Christian Leipe

Although broomcorn and foxtail millet are among the earliest staple crop domesticates, their spread and impacts on demography remain controversial, mainly because of the use of indirect evidence. Bayesian modeling applied to a dataset of new and published radiocarbon dates derived from domesticated millet grains suggests that after their initial cultivation in the crescent around the Bohai Sea ca. 5800 BCE, the crops spread discontinuously across eastern Asia. Our findings on the spread of mille

The shift from foraging to agriculture as an economic way of life can be influenced by multiple ecological and cultural factors. The introduction of rice cultivation in Japan appears to have facilitated a dietary and cultural transition from the Jomon to the Yayoi cultural repertoire (10th/4th century BCE). Here we examine how rice spread across the Yayoi cultural arena (Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu regions) using Bayesian modelling applied to a set of radiocarbon (14C) dates obtained from carbon

The spatio-temporal distribution of archaeological sites in the Hokkaido region reveals hunter–gatherer population dynamics from the Upper Palaeolithic (>14,000 cal. yr BP) through the Neolithic/Jomon and Epi Jomom period ( c. 14,000–1300 cal. yr BP) to the historic Ainu period ( c. 700–100 cal. yr BP). It appears that most cultural transitions coincide with periods of climate and environmental change. However, this observation does not automatically mean causality and, therefore, other poten

Particle sorting is a fundamental method in various fields of medical and biological research. However, existing sorting applications are not capable for high-throughput sorting of large-size (>100 micrometers) particles. Here, we present a novel on-chip sorting method using traveling vortices generated by on-demand microjet flows, which locally exceed laminar flow condition, allowing for high-throughput sorting (5 kilohertz) with a record-wide sorting area of 520 micrometers. Using an activatio

This paper discusses archaeobotanical remains of naked barley recovered from the Okhotsk cultural layers of the Hamanaka 2 archaeological site on Rebun Island, northern Japan. Calibrated ages (68% confidence interval) of the directly dated barley remains suggest that the crop was used at the site ca. 440-890 cal yr AD. Together with the finds from the Oumu site (north-eastern Hokkaido Island), the recovered seed assemblage marks the oldest well-documented evidence for the use of barley in the Ho

Grain legumes of the Vigna genus are important crops in Asia, although their origins and history of domestication and cultivation are less known than that of rice and millet. Azuki (V. angularis var. angularis) is widely cultivated and consumed across East Asia, especially in China, Korea and Japan, which are considered independent centres of azuki domestication. This study presents the first directly dated archaeobotanical record of V. angularis from Taiwan recovered from prehistoric cultural l

This article presents an analytical review of the available palaeoenvironmental and archaeological records from the southern part (ca. 42°18′–45°30′N) of Primorye spanning the last ca. 21,000 years. The outlined climate and environmental history of the coastal and continental zones of southern Primorye, based mainly on vegetation reconstructions derived from the study of fossil pollen from sedimentary deposits from various archives, is compared with the archaeological cultural sequence of the re

Abstract Combined archaeobotanical and archaeological data from Middle Yayoi (fourth century bce –first century ce ) cultural layers of the Maenakanishi site (36°08′55″ N, 139°24′08″ E) in northern Saitama Prefecture indicate that rice was less significant as everyday food, but played an important role in ritual practices and in strengthening social stratification at the studied settlement site. The results further suggest that the crop was used in feasting performed in context of pillared build

Abstract AMS-dated archaeobotanical assemblages from hearth deposits of Middle Yayoi (fourth century bce –first century ce ) cultural layers of the Maenakanishi site (36°09′N, 139°24′E) in northern Saitama Prefecture demonstrate that besides rice, foxtail and broomcorn millet were the most important staple crops during the second and first centuries bce . The reliance on less demanding dry-field crops at Maenakanishi and other Early to Middle Yayoi settlements in north-western Kanto and the Cent