The Beixin Culture archaeobotanical evidence from Guanqiaocunnan indicates a population dispersal of hunter-gatherercultivators into and across the Haida region of northern China

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Jin, G., Chen, S., Li, H., Fan, X., Yang, A. and Mithen, S. (2020) The Beixin Culture archaeobotanical evidence from Guanqiaocunnan indicates a population dispersal of hunter-gatherercultivators into and across the Haida region of northern China. Antiquity. ISSN 0003-598X (In Press) Available at http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/89652/

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The Beixin Culture: Archaeobotanical evidence from Guanqiaocunnan

indicates a population dispersal of hunter-gatherer/cultivators into

and across the Haida region of northern China

Guiyun Jina *, Songtao Chenb, Hui Lic, Xianjun Fand, b, Aiguo Yangc, Steven Mithene*,

a Institute of Cultural Heritage, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong, 266237, PR China

b School of History and Culture, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250100, PR China

c Tengzhou Han Dynasty Carved Stone Museum, Tengzhou, Shandong, 277500, PR China

d Hunan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, PR

China

e Department of Archaeology, University of Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6AH, United Kingdom

*corresponding authors: gyjin@sdu.edu.cn; s.j.mithen@reading.ac.uk

ABSTRACT

The Beixin Culture appears within the hilly southwestern area of the Haidai region of northern

China at ca. 5000 BC, and spreads to its north and northeast flood plains in the following

millennium, replacing the Houli Culture. Does the Beixin Culture represent a further example

of recently established farmers dispersing into a new territory, in this case being dependent

on millet farming and coming from the Huai River Valley? We test this hypothesis by analysing

and interpreting the archaeobotanical remains from Guanqiaocunnan, 4340-3970 BC. We

conclude that the Beixin Culture represents the dispersal of hunter-gatherers/cultivators

rather than farmers.

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INTRODUCTION

The origins and development of Neolithic economies and cultures in China are complex and

diverse, understandably so in such a geographically vast and varied landmass. The quantities

of data arising from new excavations and from new analyses of existing materials can be

overwhelming, especially to a western readership unfamiliar with the cultural entities within

the Chinese Neolithic. This complexity makes it important that we approach the

interpretation of new evidence through interpretive models for the relationships between

socio-economic and cultural change, while recognising that the Chinese Neolithic needs study

on its own terms.

One model is that within the early-mid Holocene, dispersing human populations were

predominantly reliant on agricultural economies (Bellwood & Renfrew 2002; Bellwood 2005).

Incoming populations either interbred with or replaced indigenous hunter-gatherers in

colonised territories, as exemplified by the dispersal of farming communities from Anatolia

into Europe, involving significant replacement of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers (Skogland et al.

2012). Such dispersal led to both cultural and genetic evolution, such that the Neolithic

arriving in Britain ca. 4000 BC was substantially different from that egressing from Anatolia

ca. 6000 BC (Shennan 2018). With regard to eastern Asia, Stevens & Fuller (2017) argued for

major demographic expansions after 4000 BC on the basis of rice and millet agriculture,

proposing that early cultivation practices are unlikely to have caused major shifts in the

distribution of population. In this article we critically evaluate the farmer/dispersal model

with regard to the appearance and spread of the Beixin Culture in the Haidai Region of

northern China.

The Haidai Region and the Beixin Culture

The Haidai Region is in northern China between the area of the Lower Yellow River Valley in

the north and the middle to the Lower Huai River Valley in the south, core areas of early rice

and millet agriculture respectively (Figure 1). These valleys are separated by the Tai-Yi

Mountains, which are surrounded by gentle hills in the east and south, and a floodplain in the

north and west comprising an extensive alluvial area drained by numerous tributaries of the

Yellow and the Huai Rivers.

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The Haidai region hosted a sequence of Neolithic cultures, primarily designated by changes in

ceramic technology and design: the Houli, Beixin, Dawenkou and Longshan Cultures, with the

latter representing one of the earliest manifestations of Chinese state society with a fully

developed agricultural economy (Luan & Wagner 2009; Song 2011). To establish the

chronology of culture change, Long et al. (2017) undertook a Bayesian analysis of the 275

radiocarbon dates then available (Table 1). These results must be viewed cautiously, however,

on the grounds of insufficient reference to archaeological context for numerous of the

samples and reliance on wood charcoal rather than seeds (Rao et al. 2018).

The most notable disjuncture in this sequence is that between the Houli and Beixin Cultures.

The former was primarily based on hunting and gathering, with some use of rice and millet

suggesting low-level food production (Jin 2012), and with plain, round based ceramic vessels

(Figure 2). Houli settlements are found to the north of the Tai-Yi Mountains (Figure 1).

The earliest sites of the Beixin Culture are found from 5000 BC to the south of the Tai-Yi

Mountains, but the majority of the c. 100 sites known are located on the floodplains to the

north and northeast of the mountains (Liu & Chen 2012, page 184). Ground stone tools were

more diverse and standardised than in the Houli Culture, including digging implements, sickles

and adzes, with grinding stones at several sites. Similarly, the ceramics are more diverse in

shape and become decorated, with evidence for wheel thrown pottery (Figure 2). Vessels

with three small legs appear, known as tripods (ding), and become a predominant feature of

Beixin Culture, as well as the succeeding Dawenkou and Longshan Cultures, along with large

jars (guan), cauldrons (fu) and bowls (bo) (Luan & Wagner 2009; Liu & Chen 2012, page 184).

The Beixin Culture settlements become more widespread throughout the Haidai region

during the fifth millennium BC, represented in the eastern coastal region by Beiqian, 3770-

2860 BC, with a further elaboration of its material culture prior to the introduction of goblet-

shaped vessels designating the Dawenkou Culture. The houses of the Beixin Culture show

several distinct differences to those of the Houli Culture: circular and semi-subterranean,

rather than rectangular and above surface; smaller in spatial area; having a single rather than

multiple fireplaces; and having a single room and entrance rather than partitioned buildings

(Luan 2009).

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A range of mortuary practices were employed, with no obvious signs of social stratification.

Burials were within cemeteries separated from the habitation areas. The majority of burials

were of single individuals placed in a supine position with extended limbs. The few known

multiple burials consist of an adult and an infant, or adults of the same gender. Some burials

were placed in stone-lined cists, and some children were buried within urns. The majority of

burials lack grave goods; when present, they comprise few objects of daily use made of stone,

bone and pottery. Of the 62 graves in the cemetery at Dayishan, 16 did not contain grave

goods, 43 contained one to five objects, and three contained six or seven objects. According

to Wang (2009) and Liu & Chen (2012), Beixin Culture was an egalitarian society.

The spread of the Beixin Culture suggests a dispersing population for which an agricultural

economic base would seem probable in light of a widespread association between farming

and dispersal (Bellwood & Renfrew 2002; Bellwood 2005; Stevens & Fuller 2017). This

population is likely to have originated from the Huai River Valley, in light of material cultural

affinities with the site of Shuangdun (Luan 2009; Han 2012), where both rice and millet were

being cultivated from 5000-4800 BC (Luo et al. 2019).

A millet and rice-based farming economy for the Beixin Culture has been proposed by Luan

(2009) on the basis of the ceramic impressions of millet, although there are no means to

differentiate between wild or domesticated strains of millet and rice from such impressions.

The only direct archaeobotantical data for the Beixin Culture has come from the Dongpan and

Nantunling settlements, but this evidence is inconclusive because of extremely small samples

(Chen 2007; Jin et al. 2016).

In the coastal area, animal and plant remains, and isotope evidence from skeletal material

from Beiqian suggests exploitation of both terrestrial and marine resources (Wang and Jin

2013; Song and Wang 2016;). Jiao (2016) interprets this evidence as low level food production,

involving cereal cultivation and broad spectrum collecting. This mixed economy might,

however, attest a specific coastal adaptation, unrepresentative of the Beixin Culture

settlements to the south and north of the Tai-Yi Mountains.

Guanqiaocunnan

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The Beixin Culture settlement of Guanqiaocunnan was discovered in 2014-15, during the

construction of the Central Primary School of Guanqiao Town (Figure 1). This required the

rescue excavation of a Han Dynasty cemetery with 30 vertical pit burials. Several burials had

cut through Neolithic ash-pits, with further discovered within an adjacent Neolithic residential

area denoted by a distribution of burnt clay fragments interpreted as the remnants of house

floors (Figure 3). Seventeen ash-pits were surveyed and partially excavated by Shandong

University (SDU), denoted by H1-H17.

The shape and size of the ash-pits, and the ceramics and stone tools they contained indicate

the Middle Beixin Culture (DAM et al. 2019). Animal bones were recovered from ten of the

ash-pits, and are under analysis, with > 600 fragments from Pit H9 representing domesticated

pig, birds, deer, fish, freshwater mussels, turtle and other carnivorous animals.

Thirty-nine sediment samples were collected for flotation and phytolith extraction (methods

in supplementary information). Thirty-eight of the samples provided charred seeds, fruits and

charcoal, the exception being a sample from the lowermost horizon in Pit H9. A total of

twenty-six species and 4530 plant remains were identified, including 4488 seeds and fruits,

thirty-two fragments of nutshells and 10 fragments lacking diagnostic traits or being too

fragmentary for identification. The full data set is provided within the Supplementary

Information, which categorises the plant remains into cultigens, weedy plants, water plants,

and fleshy fruits and nuts, a selection of which are illustrated in Figure 4. Phytolith analysis is

in progress.

Dating

Nine samples of the cultigens were selected for direct radiocarbon dating at the Peking

University AMS radiocarbon facility: three samples of broomcorn millet and two of foxtail

millet, each requiring 10-11 grains to be combined in order to provide sufficient carbon after

pre-treatment, and four samples of rice, again involving combining grains in three cases (Table

2). The dates provide a largely consistent picture of the charring of all three cultigen types

between c. 4300-4000 BC, and the contemporaneity of the sampled ash-pits, Figure 5.

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The archaeobotanical assemblage

In terms of overall percentage and ubiquity within the samples, cereals constitute the most

important component of the assemblage, with 91% and 100% respectively. These are

followed by weedy plants (66% of ubiquity) and nuts/fruits (42% of ubiquity). Nine taxa of

nuts/fruits had the similar percentage (4%) with that of fifteen taxa of weedy plants (4%)

(Figure 6a).

Cereals

Although the state of preservation precluded the identification of traits indicative of

domestication, it is not unreasonable to assume that the broomcorn millet (Panicum

milliaceum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica) and rice (Oryza sativa) were cultivated at

Guanqiaocunnan in light of their known dates cultivation in the Yellow River Valley by ca. 5800

BCE (Zhang et al. 2012). Measures of relative percentage and ubiquity (Figure 6b) indicate

that broomcorn millet was the most important crop, followed by foxtail millet, both

substantially outnumbering the quantity of rice grains recovered. In terms of ubiquity,

however, rice is almost half to foxtail and more than half to broomcorn millet.

Nuts/fruits

Nine species of nut/fruits were recovered from Guanqiaocunnan. Two taxa are nuts, acorn

(Quercus sp.) and hazel (Corylus sp.), likely to have been important food resources, with

acorns having a notably high ubiquity (26%) (Figure 6c). A sample from ash-pit H8 contained

large amounts of acorns, with thirty-one intact and five hundred fragments. Hazel also has a

high level of ubiquity at 11%. The five terrestrial taxa fruits are two from family Vitaceae (wild

grape, e.g. Vitis sp. and Cayratia sp.), one from family Rhamnaceae (jujube, e.g. Ziziphus

jujuba), one from family Rosaceae (prune, e.g. Cerasus japonica ) and one from family

Taxodiaceae (Taxodiaceae). In addition to these seven terrestrial taxa, two taxa of aquatic

plants were also recovered. There are fourteen gorgon fruits (Euryale ferox ) from two

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samples and seven fragments of water chestnut (Trapa sp.) from one sample. It is worth

noting that fragments of nuts and fruits are primarily represented among the 1% of

unidentifiable fragments.

Weedy plants

One hundred and seventy-six weedy plant fragments were collected from all samples,

constituting a small proportion of the whole assemblage. Based on traditional plant use and

present growing ecology of these species, they can be further divided into three groups:

edible wild grasses (Wu et al. 2013; Li et al. 2013), potentially arable weeds, and other

ruderals (Qiang 2009; Wang and Zhou 2000). In terms of percentage and ubiquity, edible

grasses dominate the weedy plant remains (Figure 6d).

In the first group of edible wild grasses, there are seven taxa consisting of siberian cocklebur

(Xanthium strumarium), sambucus (Sambucus williamsii), summer grass (Kochia scoparia),

wild soybean (Glycine max), purple perrila (Perilla sp.), polygonum lapthifolium (Polygonum

lapathifolium) and Chinese lantern (Physalis alkekengi) which make up 3% of the whole.

Among these taxa, two types of oil plant, wild soybean and purple perilla, have the highest

percentage levels and ubiquity among the weedy species (Figure 6e). In the second group,

three taxa from Poaceae are all potential arable weeds: crab grass (Digitaria sp.), barnyard

grass (Echinochloa sp.) and green bristle graass (Setaria viridis) amounting to 1% of the total,

and all with high ubiquities. In the third group, all of the taxa have low percentages and

ubiquities making up less than 0.2% of the total.

Interpretation: A mixed economy of cultivation and wild exploitation

These results indicate that both cereals and wild plant foods were important for food supply

and other uses at Guanqiaocunnan. To assess their relative importance it is necessary to

consider taphonomic and nutritional variables. We should first note that the range of

materials acquired from the ash-pits indicate the pits were for rubbish disposal rather than

food storage, suggesting the plant remains may have entered from activities such as

sweepings from house floors, plant processing, cooking and food debris. During crop

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processing and food preparation, larger sized grains, fruits and nuts have less likelihood of

being lost on the floor because they are easy to spot and recover. By contrast, smaller grains

are less visible and may be lost more frequently. Table 3 shows how the seeds of broomcorn

millet are around eight times smaller than those of rice. In this light, we should be cautious

about the scale of the dominance of millet over rice at Guanqiaocunnan, although even

allowing for an eight-fold greater likelihood of millet grain deposition, broomcorn millet

remains nine times more abundant than rice.

With regard to nutritional value, broomcorn millet provides a similar number of calories per

100g to rice, soybean, gorgon fruit and acorns, but only half the calorific content of hazelnut.

Drawing on the figures in Table 3, the 2944 grains of broomcorn millet would have provided

3294 calories, while the seven hazelnuts would have provided 574 calories. Whereas we can

reasonably assume that the cultigens, water plants, fruits and nuts were collected or

cultivated as food, the role of the weedy plants is more difficult to assess. Many of them are

certainly edible, but because the ash-pits appear to have been for general rubbish disposal

the charred plant remains might have derived from the discard of material used for bedding

and craft activities, or from weeds growing within the pits between periods of deposition and

burning. A further factor is that different food plants will have different opportunities for

becoming charred, depending on how they were processed. Some plant foods might have

avoided charring entirely, and hence a comprehensive view of Guanqiaocunnan plants

remains would require samples from waterlogged conditions.

Despite these challenges to interpretation, the Guanqiaocunann assemblage has several

important features.

Prominence of wild plant foods

The most notable feature is the relatively high percentage, diversity and ubiquity of wild

plants, when compared to contemporary sites in the Middle Yellow River Valley, such as

Yuhuazhai. While Yuhuazhai’s plant remains also indicate a mixed economy of cultivation and

wild plant exploitation (Zhao 2017) both the diversity and the percentage of edible wild plants

are much lower than that at Guanqiaocunnan, especially nuts/fruits. Unfortunately, neither a

ubiquity analysis results nor the cultural context of plant remains have been published for

Yuhuazhai which makes our limits our comparison. Nevertheless, it seems clear that

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Yuhuazhai people relied less on wild plants than the people at Guanqiaocunnan. At the nearby

sites of Banpo (Cai and Chou 1984) and Jiangzhai (Guo et al. 2011), isotopic data indicates the

dominance of millet consumption, while at Yuanqiao, the settlement catchment analysis

shows us that people relied mainly on millet cultivation and less on wild plant food (Qin et al.

2010). It is suggested that people from Guanqiaocunnan consumed more wild plant food than

the people from the Middle Yellow River valley.

Rice, millet and the predominance of broomcorn over foxtail millet

The combination of millet and rice cultivation at Guanqiacunnan is also of interest. Both types

of millet are dryland crops, while rice requires wetlands, even if not grown within a managed

paddy field, for which there is no evidence at Guanqiaocunnan. Sufficiently wet conditions

are indicated by the water plants recovered, while suitable patterns of seasonality for rice

cultivation derived from the Mid-Holocene East Asian Summer Monsoon. The earliest known

rice paddies in the Haidai region are from the Longshan Culture site of Zhaojiazhuang (2400-

1800 BC; Jin et al. 2007), but they are found at a contemporary date to Guanqiaocunnan in

the Yangtze River valley, at Hemudu, Tianluoshan and Caoxieshan (Zheng & Sun 2009; Wen

et al. 2014; Zou & Gu 2000). Modern-day Yutai County close to Guanqiaocunnan is famous

for its high quality of rice and water plants. It is not unreasonable, to conclude, therefore, that

both dry and wet-land cultivation of cereals was being undertaken at Guanqiaocunnan,

combined with a substantial use of wild food plants.

The dominance of broomcorn millet over foxtail millet is a further item of interest. Broomcorn

millet produces fewer seeds per plant than foxtail millet but matures earlier with a shorter

life cycle of 60+ days compared to 90+ days for foxtail millet (Pursglove 1972; Liu et al. 2009),

and can grow in relatively poor soils (Weisskopf 2010). Although with lower yields, the early

maturation of broomcorn millet can be attractive because it mitigates against the risk of food

shortage during the summer. Chinese classical documents refer to broomcorn millet as a

pioneer species for claiming new land for cultivation and as an insurance crop in case of

drought (e.g. Qimin Yaoshu Vol. 2 Shuji; see Shi and Tan 2015). In that light, the dominance

of broomcorn millet at Guanqiaocunnan might indicate an economic system still largely based

on hunting and gathering but using cereal cultivation as a means to buffer against risk. Above,

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we noted that the evidence from Yuhuazhai, a contemporary site in the Yellow River Valley,

indicates a predominance of foxtail millet over broomcorn millet. The fully developed farming

economies of the Late Dawenkou and Longshan Cultures in the Haidai region had also shifted

to the more productive foxtail millet (He et al. 2017), and provide substantial evidence for

storage.

Possibility of nuts/fruits storage at Guanqiaocunnan

While there is no evidence for storage of cereals at Guanqiaocunnan, nuts/fruits might have

been stored. Pit H8 contained a large amount of acorns, with thirty-one intact and 500

fragments. It remains unclear whether the acorns derived from deliberate storage, which is

possible either as whole nuts or as powder. Although no grinding stones have been recovered

from Guanqiaocunnan, use-wear and starch analysis at other Beixin Cultural sites indicates

they were used for processing cereals as well as nuts, especially acorns (Liu & Chen 2012).

Strong evidence of acorn storage was also discovered at Tianluoshan in the Lower Yangtze

River Valley (Fuller et al. 2011). In addition, two species of water plants from Guanqiaocunnan

are also suitable for storage: the water chestnut and gorgon fruits. Chinese classical

documents refer to their cultivation techniques and processing methods, indicating that dried

products can be kept longer and sold to distant places (Shi and Tan 2015). In modern southern

Shandong province, the production of chestnut and gorgon fruits still plays a very important

role for the local economy because the dried products are sold widely (Li et al. 2013). Of

course, more evidence is needed to demonstrate storage within the Beixin Culture.

Conclusion

The archaeobotanical assemblage from Guanqiaocunnan suggests a greater reliance on

cultivated cereals within the Beixin Culture than occurred within the Houli Culture (Jin 2012).

It was, however, an economy far from the intensive millet-based agriculture of the Longshan

Culture (Song 2011), with a substantial use of wild plant food and animals, as is also evident

from Beiqian, suggesting that this mixed economy was characteristic of the Bexian Culture as

a whole. Nevertheless, its geographic distribution suggests that it spread across the Huai

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River region into the southern Haidai region by 4600 BC and then to both the north and east

of the Tai-Yi Mountains by 3800 BC.

The Beixin Culture has similarities to the early Neolithic (PPNA) of the Levant in terms of

embedding cereal cultivation within an economy making extensive use of, and probably

reliant on, hunting and gathering, leading to cultural innovation, as manifest in ceramics in

China and in stone vessels and architecture in the Levant, such as at Jerf el Amar, ‘Dhra 1 and

WF16 (Wilcox & Stordeur 2012; Colledge & Conolly 2018; Mithen et al. 2018). But the Beixin

Culture also shows a similar geographical dynamic to the dispersal of Neolithic farmers as

seen in other regions the world.

We conclude that the Beixin Culture represents the dispersal of a Neolithic human population

with an economy primarily based on hunting and gathering but involving the cultivation of

both rice and millet. As such, this challenges Stevens & Feller’s (2017) proposition that early

cultivation practices are unlikely to have caused major shifts in the distribution of populations

in eastern Asia. More generally, this case study questions the strict distinction between

economies based on hunting and gathering and those on farming that underlie the

farming/dispersal models of Bellwood (2005; Bellwood & Renfrew 2002) and Stevens & Feller

(2017).

Ethnographic studies consistently demonstrate that subsistence economies involve the

exploitation of both wild and domesticated plants, with different degrees of significance and

roles for these types of resource (Freeman 2012). Moreover, studies of ancient DNA have

demonstrating a previously unexpected degree of population dispersals by hunter-gatherers

throughout the Palaeolithic (Reich 2018). While we agree that the agriculture provided a new

dynamic to population dispersals during the early and mid-Holocene, advances in

archaeological methods now support models of human dispersals within which subsistence

mosaics are prevalent (e.g. Crowther et al. 2018), suggesting the farming/dispersal model

obscures as much as it explain about the past. The Beixin Culture appears to provide a further

example of population dispersal supported by a subsistence mosaic, in this case biased

towards wild foods. This model is now available for testing by further excavation, the analysis

of additional archaeobotanical assemblages and aDNA analysis of human and animal skeletal

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material from the Yellow River Valley and Haidai region to substantiate the past pattern of

dispersal.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank the China National Natural Science Foundation (41771230) supporting the

archaeobotanic study and the Leverhulme Trust for supporting the Visiting Professorship of

Guiyun Jin to the University of Reading for 2018-19 (VP1-2017-00). We also thanks Zongyue

Rao and Elaine Jamieson for support with the figure preparation and comments from

Professor Roger Matthews and two anonymous referees on a previous version of this

manuscript.

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FIGURE CAPTIONS

1. The Haida Region of northern China, showing sites referred to in the text: 1

Guanqiaocunnan; 2 Beiqian; 3 Dayishan; 4 Shuangdun; 5 Dongpan; 6 Nantunling; 7

Yuhuazhai; 8 Banpo; 9 Jiangzhai; 10 Yuanqiao; 11 Zhaojiazhuang; 12 Hemudu; 13

Tianluoshan; 14 Caoxieshan

2. Houli (a-f) and Beixin (g-i) Culture pottery. a: basin, pen; b, g & h: bowl, bo; c & j: jar,

guan; d & f: cauldron, fu; k: three-legged cauldron, sanzu fu; i & l: tripod, ding.

3. Plan of the excavations at Guanqiaocunnan

4. A selection of plant remains from Guanqiaocunnan: 1 foxtail millet; 2 broomcorn

millet; 3 rice; 4 soybean; 5 purple perilla; 6 siberian cocklebur; 7 wild soybean; 8

lespedeza bicolor; 9 jujube; 10 wild grape; 11 cayratia sp. ;12 prune; 13 acorn; 14

shell of Gorgon fruit; 15 hazelnut; 16 taxodiaceae.

5. Radiocarbon dates on charred cereal remains from Guanqiaocunnan

6. Percentages and ubiquities of plant remain types at Guanqiaocunnan

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Table 1 Modelled onset and end dates of Neolithic cultures in the Haidai Region from Long et al. (2017).

Culture Modelled Onset Modelled End

Houli 8000-7500 BCE (95%)

7800-7600 BCE (68%)

5300-4800 BCE (95%)

5200-5000 BCE (68%)

Beixin 5300 -4500 BCE (95%)

5100-4700 BCE (68%)

4100-3600 BCE (95%)

4000-3800 BCE (68%)

Dawenkou 4500-3900 BCE (95%)

4400-4000 BCE (68%)

2100-1800 BCE (95%)

2100-1900 BCE (68%)

Longshan 2900-2500 BCE (95%)

2800-2600 BCE (68%)

2100-1700 BCE (95%)

2000-1800 BCE (68%)

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Table 2. Radiocarbon dates on charred cereal remains from Guanqiaocunnan site

Lab Reference

Material Unit 14C date

（BP）

Calibrated date

1σ (68.2%) 2σ (95.4%)

BA160669 11 Charred broomcorn millet grains

GQCNH3①

5430±25 4334BC (21.0%) 4317 BC 4298BC (47.2%) 4263 BC

4340BC (95.4%) 4247 BC

BA160670 11 Charred broomcorn millet grains

GQCNH3②

5400±25 4324BC (42.6%) 4287 BC 4269BC (25.6%) 4245 BC

4334BC (94.2%) 4232 BC 4188BC (1.2%) 4181 BC

BA160671 1 Charred rice grains

GQCNH7①

5335±30 4239BC (8.2%) 4224 BC

4207BC (27.4%) 4161 BC 4131BC (32.7%) 4071 BC

4260BC (95.4%) 4050 BC

BA160672 11 Charred

foxtail millet grains

GQCNH7②

5290±35

4227BC (13.9%) 4201 BC 4169BC (22.6%) 4127 BC 4121BC (14.0%) 4092 BC 4080BC (17.7%) 4046 BC

4235BC (91.3%) 4038 BC 4018BC (4.1%) 3999 BC

BA160673 11 Charred

foxtail millet grains

GQCNH7③

5270±30

4225BC (12.0%) 4205BC 4164BC (21.6%) 4130 BC 4112BC (4.7%) 4102 BC

4073BC (21.6%) 4040 BC 4016BC (8.3%) 4000 BC

4231BC (16.0%) 4194 BC 4176BC (79.4%) 3990 BC

BA160674 2 fragments of charred rice grains

GQCNH5①

5235±25 4046BC (68.2%) 3990 BC 4224BC (3.0%) 4207 BC 4161BC (6.4%) 4131 BC

4071BC (86.1%) 3971 BC

BA160675 3 fragments of charred rice grains

GQCNH5②

5335±30 4239BC (8.2%) 4224 BC

4207BC (27.4%) 416 1BC 4131BC (32.7%) 4071BC

4260BC (95.4%) 4050 BC

BA160676 3 fragments of charred rice grains

GQCNH5③

5305±25

4227BC (15.4%) 4200 BC 4169BC (11.9%) 4148 BC 4135BC (26.7%) 4090 BC 4081BC (14.2%) 4056 BC

4233BC (95.4%) 4048 BC

BA160677 10 dharred broomcorn millet grains

QBQH2③

4575±25 3370BC (56.9%) 3338 BC 3207BC (8.3%) 3195 BC 3148BC (3.0%) 3143BC

3493BC (7.7%) 3468 BC 3375BC (60.9%) 3329 BC 3216BC (14.7%) 3180 BC 3159BC (12.1%) 3123 BC

Note：the value of half-life is 5568, BP is before 1950. The calibration curve is IntCal13 atmospheric curve (Reimer et al 2013) and the software is OxCal v4.2.4 Bronk Ramsey (2013); r:5 Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP, Radiocarbon 55,1869-1887. Christopher Bronk Ramsey 2015，https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal/OxCal.html

16

Table 3. Variation in weight, volume and nutritional content of plant foods found at Guanqiaocunnan

Species

Weight（g）of

1000 grains

Volume（ml）

of 1000 grains

Ratio of

1000-grain

weight with

broomcorn

millet

Ratio of 1000-

grain volume

with

broomcorn

millet

Calorie content

(cal/100g)1

rice 19.70 23 8.08:1 7.42:1 391

broomcorn

millet 2.44 3.1 1:1 1:1 361

soybean 203.2 315 83.28:1 101.61:1 446

gorgon fruit 250.3 390 102.58:1 125.81:1 353

hazelnut 467.4 820 191.56:1 264.52:1 628

acorn 2030 2605 831.97:1 840.32:1 387

1 The data are from https://www.calorieking.com/us/en/foods/

17

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22

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

RECOVERY METHODS

The flotation samples averaged 10-20 litres in volume, resulting in a total of 373.5 litres of

sediments undergoing bucket flotation at the site. Plant remains were collected using a 0.3

mm mesh and dried on site. Each sample was weighed, screened through a 1.0 mm and a 0.7

mm sieve, and sorted under a binocular stereomicroscope. In most samples, the residues

smaller than 0.3 mm were not sorted, as preliminary evaluation showed no seeds and fruits

were found in these fractions. Charred seeds, fruits and other parts of plants were separated

from charcoal, then identified and photographed under Nikon SMZ 1500 microscope with

reference to modern comparative collections, Chinese seed atlases (The editorial Committee

1990) and archaeobotany texts (Liu et al. 2008).

The editorial Committee of Zhongguo nongtian zacao yuanse tupu. 1990. Zhongguo nongtian

zacao yuanse tupu. Beijing: Agricultural Press.

LIU, C.J., G.Y. JIN & Z.C. KONG. 2008. Archaeobotany: Study on seeds and fruits. Beijing: Science

Press (in Chinese).

PLANT REMAINS FROM GUANQIAOCUNNAN

Scientific Name Number Percentage

(n=4530) Samples with

plant Ubiquity (n=38)

Cultigens

Broomcorn millet Panicum miliaceium 2944 64.99 36 94.74

Foxtail millet Setaria italica 1154 25.47 29 76.32

Rice Oryza sativa 42 0.93 17 44.74

Weedy plants

23

Scientific Name Number Percentage

(n=4530) Samples with

plant Ubiquity (n=38)

Aster family Asteraceae

Siegesbeckia pubescens 1 0.02 1 2.63

Rough cocklebur Xanthium strumarium 7 0.16 3 7.89

Cannabaceae family Cannabaceae

Galium aparine 1 0.02 1 2.63

Caprifoliaceae family Caprifoliaceae

Sambucus williamsii 7 0.16 3 7.89

Goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae

Kochia scoparia 2 0.04 2 5.26

Bean family Fabaceae

soybean Glycine soja 82 1.81 19 50.00

Lespedeza bicolor 2 0.04 2 5.26

Melilotus officinalis 4 0.09 1 2.63

Mint family Lamiaceae

Perilla Perilla frutescens 21 0.46 10 26.32

Grass family Poaceae

Crabgrass Digitaria sp. 11 0.24 10 26.32

Barnyard grass Echinochloa sp. 9 0.20 9 23.68

Foxtail Setaria viridis 23 0.51 8 21.05

Knotweed family Polygonaceae

Pale smartweed Polygonum lapathifolium

1 0.02 1 2.63

Tomato family Solanaceae

Chinese lantern Physalis alkekengi 5 0.11 2 5.26

Water plants

Nymphaeaceae family

Nymphaeaceae

Gorgon fruit Euryale ferox 14 0.31 2 5.24

Lythraceae family Lythraceae

water chestnut Trapa sp. 7 0.16 1 2.63

Fleshy fruit and nuts

24

Scientific Name Number Percentage

(n=4530) Samples with

plant Ubiquity (n=38)

Betulaceae family Betulaceae

hazel Corylus sp. 7 0.16 4 10.53

Fagaceae family Fagaceae

oaks Quercus sp. 91 2.01 10 26.32

Rosaceae family Rosaceae

prunus Cerasus japonica 25 0.55 3 7.89

Taxodiaceae Taxodiaceae 20 0.44 1 2.63

Vitaceae Vitaceae

Cayratis Cayratia sp. 1 0.02 1 2.63

Grape Vitis sp. 5 0.11 2 5.26

Fragments of nuts 32 0.71 9 23.68

Unidentifiable 10 0.22 4 10.53

Total seeds 4258