New radiocarbon evidence on early rice consumption and farming in South China

Abstract

While the possibility of indigenous rice cultivation cannot be entirely ruled out, there is increasing evidence suggesting that rice farming was introduced to South China during the late-Holocene. However, determination of the exact timing of the spread of rice farming to South China is fraught with the lack of reliable radiocarbon dates. In this article, we present 15 new AMS 14C dates of charred plant remains recovered from late-Holocene sites of Shixia and Guye in Guangdong Province of South China. Our new AMS 14C dates suggest a later arrival of rice farming in the Pearl River Delta than previously thought. These new AMS 14C dates will shed new lights to an improved understanding of the environmental background and ecology of the southward

Genomic history and ecology of the geographic spread of rice

“…The population contraction in tropical japonica is contemporaneous with the 4.2k event, raising the possibility that cooling explains the collapse of tropical rice cultivation in East Asia and its southern relocation. This coincides with the arrival of rice in the far south of China ∼4,500 yBP and a shift to rainfed, upland cultivation ( 34 ).…”

Prosperity and complexity without farming: the South China Coast,c. 5000–3000 BC

“…Guye in coastal Guangdong has produced Cordia , acorn, sago palm, Canarium nuts ( Canarium album ), tubers ( Araceae , Taccaceae ), water lily ( Nymphaea tetragona ) and Job's tears dating to 3700–3000 BC (Z. Li 2016; Yang et al . 2017). Recent unpublished research by Zhenhua Deng and the author confirms that Canarium nuts were abundant at inland shell midden sites in Guangxi c .…”

“…3000 BC (Zhang & Hung 2010; Yang et al . 2017, 2018), and, therefore, the earlier coastal groups were complex hunter-gatherers (Zhang & Hung 2012). Coastal regions around the world host several of the oldest examples of complex social groups—now recognised as complex hunter-gatherers, rather than crop farmers (Arnold et al 2016).…”

Food and ritual resources in hunter-gatherer societies: Canarium nuts in southern China and beyond

“…At Guye in Guangdong, large quantities of Canarium were found, along with acorns and evidence of other fruits, and directly dated to 5700–4900 cal BP (Yang et al . 2017). At Duliao in Qinzhou, Guangxi, abundant Canarium fragments were discovered in 1978, in association with a deposit dated to c. 4700–4400 cal.…”

“…Southern China is a crucial region for investigating ancient hunter-gatherer subsistence practices that persisted as recently as 5000–4000 cal BP (Zhang & Hung 2010, 2012; Yang et al . 2017), despite the contemporaneous expansion and intensity of rice and millet farming in neighbouring areas (Deng et al . 2018).…”