Chris J. Stevens

The dispersal of millet and rice agriculture from Korea to Japan from around 3,000 y ago has been well documented through radiocarbon analysis of botanical remains and surveying seed impressions on pottery. Much less is known about the extent to which these novel crops were consumed and incorporated into everyday culinary practices. In Japan, agriculturalists moving from Korea would have encountered large, sedentary Final Jomon populations who had well-established hunting, foraging, and cultivation strategies for exploiting indigenous fauna and flora. The degree to which these encounters hindered or enhanced the emergence of agriculture is a key question. To investigate potential changes in food exploitation, we analyzed the contents of pottery through lipid residue analysis of 260 vessels from Bronze Age (Mumun) Korea and contemporary Jomon and Yayoi pottery from Northern Kyushu. A lipid biomarker for broomcorn millet was only found in samples from Korea, suggesting that this crop was not routinely prepared in early agricultural pottery from Japan, despite some botanical evidence for its cultivation. Instead, aquatic products continued to be used in early agricultural pottery, pointing to continuity from the Jomon period despite the arrival of new “continental” ceramic forms. Rice remains difficult to identify conclusively, but by modeling carbon isotope values, we were able to determine the maximum extent that rice may have contributed. Overall, we show that there was a change in culinary practices as agriculture dispersed from Korea to Japan, most likely influenced by different long-standing traditions of preparing and cooking foods in each locality.

Rice agriculture was brought to Japan during the first millennium BC by migrant communities of farmers from the Korean peninsula. Substantial geographic variation is observed in the uptake of this new subsistence economy, reflecting different forms of interaction between farmers and foragers. Here, the authors analyse a combination of settlement and radiocarbon data to determine the extent to which these different forms of interaction led to regional variations in population growth rate. Their results confirm the presence of different trajectories of growth, providing new insights into the diversity of demographic processes during the earliest stages of farming in Japan.

Rice and millet arrived in Western Japan from Korea around 3,000 years ago and spread eastwards across the archipelago in the next 700 years. However, the extent to which agriculture transformed traditional Jōmon hunter-gatherer-fisher communities is debated. Central Japan is a key area of study as remodelling of radiocarbon dates shows a slowdown in the dispersal rate of rice agriculture in this area. Here, we examine and compare the use of pottery by Final Jōmon and Early to Middle Yayoi communities in the Tōkai and the Central Highland regions of central Japan, using lipid residue analysis. Although the identification of specific biomarkers for rice remains elusive, an increase in the ratio of E/H C₁₈ APAAs with the arrival of rice and millet indicates a potential change in plant processing and consumption. We were also able to identify biomarkers for broomcorn millet (miliacin) in both Final Jōmon and Yayoi pottery. However, evidence for millet consumption is sparse and in all cases was likely mixed with wild hunted and foraged foods. We conclude therefore that, despite the introduction of rice and millet agriculture in central Japan, pre-existing diets and culinary habits of Jōmon hunter-gatherers remain important.

Societal Impact Statement: Agrobiodiversity is central to sustainable farming worldwide. Cultivation, conservation and reintroduction of diverse plant species, including ‘forgotten’ and ‘underutilized’ crops, contribute to global agrobiodiversity, living ecosystems and sustainable food production. Such efforts benefit from traditional and historical knowledge of crop plants' evolutionary and cultural trajectories. This review is a first attempt at systematically gauging species representativeness in studies of archaeological plant remains. Results indicate that, in addition to discipline‐specific methodological sources of bias, modern agricultural biases may replicate themselves in crop history research and influence understandings of ‘forgotten crops’. Recognizing these biases is an initial stride towards rectifying them and promoting agrobiodiversity in both research and practical applications.Summary: So‐called ‘forgotten’ or ‘orphan’ crops are an important component of strategies aimed at preserving and promoting biodiversity. Knowledge of historical cultivation, usage, and geographic and evolutionary trajectories of plants, that is, crop history research, is important for the long‐term success of such efforts. However, research biases in the crops chosen for study may present hurdles. This review attempts to systematically identify patterns in crop species representativeness within archaeology‐based crop history research. A meta‐analysis and synthesis of archaeobotanical evidence (and lack thereof) is presented for 268 species known to have been cultivated for food prior to 1492 CE from the Mediterranean region to South Asia. We identified 39 genera with known crop plants in this geographical and historical context that are currently absent from its archaeobotanical record, constituting ‘orphan’ crops of archaeobotany. In addition, a worldwide synthesis of crop species studied using geometric morphometric, archaeogenetic and stable isotope analyses of archaeological plant remains is presented, and biases in the species represented in these disciplines are discussed. Both disciplinary methodological biases and economic agenda‐based biases affecting species representativeness in crop history research are apparent. This study also highlights the limited geographic diffusion of most crops and the potential for deeper historical perspectives on how crops become marginalized and ‘forgotten’.

The adoption of rice farming during the first millennium BC was a turning point in Japanese prehistory, defining the subsequent cultural, linguistic, and genetic variation in the archipelago. Here, we use a suite of novel Bayesian techniques to estimate the regional rates of dispersal and arrival time of rice farming using radiocarbon dates on charred rice remains. Our results indicate substantial variations in the rate of dispersal of rice within the Japanese islands, hinting at the presence of a mixture of demic and cultural diffusion, geographic variations in the suitability of its cultivation, and the possible role of existing social networks in facilitating or hindering the adoption of the new subsistence economy.

The adoption of rice farming during the 1st millennium BC was a turning point in Japanese prehistory, defining the subsequent cultural, linguistic, genetic variation in the archipelago. Here we employ a suite of novel Bayesian techniques to estimate the regional rates of dispersal and arrival time of rice farming using radiocarbon dates on charred rice remains. Our results indicate substantial variations in the pace of agricultural adoption within the Japanese islands, hinting at the presence of a mixture of demic and cultural diffusion, geographic variations in the suitability of rice cultivation, as well as the possible role of existing social networks in facilitating or hindering the adoption of the new subsistence economy. Teaser: The adoption of rice farming in prehistoric Japan was characterised by regional episodes of slowdowns and accelerations.

Understanding the evolutionary history of crops, including identifying wild relatives, helps to provide insight for designing new approaches in crop breeding efforts. Cultivated Brassica oleracea has intrigued researchers for centuries due to its wide diversity in forms, which include cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, and Brussels sprouts. Yet, the evolutionary history of this species remains understudied. With such different vegetables produced from a single species, B. oleracea is a model organism for understanding the power of artificial selection. Persistent challenges in the study of B. oleracea include conflicting hypotheses regarding domestication and the identity of the closest living wild relative. Using a diversity panel of 224 accessions, which represents 14 different B. oleracea crop types and nine potential wild progenitor species, we integrate phylogenetic and population genetic techniques with ecological niche modeling, archaeological, and literary evidence to examine relationships among cultivars and wild relatives to clarify the origin of this horticulturally important species. Our analyses point to the Aegean endemic B. cretica as the closest living relative of cultivated B. oleracea , supporting an origin of cultivation in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Additionally, we identify several feral lineages, suggesting that cultivated plants of this species are able to revert to a wild-like state with relative ease. By expanding our understanding of the evolutionary history in B. oleracea , these results contribute to a growing body of knowledge on crop domestication that will facilitate continued breeding efforts including adaptation to changing environmental conditions.