The Ancient Carbonized Barley(Hordeum vulgare L. Var. Nudum) Kernel Discovered in the Middle of Yalu Tsangpo River Basin in Tibet

FU Da-xiong¹, XU Ting-wen², FENG Zong-yun²

(1. Department of Agronomy, Southwest Agricultural University, Chongqing 630716, China; 2. Department of Crop Genetics & Breeding, College of Agronomy, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya’an 625014, China)

A great number of ancient carbonized barley kernels were discovered in Changguo Gou field archaeological traces (Changguo Gou traces), which were being excavated in Changguo township located in Gongga county, Shannan prefecture of Tibet, when an expedition of wheat and barley germplasm resources was working in this excavation on September 6, 1994. The traces, determined by radiocarbon(¹⁴C) dating and rectified through tree-ring by the Institute of Archaeology Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (IACASS), and were dated from upper limit age 1370 B.C. (the Late Neolithic Age). [1] This discovery was theoretically important in researching the origin and evolution of cultivated barley on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau.

1 The excavation of Changguo Gou traces

Gongga county, where the trace was unearthed, is located at 29°30′-29°00′N, 90°30′-90°15′E and 3600 metres above sea level in the region of the middle Yalu Tsangpo river basin, where Lhasa river joins into Yalu Tsangpo river. Changguo Gou is a large valley, about 15 kilometres long and 1 kilometres wide, probably 10 kilometres from the county town, and located on the north bank of the Yalu Tsangpo river. A small rivulet passes through this valley and empties into the Yalu Tsangpo river. Changguo Gou traces are situated at the sandy beach of one side of the lower small rivulet which is about 3 kilometres from the Yalu Tsangpo river. There was a nonresidential area near the traces, which were surrounded with the large area of topographic features of dune.

In July, 1994, a joint archaeological group consisting of the related specialists from IACASS and the Committee of Management for Cultural Relics in Tibet, had firstly excavated Changguo Gou traces, and three pits with an area of 150 square metres were excavated, furthermore two different trace sites were put in order. Tens of cultural relics including chipped stone implements, ground stone implements, potteries and bonewares etc. were unearthed. In addition, the topographic features arround the traces and the rock painting sites discovered beside the Yalu Tsangpo river were also investigated. The group tentatively came to the conclusion that Changguo Gou relics, about 3500 years up to date, was one of the ancient traces of the Late Neolithic Age, but the joint archaeological group didn’t discover any trace of cultivated plants at that time.

2 The discovery of ancient carbonized barley kernel in Changguo Gou traces

On September 6, 1994, the excavating spots in Changguo Gou traces were investigated in order to inspect germplasm resources of wheat and barley. There was the deepest and biggest pit among three excavating pits. At the corner of this pit, a burnt ash pit, deepest about 2 metres and hollow in the middle, was found (Plate Ⅰ). Fu went down to the pit bottom at once, and found blackly carbonized barley

Plate Ⅰ The big burnt ash pit (H2) of Changguo Gou traces in Tibet (Fu Daxiong is in the middle)

Plate Ⅱ The ancient carbonized barley kernels on the vertical walls of the big burnt ash pit (H2) (The index finger indicates the three ancient carbonized barley kernels)

kernels, then washed with rainwater on the grey and black vertical walls including surviving burnt ashes (PlateⅡ). Tiny spots of the same carbonized barley kernels washed out by rainwater could be found everywhere on the ground of excavating pit filled with burnt ashes. The exploited carbonized barley kernels were collected into seedbags, and some burnt ashes with carbonized barley kernels were also gathered in the sample bags. It was preliminarily concluded that most of carbonized kernels discovered in the big burnt ash pit (H2) of Changguo Gou traces were ancient barley kernels, but few of other carbonized barley kernels were further being appraised. The shape of the ancient carbonized barley kernels with shape of shuttle, hulless, fullness and clear groove is evidently flatter than that of wheat (T. aestivum) kernels(Plate Ⅲ). There was no barley kernel with hull among hundreds of the ancient carbonized barley kernels sorted out. The joint archaeological group of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences initially came to the conclusion according to generally archaeological features of excavating trace spots that the trace, about 3500 years up to now, was that of the Late Neolithic Age. This result was extremely identical with that of the absolute radiocarbon (¹⁴C) dating of charcoal excavated from the big burnt ash pit in this trace. For this reason, it was indubitable that the ancient carbonized barley kernels discovered in Changguo Gou traces were the archaeological crop remains left over by the Tibetan ancestores in Middle Yalu Tsangpo river basin of Tibet during the Late Neolithic Age about 3500 years ago.

Plate Ⅲ The ancient carbonized barley kernels in Changguo Gou traces (Olympus microscope: 3.3×7.5×0.5)

3 Discussion

Tibet, known as the roof of the world, is a plateau region of wheat and barley, where the naked barley as its major cultivated food crop has long been paid great attention to by the international scientists for the study of origin and evolution of cultivated plant. The irrefutable record—writing history of Tibet was not until the beginning of the Tubo dynasty (about A.D. 600). [2]Therefore, it was usually thought that the farming history of Tibet was also later. In the middle 1970s, a large excavation of Karuo traces located in Changdu district of eastern Tibet caused a sensation at home and abroad. But there was only old millet(Setaria italica L. Beauv) remains among the archaeological crop remains excavated in this trace and dated in the Neolithic Age (about 4500 years ago ). [3]The prehistorically archaeological remains of naked barley on the Tibet plateau could not also be found in the discovery and excavation of Qugong traces (about 3700 years ago) of the northern suburban Lhasa, Tibet. [4]It could be thought that the ancient carbonized barley kernels discovered in Changguo Gou traces were the prehistorically archaeological barley remains discovered firstly in the Tibet Plateau. The wheat and barley remains, about 2900 years up to date, had been discovered only in Nuomuhong traces located in Qinghai, China among all the traces, excavated on the whole Qinghai-Tibet plateau since 1960s. [5]Based on above all, it was inferable that the ancient carbonized barley kernels discovered in Changguo Gou traces were also the most ancient archaeological barley remains discovered on the whole Qinghai-Tibet plateau so far. This discovery has brought the farming history of naked barley in Tibet forward fifteen centuries earlier. It indicated that the Tibetan ancestors living on the inner Tibet plateau along the middle Yalu Tsangpo river basin began to cultivate naked barley skillfully 1500 B. C. (about 3500 years ago) before Tubo culture of Tibet.

Since Aberg (1938) discoverd the wild six-rowed barley on the eastern Qinghai-Tibet plateau of China, [6]the origin of Chinese cultivated barley had caused more attention and debate from the barley scientists in the world. Some scholars, as Japanese R. Takahashi (1955) and Chinese Shao Qiquan (1975, 1982), Xu Tingwen (1975, 1984), [7]as well as Lifan, Ma Deiquan had extensively studied both the wild and cultivated barley in China, and expounded their views that the Qinghai-Tibet plateau was the centre of genetic diversity and at least the secondary origin centre of cultivated barley. This view was powerfully standed by the ancient carbonized barley kernels in Changguo Gou, for it was the prehistorically archaeological remains of naked barley discovered firstly in inner Tibet. It was extensively believed that the naked barley cultivation in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau didn’t begin until it was brought from inland to Tibet after the beginning of Tubo culture in the past. According to the discovery of ancient barley in Changguo Gou, it could be affirmed that this opinion should not be right. It needed to be further studied whether it originated from inner plateau because there was still no evidence that barley in the QinghaiTibet plateau was brought from other regions. [7,8]

References

[1] Archaeological Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (AICASS). The Agedetermined Report by Using Radioactive Carbon[J]. Archaeology, 1996(7):69.

[2] Compiling Group of Simply Tibetan History (CGSTH). Simply Tibetan History. Lhasa: Tibet People’s Publishing House, 1985: 25.

[3] Cultural Relic Management Committe of Tibet and Historical Department of Sichuan University (CRMCT & HDSU). Kaluo in Changdu. Cultural Relic Publishing House, 1985: 167-169.

[4] Wang Renxiang. The Residents of the Neolithic Age in Lhasa River Valley—the Biography of Qugong Traces Excavated[J]. The Researches of Tibet, 1990(4):135-139.

[5] Cultural Relic Management Committe of Qinghai Province and the Group of Qinghai Archaeological Institute (CRMCQP & GQAI). The Investigation and Trial Excavation of Numomuhong-Chalitaliha Traces in Dulan County of Qinghai[J]. Journal of Archaeology, 1963(1):42.

[6] Aberg E. Hordeum Agriocrithon Nova sp. a Wild Sixrowed Barley[J]. Ann. Roy. Agric. coll. Sweden, 1938(6):1502216.

[7] Xu Tingwen. On the Origin and Phylogeny of Cultivated Barley in China[C]//Proceedings of Barley Sinica. Beijing: China Agricultural Science and Technology Press, 1986: 34-43.

[8] Harlan J. R. On the Origin of Barley: A Second Look. Evolution of Crop Plant, 1971: 93-95.

Abstract

This paper reports on the discovery of the carbonized grains of ancient highland barley (Hordeum vulgare L. var. nudum) in Changguo Gou Site in the middle reaches of Yalu Tsangpo River, Tibet. The grains are determined to be of the Late Neolithic Age (3500 years ago). Hulless barley of prehistoric Tibet Plateau are found at Qugong Site, the remains of 3700 years B. P. in the northern suburbs of Lhasa. Therefore, the carbonized grains discovered at Changguo Gou Site could be considered, for the time being, the first case in the prehistoric archaeology of Tibet Plateau. This discovery is of great theoretical importance for the study on the origin and evolution of highland barley cultivation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.