Zhang, Zhiheng

Agricultural origins symbolize Early Neolithic, with rice a main part. Yangtze Neolithic excavation and research divide rice origin and development on the middle and lower Yangtze River into three stages: domestication, birth and development (Table 1).

1. Domestication stage

        Explicit archaeological data confirms rice agriculture originated in Yangtze Basin.

        Several sites in Yangtze Basin are Early Neolithic: Xianrendong, Diaotonghuan (1) and Yuchanyan, Dao County, Hunan Province. Xianrendong and Diaotonghuan are in W Chiangnan on the lower Yangtze River (Fig. 1), while Yuchanyan is on the N foothills of Nanling at a lower latitude.

(1) Xianrendong and Diaotonghuan sites

        From Sept.-Nov., 1995, several organizations including the Archaeology Dept. of Peking University, excavated Xianrendong, finding upper (2 layers in E & 2-3 layers in W) and lower strata (layers 3 & 4). Distinctions between them are grit-tempered sherds in upper layers. Many mussel, conch and clam shells are in upper layers, with few mussels in lower layers. Ground stone tools are in the upper layer, while only chipped stone tools, esp. tiny quartz and some tool-like flint, occur in lower layers.

        Diaotonghuan is 30 m higher than its basin. Only 800 m from Xianrendong, its regional study suggests it is a temporary camp and killsite of Xianrendong inhabitants hunting in the area. Diaotonghuan cultural stratigraphy has upper and lower layers, with much large animal bone, partly ground stone tools, bone tools, perforated clam tools, grit-tempered sherds, etc., in the upper layer, while lower layer finds resemble Xianrendong's.

        Xianrendong and Diaotonghuan 9-14,000 year-old upper layer has Early Neolithic tools, 15-20,000 year old lower layer, Late Palaeolithic. Upper layers of both show a sudden increase in grass pollen, with big grains like paddy rice. Upper layer fan-shaped phytoliths resembling paddy rice provide important clues for research on rice origin.

(2) Yuchanyan sites

        Yuchanyan near Baishizhai Village, Shouyan, Dao County, Hunan, was excavated in 1993 and 1995 (2), with 1.2-1.8 m profile. Except a recent surficial grave, stratigraphy is intact. Excavated stone tools are chipped - cores & flakes, axes, scrapers, knives, hoes, etc., the latter unique for digging. Also unique are old vandyck brown sherds, the firing duration and temperature on their 2 cm charcoal-sand-tempered walls very low, resulting in poor quality. Veining occurs along joint lines and coiling on inner and outer surfaces.

        Many huge bones of >20 mammalian species occur, mainly large herbivores like deer but also many small carnivores, plus birds (30%), their ratio showing a developed hunting. Fish include carp, herring, etc., plus aquatic turtle, conch and mussel, reflecting a certain importance of a fishing and collecting economy.

        The main find was paddy rice. Agronomists ended their 1^st electron microscopy in two excavations, proving 1993 grain is common wild rice with some human intervention. 1995 grain is cultivated rice with traits of wild rice, japonica and indica, an ancient form evolving to cultivated.

        All Yuchanyan stone tools are chipped and unground, but pots are Early Neolithic, with sherd shape showing pottery earlier than Pengtoushan. C14 bone dates in level T93B2 and 3E are 8327 and 7911 BC (tree-ring adjusted).

(3) Agricultural economic traits reflected in sites like Xianrendong

        Incipient agriculture was "slash & burn"; trees were felled, sun-dried and burnt, the ash used as fertilizer. Dibble and broadcast sowing was followed by harvest without ploughing or weeding. As slash & burn's main trait is "burning without ploughing", axe is the crucial tool. Xianrendong, Diaotonghuan and Yuchanyan stone tools include axes and hoes; bone tools, shovels, chisels, etc., for felling trees, digging and sowing. Most S China crops at the "slash & burn" stage are so-called garden harvest: asexual rhizome fruit, some vegetables and legumes. While Xianrendong paddy rice is graminae being selectively bred and domesticated, Yuchanyan is similar with Early and Middle Neolithic "village based agriculture". Incipient rice agriculture may have occurred in Late Neolithic in Nanling due to hot damp climate with abundant wild food plants, fish and mollusks (conch, mussel); i.e., very rich natural resources that suppressed agricultural growth. This is the reason why Early Neolithic villages in S China limestone areas are rare.

        While primitive agriculture appeared on the middle Yangtze 8500-10,000 years ago, collecting, fishing and hunting remained primary. Bones in sites like Xianrendong include prey - herbivores, small carnivores and birds, plus fish, turtle, conch, freshwater mussel, etc. All show agriculture was secondary.

2. Birth Stage

        On the middle Yangtze, only Pengtoushan culture is at the Neolithic rice birth stage, with no analogous rice downriver. But on the lower Lishui River it is early Middle Neolithic. Pengtoushan culture includes Bashidang, Lijiagang and its type site in Lixian, Hunan (Fig. 1), with many charcoal-tempered ceramics, mostly round bottomed. Shapes are deep bodied round bottom pot, tubular kettle, earthenware bowl, trough, plate and charcoal-tempered support, etc. (p.207) Stoneware includes tiny flint tools, big chipped tools and ground stone (4). Pengtoushan culture is ca. 8500 to 7500 years ago.

        Carbonized rice grains and husks are on and in Pengtoushan sherds. Palynology shows much graminae in the culture layer, but all >37.5 microns, with holes and edges 10-11 microns thick, like modern paddy rice (5). Carbonized husk and grain are in sherds in Lijiagang in 1989 and in 8,000 year-old Bashidang in 1993, with dense paddy rice in ashpits with burnt or rotten straw and husk. The W part and old river bank in Bashidang's 1995 2nd excavation yielded hundreds of husked & carbonized grain screened from soil, with rice material directly from the stratum. Testing included 10 m NW of the excavation, with much organic matter in the black turf layer of the ancient river bank 4-5 m below ground. They include much rice and >100 kinds of plants, e.g. lotus, water chestnut, peach, etc., plus bamboo and wood ware, stone carvings and animal bone. Rice is awned and awnless. As silt prevented oxidation, grain was preserved so well it appeared fresh (6). Many sherds were in this layer.

        Paddy rice remains from Pengtoushan, Bashidang and Lijiagang show 8,000 year-old cultivation on lower Lishui River passed selective breeding and domestication of the birth stage. As Pengtoushan culture was village-based early stage hoe agriculture, sites like Bashidang were surrounded by ditches and fences to exclude tribes (7). Archaeology suggests early rice culture formed 8,000 years ago on the middle Yangtze (29-30 N. Lat.).

3. Development Stage

        Yangtze Neolithic in the development stage include cultures of Zaoshi Xiaceng (middle & lower Ruanshui & Lishui Rivers), Chengbeixi (both Yangtze banks, E Hubei), Early Majiabang (Tai Basin) and Hemudu (Ningshao area S to Hangzhou bay) (Fig. 1). They are in the development stage of hoe agriculture, with rice dominant.

        Most 7700-7300 year-old Zaoshi Xiacen pots are round bottomed & deep bodied, but also small double-eared flat bottomed pots, round full plates, etc. Stoneware is ground (axe, adze, chisel, plate) or chipped flint (8) in rice sites like Hujiawuchang (Linlixian, Hunan) and Fenshanbao (Qianliang Lake Farm, Yueyang City) (10). The former has domesticated water buffalo, pig, sheep, etc.

        Most Chengbeixi pots are mahogany or taupe, sand & charcoal tempered and round-bottomed, while round plates are common. Pots also include amphora, round footed, eared, etc. Tools are rough and mainly chipped from cobbles, but some are partly ground. They are mainly irregular rectangles or trapezoids, like axes and adzes. Rice sites are Chengbeixi [11], Yidu, Hubei, N Zhicheng, Liuinxi [12] Zigui County, etc. T6 bone C14 dated (3) 6800±80 years.

        Most Early Majiabang pots in Tai Basin are mahogany, including sand-tempered kettles, eared ware, goblets, basins, earthenware bowls & pots, etc. Stone tools are rough, including axes, adzes, blades, chisels, etc. Much cultivated rice grain is in levels 3-4 in Luojiajiao, Tongxiang County, Zhejiang. Six other sites have paddy rice, all black, and mostly unhusked, ca. 1/3 of which was glumed. (p.208) 567 pollen grains in level 4 were japonica and indica, 97% graminae, a simple central sample suggesting cultivation (14). Crops also include bottle gourds and reeds for making rope. Domestic animals are pig, buffalo, dog, etc. (15). Level 4 C14 dates 6900-7100 years.

        Early Hemudu pots are charcoal-tempered, including black kettles, eared ware, pots, bowls, plates, troughs, cups, etc. The main cultivator is the artiodactyl scapular shovel, with stone tools trivial. Houses are Ganlan style with wood frames and floors near low-lying swamps. Hemudu level 4 had 70-80 cm piles of rice grain, husk and stalk in 400 m², with many husks in pottery temper identified as indica. Other plants are small bottle gourds, caltrops and fox nuts, etc., while palynology identified legumes. Domestic animals were pig, dog, buffalo and sheep, while hunting, fishing and collecting were somewhat important. Besides piles of wild plant remains, 50 animal species occur in ca. 1000 bones - deer species, rhinoceros, Asian elephant, bear, otter, macaque monkeys, alligators, etc. Level 4 acorn and wood C14 dated 6725±140 & 6960±100 years (14).

        The above analyses show development stage rice agriculture has these traits:

1. It occurs only NW of Dongting Lake in its birth stage, but spread along the middle and lower Yangtze in its development stage.

2. As its cultivation spread, some strains improved like indica and japonica. Other crops included legumes, bottle gourd, etc.

3. Irrigation and drainage occur in early Late Majiabang culture as widespread depressions representing small pools. In the lower layer of Caoxie Mountain site, Wu County, Jiangsu, depressions are older or Early Majiabang culture.

4. This stage has plant and animal domestication, with dogs, pigs, water buffalos and sheep widely raised. 

Table 1. Classification of origin and development of rice agriculture on Yangtze River

(4) Exploration of Rice Origin in Yangtze Basin

        Most rice of the selective breeding and domestication stages are near the W foot of Huaiyu Mountain on the lower Yangtze. Similar rice is on a moist mid-subtropical Nanling piedmont in Yuchanyan, Dao County, Hunan, an ecotone important for early rice culture which had not yet evolved to a rice culture district by mid-Early Neolithic. No contemporaneous rice exists between Boyang Lake and Huaiyu Mountain.

        The 7500-8500 year-old rice birth stage only occurs in Pengtoushan culture on the NW shore of Dongting Lake, with no analogous remains on the lower Yangtze.

        Lower Yangtze Early Majiabang and Hemudu rice levels were tens of cm thick, comprising stems, leaves and husks mixed with charcoal-tempered pots. With japonica and indica, agriculture skipped the birth stage, with further development in Hemudu and Late Majiabang and later Songze and Liangzhu periods, suggesting rice in lower Yangtze Early Majiabang and Hemudu cultures.

        On the E part of mid-lower Yangtze River, selective breeding and domestication rice stages occur, but cultivated rice was absent at the birth stage in Pengtoushan culture on the middle Yangtze. So, one must find if rice agriculture came from middle Yangtze or developed locally. By exploring rice agricultural origin on the lower Yangtze and local Early Neolithic sites, it may be possible to discover Early Neolithic rice remains. Foreign and Chinese Neolithic researchers may find Early Neolithic sites in the E and N foothills of Tianmu Mountain and the N foothills of Siming Mountain on the lower Yangtze.

        Many Late and some Early Palaeolithic sites are on the W mid-Yangtze, esp. from the E foothills of Wulingshan to Dongting Lake. While early rice culture appeared here in the 8,000 year-old Pengtoushan period, later Zaoshi rice culture was in Xiaceng, Daxi, Qujialing and Shijiahe cultures, but Yangtze rice agriculture origin remains a major topic.

Annotation:

(1) Liu, Shizhong: Important progress made excavating Xianrendong and Diaotonghuan, Jiangxi. Cultural Relics Newspaper, Jan 28^th ,1996, vol. 4, 1st ed.

(2) Yuan, Jiarong: Important new evidence of paddy rice origin at Yuchanyan, Cultural Relics Newspaper, March 3^rd, 1996, vol. 8, 1st ed..

(3) Zhang, Zhiheng: Influence of ecological environment on prehistoric civilization, Jianghan Archaeology, 1996:3

(4) Hunan Institute of Archaeology: Excavation report of Early Neolithic sites in Pengtoushan, Li County, Hunan Province, Cultural Relics 1990:8

(5) Pollen Lab., Hunan Institute of Archaeology: Research of ancient environments and analysis of Pengtoushan sites, Li County, Hunan Province, Cultural Relics, 1990:8

(6) He, Jiejun: Another discussion on ancient civilization on lower Yangtze River, Ancient Civilizations on the Middle Yangtze River, Collection of Papers of 2^nd Session of Asian Civilization Symposium, Yuelu Book Publishers, 1996:206

(7) Wang, Hongjun: Restricted view of early city sites on middle Yangtze River. Ancient Civilizations on the Middle Yangtze River, Collection of Papers of 2^nd Session of Asian Civilization Symposium, Yuelu Book Publishers, 1996:252,260

(8) Hunan Museum: Neolithic remains in Zaoshi lower layer, Shimen County, Hunan Province, Archaeology, 1986:1

(9) Hunan Institute of Archaeology: Neolithic remains in Hujiachang, Linli County, Hunan Province, Archaeology Journal, 1993:2

(10) Yueyang Archaeology Work Group: Pre-excavation report of Neolithic sites in Fenshanbao, Qianliang Lake, Hunan Archaeology Collection 6, and He, Jiejun: op.cit. 1996:205

(11) Chen, Zhenyu: Chengbeixi sites, Yidu, Hubei Province. Prehistoric Research Collection Publication, 1989

(12) Hubei Institute of Archaeology: Early Neolithic cultural remains excavated in Liulinxi, Zigui County in 1982, Jianghan Archaeology, 1994:1

(13) see (11) p. 92 (p.210)

(14) Luojiajiao Archaeology Team: Excavation report of Luojiajiao sites, Tunghiang County, Zhejiang Institute of Archaeology Publication, Cultural Relics, 1981

(15) Zhang, Minghua: Fauna in Luojiajiao sites, Zhejiang Institute of Archaeology Publication, Cultural Relics, 1981

(16) Zhejiang Archaeological Management Committee: 1^st stage report of Hemudu site, Archaeology Journal, 1978:1. Hemudu Site Archaeology Team: Main gains of 2^nd Hemudu excavation. Cultural Relics, 1980:5. Nature Group, Zhejiang Museum: Identification of zoological and botanical remains in Hemudu site, Archaeology Journal, 1978:1 (p. 211)