Comparing subsistence strategies in different landscapes of North China 10,000 years ago:

A recent switch in the study of the beginning of agriculture is to demonstrate the increasingly closer interaction between people and the landscape and how this would have played a crucial role in the transition to agriculture. Understanding the palaeo-ecology of the local environments at key sites and its relationship with subsistence strategies is critical to an improved appreciation of such interactions. This article examines macro- and micro-plant remains discovered at two important sites in North China, both dated to around 10,000 cal. yr BP. These two sites, Zhuannian and Nanzhuangtou, are located on the terrace of the Bai River in the Yan Mountains and next to Baiyangdian Lake on the piedmont of the Taihang Mountains, respectively. The floral remains at these two sites provide a great opportunity to examine (1) post-Pleistocene subsistence strategies, (2) the increasing consumption of millets and grassy plants and its significance and (3) the intra-regional diversity in food exploitation and its re...