2009/04/21 by Houyuan Lü, Jianping Zhang, Kam‐biu Liu +10 · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Panicum miliaceum #Foxtail #Setaria #Domestication #Panicum #Crop #Biology #Agronomy #Phytolith #Geography #Biological dispersal #Botany #Ecology #Pollen
paper · doi:10.1073/pnas.0900158106
openalex publication_date 2009/04/21 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The origin of millet from Neolithic China has generally been accepted, but it remains unknown whether common millet (Panicum miliaceum) or foxtail millet (Setaria italica) was the first species domesticated. Nor do we know the timing of their domestication and their routes of dispersal. Here, we report the discovery of husk phytoliths and biomolecular components identifiable solely as common millet from newly excavated storage pits at the Neolithic Cishan site, China, dated to between ca. 10,300 and ca. 8,700 calibrated years before present (cal yr BP). After ca. 8,700 cal yr BP, the grain crops began to contain a small quantity of foxtail millet. Our research reveals that the common millet was the earliest dry farming crop in East Asia, which is probably attributed to its excellent resistance to drought.