Early mixed farming of millet and rice 7800 years ago in the Middle Yellow River region, China

PLoS One. 2012;7(12):e52146. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052146. Epub 2012 Dec 17.

Abstract

The Peiligang Culture (9000-7000 cal. yr BP) in the Middle Yellow River region, North China, has long been considered representative of millet farming. It is still unclear, however, if broomcorn millet or foxtail millet was the first species domesticated during the Peiligang Culture. Furthermore, it is also unknown whether millet was cultivated singly or together with rice at the same period. In this study, phytolith analysis of samples from the Tanghu archaeological site reveals early crop information in the Middle Yellow River region, China. Our results show that broomcorn millet was the early dry farming species in the Peiligang Culture at 7800 cal. yr BP, while rice cultivation took place from 7800 to 4500 cal. yr BP. Our data provide new evidence of broomcorn millet and rice mixed farming at 7800 cal. yr BP in the Middle Yellow River region, which has implications for understanding the domestication process of the two crops, and the formation and continuance of the Ancient Yellow River Civilization.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Agriculture*
  • China
  • Crops, Agricultural
  • Oryza*
  • Panicum*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41102111), “Strategic Priority Research Program” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Nos. XDA05130401 and XDA05130602), the Key Program of the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No.41230104), and the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2010CB950201). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.