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Discovery of a geoglyph on the Zjuratkul Ridge in the southern Urals

Discovery of a geoglyph on the Zjuratkul Ridge in the southern Urals | Archaeology Articles and Books | Scoop.it

While traditionally archaeologists in the region have concentrated upon the study of steppe sites, recent archaeological investigations have led to many unexpected discoveries in the southern Urals. This mountain and woodland area, where Stone Age settlements interpreted as short-term camps of hunters and fishers are known to have existed, was studied only incidentally. Now new systematic work has begun to alter our understanding of this region. For example, many megalithic sites with features in common with European megaliths (Grigoriev & Vasina 2010) have been located: some 300 are known but have not yet been studied in detail. The hill figure discovered on the Zjuratkul Ridge and reported here adds a new element to this region.

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Early Mixed Farming of Millet and Rice 7800 Years Ago in the Middle Yellow River Region, China

Early Mixed Farming of Millet and Rice 7800 Years Ago in the Middle Yellow River Region, China | Archaeology Articles and Books | Scoop.it

The Peiligang Culture (9000-7000 cal. yr BP) in the Middle Yellow River region, North China, has long been considered representative of millet farming. It is still unclear, however, if broomcorn millet or foxtail millet was the first species domesticated during the Peiligang Culture.

 

Furthermore, it is also unknown whether millet was cultivated singly or together with rice at the same period. In this study, phytolith analysis of samples from the Tanghu archaeological site reveals early crop information in the Middle Yellow River region, China. Our results show that broomcorn millet was the early dry farming species in the Peiligang Culture at 7800 cal. yr BP, while rice cultivation took place from 7800 to 4500 cal. yr BP.

 

Our data provide new evidence of broomcorn millet and rice mixed farming at 7800 cal. yr BP in the Middle Yellow River region, which has implications for understanding the domestication process of the two crops, and the formation and continuance of the Ancient Yellow River Civilization.

 

Citation: Zhang J, Lu H, Gu W, Wu N, Zhou K, et al. (2012) Early Mixed Farming of Millet and Rice 7800 Years Ago in the Middle Yellow River Region, China. PLoS ONE 7(12): e52146. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0052146

 

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