Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 2020, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (03): 473-482.doi: 10.16359/j.cnki.cn11-1963/q.2019.0046

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Plant resources utilization at the Wutai site in Yantai county: Ancient starch residue evidence from human dental calculus

ZHAO Zhenzhen1(), WANG Fuqiang2, CHEN Songtao1, JIN Guiyun3   

  1. 1. School of History and Culture, Shandong Uninversity, Jinan 250100
    2. Yantai Museum, Yantai 264001
    3. Institute of Cultural Heritage, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100
  • Received:2018-12-18 Revised:2019-06-25 Online:2020-08-15 Published:2020-08-31

Abstract:

Through the analysis of the starch grain of the human dental calculus of 27 samples from 7 individuals from the Wutai site, Shandong Province, a rich variety of plant starch grains on the surface of these human dental calculus were found, including millets, Triticeae grasses, roots and tubes and Fabaceae plant speciece. Results of this work have shown that the ancestors of Wutai not only used millet crops as the main food resources, but also collected some wild fruits and tubers as food supplement. In this paper, starchy plants, such as acorns which were not found in the macro-botaincal remains, but were recovered and identified in the micro-botaincal remains from the human dental calculus. Starch grain analysis makes up for the deficiency of the macro-botaincal remains.

Key words: Wutai site, Dental calculus, Starch grain, Plant resources

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