Archaeobotanical Study of Ancient Food and Cereal Remains at the Astana Cemeteries,Xinjiang, China |
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| Authors: | Tao Chen Yan Wu Yongbing Zhang Bo Wang Yaowu Hu Changsui Wang Hongen Jiang |
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| Affiliation: | 1. The Lab of Human Evolution, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.; 2. Department of Scientific History and Archaeometry, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.; 3. Academia Turfanica of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Turpan, China.; 4. Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum, Urumchi, China.; KULeuven, Belgium, |
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| Abstract: | Starch grain, phytolith and cereal bran fragments were analyzed in order to identify the food remains including cakes, dumplings, as well as porridge unearthed at the Astana Cemeteries in Turpan of Xinjiang, China. The results suggest that the cakes were made from Triticum aestivum while the dumplings were made from Triticum aestivum, along with Setaria italica. The ingredients of the porridge remains emanated from Panicum miliaceum. Moreover, direct macrobotantical evidence of the utilization of six cereal crops, such as Triticum aestivum, Hordeum vulgare var. coeleste, Panicum miliaceum, Setaria italica, Cannabis sativa, and Oryza sativa in the Turpan region during the Jin and Tang dynasties (about 3rd to 9th centuries) is also presented. All of these cereal crops not only provided food for the survival of the indigenous people, but also spiced up their daily life. |
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