Abstract: This paper aims to investigate human foodstuffs and lifestyle during the Western and Eastern Zhou Dynasties in the core area of the Central Plains using starch grain analysis of human dental calculus. Plant microfossils, starch grains and phytoliths, which were found in most calculus samples from the Guanzhuang site, were from millets, bread wheat, rice, adzuki, tubers and acorns.Diversity of starch grains and phytoliths extracted from dental calculus and analyzed for their morphological characteristics indicates that a variety of starchy plants, including crops and gathered plants, were consumed by the Guanzhuang inhabitants. Millets were dominant in the human diet of the Guanzhuang site. Bread wheat was of secondary importance. Combined with the macrobotanical evidence from the Guanzhuang and other neighboring sites, a traditional millet agricultural system still existed in the core area of the Central Plains when the multiple cropping system had emerged in this region. Meanwhile, the importance of bread wheat increased in the agricultural system during the Western and Eastern Zhou Dynasties and a change in the cropping system from millet-dominant to bread wheat-dominant ocurred.

Key words: Guanzhuang site; dental calculus; starch grain; phytolith; diet