforms to the features of broad-spectrum and intensive utilization of animal resources in the early Holocene. It also reflects the close interaction between human and animals. With this interaction, human not only have access to a variety of animal resources, such as meat, bone marrow and tools materials, but also have an opportunity to learn about animal characteristics and accumulate experience from animal management.

Key words: Xiaogao, Early Holocene, Chinese water deer, bone, Utilization