Intensive consumption of Lithocarpus nuts in the Neolithic Pearl River Delta, China

The economic importance of Fagaceae nuts among prehistoric forest inhabitants has been highlighted, but we know little about the specific assemblages due to limited species identification. Here, we analyse Fagaceae remains from the waterlogged Guye site, offering a significant insight into the indigenous exploitation strategies of foodstaples in the Pearl River Delta, from 5,900 to 5,400 BP. The results reveal that Guye subsistence relied on Fagaceae nuts and may have had a strong tendency for anthropogenic selection, that is, favouring Lithocarpus. This Lithocarpus-based diet pattern was first identified in south subtropical China and is clearly distinct from other regions, suggesting a regionally different and adapted choice by the Guye people. Therefore, we hypothesize that the Guye people accumulated in-depth knowledge about arboreal foodstuffs in the surrounding forest, supporting their sedentism stably.