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The origins and dispersal of rice cultivation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Charles Higham  and
Tracey L.-D. Lu
Charles Higham
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand, charles.higham@stonebow.otago.ac.nz
Tracey L.-D. Lu
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, La Trobe University, Bundoora VIC 3083, Australia, rfylung@ibm.net
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Extract

Domesticated rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the five major crops in the world and a staple food for more than 30% of the world population. Yet the question of where, when, why and how the domestication of rice originated has been, and still is, a question under debate. However, as more archaeological and archaeobotanic discoveries have recently come to light, the question of the origin of rice cultivation now seems less elusive than it was a few decades ago. To date, both archaeological and archaeobotanic discoveries seem to indicate that rice cultivation first began in the middle Yangzi Valley by 8500–8000 years BP, and subsequently expanded to south China and Southeast Asia.

Keywords

ricecultivationthe Yangzi valleySoutheast Asia
Type
Special section: Rice domestication
Information
Antiquity , Volume 72 , Issue 278 , December 1998 , pp. 867 - 877
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1998

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