A model for the domestication of Panicum miliaceum (common, proso or broomcorn millet) in China
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
A model for the domestication of Panicum miliaceum (common, proso or broomcorn millet) in China Chris J. Stevens1,2 · Gideon Shelach‑Lavi3 · Hai Zhang1 · Mingyu Teng4 · Dorian Q. Fuller2,5,6 Received: 26 November 2019 / Accepted: 9 October 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract This paper outlines a model for the domestication of Panicum miliaceum (broomcorn millet) in Northern China. Data from 43 archaeological sites indicate a continuous increase in average grain size between 6000 and 3300 bc. After this date there is a divergence, with grain size continuing to increase in some populations, while others show no further size increase. The initial increase in grain size is attributed to selection during domestication, while later divergence after 3300 bc is interpreted as resulting from post-domestication selection. Measurements of grains from two archaeological populations of P. ruderale, showed grains were longer in length by 3300 bc than the earliest grains of P. miliaceum. This suggests this sub-species includes many feral, weedy and/or introgressed forms of P. miliaceum and therefore is probably not entirely representative of the true wild ancestor. It is argued that changes from shattering to non-shattering are contemporary with increasing grain size and the commencement of cultivation. The window of P. miliaceum domestication is therefore likely to lie between 7000 and 3300 bc. However, it is probable that a lengthy period of millet harvesting and small-scale management preceded its domestication. Keywords Origins of agriculture · Cultivation · Neolithic · Palaeoethnobotany · Shattering · Grain size
Introduction Communicated by G. Fiorentino. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-020-00804-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Chris J. Stevens [email protected] 1
School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, No.5 Yiheyuan Road Haidian District, Beijing 100871, China
2
Institute of Archaeology, University of London, 31‑34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK
3
Department of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
4
Center for Frontier Archaeology, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
5
School of Cultural Heritage, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
6
Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
Two species of millet were domesticated in China, Panicum miliaceum L. (broomcorn millet) and Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv. (foxtail millet), and together these formed the staple crops that supported the rise of the northern Chinese dynasties. Archaeobotanical material, preserved mainly by charring, has been used to track the domestication of a number of cereal crops, including rice in China (Fuller et al. 2009) and barley, einkorn and emmer wheat in Western Asia (Fuller et al. 2018). For these crops methodological advancements have made the r
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