Enhancing sustainability in early millet agriculture: Manuring practices in the Yellow River Valley

Abstract

The implementation of various agricultural strategies, including manuring, has long been considered a key factor in supporting the complexity of early societies worldwide. The Yellow River valley in China is recognized as the cradle of millet agriculture and civilization state. However, systematic research on manuring practices within spatiotemporal archaeological contexts in early millet agriculture within this region remains scarce. This paper synthesizes previously published isotopic data from foxtail and broomcorn millet at 33 archaeological sites spanning the late Neolithic to the Bronze Age, aiming to clarify the characteristics of early millet manuring management and its role in the sustainable development of ancient China. Nitrogen isotope results, together with evidence from soil nutrients, livestock husbandry, and archaeobotanical findings, suggest that manuring had been widely adopted in the dryland agriculture of the Yellow River valley since the late Neolithic period. Faced with increasing population pressures and environmental limitations, farmers in the Yellow River valley maintained manuring practices for farmland while expanding cultivated areas, though the intensity exhibited significant spatiotemporal variations. The refinement of agricultural strategies not only promoted the sustainable development and regional expansion of agricultural production but also played a crucial role in shaping the enduring features and trajectory of Chinese civilization.