A Journey to the West: The Ancient Dispersal of Rice Out of East Asia

Rice

Alisher Begmatov¹  Basira Mir-Makhamad²  Robert N. Spengler²  Li Tang²  Rasmus Bjørn²  Nicole Boivin³  Luca M. Olivieri⁴  Sören Stark⁵  Hongen Jiang⁶  Xinying Zhou⁷  Daniel Fuks⁸ 

[1]Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Turfanforschung, Berlin, Germany

[2]Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Thuringia, Germany

[3]Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Thuringia, Germany

[4]Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA

[5]School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

[6]Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

[7]Dipartimento di Studi sull’Asia e sull’Africa Mediterranea, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Venice, Italy

[8]ISMEO - International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies, Rome, Italy

[9]Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, New York City, NY, USA

[10]Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

[11]Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

[12]Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

[13]Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

[14]McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Department of Archaeology, Cambridge, UK

[15]Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

关键词: Rice;    Paddy farming;    West Asia;    Archaeobotany;    Agricultural intensification;    Crop exchange;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12284-021-00518-4

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Rice is one of the most culturally valued and widely grown crops in the world today, and extensive research over the past decade has clarified much of the narrative of its domestication and early spread across East and South Asia. However, the timing and routes of its dispersal into West Asia and Europe, through which rice eventually became an important ingredient in global cuisines, has remained less clear. In this article, we discuss the piecemeal, but growing, archaeobotanical data for rice in West Asia. We also integrate written sources, linguistic data, and ethnohistoric analogies, in order to better understand the adoption of rice outside its regions of origin. The human-mediated westward spread of rice proceeded gradually, while its social standing and culinary uses repeatedly changing over time and place. Rice was present in West Asia and Europe by the tail end of the first millennium BC, but did not become a significant crop in West Asia until the past few centuries. Complementary historical, linguistic, and archaeobotanical data illustrate two separate and roughly contemporaneous routes of westward dispersal, one along the South Asian coast and the other through Silk Road trade. By better understanding the adoption of this water-demanding crop in the arid regions of West Asia, we explore an important chapter in human adaptation and agricultural decision making.

【 授权许可】

CC BY