A study on the cultural lag of diet of nomads in the farming area: Based on the stable isotopic analysis of human bones from the Northern Wei Cemetery in Dongxin Square, Datong, Shanxi Province
People from different geographical regions can have distinctive food cultures and traditions. In the face of direct interaction with sedentary agriculturalists, Tuoba Xianbei(nomadic pastoralists) alter their dietary preferences over the course of time, i.e., from the nomadic life to agricultural life. Here we present carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratio results from 26 individuals from the Northern Wei Dynasty(386~534 AD) cemetery in Dongxin Square, Datong, Shanxi Province, China. The delta~(13)C(-11.52.7, n=26) and delta~(15)N(9.81.2, n=26) results show a mixture of C_3 and C_4 diets with the consumption of significant amounts of protein from animals. Individuals consuming C_3 diets had lives centered on grazing and/or hunting, whereas individuals consuming C_4 diets made their living mainly by millet agriculture. These two types of diet analysed in the Northern Wei Dynasty cemetery suggest that there was a cultural lag in the adoption of millet agriculture, a new food culture, of the Tuoba Xianbei regime. The cultural lag may be related to climate change, as the climate became cold and dry during this period, or alternatively to the fact that the rulers and some of the population did not prefer to change their diet.