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SUMMARY:How the East was won: travels of cereals in Eurasia - Diane Lister
 \, Archaeology
DTSTART:20121009T121000Z
DTEND:20121009T130000Z
UID:TALK40023@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Xinyi Liu
DESCRIPTION:A number of staple crops were domesticated in China approximat
 ely 10\,000 years ago.  These included foxtail and broomcorn millets\, whi
 ch originated in the north of the country\, and rice and buckwheat\, which
  originated from further south. Over the next several millennia these stap
 le crops sustained the Chinese people and contributed towards increasing p
 opulations and levels of societal organization. However\, around 4000 year
 s ago\, new crops began to appear in the archaeological record in China\, 
 notably wheat and barley\, which had been domesticated far away in Southwe
 st Asia. These new crops became increasingly prominent in China and are st
 ill important crops under cultivation today. Why did Chinese farmers adopt
  these novel crops when they already had indigenous staples? This talk wil
 l focus on the arrival of wheat and barley in China\, and consider the pos
 sible reasons why these crops were added to the Chinese suite of domestica
 tes. The talk will also focus on the methods that we are using to study th
 e spread of wheat and barley into China and consider what sorts of challen
 ges farmers may have faced in cultivating these novel crops.
LOCATION:Entertaining Room\, Darwin College
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