Rice use history in Southeast China:Phytolith evidence from the Nanshan site in Fujian Province

The southern spread of rice agriculture is of great academic interest.Although it already has a broad chronological framework,newly introduced rice use and its impact on local subsistence and ecological systems are still unclear.In this study,we explore these issues by analysing phytoliths recovered from continuous sediments of Cave No.4 at the Nanshan site in Fujian Province,together with evidence from surrounding sites.The results show that rice was introduced into southeast China at 7,500 cal.yr BP,but the dominance of the hunting-gathering system was not challenged until later,between 5,000 and 3,500 cal.yr BP,when cultivation of rice,together with foxtail and broomcorn millets,was widely practiced in the region.This suggests that mixed farming in Southeast China,likely originating around the middle Yangtze River,became widespread and gradually systematic during the previous two-millennium adoption.This rice-millet mixed agricultural system changed the former hunting-gathering subsistence system,promoting the agriculturalization process,cultural prosperity and population growth,thus providing a solid basis for rice expansion and cultural migration to Southeast Asia.

New radiocarbon and archaeobotanical evidence reveal the timing and route of southward dispersal of rice farming in south China

The origins and spreads of rice agriculture have been enduring topics, yet the timing and southward dispersal from the Yangtze River Basin have been difficult to trace, due to the scarcity of archaeobotanical data, especially systematic macro-plant remains examination, combined with the poor preservation in the humid climate and acidic soils of China's southern provinces.Here, we report new radiocarbon dating and preserved rice phytolith evidence, derived from three Late Neolithic archaeological sites in south China, dated about 5,000–4,100 cal a BP.Our results demonstrate that rice farming had spread southward through the mountainous regions of Wuyi and Nanling, then entered the areas of Western Fujian and North Guangdong by 5,000 cal a BP, followed by continued expansion into coastal areas of East China Sea and South China Sea, also crossing the Taiwan Strait, around 4,500–4,000 cal a BP.The North River,East River, Min River, and possibly other river systems likely were influential as pathways or conduits.