Early millet use in northern China
Early millet use in northern China
复制标题
DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1115430109
复制
发表时间：
2012-03-06
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Ge, Quansheng
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Yang, Xiaoyan;Wan, Zhiwei;Ge, Quansheng
人们普遍认为，谷子和黍最初是在中国北方驯化的，它们最终成为主要的粮食作物。然而，该地区较古老的考古遗址和考古植物学工作的稀少，使得人们对这些植物的起源和它们的驯化过程都知之甚少。在这里，我们展示了从文化沉积物中发现的古代淀粉粒组合，包括附着在早期陶器碎片上的碳化残留物，以及在华北平原南庄头（11.5-11.0 cal kyBP）和东湖林（11.0-9.5 cal kyBP）遗址中出土的磨石工具。我们的数据将中国使用小米的记录延长了近1000年，将该地区使用谷子的记录延长了至少2000年。样品中淀粉残留物的图案支持这样一种假设，即狐尾粟的种植时间延长了两千年，在此期间，这种作物似乎经历了驯化。未来在该地区的研究将有助于澄清现有的过程。
It is generally understood that foxtail millet and broomcorn millet were initially domesticated in Northern China where they eventually became the dominant plant food crops. The rarity of older archaeological sites and archaeobotanical work in the region, however, renders both the origins of these plants and their processes of domestication poorly understood. Here we present ancient starch grain assemblages recovered from cultural deposits, including carbonized residues adhering to an early pottery sherd as well as grinding stone tools excavated from the sites of Nanzhuangtou (11.5-11.0 cal kyBP) and Donghulin (11.0-9.5 cal kyBP) in the North China Plain. Our data extend the record of millet use in China by nearly 1,000 y, and the record of foxtail millet in the region by at least two millennia. The patterning of starch residues within the samples allow for the formulation of the hypothesis that foxtail millets were cultivated for an extended period of two millennia, during which this crop plant appears to have been undergoing domestication. Future research in the region will help clarify the processes in place.