|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
|
Evidence for the early beginning (c. 9000 cal. BP) of rice domestication in China: a response
Li Liu
Archaeology Program, School of Historical and European Studies, La Trobe University, Melbourne Victoria 3086, Australia, l.liu{at}latrobe.edu.au
Gyoung-Ah Lee
Department of Anthropology, 1218 University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403-1218, USA
Leping Jiang
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Relics and Archaeology, 26 Jiashan Xin Cun, Jiashan Road, Hangzhou 310014, P.R. China
Juzhong Zhang
University of Science and Technology of China, 96 Jinzhai Road, Hefei 230026, P.R. China
This paper is a response, both to Fuller et al.'s recent criticism of Chinese research on rice domestication, as lacking evidence, and to their argument for the beginning of rice domestication around 4000 BC in the lower Yangzi River. We first survey previous publications that discuss the process from wild rice collection to rice domestication in China, and then examine early rice remains from the perspectives of rice morphology and archaeological context. We focus on three aspects: the timing of the initial rice domestication in the Yangzi River region; the earliest presence of domesticated rice in the Lower Yangzi and Huai River regions; and the implications of changes in rice grain sizes in archaeological assemblages. We also discuss problems relating to the presence of immature rice remains in the archaeological record, grain size increase and overall grain shape, which are three of the criteria used by Fuller et al. for distinguishing domesticated from wild rice. Based on published data and our research on rice, we demonstrate that by the early Holocene (9000 cal. BP), Neolithic people in both north and south China may have been harvesting wild rice and initiating rice cultivation that eventually led to domestication.
Key Words: Wild rice harvesting • rice domestication • rice morphology • Neolithic • early agriculture • Shangshan • Jiahu • China • Holocene.
References
- Ahn, S.-M. 1993: Origin and differentiation of domesticated rice in Asia: review of archaeological and botanical evidences. Ph.D thesis. Institute of Archaeology, University of London.
- ——— 1996: Retrospect and prospect on research of prehistoric agriculture in Korea. Prehistory and Ancient History 7, 3—18.
- Chang, K.-C. 1981: The affluent foragers in the coastal areas of China: extrapolation from evidence on the transition to agriculture. Senri Ethnological Studies, National Museum of Ethnology, 177—86.
- Choi, S.R. 1988: The Gungokri Shellmidden, Hanam. Mokpo University Museum (in Korean).
- Crawford, G. 1992: Prehistoric plant domestication in East Asia. In Cowan, C.W. and Watson, P.J., editors, The origins of agriculture: an international perspective. Smithsonian Institution Press, 7—38.
- ——— 2006: East Asian plant domestication. In Stark, M., editor, Archaeology of Asia. Blackwell Publishing, 77—95.
- Crawford, G. and Lee, G.-A. 2003: Agricultural origins in the Korean Peninsula. Antiquity 77, 87—95.[Web of Science]
- Crawford, G. and Shen, C. 1998: The origins of rice agriculture: recent progress in East Asia. Antiquity 72, 858—66.[Web of Science]
- Crawford, G., Chen, X. and Wang, J. 2006: Shandong Jinan Changqingqu Yuezhuang faxian Houli wenhua shiqi de tanhuadao (Houli culture rice from the Yuezhuang site, Jinan, Shandong). Dongfang Kaogu (East Asian Archaeology) 3, 247—51 (in Chinese).
- Dong-A University Museum, editor 1981: Kimhae Buwondong site report. Dong-A University Museum Press (in Korean).
- Fuller, D.Q. 2007: Contrasting patterns in crop domestication and domestication rates: recent archaeobotanical insights from the Old World. Annals of Botany doi: 10.1093/aob/mcm048.
- Fuller, D., Harvey, E. and Qin, L. 2007: Presumed domestication? Evidence for wild rice cultivation and domestication in the 5th millennium BC of the Lower Yangzte region. Antiquity 81, 316—31.[Web of Science]
- Harris, D.R. 1989: An evolutionary continuum of people—plant interaction. In Harris, D.R. and Hillman, G.C., editors, Foraging and farming: the evolution of plant exploitation. Unwin Hyman, 11—26.
- Henan Institute of Cultural Relics 1999: Wuyang Jiahu. Kexue Press (in Chinese).
- Higham, C. 1995: The transition to rice cultivation in Southeast Asia. In Price, D.T. and Gebauer, A.B., editors, Last hunters — first farmers: new perspectives on the prehistoric transition to agriculture. School of American Research Press, 127—55.
- Hillman, G.C. 2000: Abu Hureyra 1: the Epiphalaeolithic. In Moore, A.M.T., Hillman, G.C. and Legge, A.J., editors, Village on the Euphrates: from foraging to farming at Abu Hureyra. Oxford University Press, 327—98.
- Hillman, G.C. and Davies, M.S. 1999: Domestication rate in wild wheats and barley under primitive cultivation. In Anderson, P.C., editor, Prehistory of agriculture. The Institute of Archaeology, University of California, 70—102.
- Hunan Institute of Archaeology 1999: Brief report of 1997—1998 excavation seasons at Chengtoushang site in Lixian. Wenwu 6, 4—17 (in Chinese).
- ——— 2006: Pengtoushan yu Bashidang. Kexue Press (in Chinese).
- Jiang, L. and Liu, L. 2006: New evidence for the origins of sedentism and rice domestication in the Lower Yangzi River, China. Antiquity 80, 1—7.
- Kwangju National Museum, editor 1997: The Shinchang-dong wetland site I Kwangju National Museum Press.
- Lao, B. 1995: Analysis of the causes of the formation of `rice deposits' at the Hemudu site. Nongye Kaogu 1, 81—86 (in Chinese).
- Lee, G.-A. 2002: Analysis of macro-plant remains from the water-logged Shinchangdong site. In Gwangju National Museum, editor, Shinchang-dong wetland site IV. Gwanju National Museum, 255—75.
- ——— 2003: Changes in subsistence systems in Southern Korea from the Chulmun to Mumun periods: archaeobotanical investigation. Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto.
- ——— 2006: Archaeobotanical analysis on the Bojeongri site. In Center, G.R., editor, The Bojeongri site. Gijeong Research Center.
- Lee, G.-A. and Bestel, S. 2007: Contextual analysis of plant remains at the Erlitou-period Huizui site, Henan, China. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 27, 49—60.
- Lee, G.-A., Crawford, G.W., Liu, L. and Chen, X. 2007: Plants and people from the early Neolithic to Shang periods in North China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104, 1087—92.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Li, F. 1994: Identification of carbonized grains unearthed from the Lilou site in Ruzhou. Kaogu Xuebao 1, 96—97 (in Chinese).
- Liu, C. 2000: Identification of charred crop grains unearthed from the Dazuizi site. In Dalian Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, editor, Dazuizi. Dalian Chubanshe, 279 (in Chinese).
- Longqiuzhuang Archaeology Team 1999: Longqiuzhuang. Kexue Press (in Chinese).
- Lu, T.L.-D. 1999: The transition from foraging to farming and the origin of agriculture in China. British Archaeological Report International Series 774, BAR.
- ——— 2006: The occurrence of cereal cultivation in China. Asian Perspectives 45, 129—58.[CrossRef]
- Oka, H.-I. and Morishima, H. 1971: The dynamics of plant domestication: cultivation experiments with Oryza perennis and its hybrid with O. sativa. Evolution 25, 356—64.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
- Qin, L., Fuller, D.Q. and Harvey, E. 2006: Subsistence of Hemudu Site, and reconsideration of issues in the study of early rice from Lower Yangzte. Dongfang Kaogu 3, 307—50 (in Chinese).
- Sato, Y. 2002: Origin of rice cultivation in the Yangtze River Basin. In Yasuda, Y., editor, The origins of pottery and agriculture. Roli Books Pvt. Ltd, 143—50.
- Sato, Y., Tang, S., Yang, L. and Tang, L. 1991: Wild-rice seeds in the oldest rice remains. Rice Genetics Newsletter 8, 76.
- Smith, B. 1998: The emergence of agriculture. Scientific American Library.
- Tang, L. 1999: Identification and analyses of rice remains from the Longqiuzhuang site. In Longqiuzhuang Archaeology Team, editor, Longqiuzhuang. Wenwu Press, 441—48 (in Chinese).
- Tang, S., Sato, Y. and Yu, W. 2003a: Discovery of normal wild rice grains from charbonized rice at Hemudu. In Zhejiang Institute of Archaeology, editor, Hemudu. Wenwu Press, 440—44 (in Chinese).
- Tang, S., Zhang, W. and Liu, J. 2003b: Study of the bi-peak-tubercle of rice unearthed from Hemudu and Luojiajiao using SEM. In Zhejiang Institute of Archaeology, editor, Hemudu. Wenwu Press, 431—39 (in Chinese).
- University of Science and Technology of China and Henan Institute of Archaeology 2002: Brief report of excavation at the Jiahu site in Wuyang, Henan, in Spring, 2001. Huaxia Kaogu 2, 14—30 (in Chinese).
- Wang, X. and Sun, C. 1996: Origin and differentiation of Chinese cultivated rice. China Agricultural University Press (in Chinese).
- Willcox, G.H. 1999: Archaeobotanical significance of growing Near Eastern progenitors of domestic plants at Jales, France. In Anderson, P.C., editor, Prehistory of agriculture. The Institute of Archaeology, University of California, 103—17.
- Yarnell, R.A. 1993: The importance of native crops during the Late Archaic and Woodland periods. In Scarry, M., editor, Foraging and farming in the Eastern Woodlands. University Press of Florida, 13—26.
- Yasuda, Y., editor 2002: The origins of pottery and agriculture. Roli Books Pvt. Ltd.
- Yen, D.E. 1982: Ban Chiang pottery and rice. Expedition 24, 51—64. Yu, W. and Xu, Y. 2000: Research on the plant remains of the Hemudu culture. Dongnan Wenhua 7, 24—32 (in Chinese).
- Yuan, J. 2002: Rice and pottery 10,000 yrs. BP at Yuchanyan, Dao county, Hunan province. In Yasuda, Y., editor, The origins of pottery and agriculture. Roli Books Pvt. Ltd, 157—66.
- Zhang, J., Wang, X., Cui, Z. and Xu, W. 1996: On the origins and eastern dispersal of domesticated rice in China. In Wang, X. and Sun, C., editors, Zhongguo Zaipeidao Qiyuan yu Yanhua Yanjiu Zhuanji. China Agricultural University Press, 14—21 (in Chinese).
- Zhang, W. 2000a: Identification of ancient rice from the Dazuizi site. In Dalian Institute of Archaeology, editor, Dazuizi. Daian Press, 280—83 (in Chinese).
- ——— 2000b: Study of ancient domesticated rice from the Qingyang site in Gansu. Nongye Kaogu 3, 80—85 (in Chinese).
- ——— 2002: The bi-peak-tubercle of rice, the character of ancient rice and the origin of cultivated rice. In Yasuda, Y., editor, The origins of pottery and agriculture. Roli Books, 205—16.
- Zhao, Z. 1998: The middle Yangtze region in China is one place where rice was domesticated: phytolith evidence from the Diaotonghuan cave, northern Jiangxi. Antiquity 72, 885—97.[Web of Science]
- Zhejiang Institute of Archaeology 2003: Hemudu. Wenwu Press (in Chinese).
- Zhejiang Institute of Archaeology and Xiaoshan Museum 2004: Kuahuqiao. Wenwu Press.
- Zheng, Y. and Jiang, L. 2007: Ancient rice remains from the Shangshan site and their significance. Kaogu 9, 19—25 (in Chinese).
- Zheng, Y., Sun, G. and Chen, X. 2007: The characteristics of rachis on rice spikelets from archaeological sites before 7000 BP. Kexue Tongbao 52, 1037—41 (in Chinese).
- Zhou, J. 2003: Analysis and identification of rice grains unearthed from the Neolithic site of Hemudu in Yuyao, Zhejiang. In Zhejiang Institute of Archaeology, editor, Hemudu. Wenwu Press, 429—30 (in Chinese).
The Holocene, Vol. 17, No. 8,
1059-1068 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0959683607085121
 CiteULike  Complore  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati  Twitter What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
|
|
 
M. K. Jones and X. Liu
Origins of Agriculture in East Asia
Science,
May 8, 2009;
324(5928):
730 - 731.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
