The Hindu : International : Relic may throw light on rice farming

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 31, 2005

International

International

Relic may throw light on rice farming

GUIYANG (CHINA): Chinese archaeologists say relics of ancient rice they have unearthed from a heritage site about 3,500 years old may shed light on how rice farming started on the country's south-western plateau. The plateau that covers the south-western provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou was for a while believed by many scientists to be the cradle of paddy farming, but little evidence was available to support their hypothesis until recent excavations of nearly 50 kgs of carbonised rice from three ancient sacrificial pits in Zhongshui, a town in Weining Yi, Hui and Miao Autonomous county, with an average altitude of 1,800 to 2,000 meters.

Besides the rice relic, archaeologists also unearthed from the site a large quantity of stone implements, chinaware, jade and bronze pieces, said Zheng Herong, a research fellow with the Guizhou Provincial Institute of Archaeology. "We're convinced that at least 3,500 years ago, rice farming was popular on the plateau," said Dr. Zhao Zhijun, archaeologist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"The people had more than enough to feed themselves, they used rice as sacrificial object for the dead." Dr. Zhao, one of the leading scientists engaged in plant archaeology, proposed the first cultivated rice could be dated back more than 10,000 years.

According to Dr. Zhao, the discovery of ancient rice relic is an important proof of rice farming, a subject that has been controversial among archaeologists, agriculturists and historians over the past three decades.

Xinhua

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