From the modern to the archaeological: starch grains from millets and their wild relatives in China

Yang, Xiaoyan; Zhang, Jianping; Perry, Linda; Ma, Zhikun; Wan, Zhongping; Li, Mingqi; Diao, Xianmin; Lü, Houyuan

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.09.001

Cited by 97 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 24 publications

(29 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…from around 30,000 years ago, during the Upper Palaeolithic and long before the arrival of farming [51]; root crop horticulture in Panama [21,33]; use of cereal grains [50,65]; seed grinding [66]; use of wild plants [44,65,67]; the use of stone tools [68]. This approach has also become popular in recent years in China [29,[69][70][71][72][73][74][75]). Likewise, starch granules extracted from residues inside ancient pots used for cooking have been suggested to originate from starchy foods [36,76,77].…”

Section: Residues From Grinding Stones and Potsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeological Starch

Copeland

Hardy

2018

Agronomy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:This article reviews evidence of how starch granules associated with archaeological artefacts provide an insight into the use of plants by our ancestors for food, medicines and cultural activities. The properties of starch relevant to archaeological contexts, methods for examining ancient starch and the types of environmental conditions that would promote survival of starch granules over hundreds of thousands of years as part of the archaeological record, are considered. Starch granules identified in dental calculus are clear indicators of the individual having consumed starchy food as part of the diet. However, surviving starch granules may be only a tiny fraction of those consumed over a lifetime and not necessarily representative of foods that were in the diet. A hypothesis, based on a combination of archaeological, physiological and genetic evidence, that plant foods containing high quantities of digestible starch were essential for the evolution of the modern human phenotype, is discussed.

show abstract

Section: Residues From Grinding Stones and Potsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeological Starch

Copeland

Hardy

2018

Agronomy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Numerous works on identification methods of panicoid grasses were made in Japan and India. Just now it became possible to study properly the remains of panicoid grasses found in 1970s in China (most massive than elsewhere) both in settlements and burial sites (Lu et al, 2009a, b;Yang et al, 2012;Song et al, 2013;Yang, Perry, 2013;Weisskopf, Lee, 2014). A large project on the study of panicoid grasses was fulfilled by a scientific team based on the data of archaeological excavations of settlements in Ukraine (The East-West Millet Project) (Hunt et al, 2011;Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute et al, 2012.…”

Section: Characteristics Of Flowers and Caryopses In Panicoids And Sementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Artificial carbonization of modern material and following comparison with archaeological material (Liu, Kong, 2004;Yang et al, 2012). Having tried various methods, Liu and Kong (2004) have come to conclusion that most reliable way of identification is the comparison of diagnostic features of caryopses' shapes and sizes (i. e. standard carpological).…”

Section: Characteristics Of Flowers and Caryopses In Panicoids And Sementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Panicoids in Xiongnu burial ground (Mongolia, First Century AD): problems of identification

2018

turczaninowia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary. The paper summarizes the data on plant remains from burial mounds of the Noin-Ula burial ground in Northern Mongolia (dated from the end of the 1st century BC to the beginning of the 1st century AD). Plant remains that were found in several mounds (20, 22, and 31) belonged to different plant species. Some of them, the remains of Pinus sylvestris L. and Betula sp., got into a mound (31) accidentally during burial ceremony. They are typical for that area. Another part of plants, found in all three mounds, was placed there intentionally, most likely, for ritual purposes. They are loose grains inside the casket (mound 31) and on the floor of a burial chamber (mounds 20, 22) at 17-meter depth. The problems of identification of panicoid remains from burial grounds are discussed in detail. For diagnostics of panicoid graminoids in this case study only caryopsis macroparameters were possible to use. The knowledge on morphology of ultrasculpture of caryopses surface is fragmentary and weakly studied even for the modern material which could be used as a standard for identification of archaeological material. The written sources of the time close to the burial age, if existed, should be used very carefully. Plant remains from all three mounds were identified up to a species level. They all belong to Panicum miliaceum L. The Xiongnu culture featured a special attitude to millet as reflected in burial rituals of the Xiongnu nobles among other numerous traditions of Han civilization. Аннотация. Обобщены данные о растительных находках в погребальном комплексе кочевников могиль-ника «Ноин-Ула» на территории Северной Монголии (датируемый концом I века до н. э. -началом I века н. э.). Растительные остатки, обнаруженные в нескольких курганах ноин-уланском захоронении (курганы 20, 22, 31), принадлежали разным видам растений. Некоторые попали в погребения случайно -это фрагменты Pinus sylvestris L., Betula sp. Эти растения являются обычными для данной местности. Другая же часть растений, найденная во всех трех курганах, вероятно, была использована преднамеренно в погребальном обряде -это россыпи зерна внутри гроба (курган 31) и на полу погребальной камеры (курганы 20, 22) на глубине около 17 метров. В статье подробно обсуждаются проблемы идентификации остатков паникоидных злаков в за-146 Korolyuk E. A. Panicoids in Xiongnu burial ground (Mongolia, First Century AD) хоронениях. Для диагностики паникоидных злаков в захоронениях в данном конкретном случае, возможно было использовать только макропризнаки зерновок. Знания об особенностях морфологии ультраскульптуры поверхности зерновок слишком фрагментарны и недостаточно исследованы даже для современного матери-ала, который мог бы быть использован в качестве стандартов для определения археологического материала. Письменные источники близкого времени датировки погребений, если они существуют, должны быть ис-пользованы с большой осторожностью. Видовая принадлежность остатков зерна во всех трех курганах уста-новлена -они относятся к виду Panicum miliaceum L. Особое отношение к ...

show abstract

“…To recover starch grains from the soil and plant samples, we prepared slides for observation under a compound light microscope, following the methods of Piperno et al [16], Perry [28], Li et al [29], Yang et al [30], and Yang and Perry [31]. Previous studies have demonstrated that starch grains with maximum length measurements of <5 µm are difficult to detect via compound light microscopy, are rarely diagnostic for taxa, and occur in many plant tissues [32][33][34][35].…”

Section: Starch Grain Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Possible Contamination of Ancient Starch Residues by Adjacent Sediments and Modern Plants in Northern China

Zhang

Quan

et al. 2017

Sustainability

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:The potential contamination of ancient residues from both modern plant sources and sediments adjacent to archaeological contexts can complicate interpretation in the field of starch grain analysis, thus affecting the sustainable use of the method in archaeobotany. In this study, we examined two potential sources of contamination at a wheat field in Shandong Province and a maize field in Beijing, the Nanzhuangtou site in Hebei Province and the Zhuannian site in Beijing in Northern China. Surface soils from active farmland and its surrounds, as well as deposits from clearly-defined cultural layers, overlying layers, and underlayers at the archaeological sites were subjected to starch grain analysis. No starches were recovered from any of the 16 surface soil samples from fields of wheat and maize, or their environs. This outcome indicates that starches do not preserve well in active surface soils. Further results from the analysis of 33 samples from the two sites demonstrate that starches do not occur in either the overlying layers or underlayers of cultural deposits. Thus, starch grains extracted from the surface residues of artifacts were not deposited from adjacent sediments after the artifacts were abandoned or buried. Further, cultural sediments contained fewer starch grains than the surfaces of artifacts in the same horizon. Thus, if any starch grains on the surfaces of tools are the result of contamination, ancient cultural sediments are the primary source. In conclusion, we offer insights for the prevention of misinterpretation of extraneous residues and sustainable development for the use of starch grain analysis.

show abstract

From the modern to the archaeological: starch grains from millets and their wild relatives in China

Cited by 97 publications

References 24 publications

Archaeological Starch

Archaeological Starch

Panicoids in Xiongnu burial ground (Mongolia, First Century AD): problems of identification

Understanding the Possible Contamination of Ancient Starch Residues by Adjacent Sediments and Modern Plants in Northern China

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About