The relics of ancient rice have been regarded as the most important objective evidence of the origina- tion and spread of rice cultivation.Based on the records of 280 rice relics sites and the rice cropping regionaliz...The relics of ancient rice have been regarded as the most important objective evidence of the origina- tion and spread of rice cultivation.Based on the records of 280 rice relics sites and the rice cropping regionalization as well as the distribution map of paddy soils,the current study compiled the temporal and spatial distribution map of ancient rice distribution in China.The map shows that the distribution of ancient rice is spatially extensive and meantime comparatively concentrated,temporarily covering a long and relatively continuous time-span.The rice relics in the Central China double and single rice cropping regions are among the earliest and the most abundant ones,possessing continuity in time sequence.Combined with the discovery of ancient rice and paddy filed relics,soil micromorphology, pollen combination and element geochemistry,it is suggested that Central China was the origin center of rice cultivation in China.Rice had been spread to the rest part of China in three major waves,also to the East Asian part like Korea and Japan.The temporal and spatial distribution of ancient rice reflects the past environmental change,which is also meaningful to the current rice regionalization and plan- ning as well as food security in China.展开更多
Sixty-eight ancient cultivated rice grains of 10 ruins of 2000-15000 BP in theChangjiang River valley were studied by analyzing grain shape, using discri-minat formulas of hi-peaked tubercle(BPT) with the G (x) = 44. ...Sixty-eight ancient cultivated rice grains of 10 ruins of 2000-15000 BP in theChangjiang River valley were studied by analyzing grain shape, using discri-minat formulas of hi-peaked tubercle(BPT) with the G (x) = 44. 4788 -0. 4308X- 0. 4263 X+ 0. 078 X, where Xis hi-peaked distance( BPD), Xis peaked angle (PA), and Xis ratio of hi-peaked distance/col depth (BPD/展开更多
A large number of plant remains were discovered in the ancient-woods layer of Zhujiajian Island, Zhejiang Province. There were some thick trunks, complete laminas, fruit, seeds and so on. According to radiocarbon test...A large number of plant remains were discovered in the ancient-woods layer of Zhujiajian Island, Zhejiang Province. There were some thick trunks, complete laminas, fruit, seeds and so on. According to radiocarbon tests conducted for plant remains, the ancient-woods layer has been dated back to about 8750 - 6200 years, and the vegetation was a subtropical evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forests on the island in the past. In the middle of the ancient-woods layer, two grains of wild rice were explored accidentally, which are Oryza rufipogon, along with the fruit and seeds of some water plants, such as Ceratophyllum demersum, C. oryzetorum, Euryale ferox, Trapa incisa var. quadricaudata , Scirpus yagara and so on. There might be marshy soil and a pond in ancient forest vegetation from where the grains of wild rice and hydrophytic fruit were found. It is of tremendous importance to study the origin of wild rice in China.展开更多
Field investigation and laboratory analysis of 22 ancient paddy soils excavated at Chuodun site, Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, China were carried out in 2003 to (1) understand the basic characteristics of ancient ...Field investigation and laboratory analysis of 22 ancient paddy soils excavated at Chuodun site, Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, China were carried out in 2003 to (1) understand the basic characteristics of ancient paddy soils, (2) compare the difference of soil fertility between ancient paddy soils and recent paddy soils, and (3) inquire into mechanisms of the sustainability of paddy soil. The oldest paddy soils at Chuodun site can be dated back to Neolithic age, around 6000 aBP. These ancient fields were buried in about 1-m deep from the soil surface and their areas ranged from 0.32 to 12.9 m^2 with an average of 5.2 m^2. The paddy soils with 〉 5 000 pellets phytolith g^-1 soil were termed intensively cultivated paddy soils (ICPS) and those with 〈5000 pellets phytolith g^-1 soil were called weakly cultivated soils (WCPS). The contents of organic carbon (OC), and total N in the former were significantly higher than that in the latter. Ancient paddy soils had higher soil pH and C/N, total and available P, and lower contents of OC, DOC, total N, S, Cu, Fe, and available K, S, Fe, Mn, and Cu compared with recent paddy soils, which were attributed to application of chemical and manure fertilizers, pollution and acidification in recent paddy soils. The variation coefficients of OC and other nutrients in ancient paddy soils with higher PI were greater than that in ancient paddy soils with low PI, which indicated that human activities had a great impact on the spatial variability of soil nutrients. The contents of OC, total N, P and S in ancient paddy soils were higher than that in ancient moss of the same age, which indicated that planting rice during Majiabang culture period was beneficial to the accumulation of those life elements.展开更多
Rice cultivation has long been considered to have originated from seeding of annual types of wild rice somewhere in subtropics, tropics or in the Yangtze River basin. That idea, however, contains a fatally weak point,...Rice cultivation has long been considered to have originated from seeding of annual types of wild rice somewhere in subtropics, tropics or in the Yangtze River basin. That idea, however, contains a fatally weak point, when we consider the tremendous difficulty for primitive human to seed any cereal crop in the warm and humid climate, where weed thrives all year round, instead of the accepted theory, we have to see a reality that vegetative propagation of edible plants is a dominant form of agriculture in such regions. The possibility is discussed that Job's tears and rice, two cereal crops unique to the region, might have been developed via vegetative propagation to obtain materials for medicine or herb tea in backyard gardens prior to cereal production. This idea is supported by the fact that rice in temperate regions is still perennial in its growth habit and that such backyard gardens with transplanted taro can still be seen from Yunnan Province of China to Laos. Thanks to detailed survey of wild rice throughout China for 1970-1980, it is now confirmed that a set of clones of wild rice exist in shallow swamps in Jiangxi Province, an area with severe winter cold. In early summer ancient farmers may have divided the sprouting buds and spread them by transplanting into flooded shallow marsh. Such way of propagation might have faster improved less productive rice through a better genetic potential for response to human interference than quick fixation in seed propagation, because vegetative parts are heterogeneous. Obviously, such a primitive manner of rice cultivation did include the essential parts of rice farming, i.e., nursery bed, transplanting in flooded field of shallow marsh like. Transfer from the primitive nursery to true nursery by seed may have later allowed rice cultivation to be extended to northern regions. In thus devised flooded cultivation there were a series of unique advantages, i.e.; continuous cropping of rice in a same plot, no soil erosion, slow decline of soil fertility, availability of minerals, and resulting in high yield per unit area, which have collectively attained the highly productive cereal cultivation in the warm and humid region. Rice cultivation in marsh is also favorable to raise fish culture, both of which constituted a nutritionally balanced base. Development of irrigation technology to construct flooded farms gave strong bases for stable rice-cultivating society, which in the end formulated the rise of ancient kingdoms of Yue and Wu in China in BC 6th -5th centuries. They were direct descendents of those people who had developed the unique rice cultivation from the era of Hemudu culture, which is dated back to 5 000 BC. Their movement to the south is considered to have established rice-cultivating communities in South China and Southeast Asia, while to the north it transferred the rice-based technology to ancient Korea and Japan and had established there a base for a civilized society.展开更多
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.40625001 and 40235054)
文摘The relics of ancient rice have been regarded as the most important objective evidence of the origina- tion and spread of rice cultivation.Based on the records of 280 rice relics sites and the rice cropping regionalization as well as the distribution map of paddy soils,the current study compiled the temporal and spatial distribution map of ancient rice distribution in China.The map shows that the distribution of ancient rice is spatially extensive and meantime comparatively concentrated,temporarily covering a long and relatively continuous time-span.The rice relics in the Central China double and single rice cropping regions are among the earliest and the most abundant ones,possessing continuity in time sequence.Combined with the discovery of ancient rice and paddy filed relics,soil micromorphology, pollen combination and element geochemistry,it is suggested that Central China was the origin center of rice cultivation in China.Rice had been spread to the rest part of China in three major waves,also to the East Asian part like Korea and Japan.The temporal and spatial distribution of ancient rice reflects the past environmental change,which is also meaningful to the current rice regionalization and plan- ning as well as food security in China.
文摘Sixty-eight ancient cultivated rice grains of 10 ruins of 2000-15000 BP in theChangjiang River valley were studied by analyzing grain shape, using discri-minat formulas of hi-peaked tubercle(BPT) with the G (x) = 44. 4788 -0. 4308X- 0. 4263 X+ 0. 078 X, where Xis hi-peaked distance( BPD), Xis peaked angle (PA), and Xis ratio of hi-peaked distance/col depth (BPD/
文摘A large number of plant remains were discovered in the ancient-woods layer of Zhujiajian Island, Zhejiang Province. There were some thick trunks, complete laminas, fruit, seeds and so on. According to radiocarbon tests conducted for plant remains, the ancient-woods layer has been dated back to about 8750 - 6200 years, and the vegetation was a subtropical evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forests on the island in the past. In the middle of the ancient-woods layer, two grains of wild rice were explored accidentally, which are Oryza rufipogon, along with the fruit and seeds of some water plants, such as Ceratophyllum demersum, C. oryzetorum, Euryale ferox, Trapa incisa var. quadricaudata , Scirpus yagara and so on. There might be marshy soil and a pond in ancient forest vegetation from where the grains of wild rice and hydrophytic fruit were found. It is of tremendous importance to study the origin of wild rice in China.
基金The study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(40335047).We thank Professor Xu Zhihong,the Faculty of Environmental Science,Griffith University,Australia,for revising this manuscript.
文摘Field investigation and laboratory analysis of 22 ancient paddy soils excavated at Chuodun site, Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, China were carried out in 2003 to (1) understand the basic characteristics of ancient paddy soils, (2) compare the difference of soil fertility between ancient paddy soils and recent paddy soils, and (3) inquire into mechanisms of the sustainability of paddy soil. The oldest paddy soils at Chuodun site can be dated back to Neolithic age, around 6000 aBP. These ancient fields were buried in about 1-m deep from the soil surface and their areas ranged from 0.32 to 12.9 m^2 with an average of 5.2 m^2. The paddy soils with 〉 5 000 pellets phytolith g^-1 soil were termed intensively cultivated paddy soils (ICPS) and those with 〈5000 pellets phytolith g^-1 soil were called weakly cultivated soils (WCPS). The contents of organic carbon (OC), and total N in the former were significantly higher than that in the latter. Ancient paddy soils had higher soil pH and C/N, total and available P, and lower contents of OC, DOC, total N, S, Cu, Fe, and available K, S, Fe, Mn, and Cu compared with recent paddy soils, which were attributed to application of chemical and manure fertilizers, pollution and acidification in recent paddy soils. The variation coefficients of OC and other nutrients in ancient paddy soils with higher PI were greater than that in ancient paddy soils with low PI, which indicated that human activities had a great impact on the spatial variability of soil nutrients. The contents of OC, total N, P and S in ancient paddy soils were higher than that in ancient moss of the same age, which indicated that planting rice during Majiabang culture period was beneficial to the accumulation of those life elements.
文摘Rice cultivation has long been considered to have originated from seeding of annual types of wild rice somewhere in subtropics, tropics or in the Yangtze River basin. That idea, however, contains a fatally weak point, when we consider the tremendous difficulty for primitive human to seed any cereal crop in the warm and humid climate, where weed thrives all year round, instead of the accepted theory, we have to see a reality that vegetative propagation of edible plants is a dominant form of agriculture in such regions. The possibility is discussed that Job's tears and rice, two cereal crops unique to the region, might have been developed via vegetative propagation to obtain materials for medicine or herb tea in backyard gardens prior to cereal production. This idea is supported by the fact that rice in temperate regions is still perennial in its growth habit and that such backyard gardens with transplanted taro can still be seen from Yunnan Province of China to Laos. Thanks to detailed survey of wild rice throughout China for 1970-1980, it is now confirmed that a set of clones of wild rice exist in shallow swamps in Jiangxi Province, an area with severe winter cold. In early summer ancient farmers may have divided the sprouting buds and spread them by transplanting into flooded shallow marsh. Such way of propagation might have faster improved less productive rice through a better genetic potential for response to human interference than quick fixation in seed propagation, because vegetative parts are heterogeneous. Obviously, such a primitive manner of rice cultivation did include the essential parts of rice farming, i.e., nursery bed, transplanting in flooded field of shallow marsh like. Transfer from the primitive nursery to true nursery by seed may have later allowed rice cultivation to be extended to northern regions. In thus devised flooded cultivation there were a series of unique advantages, i.e.; continuous cropping of rice in a same plot, no soil erosion, slow decline of soil fertility, availability of minerals, and resulting in high yield per unit area, which have collectively attained the highly productive cereal cultivation in the warm and humid region. Rice cultivation in marsh is also favorable to raise fish culture, both of which constituted a nutritionally balanced base. Development of irrigation technology to construct flooded farms gave strong bases for stable rice-cultivating society, which in the end formulated the rise of ancient kingdoms of Yue and Wu in China in BC 6th -5th centuries. They were direct descendents of those people who had developed the unique rice cultivation from the era of Hemudu culture, which is dated back to 5 000 BC. Their movement to the south is considered to have established rice-cultivating communities in South China and Southeast Asia, while to the north it transferred the rice-based technology to ancient Korea and Japan and had established there a base for a civilized society.