(Question from East and West) How much does "the first grain of rice in the world" carry the meaning of civilization?
China News Service, Beijing, December 12th, title: "The world's first rice", what is the meaning of civilization?
"China News Weekly" reporter Ni Wei
The cultivation and domestication of plants such as rice and wheat is a key step in the origin of human civilization.
In the center of the exhibition hall of the National Museum "Rice·Source·Enlightenment-Zhejiang Shangshan Cultural Archaeology Special Exhibition", there is a charred rice on display.
Under a magnifying glass and light, its surface showed a mottled scorched yellow.
This is the earliest domesticated rice discovered in China so far, and it is also the earliest in the world, nearly 10,000 years ago.
Recently, "Question about East and West" interviewed relevant experts to try to link up the civilized meaning of "the world's first grain of rice".
In November 2021, charred rice on display at the "Rice·Source·Qiming-Zhejiang Shangshan Cultural Archeology Special Exhibition" at the National Museum of China in Beijing.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Tian Yuhao
Ten thousand years ago, plants such as rice and wheat were cultivated and domesticated successively by humans, allowing humans to finally store food without having to drive water and weeds. This gave birth to a settled society, opened the Neolithic era, and took the key to the origin of human civilization. step.
The earliest surviving rice farming remains in the world are located in the Shangshan site group in Zhejiang Province.
According to the analysis of stratigraphy and typology, combined with carbon 14 dating, the Shangshan culture characterized by the origin of rice cultivation is divided into three phases: early, middle and late. The early period is around 10,000, the middle period is around 9,000, and the late period is around 8,500. .
Because of the earliest settlement remains found in China, archaeologist Yan Wenming called the Shangshan site "the first village in ancient China", and Yuan Longping, the "father of hybrid rice", gave his inscription "Going up the mountain for ten thousand years, the source of rice in the world".
Yuan Longping wrote an inscription for the Shangshan site, "Going up the mountain for ten thousand years, the world's rice source".
China News Agency issued a photo courtesy of Xu Limin
The first plume of smoke in East Asia
In September 2000, an archaeological team from Zhejiang Province discovered a tomb of Liangzhu Culture in Pujiang County.
This is the moment when the small place name "Shangshan" entered the history of archaeology.
The archaeologists quickly discovered that there are strange relics that are far earlier than the Liangzhu Culture buried here.
In the following year, they cleared out an 11-meter-long, 6-meter-wide building foundation with a relatively complete structure composed of three columns of column holes. Then, huge stones and pottery pottery were unearthed one after another. Some rice husks.
A scene from the archaeological site that year was taken in the Shangshan Archaeological Site Park in August 2021.
Shangshan Site is an early Neolithic cultural site about 10,000 years ago, discovered in 2000.
Photo by Hu Xiaofei issued by China News Service
Later studies proved that the pottery of Shangshan Culture was the earliest painted pottery in China and the world. The bases of these buildings were the earliest villages in China, and the scattered rice, rice husks and other relics were the earliest evidence of the cultivation and domestication of rice in the world.
In the remains of rice unearthed at the Shangshan site, archaeologists analyzed the remains of small cobs.
Small cobs are the basis for judging cultivated rice and wild rice. These small cobs have both cultivated and wild characteristics, which can be seen in the early stage of rice domestication.
The ground soil of pottery is mixed with rice husks, rice leaves, rice ears and plant stems, so it is also called charcoal pottery.
In the early days of the mountain, most of the charcoal pottery was mixed with densely smashed rice husks-this is the world's earliest husk, that is, the broken husks after threshing and harvesting rice.
After people consciously eat rice, they mix the leftovers of the rice in clay to make pottery.
In August 2021, a pottery amphora displayed in the Shangshan Archaeological Site Park.
Photo by Hu Xiaofei issued by China News Service
"The earliest Zhejiangese", bulging jars and wine
Since 2000, Zhejiang has discovered 20 remains of Shangshan culture, and more unseen relics have surfaced on the surface.
In the exhibition hall of the National Expo, a complete human bone lies in the restored tomb. The owner of the tomb is lying on his side with a red clay pot buried in front of his belly.
In 2019, two tombs from the late Shangshan culture were discovered at the Qiaotou site in Yiwu. The two unearthed human bones are called "the earliest Zhejiang people."
In November 2021, the "Human Bones" on display at the "Rice·Source·Qiming-Zhejiang Shangshan Cultural Archaeology Special Exhibition" at the National Museum of China.
Photo by Du Jianpo issued by China News Service
In a clay pot not far from this Zhejiang ancestor, the researchers detected a gelatinized starch produced by heating, which is consistent with the characteristics of low-temperature fermentation, which is the basic principle of winemaking.
In other words, this may be the earliest evidence of winemaking in China.
Liu Li, a professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Stanford University, noticed the small bulging pot unearthed from Shangshan Culture.
She said that the small-mouthed bulging pot is an ancient vessel found in northern and southern China, and these are the earliest in the Shangshan culture.
At least five small-mouthed bulging pots from early Neolithic sites in the Yellow River Basin have been scientifically tested and confirmed that they are all brewing vessels.
"The shape of this vessel is obviously directly related to wine making." Liu Li said that mold and yeast were also found in the pottery at the Qiaotou site. Some special molds are specially used for wine making and are very important microorganisms in koji making. "So we can see that the method of using music to make wine also started in Shangshan culture."
In November 2021, the pottery jars on display at the "Rice·Source·Qiming-Zhejiang Shangshan Cultural Archeology Special Exhibition" at the National Museum of China.
Photo by Chen Xiaogen issued by China News Service
The real beginning of an era: getting out of the cave and domesticating rice
Barley and wheat from West Asia, corn from Central and South America and rice from East Asia are the world's three major agricultural origins.
From a global perspective, most of the domestication of the world's main cultivated crops began around 10,000 years ago-this is directly related to the global climate change from the end of the Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene.
The Holocene period lasted from 11,700 years ago to the present day.
In the previous Pleistocene period, there was an alternation between the glacial period and the warmer interglacial period. Humans evolved and traveled all over the world, living in small groups as hunters and gatherers.
In the Holocene, a leap forward took place in several parts of the world: humans began to grow plants, produce more food and store them throughout the year, which saved them from migrating everywhere, thus entering the era of settlement, and the emergence of agricultural society.
According to Dorian Q Fuller, a professor at the School of Archaeology at University College London and an internationally renowned plant archaeologist, archaeologists have discovered the earliest evidence of planting plants in about 20 regions around the world, near the southern edge of the Yangtze River Delta. The Shangshan culture is one of them.
Fu Daolian, a professor at the School of Archaeology, University College London, and an internationally renowned plant archaeologist.
Photo courtesy of Fu Daolian issued by China News Service
In China, there are currently four places where rice remains from ten thousand years ago have been discovered: the Xianrendong site and Diaotonghuan site in Wannian County, Jiangxi, the Yuchanyan site in Dao County, Hunan, and the Shangshan site in Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province.
Xianrendong, Dangtonghuan and Yuchanyan are all cave sites, and the food is wild rice. The Shangshan site is an open-air site, indicating that the Shangshan ancestors have walked out of the cave, entered a seasonal semi-settled state, and began to cultivate and domesticate rice.
"At present, the source of rice farming in China can only be traced back to the Shangshan culture. Only the Shangshan culture provides us with sufficient archeological evidence of human farming behavior." Zhao Zhijun, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out, for example, a set of agricultural production tools: The stone sickle, which is suspected to be a harvesting tool, the stone grinding disc, the stone grinding stick, the stone axe, and the stone adze for rice processing may be related to slash and burn; pottery means that humans have begun to cook rice, and even make wine, and so on.
"The uphill rice cultivation includes a series of evidence of cultivation, harvesting, processing, and milling. A new farming behavior system has been initially formed." said Jiang Leping, a researcher at the Shangshan Site and a researcher at the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. Settling out of the cave marks the true beginning of an era.
In November 2021, the discoverer of Shangshan culture and researcher Jiang Leping from Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology introduced the exhibits of "Rice·Source·Enlightenment-Zhejiang Shangshan Cultural Archaeology Special Exhibition" at the National Museum of China.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Sun Zifa
However, the area cultivated by the Shangshan people has not been found.
"We found rice in the'village', but we haven't found the'paddy field'", Jiang Leping speculates, because the Shangshan cultural sites are all on the terraces of three to five meters, and the rice fields are likely to be located in the lower terrain outside the site. In the gentle zone, looking for the farming area at that time is the biggest unsolved mystery.
Regarding the origin of rice farming, Chen Xingcan, director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, suggested that there may be an earlier source, but it has not yet been discovered.
At present, most of the 20 sites of Shangshan Culture are distributed in the Jinqu Basin, covering an area of about 3,000 square kilometers.
After more archaeological work, more ruins may be found both inside and outside the Jinqu Basin.
Chen Xingcan, director of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Sun Zifa
"But at present, our most certain and the most abundant archaeological evidence is of course this area: the Shangshan site and the settlements around the Shangshan site. There is no doubt that it is the earliest settlement society we know so far." Chen Xingcan said.
The significance of exploring the origin of agriculture is far beyond agriculture
From the origin of ten thousand years ago to about 8,000 years ago, this is the key stage of the origin of agriculture.
Zhao Zhijun, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that at this stage, permanent settlement villages appeared, and real farming and livestock raising began.
The long process of the origin of rice farming was finally declared complete, which was during the Liangzhu Culture period between 5200 and 4300 years ago.
The Liangzhu cultural relics are distributed in the area around Taihu Lake. During this period, the population increased significantly, and the magnificent ancient city of Liangzhu and large-scale water conservancy projects were built.
The river course and workshop area of the World Cultural Heritage Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins Park in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, taken in April 2020, restored the original appearance of the production and life of the ancestors of Liangzhu.
Photo by China News Service
"A regional ancient social group 5,000 years ago, unexpectedly had such a strong social organization ability, and transferred a large number of laborers to engage in labor that has nothing to do with the production of basic means of subsistence. This reflects that the rice farming production at that time has developed to a very high level. Zhao Zhijun said that due to the increase in rice output per unit area, only some members of the society need to be invested in agricultural production to provide sufficient food for the whole society.
In northern China, the Donghulin site in Mentougou, Beijing almost coincides with the Shangshan culture.
People in Donghulin do not eat rice, but millet, which is millet.
A small amount of charred millet was unearthed at the Donghulin site, and it is likely that millet has already been cultivated.
Around 4000 years ago, wheat was introduced to China. With its excellent high-quality products, it has gradually become the main crop of dry farming in the north. Since then, the pattern of "south rice and north wheat" has been established.
The exploration of the origin of agriculture is far beyond agriculture.
The director of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology stated clearly that the origin of agriculture is closely related to social development. Taking millet farming and rice farming as examples, rice is much more complicated than millet in terms of irrigation, water conservancy, and water management. The dependence on nature is stronger, and the requirements for the complexity of social organization are also higher.
Different forms of agriculture will also affect ancient religious beliefs, concepts, and even fine arts. In this regard, there is still a lot of research work to be done in the future.
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