Proceeding of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America,2009
Earliest domestication of common millet (Panicum miliaceum) in East Asia extended to 10,000 years ago

Houyuan Lu,Jianping Zhang,Kam-biu Liu,Naiqin Wu,Yumei Li,Kunshu Zhou,Maolin Ye,Tianyu Zhang,Haijiang Zhang,Xiaoyan Yang,Licheng Shen,Deke Xu and Quan Li

Abstract

The origin of millet from Neolithic China has generally been accepted, but it remains unknown whether common millet (Panicum miliaceum) or foxtail millet (Setaria italica) was the first species domesticated. Nor do we know the timing of their domestication and their routes of dispersal. Here, we report the discovery of husk phytoliths and biomolecular components identifiable solely as common millet from newly excavated storage pits at the Neolithic Cishan site, China, dated to between ca. 10,300 and ca. 8,700 calibrated years before present (cal yr BP). After ca. 8,700 cal yr BP, the grain crops began to contain a small quantity of foxtail millet. Our research reveals that the common millet was the earliest dry farming crop in East Asia, which is probably attributed to its excellent resistance to drought.