Between China and South Asia: A Middle Asian corridor of crop dispersal and agricultural innovation in the Bronze Age

Abstract

The period from the late third millennium BC to the start of the first millennium AD witnesses the first steps towards food globalization in which a significant number of important crops and animals, independently domesticated within China, India, Africa and West Asia, traversed Central Asia greatly increasing Eurasian agricultural diversity. This paper utilizes an archaeobotanical database (AsCAD), to explore evidence for these crop translocations along southern and northern routes of interaction between east and west. To begin, crop translocations from the Near East across India and Central Asia are examined for wheat (Triticum aestivum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare) from the eighth to the second millennia BC when they reach China. The case of pulses and flax (Linum usitatissimum) that only complete this journey in Han times (206 BC-AD 220), often never fully adopted, is also addressed. The discussion then turns to the Chinese millets, Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica, peaches (Amygdalus persica) and apricots (Armeniaca vulgaris), tracing their movement from the fifth millennium to the second millennium BC when the Panicum miliaceum reaches Europe and Setaria italica Northern India, with peaches and apricots present in Kashmir and Swat. Finally, the translocation of japonica rice from China to India that gave rise to indica rice is considered, possibly dating to the second millennium BC. The routes these crops travelled include those to the north via the Inner Asia Mountain Corridor, across Middle Asia, where there is good evidence for wheat, barley and the Chinese millets. The case for japonica rice, apricots and peaches is less clear, and the northern route is contrasted with that through northeast India, Tibet and west China. Not all these journeys were synchronous, and this paper highlights the selective long-distance transport of crops as an alternative to demic-diffusion of farmers with a defined crop package.

Keywords: Central Asia; China; South Asia; agriculture; archaeobotany; archaeology; millets; wheat.

Figure 1.

Map showing the defined area of Middle Asia, bounded by the winter rainfall Mediterranean climates in the west, the summer monsoon summer rainfall zones to the south and the boreal forest to the north. Potential prehistoric routes from East Asia to West Asia. (A) Northern route through the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor (IAMC), the proto-Silk Road via the Hexi corridor and Fergana Valley, encompassing Xinjiang, southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, branches into Afghanistan and Uzbekistan/Turkmenistan; (B) Southern Himalayan/Tibet route; Sichuan, Yunnan, Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal and Arunachal Pradesh with southern branches via Laos. Thailand, Myanmar, Assam, Bangladesh and northern India; (C) Maritime route, Chinese Coast via Vietnam, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Southern India.

Figure 2.

Map showing chronological diffusion of wheat (Triticum sp.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare) throughout Eurasia compiled from AsCAD. Individual sites with evidence for wheat and/or barley are shown. The contours are within 1000-year increments covering the period 8500–500 BC and provide a general indication of the chronological spread of wheat and barley based upon our best reading of current existing data as given within the text.

Figure 3.

Map showing chronological diffusion of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) throughout Eurasia compiled from AsCAD. Individual sites with evidence for broomcorn millet are shown. The contours are within 1000-year increments covering the period 5500–500 BC and provide a general indication of the chronological spread of broomcorn millet based upon our best reading of current existing data as given within the text. Earlier possible dead-end centres of cultivation and possible chronological limits are shown with a dotted line.

Figure 4.

Map showing chronological diffusion of foxtail millet (Setaria italica) throughout Eurasia compiled from AsCAD. Individual sites with evidence for broomcorn millet are shown. The contours are within 1000-year increments covering the period 5500–500 BC and provide a general indication of the chronological spread of foxtail millet based upon our best reading of current existing data as given within the text. Earlier possible dead-end centres of cultivation and possible chronological limits are shown with a dotted line.

Figure 5.

Graph showing number of sites with reported millets for South Asia for different time periods. Solid colours indicate secure identifications and hatched lines indicate specimens of questionable date or identification. Top: foxtail millet (Setaria italica); middle: broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum); bottom: little millet (Panicum sumatrense).

Figure 6.

Eurasia showing locations of key sites in the text with early evidence for translocations of crops; including apricot (Armeniaca vulgaris) and/or peach (Amygdalus persica) (Burzahom, Semthan); cannabis/hemp (Cannabis sativa) (Senuwar); along with broomcorn millet, foxtail millet, wheat and/or barley, and evidence for the introduction of japonica rice (Oryza sativa subsp. japonica) (Mahagara). Additional information on the dating of these can be found in the supplementary data (available online).