Between Archaeology and Text: The Origins of Rice Consumption and Cultivation in the Middle East and the Mediterranean
Open accessAbstract
Asiatic Rice Oryza sativa L. (Poaceae) is a domesticated grain crop native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, which presently ranks among the most important grains in a global diet. Oryza sativa is comprised of two distinct phylogenetic subspecies, namely japonica and indica, for which genetic evidence indicates at least two centres of domestication: the Lower Yangtze valley for the broad thick-grained japonica (c. 4000 BC) and the Gangetic basin for the thin elongated indica variety (c. 2500 BC) (Fuller et al 2010; idem 2011; Nesbitt et al 2010: 325–7). Modern genetics of landraces from northeast India may indicate a third distinct origin for the so-called aus rice varieties (Londo et al 2006: 9581–2). The genetic history of this taxon is further complicated by post-domestication hybridisation between domesticates and their wild ancestors as well as the presence of rarer forms like the aromatic rice varieties (basmati in South Asia and sadri from Iran) which may be of independent origin (Nesbitt et al 2010: 324–5). In South Asia domesticated rice is attested at various archaeological sites in the Ganges basin from the mid-3rd millennium BC onwards. It subsequently appears at mature and late Harappan levels in north-western India (c. 2000 BC) before arriving at the edge of the eastern Iranian plateau at Pirak on the north Kachi plain in the early 2nd millennium BC (Costantini 1981; Fuller 2006: 36; Sato 2005). The presence of rice at Pirak heralds its gradual westward movement along the Iranian plateau via overland and perhaps even coastal routes into western Iran and Mesopotamia.
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Middle Assyrian texts confirm that irrigated rice became established in Syria by ∼1100 BCE.
“Middle Assyrian texts also confirm that irrigated rice became established in Syria by ∼1100 BCE”
From The biocultural origins and dispersal of domestic chickens (2022) · cites this paper as [112]
Section III (page not available) describes a Middle Assyrian tablet from Kaḫat in modern Syria, dated c. 1100 BCE, that asks whether rice is available and separately requests irrigation of fields. It does not establish that those fields grew rice or that irrigated rice cultivation was established in Syria by that date; its statement that rice cultivation was well-established concerns later evidence from northern Iraq. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredReferences to irrigated rice in Syria increased from the eighth century BCE.
“references to this practice increased from the eighth century BCE (112).”
From The biocultural origins and dispersal of domestic chickens (2022) · cites this paper as [112]
Section III (page not provided) says later references to rice occur in Neo-Assyrian archives of the eighth and seventh centuries BCE and describe cultivation in a heavily irrigated region. That region is identified as northern Iraq, not Syria; the paper does not say references to irrigated rice in Syria increased from the eighth century BCE. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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Flagged first, then by citations
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The biocultural origins and dispersal of domestic chickens
Peters, J., Lebrasseur, O., Irving-Pease, E. K., Paxinos, P. D., Best, J., Smallman, R., Callou, C., Gardeisen, A., Trixl, S., Frantz, L., et al. (2022) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2121978119 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
“increased from the eighth century BCE (112).”
- Authors
- Muthukumaran, S., & Muthukumaran, S.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Sureshkumar Muthukumaran
- Venue
- PIA
- Publisher
- UCL Press
- Published
- 2022-12-19
- ISSN
- 0965-9315 (ISSN-L)
- 2041-9015
- OpenAlex
- W2074008304
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 1 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 0.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Papers from the Institute of Archaeology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient Near East History
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Biblical Studies and Interpretation
- Keywords
- rice domestication, rice, rice cultivation, Middle East, Mediterranean, ancient Near East, Indus Valley civilization, Ganges basin, Iranian Plateau, Mesopotamia, crop dispersal, archaeobotany
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