Journal article
The potential of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of foxtail and broomcorn millets for investigating ancient farming systems
- Abstract:
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Foxtail and broomcorn millets are the most important crops in northern China since the early Neolithic. However, little evidence is available on how people managed these two crops in the past, especially in prehistory. Previous research on major C3 crops in western Eurasia demonstrated the potential of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of charred archaeobotanical remains to reveal the management of water and manure, respectively. Here, we evaluate the feasibility of a similar approach to C4 millets. Foxtail and broomcorn millet plants grown in pots in a greenhouse under different manuring and watering regimes were analysed to test the effects of management on stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values of grains. Stable nitrogen isotope values of both millets increased as manuring level increased, ranging from 1.7 ‰ to 5.8 ‰ in different conditions; hence, it appears a feasible tool to identify manuring practices, in agreement with results from recent field studies. However, the two millets exhibit opposing trends in stable carbon isotope values as watering level increased. The shift in stable carbon isotope values of millets is also smaller than that observed in wheat grown in the same experimental environment, making it difficult to identify millet water status archaeologically. In addition, we charred millet grains at different temperatures and for varying durations to replicate macro-botanical remains recovered archaeologically, and to evaluate the offsets in carbon and nitrogen isotope values induced by charring. We found that the stable nitrogen isotope values of foxtail millet and broomcorn millet can shift up to 1–2 ‰ when charred, while the stable carbon isotope values change less than 0.3 ‰. Overall, we demonstrate that stable nitrogen isotope values of charred foxtail and broomcorn millet seeds could provide insight into past field management practices, and both carbon and nitrogen isotope values can together inform palaeodietary reconstruction.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Supplementary materials, pdf, 245.0KB, Terms of use)
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 9.1MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.3389/fpls.2022.1018312
Authors
- Publisher:
- Frontiers Media
- Journal:
- Frontiers in Plant Science More from this journal
- Volume:
- 13
- Article number:
- 1018312
- Publication date:
- 2022-10-19
- Acceptance date:
- 2022-10-03
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1664-462X
- Pmid:
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36340416
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1300839
- Local pid:
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pubs:1300839
- Deposit date:
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2022-11-22
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Dong et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2022
- Rights statement:
- © 2022 Dong, Bi, Wu, Belfield, Harberd, Christensen, Charles and Bogaard. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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