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The archaeobotanical significance of immature millet grains: an experimental case study of Chinese millet crop processing

Vegetation History and Archaeobotany volume 22, pages 141–152 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

We present evidence from ethnography and experimental processing of foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.) in China that spikelets containing incompletely filled (or immature) grains constitute a significant portion of typical millet harvests and are removed along with other by-products after threshing and winnowing. This study provides a baseline for the identification of immature foxtail grains in archaeobotanical assemblages. Immature millet grains are a frequent component of archaeobotanical assemblages in Neolithic and Bronze Age China, and criteria for their recognition are presented based on our modern experimental result and illustrated with archaeobotanical examples from Shandong and Henan. It is seed morphology rather than size that plays a determinative role in the identification of foxtail millet. It is suggested that those grains with a narrow egg-shaped embryo, which is about 5/6 of the whole grain, and having a round shape can be classed as foxtail millet even though they are small, flat and squashed. While different grades of immaturity in millet grains might be defined, the interpretative potential of these appears to be negligible as all immature grains are concentrated in winnowing waste. This study confirms the suggestion that the ratio of immature to mature millet grains can be employed in archaeobotany in considering whether or not early stage crop processing (threshing and winnowing) contributed to the formation of particular archaeological millet assemblages.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, UK

    Dorian Q. Fuller

  2. Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 27 Wangfujing Dajie, Beijing, 100710, China

    Zhijun Zhao

  3. School of History and Culture (Tourism), Sichuan University, 29 Wangjiang Road, Chengdu, 610064, China

    Jixiang Song

Authors
  1. Jixiang Song
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  2. Zhijun Zhao
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  3. Dorian Q. Fuller
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Correspondence to Dorian Q. Fuller.

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Communicated by G. Willcox.

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Song, J., Zhao, Z. & Fuller, D.Q. The archaeobotanical significance of immature millet grains: an experimental case study of Chinese millet crop processing. Veget Hist Archaeobot 22, 141–152 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-012-0366-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-012-0366-y

Keywords

  • Setaria italica
  • Panicum miliaceum
  • China
  • Neolithic
  • Identification criteria
  • Experimental archaeology