IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v449y2007i7161d10.1038_nature06135.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fire and flood management of coastal swamp enabled first rice paddy cultivation in east China

Author

Listed:
  • Y. Zong

    (Durham University)

  • Z. Chen

    (Institute for Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University)

  • J. B. Innes

    (Durham University)

  • C. Chen

    (Fudan University)

  • Z. Wang

    (Institute for Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University)

  • H. Wang

    (East China Normal University)

Abstract

First in the field? Eastern China was an early rice domestication centre, but little is known about its earliest agricultural system. New ecological evidence from the earliest known Neolithic site in eastern China, dated at around 7,700 years ago, suggests that Neolithic communities selected lowland swamps for their rice cultivation. Regular flooding by slightly brackish water was probably prevented by the construction of dikes that prevented major inundation while retaining some nutrient-rich seasonal floodwater. This would have ensured the consistent water regime that rice requires for good crop yields. The site's exploitation ceased when it was overwhelmed by the sea around 7,550 years ago. This means that rice-paddy agriculture is of much greater antiquity than was thought, existing since the transition from Mesolithic hunter–gathering to a settled Neolithic agricultural economy, a key adaptation in human cultural history.

Suggested Citation

  • Y. Zong & Z. Chen & J. B. Innes & C. Chen & Z. Wang & H. Wang, 2007. "Fire and flood management of coastal swamp enabled first rice paddy cultivation in east China," Nature, Nature, vol. 449(7161), pages 459-462, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:449:y:2007:i:7161:d:10.1038_nature06135
    DOI: 10.1038/nature06135
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06135
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature06135?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yufeng Luo & Haolong Fu & Seydou Traore, 2014. "Biodiversity Conservation in Rice Paddies in China: Toward Ecological Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(9), pages 1-18, September.
    2. John H Matthews & Bart AJ Wickel & Sarah Freeman, 2011. "Converging Currents in Climate-Relevant Conservation: Water, Infrastructure, and Institutions," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(9), pages 1-4, September.
    3. Longbin Sha & Xianfu Li & Jiabing Tang & Junwu Shu & Weiming Wang & Dongling Li, 2020. "Early to Mid-Holocene Palaeoenvironment Change and Sedimentary Evolution in the Xianghu Area, Zhejiang," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-14, September.
    4. An Lijie & Hu Jiajia & Li Qiong & Kim Dong-Joo, 2022. "Evaluating the Impacts of Rice Technological Innovation on the Social Economy," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, December.
    5. Yingying Wu & Can Wang & Zhaoyang Zhang & Yong Ge, 2022. "Subsistence, Environment, and Society in the Taihu Lake Area during the Neolithic Era from a Dietary Perspective," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-27, August.
    6. John H Matthews & Frederick Boltz, 2012. "The Shifting Boundaries of Sustainability Science: Are We Doomed Yet?," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-4, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:449:y:2007:i:7161:d:10.1038_nature06135. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.