Holocene coastal evolution preceded the expansion of paddy field rice farming

Rice agriculture is the foundation of Asian civilizations south of the Yangtze River. Although rice history is well documented for its lower Yangtze homeland area, the early southward expansion of paddy rice farming is poorly known. Our study investigates this process using a compilation of paleoenv...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 117; no. 39; pp. 24138 - 24143
Main Authors Ma, Ting, Rolett, Barry V., Zheng, Zhuo, Zong, Yongqiang
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 29.09.2020
Subjects
Agriculture
Agriculture - history
Asia, Eastern
Biological Sciences
Coastal plains
Cores
Cultivation
Environment
Expansion
Farming
Fossils
Geography
Grain cultivation
History, Ancient
Holocene
Oryza
Pollen
Rice
Rice fields
Social Sciences
Asia, Eastern
early agriculture
Holocene paleoenvironment
land cover change
rice
pollen
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Summary:Rice agriculture is the foundation of Asian civilizations south of the Yangtze River. Although rice history is well documented for its lower Yangtze homeland area, the early southward expansion of paddy rice farming is poorly known. Our study investigates this process using a compilation of paleoenvironmental proxies from coastal sediment cores fromsoutheast China to Thailand and Island Southeast Asia.We propose that a shortage of land suitable for paddy fields, caused by marine transgression, constrained rice agriculture during the mid-Holocene. Rapid expansion of coastal plains, particularly in deltaic basins, over the past three millennia has coincided with increases in land suitable for rice cultivation. Our study also helps explain the past population movements of rice farmers.
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Edited by Dorian Q. Fuller, University College London, London, United Kingdom, and accepted by Editorial Board Member Anthony J. Bebbington August 13, 2020 (received for review November 2, 2019)
Author contributions: T.M., B.V.R., and Z.Z. designed research; T.M., B.V.R., and Z.Z. performed research; T.M., B.V.R., and Z.Z. analyzed data; T.M., B.V.R., Z.Z., and Y.Z. wrote the paper; and T.M. performed the majority of the lab work.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1919217117