Millet staple food in ancient China, Lüliang 2,000 years ago: archaeological analyses

• Confirms millet-based agriculture as the dietary foundation in Lüliang during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty

• Demonstrates significant population movement and cultural interaction in a frontier region

• Uses isotope science to trace diet and migration with precision

• Reveals coexistence of diverse burial customs alongside shared food practices

• Highlights Lüliang’s role in early Chinese civilization formation

Recent archaeological research has shed new light on how ancient communities lived and moved through what is now Lüliang in North China’s Shanxi Province during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770–256 BC). The study reveals that millet-based agriculture formed the backbone of local subsistence, while the region also saw notable population mobility and cultural integration.

The findings were released by the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology and are based on scientific analyses of human skeletal remains recovered from the Houshi cemetery in Lüliang’s Lishi district. By examining chemical traces preserved in bones and teeth, researchers were able to reconstruct dietary patterns and identify individuals who likely originated outside the area.

Situated at the heart of the Loess Plateau, Lüliang historically functioned as a crossroads between the agrarian Central Plains and the northern steppe regions inhabited by pastoral groups. This strategic position made it an ideal case study for understanding interactions between farming societies and nomadic cultures. Human and animal remains from the Houshi cemetery offered a rare opportunity to examine how geography shaped both daily life and population movement during the Eastern Zhou period.

The project was carried out by a multidisciplinary research team led by scholars from Shandong University. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human bones allowed the team to infer long-term dietary habits, while strontium isotope testing of teeth helped determine whether individuals grew up locally or migrated from elsewhere. To refine the local strontium baseline, researchers also analyzed a limited number of animal teeth from the nearby Xinyi site.

The results point overwhelmingly to a diet centered on C4 plants, particularly millet and broomcorn millet. According to Wang Xin, the study’s lead author, this dietary signature demonstrates that millet farming was firmly established in the Lüliang area by the Eastern Zhou era, whereas animal husbandry played a comparatively smaller role.

“The isotopic evidence leaves little doubt that millet was the primary staple,” Wang explained in an interview with the Global Times on Tuesday. He noted that this agricultural pattern reflects the growing influence of Central Plains farming traditions as the Jin state—and later the Zhao state—extended their reach northward during the period.

The Houshi cemetery itself spans roughly 30,000 square meters and was uncovered during an archaeological survey connected to a highway rerouting project in late 2019. Excavations conducted in 2020 revealed 40 tombs, most dating to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, along with a diverse array of artifacts, including pottery, bronze and iron objects, jade items, stone implements, and bone tools.

Analysis of burial layouts, tomb structures, and grave goods indicates that the cemetery embodies a blend of cultural influences. Elements associated with the Jin and Qin states appear alongside traits linked to northern nomadic traditions, highlighting the region’s role as a cultural meeting ground.

Strontium isotope data further revealed that at least four individuals buried at the site were not native to the area. Two of these individuals were interred in non-standard positions—such as with flexed bodies or head orientations that differed from local customs—suggesting they may have belonged to distinct cultural or ethnic backgrounds.

When researchers compared burial practices with dietary data, they found a complex picture. Some individuals with unusual burial customs also showed dietary patterns different from the local norm, while others appeared to have adopted the same food habits as the broader community despite maintaining distinctive funerary traditions.

These patterns suggest that certain migrants preserved elements of their original cultural identity, particularly in burial rituals, while gradually assimilating into local foodways. Wang noted that such individuals may have included members of minority groups or people from the Qin state who moved into the region during the late Warring States period (475–221 BC), as Qin power expanded eastward.

Overall, the study paints Lüliang’s Lishi area as a dynamic frontier zone during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty—shaped by the spread of Central Plains states, the diffusion of millet agriculture, and ongoing interactions with northern populations. According to Wang, this combination of migration and cultural exchange played a meaningful role in the broader development of early Chinese civilization.

“This research provides a new scientific lens for understanding how contact between the Central Plains and surrounding regions contributed to the formation of early Chinese society,” he said.