Events of reclaiming marshes for rice fields between 7000BP and 4500 BP in east China

Abstract

Discovery of the oldest rice fields at the Tianluoshan site in east China has provided data of recovering reclaimation, cultivation, and the ecological system of rice fields between 7000BP and 4500 BP. People opened up marshes of dense reeds with fire and wooden or bone spades, in order to create rice fields. In the rice fields, there was not only rice, but a lot of weeds as well. The excavations proved that little or even no weeding or irrigation was adopted. However, tilling soil by wooden and bone tools was evidenced. The yields are estimated to have been about 8.3 kg for the early period and 9.5 kg per acre for the later period. The cultivation system was low-level. Although the Tianluoshan people cultivated rice, they still obtained a great deal of food by gathering and hunting.