Early pottery sherds excavated in northern China date back to more than 11,000 cal a BP,and are presumed to have been used as cooking vessels.There has been,however,no direct evidence to demonstrate this function.Here we report ancient starch grains recovered from carbonized residues adhering to the bases of flatbottomed vessels excavated from the Zhuannian site dating more than 10,000 cal a BP in the North China Plain.This evidence demonstrates that early pottery was being used to cook cereal grains,particularly millets,and acorns.Because millets were in the process of domestication at thistime,we propose that pottery invention in northern China may have been related to early farming activities.
A large number of stone knives have been recovered from Neolithic archaeological sites in East Asia.However, direct evidence regarding the functions of the stone knives has been scarce, and hence, their functions have remained controversial. In this study, we recovered and analysed ancient starch grains and phytoliths from residues adhering to stone knives excavated from the Lajia site, Qinghai Province, northwest China, thus providing direct evidence for the functions of the knives. Our analyses were based on the following:(1) an assemblage of 278identifiable starch grains, representing grains from the stems of foxtail millet(Setaria italica) and broomcorn millet(Panicum miliaceum)(65.1 % of the total) and the stems of Hordeum and Triticum species(3.6 % of the total), and(2) an assemblage of 361 identifiable phytoliths,the majority of which were from the stems and leaves of plants such as Panicoideae and related taxa(96 % of the total). Our study demonstrates that one of the functions of the stone knives was the harvesting crops. In addition, a few starch grains from food legumes and roots(3.4 % of the total) indicate that the stone knives were also likely used to process, peel and cut some foods.
Zhikun MaQuan LiXiujia HuanXiaoyan YangJingyun ZhengMaolin Ye
The origins and spreads of rice agriculture have been enduring topics, yet the timing and southward dispersal from the Yangtze River Basin have been difficult to trace, due to the scarcity of archaeobotanical data, especially systematic macro-plant remains examination, combined with the poor preservation in the humid climate and acidic soils of China's southern provinces.Here, we report new radiocarbon dating and preserved rice phytolith evidence, derived from three Late Neolithic archaeological sites in south China, dated about 5,000–4,100 cal a BP.Our results demonstrate that rice farming had spread southward through the mountainous regions of Wuyi and Nanling, then entered the areas of Western Fujian and North Guangdong by 5,000 cal a BP, followed by continued expansion into coastal areas of East China Sea and South China Sea, also crossing the Taiwan Strait, around 4,500–4,000 cal a BP.The North River,East River, Min River, and possibly other river systems likely were influential as pathways or conduits.
