China was one of the centers of the domestication of pigs. Morphological characteristics and pathological evidences found in pig bones excavated from Neolithic sites in the Yellow River Valley in the north, Yangtze River Valley in the south, and in the region between these two major river valleys suggest that management of pigs had begun around 9000 BP, possibly in multiple places in China.
Dietary analyses using carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the bone collagen of pigs indicate that a small number of pigs with C4 plants in their diet appeared in northern China in the Early Neolithic between 9000 and 7500 BP. Many Sus samples of the Middle Neolithic Yangshao Period, when millet cultivation became the dominant form of farming in northern China, show an intake of C4 plants in their diet. Nitrogen isotope ratios were also elevated, suggesting that many pigs received fodder which included both C4 plants and kitchen wastes.
Sus with enriched nitrogen isotope values were also found among the Early Neolithic samples from the Yangtze Delta sites. Most pigs from the southern sites had a diet dominated by C3 plants even after millets were introduced to the Yangtze River Valley. The pig managements in southern China were more extensive than those in the northern Neolithic sites, probably because of the abundance of wild plants in the vicinity of the settlements that could be used as fodder for pigs. Hunting of wild animal resources also continued.
In northern China, the human control over the diet and breeding of pigs was more intensive, and hunting of wild pigs was rare. The isotope ratios of Sus samples from Huai and Han River Valley sites were variable, suggesting that each site had a versatile strategy in food production.
