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A Journey to the West: The Ancient Dispersal of Rice Out of East Asia.

dc.contributor.authorSpengler, Robert N
dc.contributor.authorStark, Sören
dc.contributor.authorZhou, Xinying
dc.contributor.authorFuks, Daniel
dc.contributor.authorTang, Li
dc.contributor.authorMir-Makhamad, Basira
dc.contributor.authorBjørn, Rasmus
dc.contributor.authorJiang, Hongen
dc.contributor.authorOlivieri, Luca M
dc.contributor.authorBegmatov, Alisher
dc.contributor.authorBoivin, Nicole
dc.contributor.orcidSpengler, Robert N [0000-0002-5648-6930]
dc.date.accessioned2021-10-28T08:09:43Z
dc.date.available2021-10-28T08:09:43Z
dc.date.issued2021-09-25
dc.date.updated2021-10-28T08:09:42Z
dc.descriptionFunder: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
dc.description.abstractRice is one of the most culturally valued and widely grown crops in the world today, and extensive research over the past decade has clarified much of the narrative of its domestication and early spread across East and South Asia. However, the timing and routes of its dispersal into West Asia and Europe, through which rice eventually became an important ingredient in global cuisines, has remained less clear. In this article, we discuss the piecemeal, but growing, archaeobotanical data for rice in West Asia. We also integrate written sources, linguistic data, and ethnohistoric analogies, in order to better understand the adoption of rice outside its regions of origin. The human-mediated westward spread of rice proceeded gradually, while its social standing and culinary uses repeatedly changing over time and place. Rice was present in West Asia and Europe by the tail end of the first millennium BC, but did not become a significant crop in West Asia until the past few centuries. Complementary historical, linguistic, and archaeobotanical data illustrate two separate and roughly contemporaneous routes of westward dispersal, one along the South Asian coast and the other through Silk Road trade. By better understanding the adoption of this water-demanding crop in the arid regions of West Asia, we explore an important chapter in human adaptation and agricultural decision making.
dc.identifier.citationRice (New York, N.Y.), volume 14, issue 1, page 83
dc.identifier.doi10.17863/CAM.77437
dc.identifier.issn1939-8425
dc.identifier.otherPMC8464642
dc.identifier.other34564763
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/329993
dc.languageeng
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.sourceessn: 1939-8433
dc.sourcenlmid: 101503136
dc.subjectRice
dc.subjectAgricultural Intensification
dc.subjectArchaeobotany
dc.subjectWest Asia
dc.subjectPaddy Farming
dc.subjectCrop Exchange
dc.titleA Journey to the West: The Ancient Dispersal of Rice Out of East Asia.
dc.typeArticle
pubs.funder-project-idNational Natural Science Foundation of China-Yunnan Joint Fund (NSFC (41672171))
pubs.funder-project-idEuropean Research Council (851102, 851102, FEDD)
rioxxterms.licenseref.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
rioxxterms.versionVoR
rioxxterms.versionofrecord10.1186/s12284-021-00518-4

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