Foothills and intermountain basins: Does China's Fertile Arc have ‘Hilly Flanks’?

Ren, Xiaolin; Lemoine, Ximena; Mo, Duowen; Kidder, Tristram R.; Guo, Yuanyuan; Qin, Zhen; Liu, Xinyi

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.04.001

Cited by 26 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…The earliest farming settlements in southwest Asia and China appeared along elevated locations at the edge of river catchments, sometimes at a considerable distance from the main river channel. A recurrent theme in both regions is that the earliest farming sites were situated along hilly flanks (Braidwood et al, 1969;Liu et al, 2009;Ren et al, 2016). The choice of sites appears to be associated with certain environments and situations: foothills, alluvial fans and lake edges with high groundwater levels are repeatedly chosen by early Holocene farmers/foragers in both the Near East and in China.…”

Section: Pre-5000 Bc: Ecological Opportunismmentioning

confidence: 99%

From ecological opportunism to multi-cropping: Mapping food globalisation in prehistory

Liu

Jones

Matuzevičiūtė

et al. 2019

Quaternary Science Reviews

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149

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Many of today's major food crops are distributed worldwide. While much of this 'food globalisation' has resulted from modern trade networks, it has its roots in prehistory. In this paper, we examine cereal crops that moved long distances across the Old World between 5000 and 1500 BC. Drawing together recent archaeological evidence, we are now able to construct a new chronology and biogeography of prehistoric food globalisation. Here we rationalize the evidence for this process within three successive episodes: pre-5000 BC, between 5000 and 2500 BC, and between 2500 and 1500 BC. Each episode can be characterized by distinct biogeographical patterns, social drivers of the crop movements, and ecological constraints upon the crop plants. By 1500 BC, this process of food globalisation had brought together previously isolated agricultural systems, to constitute a new kind of agriculture in which the bringing together of local and exotic crops enables a new form of intensification.

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Section: Pre-5000 Bc: Ecological Opportunismmentioning

confidence: 99%

From ecological opportunism to multi-cropping: Mapping food globalisation in prehistory

Liu

Jones

Matuzevičiūtė

et al. 2019

Quaternary Science Reviews

Self Cite

149

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“…Mounting evidence from several world areas suggests that initial domestication took place in the context of small semi-to fully sedentary settlements strategically located at the junction of multiple resource-rich eco-zones in the absence of demonstrable resource pressure [27,[30][31][32]110,126,130]. Niche-constructing activities in each of these areas are evident well before any evidence of initial domestication [30,123,131].…”

Section: Contrasting Neo-darwinian and Niche Construction Theory Infomentioning

confidence: 99%

Domestication as a model system for the extended evolutionary synthesis

Zeder

2017

Interface Focus.

120

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One of the challenges in evaluating arguments for extending the conceptual framework of evolutionary biology involves the identification of a tractable model system that allows for an assessment of the core assumptions of the extended evolutionary synthesis (EES). The domestication of plants and animals by humans provides one such case study opportunity. Here, I consider domestication as a model system for exploring major tenets of the EES. First I discuss the novel insights that niche construction theory (NCT, one of the pillars of the EES) provides into the domestication processes, particularly as they relate to five key areas: coevolution, evolvability, ecological inheritance, cooperation and the pace of evolutionary change. This discussion is next used to frame testable predictions about initial domestication of plants and animals that contrast with those grounded in standard evolutionary theory, demonstrating how these predictions might be tested in multiple regions where initial domestication took place. I then turn to a broader consideration of how domestication provides a model case study consideration of the different ways in which the core assumptions of the EES strengthen and expand our understanding of evolution, including reciprocal causation, developmental processes as drivers of evolutionary change, inclusive inheritance, and the tempo and rate of evolutionary change.

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“…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). However, the precise number of possible domestication centres is still debated among scholars, and the lack of hard evidence from many sites in those areas has made it challenging to clearly resolve the issue.…”

Section: Cropsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Martello

Stevens

et al. 2018

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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We report archaeobotanical results from systematic flotation at what is presently the earliest Neolithic site with hard evidence for crop cultivation in the Southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, at the site of Baiyangcun. Direct AMS dates on rice and millet seeds, included together in a Bayesian model, suggests that sedentary agricultural occupation began ca. 2650 BCE, with cultivation of already domesticated rice (Oryza sativa), broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), and foxtail millet (Setaria italica). Soybean (Glycine cf. max) was also present and presumably cultivated, although it still resembles its wild progenitor in terms of seed size. Additional possible cultivars include melon (Cucumis melo) and an unknown Vigna pulse, while wild gathered resources include fruits and nuts, including hawthorn (Crateagus) and aquatic foxnut (Euryale ferox). Weed flora suggests at least some rice was cultivated in wet (flooded or irrigated fields), while dryland weeds may derive from millet fields. This subsistence system persisted throughout the site's occupation, up to ca. 2050 BCE. These data provide secure evidence for the spread of Chinese Neolithic crops to Yunnan, and provide new evidence for reconstructing possible sources of cereal agriculture in mainland Southeast Asia.

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Foothills and intermountain basins: Does China's Fertile Arc have ‘Hilly Flanks’?

Cited by 26 publications

References 54 publications

From ecological opportunism to multi-cropping: Mapping food globalisation in prehistory

From ecological opportunism to multi-cropping: Mapping food globalisation in prehistory

Domestication as a model system for the extended evolutionary synthesis

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

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