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Some like it hot: Sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum bungeanum) and other spices from a late Bronze Age kingdom (Chu State) in Hubei, China

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Abstract

Located in the Jianghan plain in Hubei Province, China, the Wangshanqiao Tomb No. 1 is a large-sized burial belonging to a high-status male from the Chu State during Warring States period (475–221 bc). Here, archaeobotanical studies were applied to the waterlogged plant remains discovered from that tomb dated to around 300 bc. The recovery of a considerable number of well-preserved plant macrofossils suggests that the Chu kingdom noble classes used many plant species including spices such as Sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum bungeanum), ginger (Zingiber officinale), and Chinese Angelica (Angelica sinensis), as well as fruits and nuts. We discuss the differences in spice usage between noble classes and genders in this southern central part of China from late Bronze to early Iron Ages by examining these data along with other extant archaeobotanical evidence recovered from 33 tombs during around 1100 bc to ad 30. It indicates that the seeds of Sichuan pepper were more widely used in the noble burials of male and female from upper to lower classes than other spices in the southern central part of China from Warring States period (475–221 bc) to Western Han dynasty (202 bc–ad 8).

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Acknowledgment

The authors grateful for the helpful comments made by two anonymous reviewers that improved the quality of this manuscript. We are also grateful to the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Grant (2018M641902) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (41672171) for financial support. Finally, we are thankful to Dr. Michael Storozum for improving the manuscript with his commentary and English language editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Archaeological Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Pengfei Sheng

  2. Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Pengfei Sheng

  3. College of Applied Arts and Science, Beijing Union University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Hua Zhou

  4. Jingzhou Museum, Jingzhou, 434020, Hubei, China

    Jianye Liu

  5. Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A, Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, China

    Hongen Jiang

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  1. Pengfei Sheng
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Correspondence to Hongen Jiang.

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Sheng, P., Zhou, H., Liu, J. et al. Some like it hot: Sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum bungeanum) and other spices from a late Bronze Age kingdom (Chu State) in Hubei, China. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 249 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01201-3

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