Evidence for a Neolithic Age fire-irrigation paddy cultivation system in the lower Yangtze River Delta, China

Integrating Experimental Archaeology, Phytolith Analysis and Ethnographic Fieldwork to Study the Origin of Farming in China

“…Soil analysis has been used to identify prehistoric rice paddy fields and farming techniques in the Yangzi River Valley (e.g. Zheng et al 2009;Hu et al 2013), but the farming lands of millets and other crops are yet to be identified. Though the absence of diagnostic millet phytoliths remains a major obstacle in this issue, the presence of a large amount of charcoal and phytolith from Paniceae could be a useful indicator.…”

Measuring the Structure of a Technology System for Directing Technological Transition

“…Societal development during the Neolithic and XSZ periods was primitive and highly constrained by climate conditions and availability of natural resources, thus demonstrating high centrality at the micro‐ and mesolevels of the technology systems. [ 23,24 ] The unification of the nation in 221 BC and a top‐down government structure that prioritized agriculture‐driven technology development (e.g., iron plows and large‐scale irrigation infrastructures) led to a greater scale and more heterogeneous (more diverse and adaptative) structure in the Yellow River Region technology system from the CQZG to ST periods, which contributed to the formation of the agricultural and societal centers in the Yellow River Region. [ 25–27 ] During most of the QH and SY periods in the Yellow River Region, the relative population proportion maintained at about 45–65% of the whole country.…”

Pollen and non-pollen palynomorph analyses of Upper Holocene sediments from Dianshan, Yangtze coastal lowlands, China: Hydrology, vegetation history and human activity

“…Continued high frequencies of microcharcoal, combined with evidence of deeper water at the site, may reflect the long-term use of a fire and irrigation system (Hu et al, 2013) of intensified deepwater flooded-field paddy agriculture (Ikehashi, 2007;Zhuang et al, 2014), with in-situ burning of rice straw after harvesting (Cao et al, 2006) to manage field ecology. Figure 7C combines pollen and NPP taxa into summary groups, and it is clear that major environmental disturbance was maintained for centuries, with disturbed-ground weeds and disturbance NPPs consistently in peak frequencies.…”