Fig 1.
Locations of the archaeological sites in China from which archaeobotanical data were used in the current analysis.
(map modified from Grass GIS; https://grass.osgeo.org/).
Fig 2.
Common plant remains excavated from Chinese archaeological sites, including plant macro-remains of (a) Panicum miliaceum L.; (b) Setaria italica Beauv.; (c) Oryza sativa L.; (d) Celtis koraiensis Nakai.; (e) Broussonetia papyrifera L. (f) Quercus sp.; (g) Amygdalus persica L.; (h) Ziziphus jujuba Mill. var. spinosa Hu; (i) Melilotus sp.; (j) Fabaceae; (k) Chenopodium sp.; (l) Vitis sp., starch granules (m) millets; (n) roots and tubers; (o) Triticeae; (p) food legumes; (q) acorns and phytoliths (r) η type from husks of common millet; (s) Ω type from husks of foxtail millet; (t) parallel-bilobe from rice leaf/stem; (u) double-peaked from rice husk; (v) and bulliform from rice leaves. These photos of plant remains have not been previously published.
Fig 3.
Relative percentage (a) and ubiquity (b) of the 5 plant groups in South China between 14 and 5 ka cal BP.
Fig 4.
Ubiquity of some important plant species used in South China between 14 and 5 ka cal BP.
Fig 5.
Relative percentage of genus Oryza plants between 9 and 5 ka cal BP.
Fig 6.
Relative percentage of the 5 plant groups in North China between 33 and 5 ka cal BP.
Fig 7.
Ubiquity of the 5 plant groups in North China between 33 and 5 ka cal BP.
Fig 8.
Temporal changes in the ubiquity of several important grasses used in North China in the past.
Fig 9.
Comparison of the ubiquity for several cereals, weeds, and edible wild plants in North China between 33 and 5 ka cal BP.
Fig 10.
Comparison in the relative percentage (shaded color) and percentage ubiquity (solid color) of foxtail millet and common millet in North China at 9~6 and 6~5 ka cal BP.
Table 1.
Stages in the macro-process of plant subsistence from the Upper Paleolithic to the Middle Neolithic in China.