Affluent foragers in the subtropical forest: Arboreal foodstuff exploitation in late Neolithic Pearl River Delta, South China

Abstract

Plant management or intervention with certain plants in tropical and subtropical forests clearly intensified in the Holocene. However, in south subtropical China, which has this type of vegetation, studies of arboreal foodstuffs are limited. Hence, we identify and analyse plant remains recovered from the waterlogged Guye site in the Pearl River Delta dating from 5900 to 5400 BP, attempting to ascertain Guye plant use assemblage. The results show that the Guye people formed an indigenous subsistence system with a schedule centred on summer and autumn, heavily reliant on arboreal foodstuffs, especially Lithocarpus nuts and Canarium album. This system contrasts sharply with cereal agriculture, although rice and millet agriculture spread southward from the Yangtze River, demonstrating the geographical diversity and anthropogenic selection of subsistence patterns in southern China.