Cultivation of Naked Barley by Early Iron Age Agro-pastoralists in Xinjiang,China |
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Authors: | Duo Tian Jian Ma Jianxin Wang Thomas Pilgram Zhijun Zhao |
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Institution: | 1. School of Cultural Heritage, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of Chinatianduo@stumail.nwu.edu.cn;3. School of Cultural Heritage, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China;4. Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St.?Louis, St.?Louis, MO, USA;5. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, Beijing, People’s Republic of China |
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Abstract: | ABSTRACTWe report an archaeobotanical analysis of flotation samples taken from Shirenzigou, an Early Iron Age agro-pastoralist site dated between the fourth and first century BC, located on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, China. The charred macro-botanical assemblage is dominated by naked barley grains with a few broomcorn and foxtail millet grains. In the context of Trans-Eurasian exchange of cereal crops, southwest Asian crops (wheat and barley) and two Asian millets (broomcorn and foxtail) were introduced to Xinjiang a few centuries to a millennium before Shirenzigou was occupied. The choice of barley cultivation in preference to wheat and millet may have been possibly driven by the relatively extreme local environment and the scheduling requirements of mobile pastoralism. Barley is well suited to this environment, and the choice of naked barley in preference to hulled barley may have been driven by the whole grain tradition prevailing in East Asia. |
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Keywords: | Xinjiang naked barley the Iron Age agro-pastoralism central Asia archaeobotany |
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