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Molecular and isotopic evidence for the processing of starchy plants in Early Neolithic pottery from China
- Source :
- Scientific Reports, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2018), Scientific Reports
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Nature Publishing Group, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Organic residue analysis of ancient ceramic vessels enables the investigation of natural resources that were used in daily cooking practices in different part of the world. Despite many methodological advances, the utilization of plants in pottery has been difficult to demonstrate chemically, hindering the study of their role in ancient society, a topic that is especially important to understanding early agricultural practices at the start of the Neolithic period. Here, we present the first lipid residue study on the Chinese Neolithic pottery dated to 5.0 k - 4.7 k cal BC from the Tianluoshan site, Zhejiang province, a key site with early evidence for rice domestication. Through the identification of novel molecular biomarkers and extensive stable isotope analysis, we suggest that the pottery in Tianluoshan were largely used for processing starchy plant foods. These results not only highlight the significance of starchy plants in Neolithic southern China but also show a clear difference with other contemporary sites in northern Eurasia, where pottery is clearly orientated to aquatic resource exploitation. These differences may be linked with the early development of rice agriculture in China compared to its much later adoption in adjacent northerly regions.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
China
010506 paleontology
lcsh:Medicine
01 natural sciences
Article
03 medical and health sciences
Isotopes
Humans
Domestication
lcsh:Science
History, Ancient
Exploitation of natural resources
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Isotope analysis
Cooking Practices
Multidisciplinary
business.industry
lcsh:R
food and beverages
Agriculture
Starch
Plants
Archaeology
030104 developmental biology
Geography
Southern china
Anthropology
lcsh:Q
Pottery
business
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20452322
- Volume :
- 8
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Scientific Reports
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....06bfa9c6f9d7b3be3c9b8f23517df6a0