<p>Investigations of ancient subsistence strategies are important to understand early civilizations. However, the emergence of high complexity and how groups adapted to the harsh environment in the loess-desert transition zone remain unclear, especially in the Inner Mongolian region. Here, we first present new evidence of archaeobotanical (<i>n</i> = 24) and stable isotope analyses (<i>n</i> = 23) of humans, animals, and plants from the Sharitala site in Inner Mongolia. It is shown that the foxtail millet has the highest proportion (90.9%) among all the crops. The average <i>δ</i>¹⁵N value of foxtail millet seeds is 5.1‰, which implies the existence of a certain degree of fertilization behavior. The ancestors of this region mainly consumed C₄ type crops and/or the livestock raised on C₄ type crops. By integrating data from 15 archaeological sites of the loess-desert transition zone, we found that the subsistence strategies were influenced by natural and social factors.</p>