据悉，水稻（Oryza sativa）是全球三分之一以上人口的主食。然而，水稻从野生采集到驯化的过程仍然是一个谜，引发了生物学和人类学领域的持续争论。
研究人员展示了从中国靠近长江下游的上山和荷花山两个考古遗址中采集的水稻植硅石证据。研究人员展示了野生稻至少在距今10万年前就开始生长，在距今约2.4万年前作为采集资源被初步开发利用，在距今约1.3万年前开始驯化前栽培，最终在距今约1.1万年前被驯化。
这些发展阶段揭示了东亚水稻驯化的漫长过程，并将谷物演化的连续记录扩展到了新月沃土之外。
附：英文原文
Title: Rice’s trajectory from wild to domesticated in East Asia
Author: Jianping Zhang, Leping Jiang, Lupeng Yu, Xiujia Huan, Liping Zhou, Changsheng Wang, Jianhui Jin, Xinxin Zuo, Naiqin Wu, Zhijun Zhao, Hanlong Sun, Zhaoyuan Yu, Guoping Zhang, Jiangping Zhu, Zhenlei Wu, Yajie Dong, Baoshuo Fan, Caiming Shen, Houyuan Lu
Issue&Volume: 2024-05-24
Abstract: Rice (Oryza sativa) serves as a staple food for more than one-third of the global population. However, its journey from a wild gathered food to domestication remains enigmatic, sparking ongoing debates in the biological and anthropological fields. Here, we present evidence of rice phytoliths sampled from two archaeological sites in China, Shangshan and Hehuashan, near the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. We demonstrate the growth of wild rice at least 100,000 years before present, its initial exploitation as a gathered resource at about 24,000 years before present, its predomestication cultivation at about 13,000 years before present, and eventually its domestication at about 11,000 years before present. These developmental stages illuminate a protracted process of rice domestication in East Asia and extend the continuous records of cereal evolution beyond the Fertile Crescent.
DOI: ade4487
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade4487