Human subsistence strategies and husbandry practices for sheep, goats, and cattle in the Gan-Qing region between the late Neolithic and Bronze ages remain ambiguous. This study sought to uncover this history by analyzing animal assemblages and reconstructing animal dietary intake using faunal remains derived from three settlement sites in the region and their isotopic data. We isotopically analyzed a total of 387 animal samples and found that from 5300 to 4900 BP and 4100 to 3600 BP pigs were free-range and/or raised at inhabitation sites and dogs may have been free-range and may have hunted with humans and/or remained close to habitation sites. These flexible ways of raising pigs and dogs may have enabled inhabitants to make full use of natural resources and to save millet fodder. Meanwhile, sheep, goats, and cattle were mainly herded in grasslands during the Bronze Age, with their diets dominated by C₃ and mixed C₃/C₄ plant consumption, which differs notably from the husbandry practice in the Central Plains. In addition, the δ¹⁵N values of wild herbivorous animals in arid regions were higher than those in semi-arid regions, suggesting that animal δ¹⁵N values may vary with aridity. This paper not only sheds light on the progress of and plausible reasons for pastoralist and mobile pastoralist practice in the Gan-Qing region during these periods but, in doing so, also provides a nitrogen baseline for reconstructing human diets in the Gan-Qing region.

在新石器时代晚期和青铜时代之间的甘青地区，人类对绵羊，山羊和牛的生存策略和畜牧方式仍然模棱两可。这项研究试图通过分析动物组成并利用该地区三个定居点及其同位素数据得出的动物遗骸来重建动物的饮食摄入，从而揭示这一历史。我们对总共387个动物样本进行了同位素分析，发现5300至4900 BP和4100至3600 BP的猪是在栖息地自由放养和/或饲养的，狗可能是自由放养的并且可能被人类和/或猎杀或保持在居民区附近。这些灵活的养猪和狗的方式可能使居民能够充分利用自然资源并节省小米的饲料。同时，绵羊，山羊，₃和C ₃ / C ₄混合植物的消耗量，这与中原地区的畜牧业做法显着不同。此外，δ ¹⁵在干旱地区野生食草动物的N个值均高于半干旱地区更高，这表明动物δ ^15个N个值可以与干燥度而改变。本文不仅阐明了甘青地区在此期间牧民和流动牧民实践的进展和合理的原因，而且还以此为氮源来重建甘青地区的人类饮食。