Two-season agriculture and irrigated rice during the Dian: radiocarbon dates and archaeobotanical remains from Dayingzhuang, Yunnan, Southwest China

Rita Dal Martello,Xiaorui Li,Dorian Q Fuller

doi:10.1007/s12520-020-01268-y

Abstract

Historical sources describe irrigation and intensive agriculture being practiced in lowland Yunnan from at least the first century AD, but so far archaeobotanical remains allowing investigation of this issue have been scarce. Here, we present new archaeobotanical evidence, including macro-botanical and phytoliths results, from the Dian settlement site of Dayingzhuang, with direct AMS radiocarbon dates on two wheat grains falling between 750 and 390 BC. We compare these results with contemporary Dian sites and analyse the agricultural systems in Central Yunnan between the eight and fourth centuries BC. We propose that agriculture was intensified toward the end of the Dian through both multiple cropping seasons and increased evidence for irrigated rice fields.

Highlights

The subsistence of people living in Yunnan prior and during the Dian Culture has been a topic of recent interest (i.e. Dal Martello 2020; Wu et al 2019; Yao 2016; YPICRA et al 2015; Yao and Jiang 2012)
Shizhaishan cemetery is located on the Southwestern bank of the Lake Dian; sophisticated bronze objects were found in the graves, including weapons, drum-shaped cowrie shell containers, and most notably a gold seal bearing the inscription: “The Seal of the King of Dian”
Five different species of cereal crops were recovered from the Dayingzhuang samples, including Chinese domesticated rice (Oryza sativa) and millets (Setaria italica and Panicum miliaceum), and western domesticates, wheat (Triticum aestivum) and hulled barley (Hordeum vulgare, Fig. 16: 1–6)

Summary

Introduction

The subsistence of people living in Yunnan prior and during the Dian Culture has been a topic of recent interest (i.e. Dal Martello 2020; Wu et al 2019; Yao 2016; YPICRA et al 2015; Yao and Jiang 2012). Shizhaishan cemetery is located on the Southwestern bank of the Lake Dian; sophisticated bronze objects were found in the graves, including weapons, drum-shaped cowrie shell containers, and most notably a gold seal bearing the inscription: “The Seal of the King of Dian” (see Yao 2017; Yao and Jiang 2012; Yunnan 1963) This led to the hypothesis that the Dian Culture was part of the “Southwestern Barbarians” as referred to in early Chinese historical texts (see for example the Shiji, 史记 Records of a Grand Historian; Shiji 116; Qian 1993; Yunnan 1963). Direct archaeobotanical evidence from Dian sites has only recently began to become available, and most previous theories on Dian subsistence practices drew from historical records, written by Han historians following 109 BC These describe the presence of irrigated rice fields in Yunnan’s lowlands from at least 16 AD (Yao et al 2015). Others have instead argued against such an early date for irrigation

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Conclusion