In this paper, we discuss charcoalified foxtail millet grains dated to the middle to late Western Zhou Dynasty and collected from the Chenyuan archeological site in Shangluo, in China's southeastern Shaanxi Provin...In this paper, we discuss charcoalified foxtail millet grains dated to the middle to late Western Zhou Dynasty and collected from the Chenyuan archeological site in Shangluo, in China's southeastern Shaanxi Province. We assigned these specimens to the species Setaria italica based on the following characteristics: an obtuse chalazal apex with missing stigmatic remains; an undulant seed surface composed of rectangular cells with undulate anticlinal walls; an elongated and deeply depressed embryo extending to almost the full seed length; and spherical starch grains. We suggest that the spread of foxtail millet from its original northern distribution center to the southern slopes of the Qinling Mountains could be attributed to: its prominence across Zhou crop systems; the latter area's arid or subarid climate; and the migration south of Zhou people fleeing severe conflict between their nation and northern nomads.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31070184,30370237,90202019,40325007 and 40121303)the Special Fund of Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology,Academia Sinica(SFPPAS,9713)the Overseas Outstanding Scholar Foundation of Chinese Academy of Sciences(2003-1-7)
文摘In this paper, we discuss charcoalified foxtail millet grains dated to the middle to late Western Zhou Dynasty and collected from the Chenyuan archeological site in Shangluo, in China's southeastern Shaanxi Province. We assigned these specimens to the species Setaria italica based on the following characteristics: an obtuse chalazal apex with missing stigmatic remains; an undulant seed surface composed of rectangular cells with undulate anticlinal walls; an elongated and deeply depressed embryo extending to almost the full seed length; and spherical starch grains. We suggest that the spread of foxtail millet from its original northern distribution center to the southern slopes of the Qinling Mountains could be attributed to: its prominence across Zhou crop systems; the latter area's arid or subarid climate; and the migration south of Zhou people fleeing severe conflict between their nation and northern nomads.
