东灰山遗址荞麦子粒的发现及年代分析

Discovery and Chronological Analysis of Buckwheat Kernel in Donghuishan Ruins

荞麦是起源于中国青藏高原及周边地区的作物之一,在中华民族的农业发展史和饮食文化史上具有重要地位。迄今为止,甘肃民乐县东灰山遗址是发现的作物种类最多的新石器时代晚期遗址(四坝文化)。整理文献发现,在东灰山遗址除了发现大量炭化小麦子粒外,还发现了大麦、黑麦、谷子和糜子的子粒。采用遗址剖面文化层土壤样本浮选法,获得了一批碳化植物样本。在这些植物样本中,首次发现和鉴定了3粒完整的碳化荞麦子粒。经碳同位素测年鉴定,荞麦子粒距今为3610-3458年。这一发现说明,早在新石器时代荞麦已作为农作物在河西地区种植;同时也为荞麦起源于中国青藏高原地区提供了新的证据。

Buckwheat(Fagopyrum esculentum) is one of the crops that are originally grown in the Qinghai-TibetPlateau and its surrounding areas of China. Buckwheat plays an important role in the history of the agriculturaldevelopment and the evolution of the dietary culture of the Chinese nations. The Donghuishan ruin in Minle County,Gansu Province is a site of the late Neolithic(Siba Culture), which have found the most variety of crops in China sofar. According to the references, the large number of carbonized wheats, barley, rye, foxtail millet and broom cornmillet kernels were found in the Donghuishan ruins. Carbonized plant samples were obtained by a flotation method bycleaning soil samples from culture layer. For the first time, three complete carbonized buckwheat kernels were foundat the cultural layer of this ruin. The determination of the 14 C isotope dating is 3610-3458 years before present. Thisfinding provides new evidence for the argument that the origin of buckwheat is in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.