article
The origins and dispersal of rice cultivation
Antiquity • 72 • Published In 1998 • Pages: 867-877
By: Higham, Charles, Lu, Tracey Lie Dan.
Abstract
The authors are interested in the question of where, when, why, and how rice was domesticated. They start with descriptions of the climate and environment of the terminal Pleistocene and Holocene. Some of these changes may have encouraged foragers to eat wild grasses including wild rice. Pottery has been found in terminal Pleistocene sites older than 10,000 B.P. Rice husks and straw used as temper date to 8900 B.P. Other remains indicate there were sedentary agricultural societies by 8000 B.P. By 8000-7500 B.P. rice cultivation had spread east and north from the middle Yangzi River valley. The southbound dispersal of rice cultivation is less well known. The authors also explore the evidence for the spread of rice cultivation in Southeast Asia. Only the data that pertain to southeast China Early Neolithic were indexed for OCM (Outline of Cultural Materials) subjects.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2005
- Region
- Asia
- Sub Region
- East Asia
- Document Type
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- Analyst
- Sarah Berry ; 2004
- Field Date
- not specified
- Coverage Date
- 10,000-6000 B.P
- Coverage Place
- Yangtze valley, China
- Notes
- Charles Higham & Tracey L.-D. Lu
- Special section: Rice domestication, edited by Carol Malone
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 876-877)
- LCCN
- 29021740
- LCSH
- China--Antiquities