A regional case in the development of agriculture and crop processing in northern China from the Neolithic to Bronze Age: archaeobotanical evidence from the Sushui River survey, Shanxi province

Abstract

The article presents the results of the analysis of survey archaeobotany samples from the Sushui valley. This provides evidence for changes over time for a region in the proportions of crops, especially rice versus millets. In addition, the composition of samples, both grouped by period and considered on a sample-by-sample basis, are considered as representing routine crop-processing waste, from which it is suggested that typical patterns of routine crop processing (after storage) can be inferred. These patterns, in turn, imply something about processing prior to storage and the social organization of agricultural production, suggesting the hypothesis that crop-processing patterns diversified during the emergence of complex societies with some sites with larger scale practices while others were focused on the household level.

Assessing the occurrence and status of wheat in late Neolithic central China: the importance of direct AMS radiocarbon dates from Xiazhai

“…Three sites of the Longshan period in the Hutuo river valley in Shanxi Province also produced many wheat remains (Jiang 2017). In the Sushui survey two sites produced wheat associated with Longshan finds, from each a single grain, but from Shuinan there were also three hexaploid wheat rachis segments, in contrast to the 485 millet remains in the same sample (Song et al 2019). Wheats were also reported from two surveyed Bronze Age sites in Shaanxi Province, but the total amount of the discovery was not reported (Dodson et al 2013).…”

Early agriculture at the crossroads of China and Southeast Asia: Archaeobotanical evidence and radiocarbon dates from Baiyangcun, Yunnan

“…ruderale represents the remnants (Hunt et al, 2011). P. ruderale type grains have been found as a contaminant of millet assemblages in Yangshao/Longshan sites in central China (Fuller and Zhang, 2007;Deng et al, 2015;Song et al, 2017). Several possible centres for millet domestication have been identified in China, with sites dating from the 6th millennium BCE onward located in Northern Henan; Southern Hebei; West Shandong; Manchuria, and Gansu (Liu et al, 2009;Qin, 2012;Ren et al, 2016;Stevens and Fuller, 2017).…”

Subsistence and persistence: agriculture in the Central Plains of China through the Neolithic to Bronze Age transition

“…While efforts are underway to study human diet in regions beyond the Central Plains, much work remains to be done in investigating agriculture systematically, and combining the results of archaeometric approaches synthetically. Incorporating starch (Qin et al 2019) and phytolith (Song et al 2017) analyses into a holistic archaeobotanical reconstruction, for example, would provide a more complete picture of plant-derived food processing and use, while systematic sampling strategies are necessary for a more nuanced picture of plant-and animal-use practices (Crawford et al 2005). Analysis of soil formation could yield information about field preparation and manuring, as well as flooding events or environmental degradation (Zhuang & Kidder 2014).…”

“…Incorporating starch (Qin et al . 2019) and phytolith (Song et al 2017) analyses into a holistic archaeobotanical reconstruction, for example, would provide a more complete picture of plant-derived food processing and use, while systematic sampling strategies are necessary for a more nuanced picture of plant- and animal-use practices (Crawford et al . 2005).…”