Jiahu 1: earliest farmers beyond the Yangtze River.
Chi, Zhang ; Hung, Hsiao-chun
Introduction
The cultivation of rice (Oryza cativa) significantly shaped the
development of human civilisation, especially in eastern Asia. Since the
1970s, discoveries of early rice at sites such as Hemudu (ZPICRA 2003),
Pengtoushan (HPlCRA 2006), and Chengbexi (HPICRA 2001) in China, dating
to between e. 7000 and 5000 cal BC, have drawn attention to the Yangtze
Valley as the most probable region of origin for early domesticated rice
of the japonica subspecies (e.g. Crawford & Chen 1998; Higham &
Lu 1998; Zhao 1998; Bellwood 2005:111, 2011; Jiang & Liu 2006; Londo
et al. 2006; Fuller et al. 2007, 2009; Liu et al. 2007; Zhang & Hung
2008, 2010; Fuller 2011; Molina et al. 2011). However, recent
discoveries north of the Yangtze Valley proper, from Jiahu in the upper
Huai Valley and Baligang in the middle Hanshui Valley, located between
the Yangtze and the Yellow rivers, have revealed the first significant
occurrence of morphologically domesticated rice in China, at c.
7000-6500 cal BC.
Interestingly, the Huai and Hanshui valleys at that time were very
close to (Fuller 2011: fig. 1), or perhaps even beyond (Fan et al.
1999), the early Holocene northern boundary of wild rice distribution,
suggesting possible transport of rice seed into the region for
cultivation purposes by humans. This cultivation of rice at or close to
the edge of its natural early Holocene range could have been an
important factor that enhanced its eventual domestication, involving
both climatic stress and spatial separation of early domesticated rice
from its wild forebears. The significance of edge-of-the-range
domestication in the case of rice was suggested originally by Yan
Wen-ming (1991), based on the discoveries in the Yangtze site of
Pengtoushan.
Until recently, the Neolithic dry-land farmers (especially of
millets) of the Yellow River region, such as Laoguantai, Peiligang and
Cishan, were regarded as the earliest food producers in northern China.
With the discovery of Jiahu, further to the south in Henan, Chinese
archaeologists commented on the similar cultural characteristics shared
between Jiahu and the Yellow River Neolithic assemblages, especially
Peiligang (KBCRM & XBCRM 1978; KBCRM et al. 1979; HPICRA 1999: 531;
DTHTA et al. 2002). However, the true role of the phase 1 assemblage at
Jiahu, and the contemporary assemblage at Baligang, in the rise of
domesticated food production in China has only recently been realised.
This paper intends to situate Jiahu and Baligang in Chinese Neolithic
prehistory through the most recent findings.
Jiahu 1: chronology and discovery
Jiahu is located in the Huai Valley in Wuyang county, Henan
province (Figure 1). From 1983 to 2001, more than 2600[m.sup.2] of an
estimated total of 50 000[m.sup.2] (5ha) of occupation area with three
successive cultural phases was excavated during seven successive seasons
of research (e.g. Zhang & Wang 1998; HPICRA 1999; DTHTA et al. 2002;
Luo & Zhang 2008). In addition to the earliest evidence for
domesticated rice (Liu et al. 2007, 2009) and pigs (Luo & Zhang
2008), and a claim for the earliest examples of Chinese notation akin to
writing (Li et al. 2003), the site has also offered evidence for
China's oldest known wine residues (McGovern et al. 2004; Zhang
& Lan 2010) and bone flutes (Zhang et al. 1999, 2004).
Jiahu 1 pottery is reddish or reddish-brown with fine sand temper.
Most vessels are plain or cord-marked jars, bowls or basins. Many jars
(hu) have a straight rim profile, flat base, and two small vertical lug handles (Figure 2, top row). Some vessels, especially at Jiahu itself,
are red-slipped (Figure 2). At Jiahu, 148 excavated structures were
placed by the excavators in phase 1, including circular or oval sunken house floors ringed with postholes for roof support, burial pits and
storage pits. The Jaihu phase 1 graves contained mostly extended supine skeletons (Figure 3). Burial goods included pottery hu placed near the
head of the deceased, with stone and bone tools placed elsewhere. Most
storage pits at Jiahu were round, about 1-2m in diameter and as deep as
1m.
Jiahu has 19 conventional radiometric dates that span three phases,
according to the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and
Archaeology (HPICRA 1999:515- 19). Jiahu 1 is c. 7000-6600 BC, phase 2
is c. 6600-6200 BC, and phase 3 is 6200-5800 BC. One of the most
reliable [sup.14]C results for Jiahu phase 1 came from a carbonised
fruit seed, at 7050-6600 BC (BK-91007) (Tables 1 & 2).
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
The cultural assemblage that characterised phase 1 at Jiahu is
known also from several other sites, including Baligang (Zhang, C.
2009), Bancun (Zhang, J.Z. 2009), Huangpo (HCRB & HPICRA 1999,
2008), Changquan (HCRB & HPICRA 1999) (all in western Henan), and
Shigu (central Henan) (HHCRA 1987) (Figure 1; Table 1).
Baligang, located on a terrace of the Tuan River, a tributary of
the middle Hanshui Valley (AFS of PKU 1998), is about 50 000[m.sup.2]
(5ha) in area, and about 3-4m in stratigraphic depth. It contains
several important cultural layers, commencing with the pre- Yangshao
(corresponding to Jiahu 1) and continuing through Yangshao, Qujialing,
Shijiahe, Longshan, Shang, Zhou, Han and into post-Han. From 1991 until
2010, Peking University conducted nine successive seasons of excavation
at Baligang (Figure 4). Baligang has produced 15 AMS dates from its
early layer, including one from a carbonised fruit seed, two from
carbonised rice grains, and 12 from other types of charcoal. The
earliest is 6700-6480 BC (BAO8129), and the latest 6390-6080 BC
(BAO-8122). Two direct AMS dates on rice grains are 6530-6420 BC
(BA-10080) and 6600-6440 BC (BA-10081) (see Table 2).
For the related Peiligang cultural assemblages from further north
in the Yellow River valley, 18 conventional [sup.14]C dates from wood
charcoal were obtained from eight sites, including Peiligang itself,
Zhongshanzhai, Egou, Shuiquan, Tieshenggou, Huawo, Malianggou and Sawoli
(IA of CASS 2010: 804-805). Except for one anomalously early date of
8780-8290 BC (ZK-0572), and one with a very large standard deviation
that calibrates to 8000-5700 BC (ZK-0434), the remaining 16 dates
indicate that the Peiligang cultural phase commenced around 6000 BC
(Table 2). Cishan (HCRB & HOCRM 1981) appears similarly to be not
older than 6000 BC (unpublished Peking University laboratory dates,
Xiao-hong Wu pers. comm. 2011).
[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]
The botanical remains
Research on carbon isotopes to infer dietary preferences in Jiahu
human bone suggests that the food base was dominated by C3 plants, which
include rice (Hu et al. 2006). C4 plants such as common millet and
foxtail millet are almost absent. During the first six excavation
seasons (1983-1987), Jiahu 1 yielded 1000 carbonised rice grains, that
revealed no clear differentiation between Oryza sativa subsp, hsien
(indica) or Oryza sativa subsp, keng (japonica) (Chen et al. 1995).
According to initial morphological studies, this Jiahu rice was an early
cultivated form with some surviving wild rice characteristics (HPICRA
1999: 887). Large quantities of acorns (Quercus spp.), water chesnuts
(Trapa sp.) and wild soybeans were also found at Jiahu, suggesting that
hunter-gatherer subsistence still played an important role in the
economy.
[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]
During the seventh excavation season in 2001, flotation of Jiahu
soil samples provided a much more detailed view of ancient subsistence
in the site. Among 59 floated samples, mostly from phases 1 and 2, a
total of 4121 seeds, 228 tuber fragments and 7828 nut fragments were
identified (DTHTA et al. 2002). According to Zhao and Zhang (DTHTA et
al. 2002), 15 percent of all plant remains (by number of identifiable
fragments) were rice, and less than 5 per cent were wet-field rice weeds
such as Digitaria sp. and Echinochloa sp. (also known as 'rice
weed'). Water chestnuts (Trapa sp.) and tubers, such as lotus roots
(Nelumbo nucifera), accounted for more than 30 per cent of all plant
remains, and wild soybeans and acorns (Quercus spp.) represented over 20
per cent (Table 3).
The Jiahu research team published complete data on grain sizes and
shapes of rice remains from the seventh excavation, showing that grain
sizes increased between cultural phases 1 and 3 (Liu et al. 2007, 2009).
The team further compared the shapes of the rice grains from Jiahu
phases 1 to 3 to those from other Neolithic to Bronze Age Chinese and
Korean sites and concluded that they were all highly similar. However,
hunter-gatherer subsistence, according to the 2007 results, still formed
the major focus of the Jiahu economy, especially in phase 1.
In the eighth season of excavation at Baligang in 2007, a total of
22 whole rice grains (carbonised), 148 fragments, 516 spikelet bases and
116 acorns were unearthed through systematic sampling and flotation of
the contents of 11 well-preserved storage pits dated to Jiahu 1 (Figure
5) (Deng 2009:9-11). Acorns were present in only two pits, and rice was
more abundant in almost every pit. Some millet-like and wild soybean remains were found in two pits but it is not clear if these were wild or
immature domesticated varieties.
Deng Zhen-hua (Deng 2009; Deng & Gao 2012) made a systematic
study of the widths, lengths and thicknesses of the rice grains from the
Jiahu 1 occupation at Baligang, and compared them to the early rice
samples from Jiahu itself, and also from the Yangtze sites of Kuahuqiao
and Tianluoshan in Zhejiang, Longqiuzhuang in Jiangsu, and Bashidang in
Hunan. In terms of shape and size, the Baligang rice most closely
resembles that from Kuahuqiao in the lower Yangtze Valley (Deng 2009:
30).
Storage pit H2000 at Baligang contained 84 per cent of the
identified rice spikelets from the site. Following the criteria outlined
by Fuller ar al. (2009), and under the supervision of Qin Ling at Peking
University, Deng's study suggested that 71.5 per cent of the
spikelets were of domesticated morphology, 10.4 per cent were wild, and
the rest were immature or unidentifiable (Figure 6). Deng further
compared the rice remains from Baligang to those from Tianluoshan, a
site of the Hemudu phase in northern Zhejiang, which produced a total of
2461 rice spikelet bases.
[FIGURE 4 OMITTED]
Between 4900 BC and 4600 BC at Tianluoshan, rice spikelets with
domesticated (tough rachised, non-shattering) attachment scar
morphologies increased from 27.4 to 38.8 per cent of the spikelet sample
(Fuller et al. 2009). At Kuahuqiao, Luojiajiao and Tianluoshan, Zheng et
al. (2007) divided the rice spikelet bases into two types: domesticated
Oryza sativa var. japonica, and wild. Of 120 samples of spikelet bases
from Kuahuqiao, 100 from Luojiajiao and 351 from Tianluoshan, the
percentages with domesticated morphology were 41.7, 51 and 51 per cent
respectively. This suggests, given the dates for these sites (6000-5500
BC), that the proportion of domesticated rice in the plant remains
increased by 9 per cent within a time span of 500 years.
As we can see, the percentage of rice spikelet bases that have
non-shattering domesticated morphologies at Baligang (71.5 per cent), at
a date of c. 7000-6500 BC, is significantly higher than the percentages
in the three lower Yangtze sites. Furthermore, the Baligang basal layer
is 500-1000 years older than the Yangtze sites (Table 2). This high
percentage of domesticated morphology exceeds even the 67 per cent
reported from the site of Liangzhu, dated much later at 3000-2200 BC
(Fuller et al. 2009: 1609). In other words, if this high percentage of
morphologically domesticated rice spikelets from Baligang accurately
reflects the progress of rice domestication in that site, then the Jiahu
phase 1 sites show an unusually advanced rate of change.
The cultural origin of Jiahu 1
Several sites in the upper Huai and middle Hanshui river valleys
have produced diagnostic Jiahu 1 archaeological materials, but there is
no obvious origin for this phase from any preceding local cultures. So
far, the only other site with early pottery in Henan is Lijiagou (Table
1; Figure 1), which presents totally different pottery forms and designs
from Jiahu (SAM & ZIA 2010). Lijiagou itself has a lower microlithic assemblage related to that from Wuyang (Zhang & Li 1996), dated to
8500-8300 BC. Above this, the early Lijiagou pottery has been dated to
8000-6600 BC (partly contemporary with Jiahu 1) and shows no
cord-marking, unlike the Jiahu pottery series, but instead has rouletted
impressions. So far, neither rice nor millet has been found at Lijiagou.
Therefore, it is necessary to compare the cultural traits
represented in Jiahu 1 to other sites over a broader geographical area.
This reveals that similar pottery forms to Jiahu 1, especially jars (hu)
and bowls/basins, occur in the Pengtoushan phase sites of the middle
Yangtze (Figure 7, and zone G in Figure 9) and the early-middle phases
of Xiaohuangshan in the lower Yangtze (Figure 8, and zone H in Figure 9)
(HPICRA 2006; Wang et al. 2006; Wang 2008) (Table 1). These sites are
about 500km apart from each other, but it seems implausible that each
region independently developed the similar pottery forms. Further
similarities are noted in house forms, the shapes of storage pits and
burial practices.
[FIGURE 5 OMITTED]
The Pengtoushan cultural phase is best represented at Pengtoushan
and Bashidang, where groups of postholes suggest stilt houses. A total
of 21 inhumation burials were excavated at Pengtoushan and 89 at
Bashidang, but skeletal remains were too poorly preserved to assess
burial positions. Xiaohuangshan near the lower Yangtze also revealed
postholes for a 5.5 x 4.8m stilt house, with five extended supine
burials provided with pottery vessels, including hu.
It is therefore possible that the Jiahu 1 assemblage in the Huai
and Hanshui valleys was a result of population expansion by, or cultural
influence from, a more southerly population resident in the Yangtze
Valley, with an existing knowledge of pottery production and rice
cultivation. Perhaps this population also expanded further northwards to
reach the middle and lower Yellow River, where the Houli sites in
Shandong province (Crawford et al. 2006; and see Table 1 and zone D in
Figure 9) have also produced rice grains with domesticated morphologies
dated as early as 7000 BC (Jin Gui-yun, pers. comm.), together with
pottery similar to that from Jiahu 1.
So far in China, the earliest evidence of exploitation of wild rice
has been unearthed from regions south of the Yangtze, in late
Pleistocene cave sites in Jiangxi (Crawford & Chen 1998; Zhao 1998)
and from the open site at Shangshan in Zhejiang. The latter dates to
9000-7000 BC and has also provided the earliest evidence for rice
utilisation in China in a context with stilt houses (Zheng & Jiang
2007).
[FIGURE 6 OMITTED]
If the suggested move from the south actually occurred, then the
northward spread of rice cultivation beyond the Yangtze, to Jiahu,
Baligang and Houli, occurred during the warm climatic conditions of the
Holocene Megathermal climatic phase. An alternative is that pre-farming
hunter-gatherers in the Huai-Hanshui valleys adopted rice cultivation
from the south, without migration. Current data are insufficient to
choose clearly between these two options, but it is important to note
that, based on the modern distribution of wild rice, plus historical
records from Shang-Zhou times (Fan et al. 1999), the Huai and Hanshui
valleys today lie beyond the northward limit for wild rice. However,
during the warmer climatic conditions of the early Holocene, this region
could have been very close to the limit (e.g. Fuller 2011: fig. 1), and
thus potentially in an environmental zone that would have been conducive
to the development of planting if climatic conditions and the lengths of
growing seasons became unstable.
This observation could be important if we wish to ask why such a
high percentage of morphologically domesticated rice occurred initially
in the Jiahu and Baligang sites. Stress factors would have enhanced any
behavioural tendencies towards increasing investment in cultivation, and
the very process of moving wild rice up to and beyond its natural range
may have been fundamental for the process of morphological
domestication, since backcrossing with wild forms would have been
restricted. Humans could therefore have selected, consciously or
unconsciously, for increasing percentages of non- shattering panicles
over time (Allaby et al. 2008; Bellwood 2011).
[FIGURE 7 OMITTED]
The idea of rice domestication at the northern edge of its wild
range is not new in Chinese archaeology. Yan Wen-ming (1991, 1997, 1998,
2002) first proposed his 'theory of peripheral origins' during
the 1980s, to explain why rice agriculture originated in the Yangtze
Valley, at the northern edge of the range as it was understood then,
instead of in southern China or Southeast Asia, where common wild rice
was much more widely distributed. His explanation for rice domestication
was as follows:
This was due to the subtropical monsoon climate in the Yangtze
Valley with a comparatively long winter [...]. There was a need for some
kind of food that could be preserved until the following spring, and
rice fitted this requirement. On the other hand, although wild rice was
found in the Yangtze Valley, it was not abundant. So, the natural output
was far from enough to meet the daily needs of the inhabitants.
Cultivation was necessary. Only by cultivation could rice survive the
harsh winter and give rise to the next generation. These two essential
conditions did not exist in the centre of the wild rice distribution
area. Therefore, rice agriculture originated first in the Yangtze
Valley, located at the northern edge of the wild rice distribution area
(Yan Wen-ming 2002:152).
[FIGURE 8 OMITTED]
This 'theory of peripheral origins' is also sometimes
termed the 'edge of the range hypothesis' (Bellwood 1996). In
this view, the ancient populations on the northern fringes of the
subtropical zone not only lacked reliable natural sources of wild rice,
but also they needed to store cold-resistant plant foods for longer and
colder winters than in the south. Starting during Jiahu phase 1, the
domestication rate of rice was exceptionally rapid, especially at
Baligang, compared to the much slower trend at Xiaohuangshan and
Kuahuqiao in the lower Yangtze.
Conclusion
We propose that the creators of Jiahu 1 moved northwards from the
Yangtze Valley in order to establish settlements supported by incipient rice agriculture in the Huai and Han valleys. Although available
archaeological evidence might be insufficient confirm the actuality of
Neolithic migration from south to north, it is nevertheless evident that
the rice-focused aspect of the subsistence pattern in Jiahu 1 was
ultimately of southerly origin.
[FIGURE 9 OMITTED]
The Huai and Han valleys themselves were unavailable for wild rice
cultivation before the early Holocene maximum in temperature and monsoon
rainfall. The pottery assemblage of Jiahu 1 is dated to 7000-6500 BC,
and is thus about 500 years older than its Peiligang derivatives further
north in Hebei, which are dated to c. 6000 BC. Based on dose
similarities in pottery, stone tools, subsistence and burial practices
(Zhang & Wei 2008), the material culture and population of the
millet-based Peiligang culture (Zone C in Figure 9) was most likely
derived from Jiahu phase 1. As well as Peiligang, the Jiahu 1 complex
probably also gave rise also to the Laoguantai (Baijia) culture in Henan
and Guanzhong (central Shaanxi province) (Zone B in Figure 9).
As in other early-middle Neolithic sites in the lower Yangtze
Valley, from Xiaohuangshan to the Hemudu cultural phase 7000-4000 BC
(e.g. Jiang & Liu 2005; Fuller et al. 2011), rice cultivation at
Jiahu 1 occupied only part of an economy that was still based largely on
hunter-gatherer strategies (Liu et al. 2010). But this cultural phase at
Jiahu and Baligang has nevertheless revealed the most advanced
percentage (71.5 per cent) of morphologically domesticated of rice
during this time span in China, exceeding that in the slightly younger
Yangtze sites of Kuahuqiao (41.7 per cent) and Tianluoshan (51.0 per
cent). We suggest that the northerly location of Jiahu and Baligang,
with respect to the Yangtze basin proper, might have encouraged a more
rapid development and retention of the domesticated features in rice
during the temporarily warmer conditions of the early Holocene. This
makes it possible that this region played a very significant formative
role in the development of rice agriculture within China.
Acknowledgements
We deeply appreciate advice from Drs Qin Ling (Peking University)
and Dorian Fuller (University College London) on the study of rice
spikelets. Professor Wang Hai-ming (Zhejiang Provincial Institute of
Cultural Relics and Archaeology) provided first-hand information on the
chronology of Xiaohuangshan. Profesor Liu Li (Stanford University)
shared her research knowledge on early Holocene sites in China. This
manuscript was read by Professor Peter Bellwood and Dr Mike Carson (The
Australian National University), who gave us many valuable suggestions.
Received: 15 February 2012; Accepted: 11 May 2012; Revised: 29 May
2012
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Zhang Chi (1) & Hsiao-chun Hung (2)
(1) School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University,
Beijing, 100871, P.R. China
(2) Department of Archaeology and Natural History, School of
Culture, History, and Language and School of Archaeology and
Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200,
Australia (Email: hsiao-chun.hung@anu.edu.au)
Table 1. Chronologies of the early Neolithic in the Yangtze, Hui,
Hanshui and Yellow basins.
Region Middle and Lower Yangtze River
Hubei Dongting Yangtze
Age Phase region Lake Plain Delta
18000-7000 Late Palaeo- Yuchanyan
BC lithic to Cave
early
Neolithic Shangshan
7000-5000 Middle Pengtoushan Pengtoushan Yiaohuangshan
BC Neolithic
Chengbeixi Zaoshi Kuahuqiao
5000-3000 Early phase Daxi Daxi Hemudu-
BC of late Majiabang
Neolithic Songze
Qujialing Qujialing Liangzhu
Hui-Hanshui Middle and Lower
Region region Yellow River
Hui and
Age Phase Hanshui rivers Henan Shaanxi
18000-7000 Late Palaeo-
BC lithic to
early
Neolithic Dagang
7000-5000 Middle Jiahu phase 1 & Lijiagou
BC Neolithic Baligang
Jiahu phase 2 Peiligang Laoguantai
5000-3000 Early phase Hui River: Yangshao Yangshao
BC of late Longgiuzhuang
Neolithic Dawenkou
Hanshui River:
Yangshao
Quijialing
Middle and Lower
Region Yellow River
Age Phase Shandong Hebei
18000-7000 Late Palaeo- Nanzhuangtou
BC lithic to Donghulin
early
Neolithic
7000-5000 Middle Houli
BC Neolithic
Cishan
5000-3000 Early phase Beixin Yangshao
BC of late
Neolithic
Dawenkou
Table 2. Radiocarbon dates for Jiahu (HPICRA 1999: 515-19); Bancun
(Zhang, J.Z. 2009: 157-63), and other sites (IA of CASS 2010: 804-805).
Lab no. Site Unit Material
WB79-60 Shigu (in H159 charcoal
Changge,
Henan)
WB80-15 H238 charcoal
WB80-17 H197 charcoal
BK94173 Jiahu (in H37 (12) charcoal
Wuyang,
Henan)
BK94177 H229 (114) charcoal
BK95018 M344 (115) human bone
BK91007 H76 (12) fruit seed
WB83-60 H1 (115) charcoal
BK94174 H105 (1118) charcoal
BK94176 H339 (116) charcoal
DY K0185 H82 (11) plant ashes
BK94175 H102 (1118) charcoal
BK94127 H174 (1117) charcoal
BK94172 H84 (11) plant ashes
BK95014 M375 (12) human bone
DY KO189 H39 (114) plant ashes
DY KO186 H29 (114) plant ashes
BK95013 M341 (11) human bone
BK95017 M282 Jia (115) human bone
DY KO188 H5 (1118) plant ashes
BA94087 Bancun (in H2013 fruit pit
Minchi,
Henan)
BA94088 H3052 charcoal
BAO-8129 Baligang (in H1987 charcoal
Dengzhou,
Henan)
BAO-8122 H1986 charcoal
BA-10080 H1992 rice grain
BA-10081 H2000 rice grain
ZK-0572 Peiligang (in T31 (1) T34 charcoal
Xinzheng, (1)(2)
Henan)
ZK-0434 T1H1 T2H2 charcoal
ZK-0754 T111 (2) charcoal
ZK-0753 H17 charcoal
ZK-0571 H11 charcoal
ZK-0751 H18 charcoal
ZK-1367 Zhongshanzhai H16 charcoal
(in Linru,
Henan)
ZK-1368 H20 charcoal
WB78-17 Egou (in Mixian, H27 charcoal
Henan)
WB78-39 T24 charcoal
ZK-0580 H27 charcoal
WB78-38 H1 charcoal
ZK-2345 Shuiquan (in H80 charcoal
Jiaxian, Henan)
ZK-2344 H43 charcoal
ZK-0748 Tieshenggou (in T2 charcoal
Gongxian,
Henan)
ZK-1130 Sawoli (in H17 charcoal
Xinzheng,
Henan)
ZK-0755 Huawo (in TIH3 charcoal
Qixian, Henan)
ZK-0747 Malianggou (in Hl charcoal
Mixian,
Henan)
OxCal 3.0 cal BC
Lab no. BP (95% probability)
WB79-60 7450 [+ or -] 90 6460-6090
WB80-15 7295 [+ or -] 85 6370-6010
WB80-17 7010 [+ or -] 85 6030-5720
BK94173 8190 [+ or -] 75 7380-7040
BK94177 8090 [+ or -] 110 7450-6650
BK95018 8000 [+ or -] 100 7250-6600
BK91007 7960 [+ or -] 60 7050-6600
WB83-60 7920 [+ or -] 150 7300-6450
BK94174 7825 [+ or -] 80 7050-6450
BK94176 7650 [+ or -] 70 6640-6400
DY K0185 7561 [+ or -] 125 6650-6100
BK94175 7510 [+ or -] -90 6570-6210
BK94127 7450 [+ or -] 80 6460-6100
BK94172 7415 [+ or -] 80 6430-6090
BK95014 7240 [+ or -] 70 6240-5990
DY KO189 7137 [+ or -] 130 6250-5700
DY KO186 7105 [+ or -] 120 6220-5740
BK95013 7050 [+ or -] -80 6060-5750
BK95017 7035 [+ or -] 70 6030-5750
DY KO188 7017 [+ or -] 130 6250-5600
BA94087 6930 [+ or -] 140 6070-5610
BA94088 4720 [+ or -] 250 4100-2700
BAO-8129 7790 [+ or -] 45 6700-6480
BAO-8122 7370 [+ or -] 60 6390-6420
BA-10080 7625 [+ or -] 35 6350-6420
BA-10081 7670 [+ or -] 45 6600-6440
ZK-0572 9300 [+ or -] 100 8780-8290
ZK-0434 7885 [+ or -] 480 8000-5700
ZK-0754 7445 [+ or -] 200 6700-5850
ZK-0753 7185 [+ or -] 200 6450-5700
ZK-0571 7145 [+ or -] 300 6600-5400
ZK-0751 6435 [+ or -] 215 5750-4800
ZK-1367 7390 [+ or -] 100 6440-6060
ZK-1368 6955 [+ or -] 90 6010-5670
WB78-17 7290 [+ or -] 120 6420-5980
WB78-39 7265 [+ or -] 160 6450-5800
ZK-0580 7240 [+ or -] 80 6260-5980
WB78-38 6975 [+ or -] 100 6030-5670
ZK-2345 7270 [+ or -] 120 6410-5970
ZK-2344 7100 [+ or -] 110 6220-5740
ZK-0748 7265 [+ or -] 200 6500-5700
ZK-1130 7170 [+ or -] 105 6250-5830
ZK-0755 7130 [+ or -] 120 6230-5740
ZK-0747 6855 [+ or -] 200 6250-5350
Table 3. The plant remains (raw counts of identified fragments)
from the seventh excavation season at Jiahu in 2001
(after Zhao & Zhang 2009).
Jiahu Jiahu Jiahu
Plant remains phase 1 phase 2 phase 3 Total
Oryza sativa 324 78 402
Glycine soja 548 32 1 581
Digitaria sp. 1247 958 2205
Echinochloa sp. 53 53
Pooideae 1 1 2
Panicoideae 6 2 8
Vitis spp. 92 10 8 110
Broussonetia payrifera 23 2 1 26
Abutilon theophrasti 1 1
Polygonum 13 14 27
Amaranthus 129 129
Nelumbo spp. 1 1 2
Zelkova spp. 2 2
Legum inosae 89 11 100
Compositae 306 1 307
Cyperaceae 2 2
Unknown plant seeds 156 8 164
Nelumbonucifern 75 1 76
Other tuber 43 82 27 152
Quercus spp. 267 97 1 365
Trapa spp. 116 7307 6 7429
Carya cathayensis 59 59
Other fruit pits 6 23 29