Bulls for sacrifice, cows for work? Morphometric models suggest that female cattle were used for traction in the Chinese Bronze Age Late Shang dynasty (ca. 1300–1046 BCE)

Training animals to pull agricultural equipment and wheeled transport significantly shaped and advanced human economic systems. In this context the use of large domestic animals such as cattle was a milestone event in human history, part of what Sherratt memorably termed the Secondary Products Revolution: the use of the products of live animals such as milk, wool and traction power. It is commonly assumed that male cattle were generally preferred for traction because of their greater strength compared with females, and the importance of the latter for breeding and, in some societies, for milk and for dairy products, but surprisingly little is known of this aspect of the Secondary Products Revolution in prehistoric China. Here we apply established morphometric models to 10 assemblages of cattle bones from Chinese Bronze Age (ca. 2000–221 BCE) contexts. Our results indicate a process of intensified cattle labour exploitation at this time and, intriguingly, we also observe the earliest labour employment of female cattle during the Late Shang dynasty (ca. 1300–1046 BCE). It is proposed that female cattle may have been required for traction because of the large numbers of male cattle, especially bulls, that were sent for ritual sacrifice. Such a strategy reveals a sophisticated social management, upon which the Late Shang civilisation eventually developed.

Urban Swine and Ritual Pigs in the Bronze Age

The elite-run institutions (temples and palaces) of Bronze Age societies sought to maximize the production of storable, taxable, and tradable agricultural commodities—especially grain and wool. This brought the secondary products revolution to full fruition and solidified the transformation of cattle, sheep, and goats into animals that embodied wealth. Later this privilege extended to equids for their role in warfare. While institutional forms of wealth excluded pigs, urbanism offered a new and ideal ecological niche for pig husbandry. Pigs became especially important among the urban lower classes, perhaps as a type of “informal economy.” Yet in regions without large cities or extant traditions of eating pork, pig husbandry failed to thrive. The Levant, in particular, saw the gradual erosion of pig husbandry in favor of wealth-bearing livestock husbandry. At the same time, pigs’ ritual roles began to shift. Whereas once the sacrifice of swine was thought to ensure fertility, communication with the dead, and the absolution of sin, by the Late Bronze Age pigs connoted impurity.

Out of the Cradle

Pigs, sheep, goats, and cattle constituted the package of domesticated animals that spread throughout the Near East, and later to Central and South Asia, Europe, and Africa. But domestic pig husbandry spread more slowly, often appearing centuries or even millennia after the domestication of ruminants. Environmental and cultural factors were likely responsible for this slow spread. During the Late Neolithic, people innovated agriculture and livestock-keeping strategies. These included intensive forms of pig husbandry, perhaps in order to supply pork for feasts. In addition, by the Chalcolithic period, people intensified ruminant management in order to maximize the exploitation of secondary products. This led to the “secondary products revolution.” As a result, while the other barnyard animals became increasingly tied to wealth in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age—cattle for their ability to provide traction power, sheep and goats for their wool/hair—pigs were excluded from this development.

Plant-Female Iconography in Neolithic Europe

“Plant-Female Iconography in Neolithic Europe” covers the Neolithic transition to agriculture in the Aegean and Europe, which was accompanied by the production of a large corpus of anthropomorphic figurines, a genre dominated by images of women. Figurines with cereal grain eyes reminiscent of those at Sha’ar Hagolan, have been found in Greece, and this symbolic association between plants and women tracked the spread of agriculture into Europe. There female figurines appear bearing grain impressions, or incised with plant imagery. The dot and lozenge motif found on some figurines has been interpreted as symbolizing the planted field. Female images from the megalithic era of Malta, including engravings on the base of the monumental statue of a woman at the Tarxian temple, reveal symbols evidencing strong plant-female associations. This association shows continuity throughout the secondary products revolution and the Chalcolithic period and continues into the stratified patriarchal societies of the Bronze Age.