On the Holocene record of phytoliths of wild and cultivated rice from ganga plain : evidence for rice-based agriculture

Abstract

Evidence of rice -based agriculture is recorded in the form of phytoliths from about 10 kyrs BP to present succession of Lahuradewa lake deposits, Sant Kabir Nagar district, Ganga Plain. Bulliform phytoliths are considered to be of rice, where distinction between wild rice (Oryza rufipogon) and cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) has been made using the criterion of number of scale-like ornamentation on the edges of fan -shaped phytoliths. The wild rice phytoliths are present since about 10300 cal. yrs BP, while cultivated rice phytoliths appear 8350 cal. yrs BP. U pward in the profile, cultivated rice phytoliths increase with a simultaneous decrease in the wild rice phytoliths. This indicates the beginning of rice cultivation in the Ganga Plain around 8350 cal. yrs, which supports the presence of cultivated rice at Lahuradewa archaeological site, dated 8360 cal. yrs BP.