Abstract:

Throughout the vast expanse of human history, breastfeeding and weaning practices have played a pivotal role in shaping the growth, development, and survival of children. These practices are not only fundamental to the health and nutrition of infants but they are also closely intertwined with population dynamics and broader societal developments. In fact, far from being simple physiological or dietary behaviors, the age at which infants were weaned and the addition of complementary foods was deeply influenced by the socio-cultural, economic patterns, and natural environments of the time, making it an important cultural variable. By delving into the breastfeeding and weaning customs of ancient societies, we can gain a clear understanding of the food structure and feeding methods of ancient children, and reveal children's nutritional status and the cultural motivations behind it. Anthropologists have long viewed breastfeeding as a quantifiable form of parental investment, a view that provides a unique perspective for understanding parent-child relationships and parenting strategies in ancient families. In recent years, with the development of stable isotope methods, it has become an effective tool for the recovery of breastfeeding and complementary food intake in ancient times. By analyzing the stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in ancient human bones, researchers can accurately assess the weaning age of infants and the types of complementary foods. With the continuous deepening of archaeological and anthropological research, the breastfeeding and weaning methods of ancient ancestors have attracted widespread attention from the academic community at home and abroad, and related research results are becoming increasingly abundant. These research results not only cover different historical periods, but also involve a wide geographical area, providing us with a comprehensive and systematic perspective for a deeper understanding of the diverse strategies of ancient families in child rearing, the nutritional changes of ancient children, and their living conditions in different environments. This article systematically reviews the research progress of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in reconstructing ancient human breastfeeding and weaning behaviors both domestically and internationally, and provides a preliminary outlook. It reveals that these isotopic methods hold extremely important value in exploring archaeological issues such as ancient human survival strategies, survival pressures, social structures and human evolution. They provide key clues for a deeper understanding of the lifestyle and social complexity of ancient humans. Future research will further expand the sample size, explore the weaning patterns of populations in more ancient sites, and combine interdisciplinary methods to deeply study the weaning practices of ancient humans, in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of their way of life and social complexity.

Key words: stable isotope analysis, breastfeeding, weaning practices, dentin serial sampling