Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Mar 6;109(10):3726-30. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1115430109. Epub 2012 Feb 21.
It is generally understood that foxtail millet and broomcorn millet were initially domesticated in Northern China where they eventually became the dominant plant food crops. The rarity of older archaeological sites and archaeobotanical work in the region, however, renders both the origins of these plants and their processes of domestication poorly understood. Here we present ancient starch grain assemblages recovered from cultural deposits, including carbonized residues adhering to an early pottery sherd as well as grinding stone tools excavated from the sites of Nanzhuangtou (11.5-11.0 cal kyBP) and Donghulin (11.0-9.5 cal kyBP) in the North China Plain. Our data extend the record of millet use in China by nearly 1,000 y, and the record of foxtail millet in the region by at least two millennia. The patterning of starch residues within the samples allow for the formulation of the hypothesis that foxtail millets were cultivated for an extended period of two millennia, during which this crop plant appears to have been undergoing domestication. Future research in the region will help clarify the processes in place.
一般认为，黍和稷最初在中国北方被驯化，最终成为主要的植物性粮食作物。然而，由于该地区较古老的考古遗址和考古植物学工作较为罕见，这些植物的起源及其驯化过程仍未被很好地理解。在这里，我们从文化沉积物中提取了古代淀粉粒组合，包括附着在早期陶器碎片上的碳化残留物，以及从华北平原南庄村（11.5-11.0 cal kyBP）和东胡林（11.0-9.5 cal kyBP）遗址中挖掘出的磨石工具。我们的数据将中国小米的使用记录延长了近 1000 年，将该地区黍的使用记录延长了至少 2000 年。样本中淀粉残留物的模式表明，黍被种植了长达两千年的时间，在此期间，这种作物似乎正在经历驯化。该地区未来的研究将有助于阐明所采用的驯化过程。
