Skeleton of Neolithic child uncovered in Tamil Nadu, India.

Archaeologists from the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Madras, have uncovered the skeleton of a child thought to be 9-11 years old, based upon the presence of a deciduous first molar in the mandible, at a Neolithic site in the village of Chettimedu near Chengalpattu in Tamil Nadu. The body was orientated north-south with the head to the north, and facing to the west, a practice which began in the Neolithic and persisted into the Early Historic Period.  It is thought to date to between 3000 BC and 2500 BC and was buried alongside a broken pot in the Burnished Grey Ware style, which is typical of the Late Neolithic in southern India. 

The pot beside the skeleton is typical of neolithic period. Many shreds of burnished red ware and burnished grey ware belonging to the same period were also found at the burial site. New Indian Express.

While typical of the southern Indian Neolithic, Burnished Grey Ware is actually rare in Tamil Nadu State, having been found only at the Chettimedu site and at Valasai in Vellore District, 370 km to the southwest. As well as the Burnished Grey Ware, examples of Burnished Red Ware, Black and Red Ware, All-black Ware, Red Slipped Ware, Red Ware and Coarse Red Ware have been found in different layers at the site, with pottert from the uppermost layers having some writing upon it, implying a sequence of occupation lasting through the Neolithic and Iron Age into the Early Historic Period. Some bricks also thought to date to the early historic period were also found. 

The site at Chettimedu was first identified in 2019, by construction workers digging foundations for a new project. The initial material uncovered included incised potsherds, earrings made of baked clay, and iron arrowheads, associated with the Iron Age-to-Early Historic Period Sangam Culture, which lasted from about 600 BC to about 300 AD. Subsequent excavations have uncovered material from a succession of earlier periods, including some pottery which may be associated with the Chalcolithic Malwa Culture of central India.

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Revisiting the 1980s excavations at the Dia Mound Complex in Mali.

Close to the small town of Dia (or Jà) in the western Inland Niger Delta of Mali lies the Dia Mound Complex, comprising three extensive occupation mounds, similar to the Jenne-jeno mound complex close to the city of Djenné near the southeastern marginof the Inland Niger Delta (the names 'Jenne' and 'Djenné' are interchangeable for the city, with Djenné having been favoured by the French colonial government, and Jenne by the post-colonial government of Mali, although the name has never been officially changed - both would be pronounced as 'Jenny' by an English-speaker). 

Many peoples in the region claim ancestry from Dia, including the numerous Bozo and Marka groups. Like Djenné and Timbuktu, Dia forms part of the ancient trade network of the region, although unlike these cities it appears to have never been a major commercial centre, but instead is a religious centre to both the Muslim and Pagan peoples of the western Sahel region. The Marabouts (Islamic scholars) of the town are thought to manufacture especially powerful amulets, while in the Pagan Mande origin story, the rainbow which marked the north-south axis of the world at the beginning of time had its northern end at Dia.

Dia is thought to have flourished as an important religious centre after the fall of the ancient Ghana Empire, with clerics from the city spreading Islam westward to the Senegambia region, southward along the Niger, and eastward toward Hausaland. Dia may be the city of Zagha, which was captured by the Songhai Emperor Askia Muhammad I, although the oral histories of the city do not mention being part of the Songhai Empire. The recorded history of the town effectively begins with the advent of the (Pagan) Jawara Dynasty in the fifteenth century; this dynasty lasted until the mid-nineteenth century, and this long period of Pagan rule may have led to the high degree of emphasis being placed upon the magical powers of the city's Islamic scholars.

In the mid 1980s the Dia Mound Complex was the subject of a series of excavations led by Susan Keech McIntosh of the Department of Anthropology at Rice University, and Roderick McIntosh of the Department of Anthropology at Yale University, although the limited available dating technologies of the 1980s, combined with the small number of excavations carried out at other sites in the western Sahel at that time, limited the interpretation of the excavated material. In a paper published in the journal Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa on 1 December 2023, McIntosh and McIntosh revisit the results of their 1980s excavations at Dia, and interpret the material recovered in the light of improved dating techniques and information from subsequent archaeological work in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali.

Map of the Inland Niger Delta and sites and regions mentioned in the text. Top inset shows archaeological sites investigated in 1986–1987. McIntosh & McIntosh (2023).

McIntosh and McIntosh carried out excavation work at two large mounds in the Dia Mound Complex, Mara and Shoma (the town of Dia sits on the third large mound). All three large mounds, and a number of smaller ones, sit on a levee system about 5 km from the river Diaka, a major branch of the Niger. The mound complex, and town, sit at the northwest of a floodplain which is inundated between August and December, and utilised for the cultivation of African Rice.

The Shoma Mound has not been occupied at any time within historical memory. The Mara mound was occupied until the nineteenth century, when the town was taken over and Islamised by Seku Amadu, founder of the Massina Empire, and the settlement was moved to its current location the Dia mound. Cotton was grown on the Mara and Shoma mounds in the 1960s, but this had ceased by the 1980s. Part of the Mara mound is covered by a cemetery used to this day.

McIntosh and McIntosh excavated three trenches in 1986 and 1987, two on the Shoma Mound, and one on the Mara Mound.

The first trench, Sh7, was made at a high point on the western part of the Shoma Mound, where there was an extensive surface scattering of pottery fragments, including examples of styles from all occupation phases at the Jenne-jeno mound complex. A 2.0 by 1.5 m trench was excavated with a north-south orientation, cutting through 15 natural layers to a depth of 4.5 m, although in the lowest parts the size of the trench was reduced to 2.0 m by 85 cm. Levels 1-5 (where Level 1 is the uppermost), 7-9, and 11-14 showed remains of active occupation, while layers 6 and 10 contained significantly less traces of Human activity.

The second trench, SCW, intersected with a periphery wall exposed on the western edge of the Shoma Mound. At the site chosen for the excavation, a section of the wall had been exposed by a narrow gully, and partially collapsed, exposing a mass of irregular sun-dried bricks. This wall was apparently made up of two layers, with loose bricks between. The outer wall was made up of irregular cylindrical bricks averaging about 20 cm long and 9 cm in diameter (cylindrical bricks, known as 'Djenné ferey' are still used in the region). The bricks of the loose fill were orientated randomly, and averaged 15.5 cm in length and 10.3 cm in diameter. The whole wall appears to have been about 3.5 m thick, comparable to the excavated city wall at Jenne-jeno, which was 3.4 m thick. In the 1990s increased rainfall in the region exposed a wall on the northern perimeter of the mound with a zig-zag configuration; this may also have been the case on the western side of the mound, where the orientation of the wall, at 45° to the margin of the mound, was considered hard to interpret at the time of the excavations. 

Shoma SCW: photograph of the excavation area. McIntosh & McIntosh (2023).

The SCW trench measured 2.5 m by 75 cm, and extended downwards for 1.98 m, 95 cm beneath the base of the wall. In the bottom part of the trench, the size was reduced to 1.40 m by 75 cm. Nine layers were excavated in this trench, the uppermost five yielded grey clay and heavy loam with elongated and cylindrical bricks, layers 6-8 produced a light clay, upon which the wall had apparently been built, while layer 9 was a friable pale brown sandy loam, with occasional scattered artefacts, which made up the bottom 28 cm of the trench, and presumably some way deeper.

The third trench, D6, was excavated on a high part of the Mara Mound, to the east of the cemetery. This area again had abundant surface pottery, which showed similarities to pottery from phases IV and V at Jenne-jeno, which has been dated to the second millennium AD. The trench measured 2 m by 2 m and was orientated north-south, extending downwards for 4.05 m, passing through 14 sediment layers. In the lower parts the dimensions of the trench were reduced to first 1 m by 2 m, orientated east-west, and then 1 m by 1.25 m. The first five layers at this site exposed cylindrical mud bricks, from an apparent wall collapse, as well as a number of refuse pits. Layers 6-8 were made up of a clay material, which might have been formed by the melting of mud bricks, with no other artefacts present. Layers 9-13 were composed of a homogeneous loamy material, with fluctuating levels of pottery fragments, and an increasing amount of limonite (an iron oxide material which forms in waterlogged soils) in the lower layers. Layer 14 was comprised of similar material, but with no pottery inclusions, and reached the water table.

At all three sites, cylindrical bricks of the Djenné ferey type were present in the upper layers. These bricks spread along the middle Niger in the second millennium AD, and is believed to have been spread by masons from Djenné. At Sh7 and D6 the lower layers contained thin-walled, well-fired pottery similar in style to that from the earliest stages at Jenne-jeno. At SCW similar pottery was found along with the brick deposits.

In order to establish a chronology for the Dia Mound Complex sites, McIntosh and McIntosh first examined the pottery fragments for signs of time-sensitive trends. Most of the pieces were small, and showed only a single decorative element, so McIntosh and McIntosh sorted these by decorative element (having first identified pieces likely to have come from the same pot, to avoid double-counting). Decorative elements present include lip, variou sforms of twine/fibre rouletting, paint (red, white, black) and plastic techniques, such as channelling (created by incising with a multi-toothed tool), comb-impression, stamping, fingernail impression and shallow comb-dragging. 

Shoma and Mara: decorative motifs on sherds from the 1986–1987 excavations. Top row (early): braided twine, fish vertebrae roulette, folded fibre strip and twisted twine roulette, fine folded fibre strip roulette overlain by stem dragging, same on Ev1 rim, cord-wrapped stick; middle row: fibre strip roulette overlain by comb drag, polychrome (black or white in channelling or over roulette plus red slip), white on red geometric; bottom row (late): beaded carinated rim with finger nail impression, stamping with white fill, red paint splashed. McIntosh & McIntosh (2023).

Rim fragments were also sorted into groups, using a classification derived from one used on the Jenne-jeno material, with all rim sherds from each level in each excavation unit described in terms rim angle, rim diameter (where determinable), slip (presence/absence, colour, position on sherd) and decoration (details of twine/fibre roulette, paint, plastic decoration and their position on the sherd).

Shoma and Mara: rim forms recorded 1986–1987. McIntosh & McIntosh (2023).

The pottery at sites Sh7 and D6 showed significant changes over time, with some layers showing similarity between the two sites, and some showing similarity with Jenne-jeno. Twine/fibre rouletting is present on over half of the fragments where only a single style of decoration is present. The patterns are similar at the two sites in the lowest layers, but in the upper layers the styles diverge significantly. Multiple styles of decoration on the same piece of pottery are quite rare, but where present some changes over time can be seen. This is most commonly found on rim fragments, with early examples from Sh7 showing rim pieces with two different forms of roulette decoration in adjacent, slightly overlapping fields. This is also present in early layers at Jenne-jeno. Curiously, at D6 this pattern is present at low levels throughout the occupation, while it disappears at both Sh7 and Jenne-jeno. Painted pottery with decoration is present at both sites, with lower layers at Sh7 showing black and white patterns painted over a comb-dragged decoration, while at D6 upper layers produce a pattern of stamps over comb decoration.

The pottery in the lowest layers at both Sh7 and D6 is remarkably well-made, from a well-mixed and homogeneous paste comprised primarily of clay and silt with fine sand and finely ground grog. These pots have thin, even walls typically between 3 mm and 8 mm thick, and with a very smooth finish. This type of pottery has also been found in the earliest layers at Jenne-jeno, although here it only makes up about 10-15% of the assemblage. This fine pottery disappears in later layers at all three sites, being replaces with a thicker-walled pottery with a grog temper and a large number of voids. The fine-pottery producing layers at Jenne-jeno have been dated to the last two centuries BC, and the early centuries AD. Fine pottery of this type is more prevalent in higher layers at SWC, though McIntosh and McIntosh attribute this to old pottery fragments being incorporated into clay bricks, then eroding out as the bricks weather. 

Rim fragments from the lower layers at Sh7 and D6 are almost exclusively made from the fine paste material, with a roulette impression pattern below the lip, which may or may not be covered by a slip. Three basic types of pottery are common: Bowls with simple, unrestricted rims, quite often with cross-hatched red paint around the rim, globular jars with restricted rims that are slightly rolled outward at the lip, and ovoid jars with small, everted rims that are flattened at the lip. The bowls and globular jars are also common in the lowest layers at Jenne-jeno. Potlids, long-necked bottles and globular vessels that differ mainly in lip shape are also present.

The nature of this pottery assemblage changes in layers 6-10 at Sh7, with the three earlier forms being replaced by an assemblage in which potlids and two classes of carinated pots are the most common items. Both types of pots are frequently decorated with multiple channels filled with white and/or black paint and/or geometric painted designs.

Shoma and Mara: pottery phases recognised in the 1986–1987 excavated assemblages. Top two rows: late; middle three rows: polychrome; lower three rows: early fineware. McIntosh & McIntosh (2023).

In layers 4 and 5 at Sh7, carinated rims remain common, but paint decoration becomes extremely rare. Instead, a new form of decoration appears, with fingernail impressions on the carination, beaded lips, and comb incised channels. Similar pottery is known from Phase IV at Jenne-jeno, which has been dated to between 900 and 1400 AD. However, in the Jenne-jeno material, braided twine replaces fibre strip as the dominant form of roulette, which never happens at Sh7.

Surprisingly, the rim decoration in the upper layer at D6 on the Mara Mound is quite different from that present in Sh7 on the Shoma Mound. Here plates, potlids and carinated rims, including the form of decoration appears, with fingernail impressions on the carination, beaded lips, and comb incised channels seen at Sh7, but there is also a large number of pieces with everted rims, something not seen at Sh7 and very rare at Jenne-jeno. No polychrome decoration is present on any pottery at D6, while stamping and comb impressions are common. Similar stamp motifs appear at Jenne-jeno, where they show a pattern of development; the impressions are small from 900 to 1400 AD, with larger impressions after 1500 AD. These late, large stamp impressions persist into the historic 'Sahona Tradition' of the southern Inland Niger Delta. The presence of everted rims, large amount of undecorated pottery, and common use of braided twine and large stamp decoration, occasionally with a white fill, strongly suggests that this pottery was made after 1400 AD. Similar pottery is known from the fourteenth to twentieth centuries at Jenne-jeno/Djenné, and from the nineteenth century at Hamdallahi on the eastern Inland Niger Delta. However, the D6 site has not yielded any Tobacco pipes, which are common throughout the Middle Niger from the seventeenth century onwards, suggesting that this assemblage predates the introduction of Tobacco to the region.

McIntosh and McIntosh also obtained a series of new radiocarbon dates for the assemblage, to better date the sequence. The oldest date obtained came from a burned Fish bone from the lowest level of collapsed brick at site SCW, which yielded a date of between 795 and 752 BC (with a 78% probability). This is surprising, as the layers beneath this yielded cultural items which would not be expected before the first millennium AD, which also show considerable patination and erosion, suggesting that they lay on the surface for some time before being buried. This all suggests that the wall was built on top of an accumulation of older material which had been washed downslope over a period of centuries. It is thought that the wall was probably built in the fourteenth century AD, the date obtained for the north wall at the site, although further investigation would be needed to confirm that the two walls are actually part of the same system. Unfortunately, a survey carried out in 1998-2003 did not detect a wall on the western part of the mound, possibly suggesting that it had been destroyed by a catastrophic erosion event since the 1980s.

The pottery fragments recovered from SCW are made from a fine material, and were thought to have been examples of ancient pottery incorporated into the bricks, which had then been eroded out. McIntosh and McIntosh now also note that this assemblage is dominated by pottery with flattened, everted rims, which is also common in the lowest levels at Sh7 and D6, supporting the hypothesis. They note that there appear to be two phases within the fineware assemblage at both sites, with the earlier one showing flattened everted rims. They suggest that this earlier fineware phase with everted, flattened rims, probably dates from 800-400 BC (which would support a common origin for the pottery fragments and Fish bone at SCW), while the later phase is likely to date from about 400 BC to about 200 AD. The material from the second fineware phase is almost identical to the material from the earliest phase at Jenne-jeno. No radiocarbon dates were obtained from the lowest layers at Sh7 and D6. However, excavations carried out by archaeologist Noémie Arazi on Shoma Mound in 1999-2002 produced similar pottery from layers which yielded radiocarbon dates of 2450 years before present and 2220 years before present, strongly supporting the idea that these earliest layers date to the first millennium BC.

Dia fineware from Shoma and Mara shown next to almost identical sherds from Phase I at Jenne-jeno. McIntosh & McIntosh (2023).

The middle levels at Sh7 (6-9) are curious in that they show evidence of settlement in a period otherwise apparently absent on Shoma Mound. A radiocarbon date for Level 9 was obtained in the 1980s, giving a result of between 892 and 1193, to which McIntosh and McIntosh add a new date, of 1040–1165 for Level 7. The only other dates from this period come from Azari's excavations on Shoma Mound, and comprise a date of 940 years before the present from a piece of charcoal found in a sandy layer beneath a level of collapsed brick dated to 460 years before present, and a fragment of Wheat within a pit dated to 1070 years before the present. A layer of sediment dated to between 2070 and 940 years before the present yielded no cultural materials, suggesting the mound was abandoned during this time. Interestingly, the cemetery on Mara yielded several burials dating to the tenth and eleventh centuries AD, although quite where these people lived has remained unclear. Layers 6-9 at Sh7 have yielded a distinctive polychrome pottery, not seen elsewhere in the Dia Mound Complex, apparently indicating a distinctive cultural presence, not detected elsewhere. The higher layers at Sh7 produced Phase IV at Jenne-jeno, which has been dated to between 900 and 1400 AD, as mentioned previously.

At the D6 site, a new date of between 466 and 386 BC was obtained from a piece of burned bone at the top of Layer 10 or bottom of Layer 9, lending further support to the idea that the material in these layers dates to the first millennium BC. Dates from higher in the sequence lead to the conclusion that there were two later phases of occupation, one in the eleventh century AD, and one n the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries AD. This sequence appears to have been slightly disturbed by pit digging around the site, something not detected during the 1980s excavations, but consistent with the use of bud-brick architecture.

Based upon comparison of the sequence of pottery to other sites on the Inland Niger Delta and the new radiocarbon dates, as well as data from the 1998-2002 excavations on Shoma and Mara mounds, McIntosh and McIntosh propose a chronology for the Dia Mound Complex.

Occupation began in the first millennium BC, by agropastoral and fishing groups using distinctive, thin-walled pottery. These are represented by layers 11-14 at Sh7 and 10-13 at D6, as well as in the lowest layers excavated in 1998-2002. The earliest evidence of occupation in Sh7 and D6 is on loamy clay levee deposits, while the earliest remains uncovered in 1998-2002 are on floodplain clays. The data from the 1986-87 excavations suggests that these peoples preferentially settled on the top of levees on the Diaka floodplain. In October 2013, flooding on this plain reached between the 270.5 and 271 m contours. Accurate surveying equipment was not available to the 1986-87 expedition, but it is thought this would have been above the lowest excavated layers in Sh7.

The lower layers at Sh7 and D6 contain alternating layers of light loams and light clays containing iron oxide inclusions that precipitate in standing water, suggesting that the area was prone to periodic flooding. The density of pottery in the lowest layers at Sh7 was 3-8 times as much pottery as at D6, suggesting D6 was only the occupied on a sporadic, short term basis. The level of water flowing through the Diaka and its associated floodplain appears to have varied over time. At D6 the pottery from Layer 12 has a thick surface deposits of dark iron or manganese oxide precipitate, suggesting a prolonged or repeated immersion in water. This suggests a variable environment with periodic flooding. The 1998-2002 excavations recovered several grains of African Rice, Oryza glaberrima, dated to this early period.

Fragments of the fineware from this early period continue, at a low level, at many sites on the Dia Mound Complex deposits. The evidence from SCW, of pieces of this earlier material being incorporated into bricks made almost 2000 years later, gives an explanation for this stratigraphic mixing.

The style of this early pottery has been linked to the earlier proto-Mande Tichitt Culture of eastern Mauritania, suggesting that these earliest settlers in the region migrated southward from the Tichitt region in the early first millennium BC.

This earlier occupation was followed by a hiatus, with little sign of Human activity until the first millennium AD. A distinctive layer of aeolian sand, lacking any artefacts, is present at four of the six sites excavated in 1998-2002, but absent from the other two of these sites, as well as Sh7 and D6. Rice grains derived from these sands have yielded dates of 1996 and 1878 years before the present. There are no signs of any occupation during this period, although it is possible that people were present at least seasonally, using the floodplain to grow Rice. The uppermost layers of the early occupation at D6 yield pottery fragments covered by a thick carbonate deposit, suggesting that they were exposed on the surface for a long period of time, with periods of immersion. 

At Sh7 a metre-deep layer producing evidence of occupation has been dated to between 900 and 1165 AD, while a similar deposit at D6 has yielded dates of between 1025 and 1150 AD. These deposits are particularly interesting for two reasons; firstly, no evidence of occupation during this period was found during other excavations at the Dia Mound Complex, and secondly, the material at the two sites is quite different. The Sh7 material is dominated by potlids and carinated pots, similar in style to material from Jenne-jeno which has been dated to between 800 and 1000 AD. At D6 a different style of pottery is present, dominated by pots with everted and thickened rims, and with different forms of decoration to that seen at Sh7.

The reason for this difference is unclear. It may simply be the result of pottery being used for different purposes at the two sites, or represent some difference in social standing between the peoples of the two sites. The Dia Mound Complex is close to a river system which formed an important transport corridor, and it is not unreasonable to expect pottery found in such an environment to reflect wider regional interactions. The polychrome pottery of Sh7 shows strong similarity to pottery from the same period at Jenne-Jeno, which in turn is part of a sequence of pottery found over the wider eastern upper Inland Niger Delta over the period 400-1400 AD. The pottery of D6, however, is quite different, showing cultural affinity with the Méma region to the north.

The presence of pottery at Sh7 with affinities for that of Jenne-jeno and the eastern Inland Niger Delta is interesting, and such pottery has not come from any other excavation site on Shoma. McIntosh and McIntosh speculate that this may represent a small group of people with ties to the eastern Inland Niger Delta. During the 1998-2002 excavations, it was noted that several sites had erosional surfaces which would coincide with this period, possibly suggesting that more material has been lost.

Carinated polychrome pottery resembling that from Phases II and III at Jenne-jeno (which have been dated to between 200 and 900 AD) was excavated from the Diohoun site at the confluence of the Diaka and Niger in the 1990s. The uppermost layers at Diohoun yielded material similar to the material from Sh7 and Phase IV at Jenne-jeno, and Arazi reported layers dating to the second half of the first millennium AD, which yielded significant quantities of carinated pottery and some black- and white painted ware on the Mara Mound, making this absence of pottery from other sites on Shoma more mysterious.

This phase appears to have been followed by another hiatus, then the appearance of a new inhabited phase on both Shoma and Mara, distinguished by extensive mud brick architecture. A number of radiocarbon dates have been recovered from these layers at sites on both mounds, ranging from 1275 to 1500 AD, which would coincide with the height of the Mali Empire. 

No radiocarbon data were recovered for this upper layer at Sh7, although the nature of the pottery found strongly suggests a thirteenth or fourteenth century date for these layers. At D6 a wall was constructed in the fifteenth century, and a number of pits contain pottery with decorative elements which suggest having been made post-1500, based upon comparison to material from elsewhere in the Niger Delta. This pottery was found alongside remains indicating a mixed economy based on fishing, domestic stock and the exploitation of wild resources, especially Birds. Similar faunal remains were recovered from later, post 1500, layers excavated in 1998-2002. These later excavations also recovered a small amount of material considered to be trade goods, including  four cowries, one copper pendant and four other fragments of copper and 18 glass beads. This is a surprisingly small amount of such material, given the extent of the excavations, suggesting that Dia was not an important trade hub during this period. This is consistent with the known history of the city, as a religious centre rather than a commercial site, although it is likely that agricultural goods, such as Rice and Cotton, as well as smoked or dried Fish, were also being produced and exported. 

Most of what is currently known about the Dia Mound Complex derives from the extensive excavations in 1998-2002. However, re-examination of the much smaller 1986-87 excavations does add somewhat to this knowledge. These digs were located on the edge of the Shoma and Mara mounds, while the later digs were concentrated on the central part, and uncovered evidence of sporadic occupation far earlier than the later sites uncovered, as well as evidence for a climate with a more active hydrological system, when the levee deposits were still being built up and the area was periodically covered by floodwaters. 

The Sh7 and D6 trenches from 1986-87 yielded distinct sequences of pottery, from which a distinct progression of styles can be seen, and compared to other sites on the Inland Niger Delta. This was not possible during the 1998-2002 excavations, probably because the stratigraphic sequence had been extensively turned over by pit-digging. Re-use of material for brick-making, as seen at SCW, is also likely to have added to this confusion. Nevertheless, McIntosh and McIntosh recommend that the pottery from the 1999-2002 excavations be re-examined for evidence of progression.

The material from the lowest layers, supports the hypothesis that two distinct phases can be observed in the first millennium BC, one associated with the earliest arrivals at Dia and a second, later one associated with the expansion of colonisation deeper into the eastern Inland Niger Delta, including Jenne-jeno.

The middle layer at Sh7 shows a distinct affinity to pottery from Jenne-jeno, something which was not recognised in any of the 1998-2002 material, and places the Dia Mound Complex within a wider cultural context that includes sites such as Tiébala and Diohoun. Surprisingly, pottery from the nearby D6 site shows closer affinities to the Méma region to the northeast of the Inland Niger Delta.

The absence of pottery from this period at any of the sites excavated in 1998-2002 is surprising. McIntosh and McIntosh suggest that this might be due to greater erosion at these sites on the mound summits, although it is possible that the settlements uncovered at Sh7 and D6 were very local in nature, and that the choice of these sites for excavation was extremely fortuitous. 

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The first Neolithic farmers on Luzon Island, the Philippines.

The island of Taiwan, 125 km from the southeast coast of China, is thought to be the first island to the south of China to have been settled by Neolithic farmers, with the Dabenkeng Culture appearing here between 5500 and 5000 years before the present. Taiwan is also thought to have been the origin point of the first Neolithic settlers to arrive in the northern Philippines, more than 4000 years ago. Work on ancient DNA from archaeological sites on Luzon, the Mariana Islands, and the islands of the southwest Pacific has concluded that much of the genetic heritage of the non-Melanesian peoples of the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands derives from an ancient migration from China via Taiwan and the Philippines.

All of this makes Luzon Island, the first major landmass likely to have been reached by Neolithic sailors heading south from Taiwan, likely to have been an important staging post in this migration, quite possibly the place in which many important cultural developments occurred. The Austronesian language family, for example, has two major divisions, one including the indigenous Formosan language of Taiwan, the other all the other significant languages of the Malay-Polynesian world, from the Philippines to Madagascar to Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The Proto-Austronesian language from which all these languages are descended is thought to have originated somewhere in the northern Philippines, probably Luzon or the Batanes Islands, or possibly on eastern Taiwan.

Northern Luzon Island is also likely to have been the first place were migrating proto-Malayo-Polynesians would have encountered people different from themselves. This island had long before been settled by the Melanesian Negrito people of the Philippines, who lived as hunter-gatherers on the island prior to the arrival of Neolithic settlers with domestic Dogs and Pigs, and a culture built around Rice-farming, between about 4200 and 4000 years ago. 

The Cagayan Valley on northern Luzon Island is the longest and widest river valley in the Philippines, with a broad alluvial plain extensively settled by Rice farmers. However, the area is still home to populations of Negrito foragers, particularly in the Sierra Madre hills to the east of the river. These people can be shown to be genetically related to the earliest, pre-Neolithic settlers in the region, though many parts of their culture are clearly more recent, including speaking a Malayo-Polynesian language and living only in remote forested areas unsuitable for Rice farming.

During the past two decades the Cagayan Valley has become a centre of great interest to archaeologists, with the uncovering of a series of shell middens which cover much of the history of settlement on the island, including the transition from a strictly foraging culture to one based around farming with foraging occurring as a supplementary activity.

In a paper published in the journal Antiquity on 1 June 2022, Hsiao-chun Hung of the Department of Archaeology and Natural History at the Australian National University, Cheng-hwa Tsang of the Institute of Anthropology at the National Tsing Hua University, Zhenhua Deng of the Center for the Study of Chinese Archaeology and School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University, Mary Jane Louise Bolunia and Rey Santiago of the Archaeology Division at the National Museum of the Philippines, Mike Carson of the Micronesian Area Research Center at the University of Guam, and Peter Bellwood of the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University, present a time-frame for the settlement of the valley based upon the radiocarbon dating of material from these shell middens, and a revised cultural and historical hypothesis based upon this.

The most westerly Pacific island chain, running from Taiwan southwards through the Philippines, has long been central in debates about the origins and early migrations of Austronesian-speaking peoples from the Asian mainland into the islands of Southeast Asia and Oceania. Hung et al. (2022).

Hung et al. identify three historical phases within the shell middens, which they term Preceramic (i.e. before the advent of ceramics), Neolithic (where ceramics have appeared), and Metal Age (where both ceramics and metal are present). The River Cagayan flows about 446 km from its headwaters in the Caraballo Mountains of central Luzon to the Babuyan Chanel where it enters the sea. The Cagayan coastal alluvial plain first formed about 7000 years ago, when rising post-glacial sealevels turned the area from a remote mountain valley into a coastal riverplain. Because Luzon is an volcanic oceanic island (albeit a rather large one), it has no surrounding continental shelf, instead rising sharply from the deep ocean. At the Last Glacial Maximum (between about 24 000 and 18 000 years ago) the sea level would have been about 120 m lower, with the Cagayan Estuary extending inwards about 100 km. It is quite possible that there are coastal and riverplain settlements lower down in the valley, but these would now be submerged and covered by metres of sediment.

(1) The Cagayan River in the Lal-Lo area; (2) part of the Magapit shell midden; (3) archaeological excavation of square P15 at Nagsabaran; (4) the Nagsabaran site, viewed from a distance. Hsiao-chun Hung in Hung et al. (2022).

The first shell midden in the Cagayan Valley was discovered at Magapit in 1971. Since this time a further 30 such shell middens have been discovered in the area, the densest concentration of shell middens anywhere in Island Southeast Asia, a reflection of the abundant shellfish available in the area in the Middle Holocene.

Most of these sites are located along a 30 km stretch of the valley between the cities of Gattaran and Lal-lo. To the north of Lal-lo the alluvium is to young to contain Neolithic sites. All of the Neolithic shell middens have been located either because they were exposed by the river cutting into them, or because they formed distinct, visible mounds. The middens are made up predominantly of shells of the Kabibe Clam, Batissa childreni, with smaller numbers of other Molluscs present, including the freshwater Snails Thiara rudis, Thiara winteri, Melanoides tuberculata, Melanoides granifera, and Melanoides maculata, the freshwater Clam Corbicula fluminea and the marine Clam Nitidotellina minuta. The largest shell middens are more than 5 m deep, and many overlie layers containing pottery or other Neolithic artifacts.

As well as the shell middens, there are a number of other archaeological sites in the region, particularly in the limestone hills to the east. These include deposits which run from the Preceramic to Metal Age periods, including evidence of interactions between foraging and farming communities. The largest of these sites is at Callao Cave, and includes remains attributed the Hominin Homo luzenonsis, which lived in the area more than 50 000 years ago.

The shell middens contain layers covering time intervals from the Preceramic to the Metal age, although no midden covers the whole of this period. The Gaerlan Midden, on the east side of the river 45 km upstream of its mouth, contains Preceramic and Neolithic layers, the latter containing potsherds, while the Lal-lo, Catugan, Irigayen, and Nagsabaran middens contain Neolithic and Metal Age layers, with the Neolithic layer, including red-slipped and incised pottery, extends downwards beyond the shell middens.

While none of the middens record the full 7000 years of occupation in the valley, some of the other archaeological sites might. For example the Pintú Rockshelter, 250 km to the south of Lal-lo, has a sequence of core-and-flake stone tools which appear to span the whole sequence, with pottery fragments in the middle and upper layers. Tadiocarbon dates obtained from the Pintú Rockshelter give dates from the Preceramic layers, of roughly 4960-3683 years ago, while layers containing 'reddish-orange ware' with stamped circles on the interior of the rims, similar to that found in the Cagayan Valley, appear between 4100 and 2949 years ago.

The oldest, Preceramic, shell midden layers are found at four sites, Ulet, Leodivico Capiña, Miguel Supnet and Gaerlan. These sites would have been close to a broader Cagayan Estuary between 7000 and 4200 (the estuary has moved northwards since this time as more sediment has been washed down the river and deposited). 

The oldest site, at Ulet, has yielded stone flakes but no pottery from a layer dated to between 6745 and 6495 years before the present. The Gaerlan site has a lower layer from which chert and andesite flakes have been recovered, which has been dated to 4295-4090 years before the present, overlain by a younger layer with red-slipped pottery fragments, dated to 4092-3687 years before the present.

The major archaeological sites and landscape changes through time in the lower Cagayan Valley: (1) Ulet; (2) Leodivico Capiña; (3) Callao Cave; (4) Musang Cave; (5) Arku Cave; (6) Miguel Supnet; (7) Gaerlan; (8) Nagsabaran; (9) Irigayen; (10) Magapit; (11) Pamittan; (12) Andarayan. Mike Carson in Hung et al. (2022).

The Leodivico Capiña and Miguel Supnet sites are 1.5 and 3 m deep shell middens on the west bank of the river which have yielded chert flakes and bones attributed to Wild Pigs, Deer, Rats, Birds, Turtles, and Fish, and Plant remains including nuts and tubers, but no evidence for cereals. When first discovered in the 1990s these sites were interpreted as Neolithic, due to the large amounts of pottery found in the topsoil above the middens, but neither has produced any pottery or other material associated with the Philippines Neolithic from the midden layers, and the sites are now considered to be Preceramic. Dates produced from material from the midden layers range from 7074 to 4514 years before the present.

Shell middens dating from over 7000 years ago to about 4500 years ago have been found in Vietnam, Thailand, Peninsula Malaysia, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Mindanao, and southern China. Many of these are associated with the skeletal remains of people thought to be of Melanesian affinities, and some sites in southern China and Vietnam have also included pottery. However, none of the Cagayan Valley sites of this age have produced either pottery or Human remains.

The location of the study area (lower Cagayan Valley, North Luzon), and the locations of representative (pre-farming) shell middens in southern China and Southeast Asia during the Middle Holocene, roughly 7000–4500 years before present. Hung et al. (2022).

The arrival of the Neolithic in the Cagayan Valley can be marked by the appearance of a complete new tool-set including pottery, baked clay spindle whorls, polished stone adzes, bark-cloth beakers, and a range of body ornaments including ear-pendants, bracelets, and beads made from shells, clay, schist, and semi-precious stones, including jade from Fegtian in eastern Taiwan. Stone tools from this period include few chert flakes, with most tools being highly polished.

Nagsabaran Metal Age Indo-Pacific glass beads (1), bronze bell-shaped ornaments (2), iron knife (3) and black pottery (4)–(12); Neolithic red-slipped pottery (13)–(14), clay spindle whorls (15)–(16), clay object (17), flaked chert (18)–(19), polished andesite adze (20), tuffaceous sandstone stepped-adze preform (21), green quartz schist beads (22) and Taiwan nephrite bracelet fragment (23). Scale bars are in centimetres. Hsiao-chun Hung in Hung et al. (2022).

The earliest of these sites can be dated to about 4200-4000 years before the present, with culturally similar sites of the same age also appearing in the Batanes Islands to the north. The Batanes Islands and Luzon are thought to have been settled at roughly the same time by people with a common linguistic and cultural heritage; however the two areas differ in that these were (as far as we can tell) the first people to settle the Batanes Islands, whereas the new arrivals on Luzon were entering a landscape already inhabited by an earlier, and culturally different, population.

The middens at Nagsbaran and Magapit contain layers assigned to the Neolithic contain the bones of Domestic Pigs, which have been dated to between 4448 and 4246 years before the present. These layers also contain remains of Rice, and Job's Tears (Adlay Millet or Chinese Pear Barley). Foxtail Millet is also present at Magapit - but does not appear till the Metal Age. A Rice grain from Magapit produced a radiocarbon date of 3200-3000 years before the present. Possible phytoliths (mineral grains that develop inside the leaves of a Plant) from Bananas were also found at Magapit.

Plant remains from Nagsabaran (a)–(c) and Magapit (d)–(f): (a) & (d) Rice, Oryza sativa, grains; (b) Foxtail Millet, Setaria italica, grain; (c) Job’s Tear, Coix lacryma-jobi, grain; (e) Rice spikelet base; (f) phytolith of cf. Musa sp.; item (b) is Metal Age, while all others are from Neolithic layers. Zenhua Deng in Hung et al. (2022).

Recent studies have uncovered evidence for mixed Rice and Millet agriculture during the Neolithic, from sites on the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong Province, China (dated to 4800-4600 years before the present), and Nanguanglidong in southern Taiwan (dated to more than 4500 years before the present).

The Andarayan site, which is about 80 km to the south of Magapit, has produced Neolithic red-slipped pottery from a layer which has yielded dates of 3935-3378 years before the present (from a Rice inclusion) and 3890-3060 years before the present (from a charcoal fragment). This provides three examples of Neolithic Rice production from separate sites within the Cagayan Valley, despite the alluvial plains being much smaller and less well developed at this time.

The Neolithic pottery fragments recovered from shell middens in the Cagayan Valley can be distinguished by the use of sand as a tempering agent (something added to clay to prevent pottery from cracking as it cools after baking) and the use of a red slip (a slurry added as an outer layer to form a sort of glaze). Similar pottery has been found at the Andarayan site, and at Chaolaiqiao in southeastern Taiwan, at Minanga Sipakko in West Sulawesi, and at Yinian on southeastern Hainan Island, where it has been dated to 3560-3380 years before the present. 

The presence of this distinctive pottery on Hainan is interesting, as Hainan has not previously considered to have been part of the Neolithic Austronesian expansion. The Tsat language spoken on Hainan was brought to the island by a population from northern Cham, in what is now Vietnam, fled to the island in 982 AD, following the fall of their capital to the Vietnamese. The minority Hlai people of the island speak a language called  Kra-Dai, which some linguists have suggested is related to Austronesian languages, and in particular languages from the Malayo-Polynesian branch of Austronesia, which are spoken across Island Southeast Asia. 

About 1% of the red-slipped ware from sites in the Cagayan Valley is also marked with incised and impressed decorations, and stamped geometric shapes. The most common patterns are rows of rounded or pointed impressions, intermixed with round stamps, sometimes within fields outlined with incised lines. These patterns are most common around the rims, shoulders, and feet of the vessels, where they form strait or zigzagged lines, or sometimes other geometric patterns. Some of the impressions contain traces of a white infill.

Examples of this pottery have been found in the shell middens at Gaerlan, Irigayen, Nagsabaran, and Magapit. The precise date at which such pottery appears is impossible to determine, but based upon stratigraphic extrapolation from radiocarbon dated material, Hung et al. place this somewhere between 3700 and 3500 years before the present. 

Pottery with similar patterns, including the presence of white infill material, has been found at the Neolithic sites of Man Bac and Xom Ren in Vietnam, where it has been dated to between 3900 and 3500 years before the present, although this pottery lacks the red slip seen on the pottery from Luzon and elsewhere in Island Southeast Asia. Baked clay earings of similar form have also been found in both Cagayan sites and northern Vietnam, further supporting the idea of contact between these areas in the Neolithic.

Red-slipped pottery (1)–(5), (7)–(9) & (11)–(14) and associated Rice, Oryza sativa, remains (6) & (15) phytoliths, (10) grain, from Chaolaiqiao, Nagsabaran, Yinian and Minanga Sipakko. Incised and impressed red-slipped pottery from Magapit: (16) open-mouthed pot on a pedestal, shown upside-down to reveal the stamped circles and possible fingernail impression decoration; (17) punctate-stamped sherd with lime or white clay infill in decoration; (18) sherd also displaying traces of white infill in incised lozenge motif with punctate infilling and impressed circles. Similarly decorated, red-slipped pottery from Nagsabaran (19)–(20) and Xom Ren (26)–(30) but without red slip. Baked clay earrings from Nagsabaran (21)–(25) and similar from Thach Lac (31)–(34). Hung et al. (2022).

Overlaying the Neolithic layers with red-slipped pottery at many of the Cagayan Valley sites, are later layers with black-slipped pottery. This can be achieved by firing the clay in an oxygen-deprived environment, possibly beneath Rice husks. This pottery is associated with metal objects, including iron blades and bronze ornaments, as well as monochrome glass beads. The origin of these metal objects is uncertain, but the glass beads, and similar glass beads from elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, are thought to originate from South Asia or Mainland Southeast Asia.

Although the black-slipped and red-slipped potteries are distinct in form, the Magapit and Nagsabaran sites contain transitional layers, with both types of pottery present, suggesting that one did not suddenly displace the other. In addition, studies of DNA obtained from skeletal remains at Nagsabaran show affinities with the modern Ami people of eastern Taiwan, supporting the idea that there was a genetic continuity from the Neolithic into the metal age, despite the cultural change, although no DNA has been recovered from Neolithic skeletons in the area. 

The shell middens of the lower Cagayan Valley provide a unique archaeological resource within the Philippines, giving a more-or-less continuous record from the Preceramic hunter-gatherers of the Middle Holocene (roughly 7000 years ago), through the Neolithic and Metal Age periods into recent times; modern villagers in the area still consume shellfish and contribute to shell middens.

By the advent of the Neolithic, many of these shell middens were already covered large areas and were several metres deep. Similar shell middens are also known from other sites in South China, Vietnam, and Malaysia, but these were largely abandoned during the Neolithic, following the adoption of a Rice-farming lifestyle, whereas those in the Cagayan Valley continued to grow.

The Neolithic inhabitants of Luzon Island are known to have been highly skilled in the production and use of canoes, and to have produced a type of red-slipped pottery also found far from the island; examples have been found on Hainan Island 1000 km to the west, in the Mariana Islands, 2500 km to the east, on Sulawesi 1200 km to the south, and in the Bismark Archipelago, 3500 km to the southeast. This strongly supports the idea that, while Taiwan is still the undisputed ancestral homeland of the Austronesian language family and Malayo-Polynesian peoples, the island of Luzon, and in particular the Cagayan Valley, were very important steps in their early dispersal.

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Investigating the origins of sedentism and plant cultivation in northeast China.

The transition to a sedentary way of life and the domestication of plants is arguably the most significant ‘revolution’ in human history. This transition gradually resulted in a dramatic increase of population size and density, in craft specialisation and the division of labour and the initiation of social dynamics and the accumulation of resources that are linked to the development of socio-political stratification. The processes, mechanisms and possible drivers of a transition from one subsistence mode to another have long been at the forefront of anthropological and archaeological research. Three hypotheses have been proposed to explain such transitions. The first suggests that stress, induced either by deteriorating environmental conditions (the ‘oasis hypothesis’) or by population increase led to an overexploitation of the environment and forced innovation. A current example is the optimal foraging theory and the diet breadth model, which predict that a transition to a delayed returns system (i.e. long-term tending resources) will occur during times of scarce resources, promoting a border dietary range. The second hypothesis argues that transitions occur at times of enhanced resources. A current example is the cultural niche construction theory, which claims that organisms shape their environment during stable or affluent times, these allow experimentation with locally available resources, which improve crop yield and eventually lead to domestication. The third hypothesis argues that transitions occur as a result of socioeconomic competition and are not affected by external forcings.

In a paper published in the journal PLoS One on 18 July 2019, Gideon Shelach-Lavi of the Department of Asian Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Center for Frontier Archaeology at Jilin University, Mingyu Teng, also of the Center for Frontier Archaeology at Jilin University, Yonaton Goldsmith of the Department of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology, and the Institute of Earth Sciences at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ido Wachtel of the Department of Archaeology at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Chris Stevens of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, Ofer Marder of the Department of Bible Studies at Ben-Gurion University, Xiongfei Wan of the Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics, Xiaohong Wu of the School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University, Dongdong Tu, again of the Department of Asian Studies ar The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Roi Shavit, also of the Department of Bible Studies at Ben-Gurion University, Pratigya Polissar of the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Hai Xu of the Institute of Surface-Earth System Science at Tianjin University, and Dorian Fuller, also of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, present evidence for the timing, duration and environmental conditions of the onset of sedentism and plant cultivation in northern China, the second oldest center of domestication in the Old World.

Shelach-Levi et al. address the first two hypotheses by examining whether the onset of sedentism and cultivation occurred at a time of stress or affluent conditions and whether these environmental conditions were stable or fluctuating. They assume that the limiting environmental parameter is rainfall and thus we focus on the timing of rainfall changes and human settlement patterns at the onset of sedentism and cultivation in north China. They acknowledge the possibility that temperature might have also played a role in restricting Millet growth, however, as the magnitude, timing and seasonal structure of temperature change in north China in uncertain, they focus on rainfall. The combination of high-resolution archaeological and palaeoclimatic data enable to test the theoretical frameworks of the onset of sedentism, domestication and population increase.

North China is one of a few centres in the world where complex agricultural systems emerged independently. The native staple grains are two types of Millet (Foxtail and Broomcorn), however, the date, process and the palaeoclimatic context of their domestication are debated. Shelach-Levi et al. focus on northeast China because currently the earliest undisputed examples of domesticated Millet grains and the most extensive evidence for early Millet consumption have been found in this region, at sites of the Xinglongwa culture.

Early research in north China began in the 1970s and focused on the middle reaches of the Yellow River. It identified remains of early Neolithic sedentary societies of the 7th and 6th millennia BC, which were sorted into a series of ‘cultures’, most notably Cishan and Peiligang. These findings focused attention to this area – which classical Chinese tradition identifies as ‘the cradle of Chinese civilization’, the birthplace of agriculture from whence it spread to other regions in north and central China. By the late 1980s, it became clear that contemporaneous sedentary societies also existed in other regions of north China, including the Houli culture in the lower Yellow River area and the Xinglongwa culture in Northeast China. In recent years even earlier phases of the 'Neolithic' period were identified in the different sub-regions of North China, such as the Xiaohexi phase in the northeast, but those are not well studied and are poorly dated. While substantial archaeological knowledge of sedentary prehistoric societies has been presented, the earlier phases that preceded the sedentary cultures and the transition process from mobile to sedentary societies remains mostly obscure. To address these developments and their context during the important phase of the transition to agriculture, Shelach-Levi et al. integrate novel data from the excavations of two early Neolithic sites, the results of two high-resolution archaeological surveys in northeast China and novel palaeoclimatic data.

Over the past 20 years, four high-resolution, detailed, large-scale regional archaeological surveys have been conducted in northeast China. Shelach-Levi et al. focus on the surveys conducted around the modern cities of Chifeng, in Inner Mongolia, and Fuxin, in Liaoning Province, because these are the only surveys that recovered evidence of the earlier phases of sedentism. These surveys were designed to systematically recover data that enable population estimates and the reconstruction of local socio-political trajectories. The full area was systematically surveyed on foot (at a 50 and 20 m resolution), the locations and densities of pottery shards and stone tools were mapped, counted and statistically analyzed. A total pottery amount was calculated for each period by integrating the area of the occupied territory, the density of artifacts and the length of each period. These results provide a direct reconstruction of population trajectory in these two regions and present a qualitative demographic history of northeast China. The earliest sites found in both regions are those attributed to the Xiaohexi phase and the Xinglongwa culture, which represents the earliest phase of sedentism in this region. The combined results of the two surveys demonstrate a rapid increase in population and the complexity of village society following the initial stage of sedentism.

Map of the survey areas and the palaeoclimate records discussed. Shelach-Levi et al. (2019).

To evaluate the timing and socio-economic processes involved in the transition to sedentism, Shelach-Levi et al. excavated two single-occupation sites discovered during our survey in the Fuxin area. Those sites capture the onset and earliest phases of sedentism.

At the earlier site, 12D56 (also named Jiajiagou west site 贾家沟西遗址), the excavation exposed a single-occupation, irregular-oval structure of ~3.5 m in diameter, which contained ash, pottery and stone tools. Based on seven ¹⁴C ages, the site was occupied between 7900 and 7750 years ago (5900-5750 BC). This is the first time that a Xiaohexi phase site is radiocarbon dated. Previous research, based on ceramic typology, suggest dates in the 7th and even 8th millennium BC, but according to Shelach-Levi et al.'s findings the date of this phase cannot be earlier than 6,000 BC. The shape of the structure we excavated is also different from the supposedly rectangular structures reported for some Xiaohexi sites. At some of those sites the rectangular structures may belong to a later Xinglongwa occupation and in others the report is not detailed enough to examine the shape of the structures. Thus, it is possible that in other sites as well, structures were oval or that both oval and rectangular shape structure existed during this period.

The 12D56 site. Plans of the excavation site showing the structures excavated (solid lines are places where the perimeter of the structure was excavated, dashed lines represent extrapolation of the structure parameter and are provided as context reference, shading is pottery density (shard/m²). Shelach-Levi et al. (2019).

About three hundred potshards were excavated from this site. There are are crude, soft and crumbly, similar in style and quality to those known from other Xiaohexi sites. Most shards are unadorned, but a few pots are decorated with appliqué and narrow bands of diagonal incisions. 330 stone artifacts were also recovered, including ground and chipped stone tools. Of the ground stone tools, almost 80% are spades. Although no use-wear analysis was done, the fact that those artifacts, which are not known from earlier periods in the region, are so dominate suggest that they are associated with new set of activities, probably related to the clearance of woods and the cultivation of the land Similar artifacts are known form other site dated to the Xiaohexi phase.

Artifacts excavated at site 12D56. Stone artifacts (upper half) and pot shards (lower half). Shelach-Levi et al. (2019).

Floral remains from the site consist of a predominance of wild fruits and nuts and a small amount of wild Panicum Millet (Panicum miliaceum ruderale). The two seeds that were recovered are small in size and are representative of what is expected of grains from early cultivated plants in the initial process of domestication.

At the later site, 12D16 (also named Tachiyingzi site 塔尺营子遗址), Shelach-Levi et al. excavated an area of ~40 m² out of a much larger site. Based on ten ¹⁴C ages, the site was occupied between 7.5–7.4  thousand years ago (5500-5400 BC). The area excavated contained a rectangular structure measuring about 7.5 × 6.5 m and remains of at least one additional structure. The shape of the structure is identical to those known from the nearby site of Chahi (查海), where a large area of the site was exposed revealing a densely occupied Xinglongwa period village.

The 12D16 site. Plans of the excavation site showing the structures excavated (solid lines are places where the perimeter of the structure was excavated, dashed lines represent extrapolation of the structure parameter and are provided as context reference, shading is pottery density (shard/m²). Shelach-Levi et al. (2019).

The structure in this area was severely burned during or after its abandonment and remains found on its floor indicate that it was supported and covered with large oak beams. On its floor Shelach-Levi et al. recovered 22 complete ceramic vessels of typical Xinglongwa culture. The quality of ceramic production is high and most are highly decorated with incised motifs. The stone artifacts are more abundant and diverse than those of site 12D56 (1003 such artifacts were found at site 12D16), and show evidence for highly standardised pressure bladelets produced on-site, as a household routine. The ground stone assemblage consists of grinding stones, polished axes and adzes, spades, pounders and hammer-stones.

Artifacts excavated at site 12D16. Stone artifacts (upper half) and ceramic vessels (lower half). Shelach-Levi et al. (2019).

Floral remains include a few millet seeds but are predominantly composed of wild fruits and nuts. Sixteen millet grains are identified as Common Millet (Panicum miliaceum). Their size is small, on average 1.25–1.70 mm in length and 1.05–1.40 mm in width, closer to the wild type Panicum (Panicum miliaceum ruderale) than to modern domesticated Broomcorn. These grains seem to represent plants that are not yet fully domesticated, but represent an early phase in a sequence of size change expected to take 2–3 thousand years.

Remains of Common Millet (Panicum miliaceum) from site 12D16. Shelach-Levi et al. (2019).

To evaluate northeast China’s palaeo-hydroclimate during the transition to domestication and sedentism, Shelach-Levi et al. integrated data from Dali lake-level to provide an estimate of rainfall change, and Lianhua Cave oxygen isotopes to provide continuous, high-resolution absolute dating. In addition, they analysed the isotopic contents of soil alkanes from both archaeological sites, which primarily records the isotopic composition of rainfall. Alkanes are organic compounds produced in leaf waxes incorporating oxygen and hydrogen derived from water. These can be preserved in in soils and give a record of the ratios of different isotopes of the elements within the local water when the plant was growing. When air masses hit areas of high ground and are uplifted, they cool and preferentially precipitate moisture with the heavier isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen, thus the ratio of these isotopes in the preserved alkanes in the soil gives a measure of how high up and how far from the source water the soil was when it formed. The palaeoclimate records show similar hydroclimate patterns. Between 9000 and 8100 years ago (7000-6100 BC) relatively dry conditions prevailed in northeast China. Between 8100 and 7900 years ago (6100-5900 BC) a sharp substantial increase in rainfall amount occurred. The Lianhua Cave record shows a 2.5‰ (2.5 parts per thousand) isotope change at 8100 years ago (6100 BC), which is only comparable in magnitude to the transition from the Younger Dryas to the Early Holocene at 11 500 years ago (9500 BC). The soil alkanes are more depleted in heavy isotopes at the later 12D16 site than the the earlier 12D56 site and is thus in agreement with the other records. The relatively wet conditions prevailed for  about 400 years. A decrease in rainfall amount occurred between 7550 and 7400 years ago (5550-5400 BC). This transition appears in both records, though the timing of the rainfall decline differs by about 150 years.

The onset of sedentism, cultivation and the early phase of domestication in northeast China is an important test case for studying the theoretical frameworks for the transition to agriculture. The transition to sedentism in the Xiaohexi phase is defined by investment in permanent structures, unknown in this region in prior periods, the dramatic increase in the production of pottery found at all sites in relatively large quantities, and the presence of large grinding stones. The empirical coincidence of the onset of sedentism and cultivation about 7900 years ago (5900 BC) with the transition to a significantly wetter climate between 8100 and 7900 years ago (6100-5900 BC) suggests that affluent conditions played an important role in facilitating the onset of these processes in northeast China. Shelach-Levi et al.'s results suggest that in northeast China, fundamental and multi-scale changes occurred not due to necessity or stress but rather under stress-free affluent conditions and thus support the affluency hypothesis. Such plentiful resources allowed Human communities to settle down in one place and enhance their interaction with their immediate environment, without the need to migrate in search of food.

The Xinglongwa culture thrived throughout this affluent period and declined within a century from the end of the wetter condition. This strengthens the notion that affluent climatic conditions were an important factor in the ability of this culture to thrive.

Sedentism and plant cultivation initiated simultaneously, but sedentism and the development of a complex village society matured much faster. The initial phase of sedentism, in the Xiaohexi phase is typified by small sites with makeshift irregular-shaped huts, which suggest low investment in construction and perhaps short life-use. This phase rapidly transitioned into the full-fledged Xinglongwa culture in which large scale-villages containing up to 40 domestic structures, represent an increase in community size that coincided with a rapid increase of regional population levels. Rectangular domestic structures, like the one excavated at site 12D16, and community-wide projects, such as the ditch that surrounded the Chahai site, suggest substantial investment, and communal construction efforts.

Simultaneous processes, such as the intensification of craft production and improvement of ceramic and stone tool technologies, suggest a development of craft specialisation and economic intensification. Similar developments are known from other parts of north China, suggesting that the processes described by Shelach-Levi et al. were shared by many contemporaneous societies.

The process of plant domestication progressed at a much slower pace. Elsewhere, researchers argue for an earlier date of Millet domestication and use in other regions of North China. However, because they use different types of data it is difficult to compare their results to those of Shelach-Levi et al. According to their study, evidence for its initiation (i.e. collection of plants that later will be domesticated and probably the cultivation of wild plants) is found at site 12D56, even after 500 years it was not yet completed at site 12D16. Moreover, the percentage of domesticated foods seems to have remained limited even during the height of the Xinglongwa period. Shelach-Levi et al.'s results disagree with earlier studies that found Human bone carbon isotopes from the Xinglongwa period suggestive of a grain (possibly Millet) dominated diet. Future research will be needed to resolve these contradictions. Recent evidence from other parts of North China suggest that like the process Shelach-Levi et al. describe for the Fuxin area, there too the trajectory of domestication and transition to agriculture was relatively long. In the initial phases, addressed by Shelach-Levi et al., it was not domestication per-se which was important but the cultivation of the land (indicated by the large number of spades found at site 12D56) and the harvesting and consumption of durable food resources such as seeds (of domesticated and wild plants), nuts (such as Acorn and Walnut) and wild fruits (Apricot, Amur Cork). Those resources were collected in large quantities, stored for long periods, and thus enable a year-long occupation of the same site and the stable support of larger communities. Based on the data they collected, Shelach-Levi et al. suggest that the suite of traits that found in the earliest phase sedentism, expansion into new types of food resources and perhaps cultivation, were the driving force behind domestication and not vice-versa.

The archaeological, botanical and palaeoclimatic data presented above help clarify the context of the transition to a sedentary way of life, plant cultivation and initial stages of plant domestication in Northeast China. The multi-dimensional nature of Shelach-Levi et al.'s data allow them to suggest that these processes occurred during a period of comparative affluence that enabled population increase and experimentation with new resources and technologies. Our botanical findings support the view that the domestication process took a long time after Humans started cultivating plants, as has been demonstrated for several other crops in other regions, and that not all the plants that were initially cultivated or intensively collected were botanically transformed and became domesticated. These observations, which may not be true for all cases of independent transitions to sedentary agricultural societies, are crucial for a global view of the evolution of Human society. They suggest that at least in some cases, fundamental and multi-scale changes occurred not due to necessity or under stress but rather because of opportunities to experiment and expand under stress-free affluent conditions.

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