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Summary: Buckwheat is an important crop which originated in China and spread widely across Eurasia. However, exactly where in China domestication took place remains controversial. Archaeological and palynological records suggest a longer cultivation history of buckwheat in northern China than in southwestern China, but this conflicts with phylogenetic evidence implicating southwestern China as the centre of origin and diversity of buckwheat.We investigate alternative methodologies for inferring the occurrence of buckwheat cultivation and suggest that relative abundance could provide a reliable measure for distinguishing between wild and cultivated buckwheat in both present‐day and fossil samples.Approximately 12 800‐yr palaeoecological record shows that Fagopyrum pollen occurred only infrequently before the early Holocene. As southwestern China entered the early agricultural period, c. 8000–7000 yr ago, a slight increase in abundance of Fagopyrum pollen was observed. Approximately 4000 yr ago, concurrent with the Pu minority beginning to develop dry‐land agriculture, the abundance of Fagopyrum pollen increased significantly, suggesting the cultivation of this crop. Fagopyrum pollen rose to a maximum value c. 1270 yr ago, suggesting an intensification of agricultural activity.These findings fill a gap in the Fagopyrum pollen record in southwestern China and provide new indications that early cultivation may have occurred in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims The Nihewan Basin of North China, considered the cradle of Eastern civilization, contains a set of late Cenozoic strata and artifacts used by Homo erectus in the early Pleistocene (~1.66 Ma to 780 ka) and the cranial bones and teeth of early H. sapiens from the late middle Pleistocene (~370 to 260 ka). Palynological studies provide an opportunity to explore the living environment of early humans. Methods Palynological samples from the Hutouliang Section (~603–587 ka) of the Xiaodukou Formation of the Nihewan Basin were treated by heavy liquid flotation. Based on the palynological assemblages from the section, vegetation and climate in the Nihewan Basin were reconstructed. Important Findings The dynamic vegetation changed from temperate needle- and broad-leaved mixed forest-steppe (mainly Picea , Abies , Betula , Juglans , Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae) to conifer forest (mainly Pinus , Picea and Abies), which saw the replacement of H. erectus by early H. sapiens. The comparison of the Nihewan Basin with other human sites around the world during the same period reveals that early humans preferred to live in caves, accompanied by relatively open steppe or forest-steppe environments, inhabited by numerous mammals. Therefore, it is inferred that the emergence of dense conifer forest and the disappearance of open steppe environments in the Nihewan Basin at approximately 603–587 ka provide new evidence that early humans followed most mammals to steppe or forest-steppe environments and thus left the Nihewan Basin. These new findings not only enrich our knowledge of early human behavior, such as their diet, migration and settlement, but also fill in gaps in paleovegetation and paleoenvironmental research in the Nihewan Basin during the middle Pleistocene (780–400 ka). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Members of the Chenopodiaceae are the most dominant elements in the central Asian desert. The different genera and species within this family are common in desert vegetation types. Should it prove possible to link pollen types in this family to specific desert vegetation, it would be feasible to trace vegetation successions in the geological past. Nevertheless, the morphological similarity of pollen grains in the Chenopodiaceae rarely permits identification at the generic level. Although some pollen classifications of Chenopodiaceae have been proposed, none of them tried to link pollen types to specific desert vegetation types in order to explore their ecological significance. Based on the pollen morphological characters of 13 genera and 24 species within the Chenopodiaceae of eastern central Asia, we provide a new pollen classification of this family with six pollen types and link them to those plant communities dominated by Chenopodiaceae, for example, temperate dwarf semi‐arboreal desert (Haloxylon type), temperate succulent halophytic dwarf semi‐shrubby desert (Suaeda, Kalidium, and Atriplex types), temperate annual graminoid desert (Kalidium type), temperate semi‐shrubby and dwarf semi‐shrubby desert (Kalidium, Iljini, and Haloxylon types), and alpine cushion dwarf semi‐shrubby desert (Krascheninnikovia type). These findings represent a new approach for detecting specific desert vegetation types and deciphering ecosystem evolution in eastern central Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]