Strontium isotope analysis of human remains from Zhaitouhe and Shijiahe cemeteries in Huangling， Shaanxi，China

Abstract The Rong people were one of the essential people in ancient times and occupied an important position in China's diverse and integrated historical civilization. Due to different reasons, the Rong people have migrated many times. The Shaanxi was once where the Rong people lived. However, the scarcity of literature and archaeological discoveries has led to a lack of historical information on the lives of the ancient Rong people in the academic community. The archaeological excavations of the Rong people's cemeteries in the Zhaitouhe and the Shijiahe in Huangling, Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, provided precious materials for understanding the social life of the Rong people. This article takes the human teeth unearthed from two cemeteries as the research object, and uses the strontium isotope analysis method to determine the strontium isotope ratio in tooth enamel, and then discusses the population migration of the ancestors in Zhaitouhe and Shijiahe cemeteries. Based on the local strontium isotope range (0.710429 ~ 0.711298), we found many immigrants in Zhaitouhe and Shijiahe cemeteries. After discussing viewpoints combined with archaeological material and literature, we inferred that the source of the Rong people may be Yiqu Rong. The population of the cemetery also include the Qin people, the northern grassland ethnic and the Wei people.