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How Human Subsistence Strategy Affected Fruit-Tree Utilization During the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age: Investigations in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau

The history of fruit-tree utilization by prehistoric people has become an important issue that has attracted increasing attention in recent years. However, the question of how people used fruit trees has not yet been answered; in particular, the impacts of different subsistence strategies on human b...

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Autores principales: Liu, Fengwen, Zhang, Hucai, Li, Hu, Zhang, Xiaonan, Liu, Qi, Zhang, Yang, Li, Haoyu, Ma, Minmin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9284277/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35845664
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.941735
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author Liu, Fengwen
Zhang, Hucai
Li, Hu
Zhang, Xiaonan
Liu, Qi
Zhang, Yang
Li, Haoyu
Ma, Minmin
author_facet Liu, Fengwen
Zhang, Hucai
Li, Hu
Zhang, Xiaonan
Liu, Qi
Zhang, Yang
Li, Haoyu
Ma, Minmin
author_sort Liu, Fengwen
collection PubMed
description The history of fruit-tree utilization by prehistoric people has become an important issue that has attracted increasing attention in recent years. However, the question of how people used fruit trees has not yet been answered; in particular, the impacts of different subsistence strategies on human behavior regarding fruit-tree utilization (wild gathering or conscious cultivation) have not yet been considered. Here, we present the results of charcoal identification of fruit trees from 16 dated archeological sites in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau (NETP) spanning the period c. 5,200–2,600 BP. We combine this with reported multidisciplinary evidence to explore the history of fruit-tree utilization as well as its relation to the subsistence strategy in the NETP during the late Neolithic and Bronze Age. Our results demonstrate that Rosaceae [Prunus L., Prunus Padus L., Maloideae L., and Malus baccata (L.) Borkh], Elaeagnaceae (Hippophae L. and Elaeagnus angustifolia L.), and Rhamnaceae (only Ziziphus Mill.) were used by people in the NETP, and there was a downward trend in the use of fruit trees during the late Neolithic and Bronze Age. This is in notable contrast to the situation in the Chinese Loess Plateau in the parallel period. The cold-dry climate during the Bronze Age seemed to be one of the reasons. The fruit trees used by people in the NETP were likely gathered from the wild rather than consciously cultivated, and the subsistence strategy of agropastoralism may have played a significant role during the processes.
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spelling pubmed-92842772022-07-16 How Human Subsistence Strategy Affected Fruit-Tree Utilization During the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age: Investigations in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau Liu, Fengwen Zhang, Hucai Li, Hu Zhang, Xiaonan Liu, Qi Zhang, Yang Li, Haoyu Ma, Minmin Front Plant Sci Plant Science The history of fruit-tree utilization by prehistoric people has become an important issue that has attracted increasing attention in recent years. However, the question of how people used fruit trees has not yet been answered; in particular, the impacts of different subsistence strategies on human behavior regarding fruit-tree utilization (wild gathering or conscious cultivation) have not yet been considered. Here, we present the results of charcoal identification of fruit trees from 16 dated archeological sites in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau (NETP) spanning the period c. 5,200–2,600 BP. We combine this with reported multidisciplinary evidence to explore the history of fruit-tree utilization as well as its relation to the subsistence strategy in the NETP during the late Neolithic and Bronze Age. Our results demonstrate that Rosaceae [Prunus L., Prunus Padus L., Maloideae L., and Malus baccata (L.) Borkh], Elaeagnaceae (Hippophae L. and Elaeagnus angustifolia L.), and Rhamnaceae (only Ziziphus Mill.) were used by people in the NETP, and there was a downward trend in the use of fruit trees during the late Neolithic and Bronze Age. This is in notable contrast to the situation in the Chinese Loess Plateau in the parallel period. The cold-dry climate during the Bronze Age seemed to be one of the reasons. The fruit trees used by people in the NETP were likely gathered from the wild rather than consciously cultivated, and the subsistence strategy of agropastoralism may have played a significant role during the processes. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-07-01 /pmc/articles/PMC9284277/ /pubmed/35845664 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.941735 Text en Copyright © 2022 Liu, Zhang, Li, Zhang, Liu, Zhang, Li and Ma. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Liu, Fengwen
Zhang, Hucai
Li, Hu
Zhang, Xiaonan
Liu, Qi
Zhang, Yang
Li, Haoyu
Ma, Minmin
How Human Subsistence Strategy Affected Fruit-Tree Utilization During the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age: Investigations in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau
title How Human Subsistence Strategy Affected Fruit-Tree Utilization During the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age: Investigations in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau
title_full How Human Subsistence Strategy Affected Fruit-Tree Utilization During the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age: Investigations in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau
title_fullStr How Human Subsistence Strategy Affected Fruit-Tree Utilization During the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age: Investigations in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau
title_full_unstemmed How Human Subsistence Strategy Affected Fruit-Tree Utilization During the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age: Investigations in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau
title_short How Human Subsistence Strategy Affected Fruit-Tree Utilization During the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age: Investigations in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau
title_sort how human subsistence strategy affected fruit-tree utilization during the late neolithic and bronze age: investigations in the northeastern tibetan plateau
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9284277/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35845664
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.941735
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