title: Tracing the locality of prisoners and workers at the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang: First Emperor of China (259-210 BC).
abstract: The mausoleum complex of the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (259-210 BC), is one of the most famous and important archaeological sites in China, yet questions remain as to how it was constructed and by whom. Here we present isotopic results of individuals from the Liyi (n = 146) and Shanren sites (n = 14), both associated with the mausoleum complex. Those buried at Liyi represent the local workers/inhabitants of the Qin population, and the δ(13)C (-8.7 ± 1.5%) and δ(15)N (10.3 ± 0.7%) values indicate that they consumed predominately millet and/or domestic animals fed millet. In contrast, the Shanren individuals were prisoners forced to construct the mausoleum (found buried haphazardly in a mass grave and some in iron leg shackles), and their δ(13)C (-15.4 ± 2.9%) and δ(15)N (8.0 ± 0.6%) results indicate a more mixed C3/C4 diet, with possibly less domestic animals and more wild game protein consumed. This pattern of decreased millet consumption is also characteristic of archaeological sites from southern China, and possible evidence the Shanren prisoners originated from this region (possibly the ancient Chu state located in modern day Hubei Province and parts of Hunan and Anhui Provinces). Further, this finding is in agreement with historical sources and is supported by previous ancient DNA evidence that the mausoleum workers had diverse origins, with many genetically related to southern Chinese groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 6 Deutcher Platz, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Benjamin T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Fuller
authors.affiliation: Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Culture Relics and Archaeology, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710054, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Weigang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Culture Relics and Archaeology, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710054, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Songmei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Archaeology, Northwest University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710069, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.|Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: Yaowu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 6 Deutcher Platz, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany.|Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5W 1S6, Canada.
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Richards
mesh_terms: D001106:Archaeology; D002681:China; D004032:Diet / Q000266:history*; D005260:Female; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011329:Prisoners / Q000266:history*