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River valleys and foothills: changing archaeological perceptions of North China's earliest farms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Xinyi Liu ,
Harriet V. Hunt  and
Martin K. Jones
Xinyi Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK
Harriet V. Hunt
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK
Martin K. Jones
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK
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Abstract

Early farming in northern China featured the cultivation of two species of millet, broomcorn and foxtail. Although previously seen as focused on the Yellow River, the authors show that the earliest agriculture is actually found in the foothills of the neighbouring mountain chains, where drier and better drained locations suited millet cultivation, particularly broomcorn. In this they echo new thoughts on the locale of early agriculture in south-west Asia, on the hilly flanks of the Fertile Crescent rather than in the valleys of the Nile or the Euphrates.

Keywords

ChinaNeolithicmilletfoxtailbroomcornagricultural originsPanicum miliaceumSetaria italica
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 83 , Issue 319 , March 2009 , pp. 82 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2009

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