Abundance and morphology of charcoal in sediments provide no evidence of massive slash-and-burn agriculture during the Neolithic Kuahuqiao culture, China.

ABSTRACT: It remains debatable whether slash-and-burn practices were adopted in rice cultivation by the Neolithic Kuahuqiao culture in the Ningshao Plain, one of the birthplaces of rice farming. Here, we established charcoal-based indices to reconstruct the history of fire and vegetation in the Ningshao Plain since the last glacial period. We collected representative modern vegetation and conducted combustion and fragmentation experiments to simulate fire and depositional processes, respectively. Charcoals from modern vegetation show clear morphological differences between herbaceous and woody plants. In particular, the length to width ratios (L/W) of herbaceous charcoals were systematically higher than those of woody charcoals, and the associated end-member values were 4.50 and 1.94, respectively.

SUBMITTER: Hu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7437897 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature