Agricultural archaeology has always been a hot spot in archaeology. For many years, archaeologists debated the origin of agriculture and related subjects, forming three theories and their stimulus: (1) oasis theory, (2) population pressure theory and (3) edge zone theory. Archaeologists and botanists also listed the world's earliest centers of cultivation (4), combining China and SE Asia.
Chinese research on the origin of agriculture and related questions has been active for decades. As most archaeologists believe Chinese agriculture originated locally, they focussed on finding the earliest archaeological evidence.
Here, I give my own opinion on the origin of rice cultivation and other related research, based on recent finds.
1970's material from S China's Hemudu yielded >100 prehistoric cultivated rice remains, provoking deep analysis and discussion about the origin of rice agriculture by archaeologists and agriculturalists. More recent material adds more data.
The Xianrendong site on Xiaohe Mountain, NE Wannian County, is in a narrow long basin surrounded by high mountains. It is 3 m above the river, its mouth facing SE. In 1962 & 1964, 22 hearths and 3 trash pits in thick upper and lower cultural levels had simple Early Neolithic potsherds, bone and clamshell tools, etc.(5). The Diaotonghuan site is 800 m W of Xianrendong. In 1993 & 1995, Chinese-American archaeologists tested and sampled Xianrendong and Diaotonghuan. Upper and lower levels are different time periods. Rough sandy potsherds in the upper level are rubbed, while perforated shell tools are bigger with 1-2 holes. The lower level has snails and other aqueous fauna, but no potsherds, while stone tools are mostly small and thin with 1 hole. Diaotonghuan upper and lower level mean thickness exceeded 2m, with many ground stone and bone tool, some perforated and many faunal remains. Its lower level has similar remains to Xianrendong. I believe Xianrendong upper level and Diaotonghuan are 9000-14000 year-old Early Neolithic (6). Their most important find is upper level fan-shaped cultivated rice phytoliths, which changed from wild rice in Diaotonghuan lower level. Xianrendong and Diaotonghuan began rice cultivation 9000-10000 years ago.
Yuchanyan is in the N part of S Shouyan Town, Dao County, Hunan Province. It is 5 m above the ground, its cave mouth a spacious hall. In 1993 & 1995, sediment was 1.2-1.8 m thick, its remains mainly burnt trash heaps, heavy charcoal and burnt bone. Tool are of bone, horn, teeth, clamshell and stone, the last made by percussion, including cores, flakes, choppers, hammerstones, scrapers, knives and hoes, the last a site trait. Co-occurring are very primitive 10000 year-old potsherds and the crucial find of phytoliths in culturally accumulated chaff of both wild and cultivated rice (8). This find gives totally new research material on the origin of Chinese rice.
Niulandong on the S side of Lion Mountain SE of Yinde City, Canton Province, is an isolated cave in karst topography with ancient river signs at its S foot. Its mouth faces S, 11 m above ground. Dug in 1996 & 1998, it has 8 cultural levels, the thickest 2.6 m. Human remains include two cheek teeth and right jaw fragment. 1000 other remains are of stone, bone, teeth, horn, clamshell and pottery. 266 percussed stone tools include choppers, hammerstones, scrapers, lances and borers, while 9 ground tools include axes, etc. The cultural debris has much ash. Two types of rice phytoliths occurred in 1998, their configuration under computer cluster analysis showing indica and japonica. The site has 3 periods and 4 sections, with phytoliths in 11000-8000 year-old periods 2 or 3, which has no ground stone tools or pottery (9). This important find in Niulandong is more data for rice cultivation origin.
Generalizing material from these three sites, we find common cultural traits:
Yuchanyan cultural level thickness is 1 m, with total accumulation to 4 m, an obvious result of sustained human activity. Niulandong, Xianrendong and Yuchanyan hearths number ca. 22, with ash also in Niulandong and Xianrendong. There were also many faunal and floral remains and pollen; e.g.s, 40 types of plant stems and leaves, 20 mammals, many kinds of fish like carp, grass fish, etc. , and rich aquatic species like tortoise, turtle and clam, all from human activity and showing abundant food resources. From this we can speculate their inhabitants were sedentery.
Late Niulandong, Xianrendong and Diaotonghuan levels have much pottery and many agricultural tools, including those of ground stone and perforated bone and clamshell. Ground stone is absent in Yuchanyan, but common stone hoes are identified on their edged blade which was possibly tied to a curved stick for digging (10). Bone awls and shovels and clamshell tools occur. The exceptional agricultural tools are complete and not just fragments.
Phytoliths with these stone, horn, bone and clamshell tools suggest Yuchanyan and Xianrendong had cultivated rice 10,000 years ago, but we haven't found primitive undifferentiated rice phytoliths in Niulandong. Nevertheless, we believe more evidence will be found for the origin of rice cultivation. Our analysis shows early rice cultivation was second to hunter-gathering. The Zhenpiyan site in Guilin City is also worth attention. Zhenpiyan is SW of Dushan S of Guilin, Guangxi Province. Fired earth and graves in the cultural debris have stone, bone and clamshell tools, potsherds and animal bone. Stone tools are percussed or ground, the latter axes, adzes, knives, perforated tools, grindstones, pestles and mortars. Pollen analysis reveals 184 plants (2) in Zhenpiyan, with 34 faunal species in 7500-9000 year-old cultural debris (11). As abundant ground tools and pottery relate to agriculture, Zhenpiyan has the appearance of a settlement. Despite no new direct evidence of rice cultivation, new research may show it.
S China Middle Neolithic rice cultivation occurs in Pengtoushan culture in Feng County and Jiahu site in Wuyang County. This culture spread NW from Dongting Lake along the Yangtze Rivers 9000-8000 years ago, its material showing early paddy cultivation was carried by many settlers who also enjoyed pottery (12). Jiahu in Henan Province also has rice cultivation remains, several dozen houses and 300 tombs (13), all showing large scale settled agriculture far exceeding Pengtoushan culture. As Jiahu and Pengtoushan culture were already developed, we must trace paddy cultivation origin to earlier sites.
Many environmental comparisons exist between Xianrendong, Diaotonghuan, Yushanyan, Niulandong and Zhenpiyan. All are between 110-118º E. Long. and 24-30º N. Lat. in mountainous S China extending to the S part of Nanling Mountains, N to the S bank of Yangtze river, E to Wuyishan, and W to Wulingshan and Xuefengshan. Mainly hilly, many small acreages occur in valleys, all at mountain bases surrounded by open flat land with nearby rivers. It is subtropical, with abundant plant, animal and water sources and stable weather since the Holocene, that supplied an ideal environment.
Archaeologists and botanists have different theories about agricultural origin, based on concepts of "oasis", "population pressure" and "food abundance". I am inclined to the last, accepting Sauer's "hungry people have no time for slow leisurely experiment... only when people are comfortable with excess food is plant selection possible" (14). Others think cultivation began with an understanding of wild plant growth and didn't expect gain. They were concerned with inventing a new economy replacing millions of years of hunter-gathering. Cultivation is lengthy with three preconditions: (a) suitable plant environment; (b) plentiful human food supply; and (c) people gathering wild plants for many years and learning their habits. S China had good conditions for cultivation. As rice is domesticated from wild rice, the latter widespread in S China, including Yunnan, Guangxi, Canton, Hunan and Jiangzhe, people noted habits of wild rice before its domestication, which occurred over centuries.
For many years, scholars discussed archaeological and related material regarding the time and place of Chinese paddy rice origin, eliciting several theories:
This theory is supported by many foreign and domestic scholars. Japan's Watabe thinks rice originated in an elliptical area from Indian Assam to Chinese Yunnan (15). The Philippines' Zhang Deci thinks rice cultivation went from Nepal to Assam to Yunnan to the Yellow Valley, then via Vietnam by sea to the lower Yangtze Valley (16). China's Wang Ningsheng, You Xiuling and Li Kunsheng (17) support the Yunnan theory because: (1) its climate is ideal for rice; (2) it has 15000 widespread plant and >3000 rice species; and (3) isozyme analysis shows closely related modern and ancient rice. (18)
In 1949, former prominent agronomist Ding Ying said "the origin of Chinese rice is tied to ancient Nanhai or today's S China", proving his point in a 1957 paper (19). Tong Enzheng added "the origin of Asian rice is south of Yangtze River, likely near Hangzhouwan or more southerly in Yunnan, Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces" (20). Li Runquang supports his point, emphasizing the Xijiang Basin.(21)
This view emerged in the 1970's after Hemudu excavation. Min Zongdian said "rice cultivation began on the lower Yangtze (22), spreading to Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces like a wave." (23) Yang Wuting criticized the Yungui Plateau and S China theories, thinking rice cultivation originated in SE coastal Yangtze drainage. (24)
Using a new archaeological find, Yan Wenzheng was "convinced the Yangtze River, especially its middle and lower parts, is both a crucial center of rice cultivation origin and its growth area."(25)
In 1990, Xiang Anqiang said "rice cultivation originated at Dongting Lake on the middle Yangtze, expanding locally via the river to W Jiangxi Province, upper Han River in S Shanxi and the lower Yangtze..." (26) He later wrote many papers to prove his point (27). Liu Yi also thinks "Dongting Lake is the earliest origin of rice cultivation". (28)
From Wuyang County's Jia Lake and Hunan's Pentoushan cultural material, Wang Xiangkun and others said "the middle Yangtze and upper Huai might have had the earliest rice cultivation and its spread."(29)
S central Chinese material focussed Zhu Laicheng on rice cultivation origin at "25-29 N Lat. and 111-118 E. Long., S to Nanling, N to the Southern Hills and Mufengshan S of Yangtze River, E to Wuyishan and W to Snow Peak Mountain." He added it developed "at the edges of this area."(30)
Historical records advanced Li Jiangzhe's theory of rice cultivation in Erjian Village near Lianyungang City, Jiangshu Province, to place its origin 7-8000 years ago in S Shandong & N Jiangshu Provinces and the border of Shandong, Henan and Hebei Provinces.(31)
Zhang Peiqi thinks "rice cultivation originated in Bo River, Jiangxi Province, 14000-15000 years ago."(32)
Kunibiko thinks "cultivated rice origin is multiple and dispersive (33). To a lower Yangtze origin, Yan Wenming added China, India and SE Asia because "they are suitable for independent domestication of wild rice", but it may be needless to look outside China and perhaps impossible for multiple origins (34). Wu Shichi added multiple origins in Asia (35) or China (but with similar time). (36)
Fu Qing forwarded a Zhongnan origin of rice cultivation, as rice did not exist in S China 10,000 years ago. According to the above, he thinks Yunnan was not just a disseminator but an origin of rice cultivation.
As all the above theories are based on current archaeology, ecology and other science, they must be re-evaluated using future finds and research.
The Zhongnan Peninsula origin is disproved, as 10000 year-old rice cultivation remains occur. The Yunnan theory depends on isozyme analysis and paleoecology, but lacks archaeological evidence. The lower Yellow River theory is based on records, which are much later than rice cultivation origin. Paleoecology does not support lower Yellow River rice cultivation. Hemudu already had developed rice agriculture, Pengtoushan and Jia Lake sites had partly developed rice cultivation, and a time gulf existed between rice cultivation and developed agriculture. If earlier cultivation did not exist in these areas, the lower Yangtze theory lacks sufficient evidence. Jiangxi Province's 14000-15000 year-old Bo River theory needs more support.
You Xiuling and Tong Enzheng's S China theory covers the area S of Yangtze River, SE coast, Yungui area and regional hills, but their ecologies differ and rice cultivation data is absent in the first two areas. Li Runquan emphasizes the Xi Basin but it lacks archaeological support.
The S China origin is based on Yushanyan Cave, Xianrendong and Diaotonghuan sites and related research, with Niulandong excluded in this range. Bit it also needs more proof that rice cultivation began in S central China. Zhu's theory that rice cultivation originated in S central China, then expanded throughout S China, the lower Yangtze and and Huai Basins remains unproven, and needs detailed research for clarification. The multiple origin theory is based on paleoecology and paleobotany, but lacks archaeological proof and needs future work. I think it irrefutable that rice cultivation originated in S China because it could have started independently here early or later because:
Cultivated rice is domesticated from wild rice, which was widespread in S China. Its suitable subtropical climate also produced an archaeological environment for rice cultivation. Cultural connotation of a crucial hunting-gathering economy in ancient sites promoted wild rice gathering, which gave enough food to perform slow time-consuming domestication.
More than 100 rice cultivation sites occur as far N as 8000 year-old Jia Lake on the Huai River, its cultivation developed to a certain level. Earliest cultivation occurred at Xianrendong, Yuchanyan and Niulandong, but due to limiting conditions, it is difficult to imagine cultivation expanded to Huai Basin from Nanshan or Xianrendong. Xianrendong, Yuchanyan and Niulandong are alike but apart, with no evidence of rice dissemination.
Rice cultivation may have developed simultaneously in different places or at different times, relating to our knowledge. Archaeological finds are incidental, but with new research, independent rice cultivation may occur in S China. Current material suggests the S China mountains are a center of rice cultivation, but not the only center.
The rise of agriculture is long, complex and affected by many factors. Tong Enzheng says "people need not only subjective and objective factors to cultivate wild plants but the right environment. People familiar with planting are an essential subjective factor but not the only one, as ancient economy, social organization, traditions, religion and psychology affect attitude to domestication".(37) When we research rice cultivation origin, we must consider the paleoenvironment, prehistoric culture and other factors.
Rice cultivation origin research is multi-disciplinary, combining archaeology, ecology, botany, geography and genetics. Every theory must be based on evidence, and with new material, old theories expanded or corrected. We believe rice cultivation origin and other questions will be clarified with more cooperative multi-disciplinary research.
(Thanks to Prof. Zhen Qi for help)
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(31) Li Jiangzhe: Study of Dafei rice cultivation, Agricultural Archaeology 1986(2).
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(33) Kunihiko: Genetics of paddy rice evolution, Chinese Paddy Rice Research 1985(4).
(34) Yan Wenming: Origin of Chinese rice cultivation, Agricultural Archaeology 1998(1)
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(36): Quoted from Xu Wangsheng: From the point of view of the origin of agriculture to the origin of Chinese rice cultivation, Agricultural Archaeology 1998(1).