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Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (2011) 470e479

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Journal of Archaeological Science

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Investigation of ancient noodles, cakes, and millet at the Subeixi Site, Xinjiang,China

Yiwen Gong a, Yimin Yang a, David K. Ferguson b, Dawei Tao a, Wenying Li c, Changsui Wang a, Enguo Lü c,Hongen Jiang a,*

aDepartment of Scientific History and Archaeometry, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, Chinab Institute of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090 Vienna, AustriacXinjiang Institute of Archaeology, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, Urumchi 830011, China

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 19 May 2010Received in revised form30 September 2010Accepted 4 October 2010

Keywords:ArchaeobotanyStarch grain analysisPhytolith analysisFood processing

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ86 10 88256417.E-mail address: jianghongen@gucas.ac.cn (H. Jiang

0305-4403/$ e see front matter � 2010 Elsevier Ltd.doi:10.1016/j.jas.2010.10.006

a b s t r a c t

Ancient foodstuffs, including noodles, cakes, and common millet, were excavated from the SubeixiCemeteries (cal. 500e300 years BC), Turpan District in Xinjiang, China. Starch grain and phytolithanalyses were undertaken to identify the plant species involved. These indicate that the noodles andcakes were made from Panicum miliaceum. Ancient food preparation technologies were also investigatedby cooking experiments.

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1. Introduction

Food is fundamental for all humanactivities, economyand society.Cereal crops are of great importance and have been exploited fornearly 10,000 years (Lu et al., 2009a; Piperno, 2009). With the use offire and grindstones, large amounts of cereals were consumed andtransformed into staple foods (Samuel, 2000; Hu et al., 2008). Thegrinding process, mixing with water and cooking represented animportant step forward in human nutrition (Wright, 1994; Pipernoet al., 2004). In most cases, cereal crops were preserved only whencharred, desiccated, orwaterlogged, so they are rarely discovered andancient food production was seldom studied. However, there areseveral important exceptions. For example, Samuel (1996) investi-gated ancient Egyptian baking and brewing methods throughdesiccated bread loaves and beer remains, and illustrated thecomplexity of ancient Egyptian cereal food processing. Helbaekexamined the buns from Iron Age Glastonbury, England and isolatedfragments of wheat, barley, and wild oats (Renfrew, 1973). Lu et al.(2005) studied the Late Neolithic millet noodles in northwesternChina, which are different from modern Italian pasta and Asiannoodlesmade from durumwheat (Triticum turgidumvar. durum) andbread wheat (Triticum aestivum) respectively. Cakes were excavated

).

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in some cemeteries in Xinjiang, China, for instance, pancakes ofcommonmillet from Sampula Cemetery, about 2000 cal. BP (XUARMand XIA, 2001), andwheat cakes dating from the Tang Dynasty in theAstana Cemetery (618-907AD) (XIA, 1983), but no detailed analyseshave been undertaken in these cases. These kinds of desiccated foodremains were rarely preserved throughout the world. These recordsfrom archaeological sites provide important opportunities to revealthe ingredients of the food remains and investigate the ancient foodpreparation techniques.

Although plant remains were not commonly preserved, plantmicrofossils could provide valuable information that can compensatefor the rare occurrence of macrofossils. Likewise, in cases of desic-cated food remains,macrobotanical analysis is insufficient to identifythe plant source of the food remains, andmicrobotanical analysis hashuge advantages in analyzing the plant microfossils and identifyingplant species. Starch grain and phytolith analyses are two importanttechniques used in archaeobotany. Starch grain analysis can beemployed to reconstruct tool functions (Barton et al., 1998; Perry,2002, 2004; Barton, 2007), subsistence patterns and plant domesti-cation (Ugentet al.,1982,1986;PipernoandHolst,1998;Pipernoetal.,2000; Pearsall et al., 2004; Perry et al., 2007; Zarrillo et al., 2008),patterns of land use (Balme and Beck, 2002; Lentfer et al., 2002),ancient human diet through dental calculus (Henry and Piperno,2008; Piperno and Dillehay, 2008), etc. Moreover, as themorphologyof starchgrain is changedbydifferent cookingprocesses,it could be used to interpret ancient food production techniques

Table 1Radiocarbon dating of the cemeteries and site (cited from Lü, 2006).

Lab No. Sample C14 Age BP Calendar Age cal BP

IM3 Unclear in the original reference 2225 � 70 2220 � 85IM13 Legs of corpse bed 2395 � 80 2420 � 90IIIM15 Wooden lid of the tomb 2280 � 85 2285 � 90IIIM15 Corpse bed at the bottom of the tomb 2480 � 85 2520 � 95F1 A stick in the sediment 2310 � 85 2320 � 95

Y. Gong et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (2011) 470e479 471

(Samuel, 1996, 2006; Valamoti et al., 2008; Henry et al., 2009;Messner and Schindler, 2010). Phytolith analysis is another versatiletechniqueemployed to identify plant species in studiesof ancientdiet(Hart and Matson, 2009), farming practices (Itzstein-Davey et al.,2007; Harvey and Fuller, 2005), foddering (Rosen, 2001), andconstruction materials (Rosen, 2008). Moreover, these two methodswere usually combined together to enhance the accuracy of identi-fication and provide more detailed information about palaeodiet,palaeoenvironment and different aspects of ancient society (Lu et al.,2005; Fullagar et al., 2006; Holst et al., 2007).

Turpan, located in the northwest of China, is an importantcultural communication centre between East and Central Asia. Dueto the extremely dry environment, large quantities of plant remainswere desiccated and well preserved. Many significant plantremains have been studied, such as Panicum miliaceum, Hordeumvulgare var nudum, T. aestivum L., Cannabis sativa L., Lithospermumofficinale L., Capparis spinosa L., Vitis vinifera L., etc. (Jiang et al.,2006, 2007a,b,c, 2009). However, no processed food remainswere unearthed at these sites. The ancient food remains, includingnoodles and cakes recovered from the Subeixi Site, provide directevidence for the food preparation techniques of the indigenouspeople of Xinjiang more than 2000 years ago.

2. Site description

The Subeixi Site is located in the Turpan Basin, ShanshanCounty, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The Turpan Basin issurrounded by the Heavenly Mountains (Tian Shan), and is near theFlaming Mountains (Huoyan Shan) (Fig. 1). The Turpan District ischaracterized by a typical continental desert climate, with anannual precipitation of 25.2 mm, while the evaporation rate is ashigh as 2500 mm. As a result, the climate is so dry that manymummies and plant remains have been well preserved withoutdecaying. The Subeixi Site lies in the Tuyugou Valley, containingthree remains of houses and three cemeteries. The dwellings andthe Nos.1 and 2 cemeteries were excavated after 1980, and followedby a series of investigations (TIACR, 1984). No.3 cemetery wasdiscovered in 1992 during road building, and then excavated by theXinjiang Institute of Archaeology and other institutions under thedirection of Professor Enguo Lü (XIA and MT, 2002).

Three houses were excavated at the site, two of which consist ofthree separate rooms each. House No.1 is rectangular and13.6m� 8.1m in size. In thewest room, an oblong troughwas foundnear thewestwall, so the roommay have functioned as a byre. In the

Fig. 1. Site location map. (adapted fr

middle room, a hearth was found on the east side of the door. Apottery kiln, a circular tank, two rectangular shallow tanks and threelarge roundpitswere excavated in the east roomofHouseNo.1,whichcould have been a pottery workshop. The unearthed objects arelargely household pottery and stone tools, including 23 grindstonesand 15 pestles. Houses Nos. 2 and 3 were badly preserved, with fewartifacts. To the north of the site is the No.1 cemetery, where fourearth-pit tombsanda cave-cum-shaft gravewere excavated. TheNo.2cemetery is about 600m to thewest of the site, containing 40 tombs,mostofwhichwere robbed. TheNo.3 cemetery,which lies to thewestof the site, includes 29 earth-pit tombs and a cave-cum-shaft grave.The funerary objects include ceramic vessels, some of which con-tained food remains, wooden wares, a small number of ironware,stone tools, bone artifacts, and woolen/leather articles. The radio-carbon measurements date the cemeteries and site occupation toaround 500e300 BC (Table 1). The results are consistent with the ageof the Subeixi Culture (Lü, 2006). The site and cemeteries are verynear, with noother site or cemetery in the vicinity, and the unearthedartifacts from the site and cemeteries are similar in type, shape,decorative pattern, colouring, and processing, therefore, the Subeixisite belonged to the same period as the cemeteries and the housescould have been occupied by the people who were buried in thecemeteries after death.

Judging from the preserved mummies, most of them resembletypical Europeans, with light-coloured hair, deep-set eyes, andprotruding noses. Of the 19 mummies examined, only three areMongolian. Together with the cereal remains, many bows, arrows,saddles, leather chest-protectors, boots, and clothes suggestive ofa nomadic lifestyle were excavated in many tombs. Similar tombswere discovered throughout the Turpan Basin such as the Sange-qiao, Yanghai, Kageqiake, Aidinghu, Jiaohe, Alagou Sites (Russoet al., 2008). These sites are very close in period, locality andcultural features, and all of them help to build a picture of SubeixiCulture of Early Iron Age in northwestern China.

om Jiang et al., 2006, modified).

Fig. 2. Line drawings of tombs where the materials were unearthed. (a) IM10, showing the noodles (arrow) in the earthenware bowl (M10:3) on top of a wooden chopping board;(b) The upper layer ofIM11, showing the cakes (arrow) in the earthenware bowl (M11:1); (c) The bottom layer of III M27, showing the fruits of millet (arrow) in the earthenware bowl(M27:8). (adapted from XIA and MT, 2002, reprepared by Mr. Xinyong Chen).

Y. Gong et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (2011) 470e479472

3. Materials and methods

IM10 is an earth-pit tomb in No.1 cemetery, coveredwith 15 logsand reeds. The skeleton of an adult male was buried, with pottery,wooden wares, a knife, bows and arrows, a saddle and bridle, anda sweater as grave gifts. Noodles were placed in an earthenwarebowl on top of a wooden chopping board to the upper left of hishead (Figs. 2a and 3a).

IM11 is an earth-pit tomb in No.1 cemetery, with two layers. Theskeleton of an adultmalewas buried in the upper layerwithwooden

Fig. 3. Materials chosen for archaeobotanical analysis. (a) Noodles in the earthenware bowlearthenware bowl from III M27:8; (d) Noodles chosen for archaeobotanical analysis. Scale barthe middle is named Cake 1 in this paper, the khaki-coloured one on the left is Cake 2, and tcaryopsis of Panicum miliaceum from III M27. Scale bar ¼ 1 mm (Photos aec supplied by P

wares, a ceramic pot, and a sheep’s head. Cakes were found in anearthenware bowl to the right of his head, including 9 long-ellipticalcakes and 26 round ones (Figs. 2b and 3b). Three skeletons wereexcavated in the lower layer, including skeletons of an adult maleand female, and a skeleton of a child. The burial articles arepotteries,wooden wares, an iron aw, and a leather scabbard.

III M27 is an earth-pit tomb in No.3 cemetery, consisting of threelayers. The skeletons of an adult male, a female and an infant wereburied in the upper layer. The skeleton of another adult female wasfound in themiddle layerwith a sheep’s head and a kettle. A skeleton

from M10:3; (b) Cakes in the earthenware bowl fromIM11:1; (c) Fruits of millet in the¼ 2 cm; (e) Three cakes chosen for archaeobotanical analysis. The long-elliptical one in

he brown-coloured one on the right is Cake 3. Scale bar ¼ 2 cm; (f) Photomicrograph ofrof. Enguo Lü).

Table 2Description of the materials studied.

Material Sample no. Description

Noodles IM10:3 6.4 � 0.7 � 0.3 cm,Khaki in colour.

Cake 1 IM11:1 4.5 � 1.6 cm, 0.7e1.1 cm inthickness, long-elliptical in shape,Brown in colour.

Cake 2 IM11:1 2.5 cm in diameter, 1.2 cm in thickness,with pit on one side, Khaki in colour.

Cake 3 IM11:1 2.6 cm in diameter, 1.2 cm in thickness,with pit on one side, Brown in colour.

Millet IIIM27:8 Placed in a ceramic bowl, beige in colour.

Y. Gong et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (2011) 470e479 473

of an old man lay at the bottom, with pottery, wooden utensils,ironware, roasted sheep’shead, andabowandarrows in thequiveronhis right. Fruits of millet were placed in an earthenware bowl to theleft of his waist (Figs. 2c and 3c).

Five samples were chosen for macrobotanical and micro-botanical analyses, including noodles fromIM10:3, some cakes ofdifferent shape fromIM11:1, and a few fruits of millet from III M27:8(Fig. 3 and Table 2). Based on visual inspection, the cakes fromM11:1 can be divided into three types, long-elliptical brown ones,round brown ones, and round khaki ones, therefore, one cake fromeach of the three types was chosen for analysis. All the abovematerials were deposited in the Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology.For comparative studies, modern samples of common millet (P.miliaceum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), wheat (T. aestivum), barley(Hordeum vulgare) and naked barley (H. vulgare var. nudum) wereselected. These voucher specimens are kept in the Laboratory of theDepartment of Scientific History and Archaeometry, CAS, Beijing.Archaeological materials of P. miliaceum from the Yingpan Tomb ofXinjiang, which were also selected for comparative study, aredeposited in the Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology.

3.1. Macrobotanical identification

Length, width and depth of the fruits were measured witha vernier caliper. The fruits were observed and photographed undera stereomicroscope.

3.2. Microbotanical analysis

To determine the taxa that were used for the preparation of thenoodles and cakes, their starch grains and phytolithswere analyzed.Morphological identification of starch grains and phytoliths wasbased on our modern reference collections of plants native to thestudy region and published keys, such as Yang et al., 2005, 2009;Henry et al., 2009; Lu et al., 2009b etc.

Starch grain analysis was carried out on all five samples, andeach sample was processed following the procedures below. A littlematerial was scraped into a 1.5 ml centrifuge tube with a scalpel,1 ml deionized water added, and left for several hours. Aftershaking, a drop was pipetted onto a microscope slide and a cover-slip applied, or it was allowed to partially dry out and the residueresuspended in a 50:50 glycerine/water solution and the edges

Table 3Cooking methods applied to Panicum miliaceum.

Method Duration Description

Ground then soaked 72 h Two milliliters of sample groun14 ml glass test tube at room te

Boiled 10 min Ten milliliters of sample put inGround then boiled 6 min Ten milliliters of sample groundGround then baked 20 min Ten milliliters of sample groundGround then steamed 10 min Ten milliliters of sample ground

sealed with Canada balsam. This was an appropriate method forproducing semi-permanent slides, which could retain themorphology of starches unchanged for several years. Slides werethen scanned in both transmitted light and polarized light ata magnification of 500� to identify and photograph the starchgrains that were present. 100 grains of each sample were measuredto obtain the data on the length and width of the starch grains.

The method used to extract phytoliths from the five sampleswas similar. About 0.5 cm3 material was scraped into a 20 mlbeaker. 5 ml nitric acid was added to the beaker and stirred occa-sionally. When the reaction ceased, the beaker was placed in anelectrically heated thermostatic water bath at 70 �C for 3 h, anda small amount of nitric acid was added several times during theperiod. The liquid was poured into a 15 ml centrifuge tube, anddeionized water added to the tube. This was then centrifuged at3000 rpm for 4 min, after which the supernatant was gently aspi-rated off without disturbing the residues at the bottom of thecentrifuge tubes. Water was added to the tube, and these stepsrepeated 3 times. Finally, most of the supernatant was aspirated offand allowed to dry at room temperature. The phytoliths weremounted on slides in Canada balsam, mixed with a plastic rod, anda coverslip affixed. Slides were viewed under 500� magnification.

3.3. Cooking methods

In order to figure out the cooking processes of ancient noodlesand cakes, modern common millet (P. miliaceum) was subjected tothree cooking methodsdboiling, baking and steaming. In addition,P. miliaceumwas ground and soaked in water at room temperaturefor 3 days to see if any changewould occur without heat (see detailsin Table 3). After being cooked, small portions of each sample werechipped off with a scalpel, and mounted with water on a slide. Eachsample was examined in both transmitted light and polarized lightat a magnification of 500�. 200 grains of both cooked modernsamples and ancient samples were selected at random and thechanges recorded and compared. Furthermore, samples of P. mil-iaceum with husks from the Yingpan Tomb (1700 years BP) werechosen for comparison with the common millet of the SubeixiCemeteries to help us understand the possible effect of the changesof starch grains with age.

3.4. Cluster analysis

Cluster analysis of SPSS (Statistical Product and Service Solu-tions) was applied to the proportion of different morphologies fromancient samples and modern cooking-experimental samples, andthe dendrogram of the five morphologies in 9 samples were drawn.

4. Results

4.1. Macrobotanical identification

Fruits of ancient millet (about 150 g) were placed in a ceramicbowl, with the vast majority of them dehulled. The caryopses arebeige, 1.5e2.2 mm in length, 1.5e1.9 mm in width, 1.0e1.5 mm in

d in mortar and pestle to a medium powder, then left in 10 ml water inmperature.100 ml of boiling water until softened, and the water becomes cloudy., water added, and kneaded into noodles, then put in boiling water until cooked, water added, and kneaded to dough, then baked at 200 �C until dry and brittle., water added, and kneaded to dough, then steamed until cooked.

Fig. 4. Starch grains from modern and archaeological common millet (Panicum miliaceum). The upper row of photographs showing starch grains under transmitted light; and thelower row showing corresponding ones under polarized light. (a) starch grains from modern common millet; (b) starch grains from archaeological common millet with husk in theYingpan Tomb; (c) starch grains from archaeological common millet in the Subeixi Cemeteries.

Y. Gong et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (2011) 470e479474

depth. The embryo is broadly ovate and about 1/2 of the length ofthe caryopsis. The hilum, on the other side of the embryo, ispunctuate and black in colour (Fig. 3f). After a comparison withmodern specimens in the PE Herbarium of the Institute of Botany,Chinese Academy of Sciences, they were identified as caryopses ofP. miliaceum.

4.2. Starch grain analysis

Starch grains found in ancient samples of noodles and cakes aresmall in size, simple, subrounded and faceted. The hilum is centric,and the majority of these are not very distinct. Most of theextinction crosses are bilaterally symmetrical (Figs. 4 and 5).

Fig. 5. Starch grains from archaeological noodles and cakes. The upper row of photographsponding ones under polarized light. (a) starch grains from noodles; (b) starch grains from

Individual grains range from about 4 to 10 mm (Table 4). As thestarch grains of our specimens fit quite well with those of modernsamples and the published keys of common millet, our specimenswere identified as P. miliaceum.

4.3. Phytolith analysis

Phytolith morphology of ancient samples reveals a smoothsurface without any papillae, and the epidermal long cell walls areh-undulated. The dendriform epidermal long cell endings areconnected to others in a deeply digital pattern, which is describedas “Cross finger type” that typically formed in those of P. miliaceum(Fig. 6). Moreover, the R value of our specimens (0.75e0.80) fits

s showing starch grains under transmitted light; and the lower row showing corre-cake 1; (c) starch grains from cake 2; (d) starch grains from cake 3.

Table 4Starch grain size of modern and archaeological samples.

Material Length(mm)

Range oflength (mm)

Width(mm)

Range ofwidth (mm)

Countnumber

Modern commonmillet

6.9 � 1.1 4.6e9.4 5.9 � 1.2 4.1e9.2 100

Ancient commonmillet

6.9 � 0.8 4.9e8.8 6.0 � 0.8 4.3e7.7 100

Noodles 6.9 � 1.1 4.1e9.5 6.0 � 1.0 3.9e8.5 100Cake 1 6.4 � 1.0 4.5e8.9 5.7 � 0.9 4.1e7.9 100Cake 2 6.8 � 1.1 4.2e9.1 5.9 � 1.1 3.8e8.1 100Cake 3 6.8 � 0.9 5.0e9.0 6.0 � 0.8 4.3e7.9 100

Table 5Measured data of dendriform epidermal long cells and the R value of samples.

Material W (mm) (H1 þ H2)/2 (mm) R value Count number

Noodles 8.35 � 1.81 10.46 � 2.15 0.80 � 0.09 37Cake 1 9.41 � 1.09 12.62 � 1.86 0.75 � 0.09 51Cake 2 9.26 � 1.55 12.47 � 1.94 0.75 � 0.11 133Cake 3 8.67 � 1.99 11.40 � 2.97 0.77 � 0.09 100Total 8.99 � 1.71 11.93 � 2.43 0.76 � 0.10 321

Notes: R ¼ W/((H1 þ H2)/2). W ¼ width of endings in interdigitation of dendriformepidermal long cells. H ¼ undulation amplitude of dendriform epidermal long cellwalls. R ¼ ratios of width of endings in interdigitation to undulation amplitude(Table adapted from Lu et al., 2009b, modified).

Y. Gong et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (2011) 470e479 475

quite well with that of P. miliaceum (0.79 � 0.12), but not S. italica(0.33� 0.11) (Lu et al., 2009a,b) (Table 5). Accordingly, we identifiedthe husk phytoliths from noodles and cakes as belonging to P.miliaceum.

4.4. Cooking experiments

From our investigations, starch grains of P. miliaceumwith huskfrom the Yingpan Tomb are completely unchanged in morphologyresembling modern reference samples (Fig. 4b), which exclude thepossibility that starch grains from the Subeixi samples changedwith age. Starch grains ground then soaked in water at roomtemperature hardly changed or changed very little, with a slightswelling of only a few grains. However, varied cooking methodsproduced some different changes among the starch grains of P.miliaceum. Compared with the uncooked samples, the gelatiniza-tion of the starch grains in the cooked P. miliaceum is very obvious.

Heating in the presence of water causes a most remarkableswelling and distortion of the starch grains. When boiled whole,some grains retained their angular shape and extinction crosses forlonger than 10min, becoming fully gelatinized after 20min. GroundP.miliaceum starch grains, however, tend to bemore vulnerable and

Fig. 6. Phytoliths from modern and archaeological samples. (a) Phytoliths from modern comsupplied by Prof. Houyuan Lu); (b) Phytoliths from noodles; (c) Phytoliths from cake 1; (d)epidermal long cell walls.

theywere damaged thoroughly after about 10min. The starch grainsof bothwhole and ground ones collapsed at the centre, producing inthe majority of cases fissures radiating from the hilums and a smallportion becoming hollow inside (Fig. 7a, b). Longer boiling timescaused more extreme swelling and loss of features till all of thegrains gelatinized completely.

Compared with other cooking methods, baking results in lessdamage to starch grains. After 20 min of baking many starch grainsstill remain unchanged with clear or damaged extinction crosses.The most distinct difference of baked P. miliaceum starch grains isthat nearly all the grains disintegrated with visible shadows orhollows at the centre, while fissuring is extremely rare (Fig. 7c).

Steaming, like boiling, causes extensive swelling and gelatini-zation of the starch grains in a short time. The ground P.miliaceum,kneaded to dough, and then steamed produced starch grains whichare almost all completely damaged, although a small portion of thestarch grains still retained their characteristic shape and extinctioncrosses. The partly damaged grains appear to break down from thecentre displaying hollows or fissures, with the former pattern beinga little more common.

Based on cooking experiments, all the grains can be classifiedintofive differentmorphological categorieswhich are (I) unchanged

mon millet (Panicum miliaceum), the epidermal long cell walls are h-undulated (PhotoPhytoliths from cake 2; (e) Phytoliths from cake 3. Arrows showing the h-undulated

Fig. 7. Modified starch grains from cooked modern samples and archaeological samples. (a) Starch grains from whole-boiled P. miliaceum; (b) Starch grains from ground-boiled P.miliaceum; (c) Starch grains from ground and baked P. miliaceum; (d) Starch grains from ancient caryopsis; (e) Starch grains from ancient noodles; (f) Starch grains from ancient cake1; (g) Starch grains from ancient cake 2; (h) Starch grains from ancient cake 3.

Y. Gong et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (2011) 470e479476

grains with clear extinction crosses (Fig. 8a), (II) swollen grainswithdamaged extinction crosses (Fig. 8b), (III) completely damagedgrains with visible boundaries (Fig. 8c), (IV) damaged grains withshadows orhollows (Fig. 8d), (V) damagedgrainswithfissures at thecentre (Fig. 8e).

Table 6 shows the proportion of the five different morphologicalcategories from modern and archaeological samples. Boiled andbaked P. miliaceum are poles apart, exhibiting a high percentage ofcompletely damaged grains (III) and damaged grains with fissuresat the centre (V) in boiled samples, while a high proportion of intactgrains (I) and damaged grains with shadows or hollows (IV) arepresent in baked samples. Besides, baked P. miliaceum producedhardly any damaged grains with fissures (V). Like boiled P. mil-iaceum, steamed ones also produced a large number of completelydamaged grains; however, the proportion of category IV is as highas baked ones, while Type V is less common. In addition, starchgrains of ground and boiled P. miliaceum are more vulnerable thanthose from whole-boiled samples, indicating that the starches atthe centres of whole caryopses were protected.

The starch grains of noodles resemble ground-boiled P. mil-iaceum, with a very high percentage of completely damaged grains

Fig. 8. Five different morphologies of starch grains from cooked modern samples. The uppershowing corresponding ones under polarized light. (a) unchanged grains with clear extinctiograins with visible boundaries, extinction crosses were fully damaged and invisible; (d) damdamaged grains with fissures at the centre, extinction crosses were modified.

(III) and a relatively high proportion of damaged grains withfissures (V) (Fig. 7b, e). Ancient caryopses produce more starchgrains belonging to Category V, while the proportion of completelydamaged grains decreases to a certain extent, resembling the starchgrains of whole-boiled P. miliaceum (Fig. 7a, d).

The starch grains of all the ancient cakes are characterized bythe highest rate of intact grains (I), a relatively low proportion oftotally damaged grains (III), rather high percentage of damagedgrains with shadows or hollows (IV), and extremely few grains withfissures at the centre (Fig. 7c, feh).

In order to clarify the relation of ancient samples and moderncooking-experimental samples, cluster analysis of SPSS was appliedto the proportion of five different morphologies from modern andarchaeological samples in Table 6. A dendrogram of the fivemorphologies in 9 samples was constructed (Fig. 9). There were 2groups when the threshold is about 14. The modern boiled andsteamed samples clustered together with ancient noodles andcaryopsis samples. Within this group, moreover, the ancientnoodles and modern ground-boiled samples composed one smallgroup, while the of ancient caryopses and modern whole-boiledsamples were similar. The other group consisted of ancient cakes

row of photographs showing starch grains under transmitted light; and the lower rown crosses; (b) swollen grains with damaged extinction crosses, (c) completely damagedaged grains with shadows or hollows, extinction crosses were damaged and unclear; (e)

Table 6Proportion of five different morphologies of starch grains from modern andarchaeological samples.

Material I (%) II (%) III (%) IV (%) V (%) Count number

Baked (modern) 51.5 12.0 20.5 15.5 0.5 200Whole-boiled (modern) 30.0 6.0 26.5 6.5 31.0 200Ground-boiled (modern) 20.0 9.0 49.0 6.5 15.5 200Steamed (modern) 17.0 13.5 45.5 15.5 8.5 200Cake 1 (ancient) 39.5 14.5 13.5 29.5 3.0 200Cake 2 (ancient) 34.0 10.5 22.5 30.5 2.5 200Cake 3 (ancient) 44.0 7.5 10.0 38.5 0.0 200Caryopsis (ancient) 19.5 8.0 20.0 8.5 44.0 200Noodles (ancient) 18.5 9.5 42.0 9.5 20.5 200

Notes: (I) unchanged grains with clear extinction crosses, (II) swollen grains withdamaged extinction crosses, (III) completely damaged grains with visible bound-aries, (IV) damaged grains with shadows or hollows, (V) damaged grains withfissures at the centre.

Y. Gong et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (2011) 470e479 477

and modern baked samples. The result of cluster analysis directlyshows that the ancient noodles are more similar to ground-boiled P.miliaceum, while ancient caryopses resemble the whole-boiled P.miliaceum. All the ancient cakes bear a greater resemblance tomodern baked samples.

5. Discussion

Based on the results of starch grain and phytolith analyses ofarchaeological and modern samples, the food remains, includingnoodles and cakes, weremade from P. miliaceum. P. miliaceum is oneof the principal cereal crops in East Asia,whichmight have beenfirstdomesticated in the semiarid regions of North China as early as10,000 cal years BP, and later spread to Russia, India, Middle East,

Fig. 9. The dendrogram created by cluster analysis of the five morphol

and Europe (Lu et al., 2009a). Other early charred grains of commonmillet have been found at Xinglonggou (8000e7500 cal yrs BP)(Zhao, 2008), Yuezhuang (6060e5750 cal yrs BC) (Crawford et al.,2006), Dadiwan (7800e7350 cal yrs BP) (Liu and Kong, 2004), andShangzhai (7500e7000 cal yrs BP) (Yang et al., 2009). During theMiddle and Late Neolithic, foxtail millet (S. italica) surpassedcommonmillet, becoming the most common cereal in North China.However, common millet was still significantly more common ininland areas than in those regions further east (Lee et al., 2007). Thehistorical crop distributions indicate that common millet hasa stronger drought resistance, and could grow better in poor soil(Crawford et al., 2005), thus it is nowonder that the commonmilletpredominated over other crops in the extremely arid TurpanDistrict. To date, the earliest P. miliaceum found in Xinjiang wasnearly 4000 cal years BP at the Xiaohe Cemeteries (unpublisheddata), and later 2800 cal years BP at the Yanghai Tomb inTurpan, andit already was the main cereal crop in Turpan (Jiang et al., 2007b).Our research at the Subeixi Cemeteries proves that P. miliaceumwasan important crop untill 300 BC. Moreover, it had been ground andmade into noodles and cakes as a staple food.

Aging can be one possibility for the changes of starch grains inancient food remains. However, a large number of ancient starchgrains are morphologically unaltered in many cases (Piperno et al.,2000, 2004; Pearsall et al., 2004; Fullagar et al., 2006; Yang et al.,2009). Moreover, the starch grains from the fruits of P. miliaceumwith husk from the Yingpan Tombmentioned above are completelyunchanged, just like modern reference samples (Fig. 4b). The bestexplanation for the damaged starch grains is the cooking processes.The extent of damage is dependent on both temperature andmoisture (Derby et al., 1975), and our cooking experiments provedthat the starch grains boiled in water suffer from more severe

ogies of starch grains from 9 modern and archaeological samples.

Y. Gong et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (2011) 470e479478

damage than those baked with limited moisture. The commonmillet found in the ceramic bowl from the Cemetery was assumedto be a bowl of driedmillet porridge (XIA and TIACR,1993). This wasconfirmed by the present study. Baking technology was nota traditional cookingmethod in the ancient Chinese cuisine and hasbeen seldom reported to date, although it was already practised intheWest long ago (Haaland, 2007). Piperno et al. (2004) stated thatwild cereal grains were processed into dough and baked at least22,000 years ago in southwest Asia. Haaland (2007) claimed thatthe tradition of baking bread cakes in the hearth appeared as earlyas the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) period (PPNA, 10,300-9600 BP),while baking bread in the oven did not appear before the middlePPNB (9300-8500 BP). The remains of ancient Egyptian loavesindicate that the ancient Egyptians had mastered the essentials ofbaking yeast bread no later than 3000 BC (Samuel, 1996). However,the investigations of the cakes from the Subeixi Cemeteries indicatethat these cakes were probably baked in the oven-like hearth at thesite, suggesting that baking technology might have been wide-spread in northwest China at that time.

According to Hanshu, a book on Chinese history from 206 BC to23 AD, the indigenous people living in the Turpan District livedwhere there was water and grass, and they were good at shooting,while mastering the art of farming. The remains of houses anda large number of ceramics, ceramic kilns, grinding stones, cropssuch as common millet suggest that the local inhabitants wereagriculturalists. However, no agricultural instruments have beendiscovered, and many artifacts have a strongly nomadic flavourincluding bows, arrows, saddles, iron arrowheads, saddle andbridle. Moreover, the clothes of the mummies are mostly leather orwoolen, including trousers, boots, pillows, and chest-protectors.Meat was as important as cereal crops for the people at Subeixi, forroasted sheep’s heads, sheep legs, meat and dairy products werecommonly excavated from the tombs. According to Prof. Enguo Lüand other archaeologists, the young and middle-aged peopleprobably pastured in the Tian Shan Mountains from spring toautumn, and returned to the settlements during winter, while thewomen and children lived near the settlements all year and plantedsome crops just like today’s indigenous people (Uigurs) in Turpan(Dr. Wu Guo, personal communication). Based on the presentevidence, the inhabitants at Subeixi did not have a full-scale agri-cultural economy during this period but a semi-agricultural andsemi-pastoral livelihood.

Turpan lies in the eastern part of Central Asia, which was animportant centre on the Silk Road, promoting cultural interchangebetween the East and West. Besides P. miliaceum that originated innorthern China, H. vulgare var. nudum and T. aestivum, which areindigenous to West Asia were also found in other coeval sites inTurpan, such as the Yanghai Tombs (Jiang et al., 2007b). As none ofthese three cereals was first domesticated in Xinjiang, thesediscoveries indicate that Turpan was one of the main routes forcereal crop dissemination. Although the plant remains suggest thatH. vulgare var. nudum and T. aestivum were cultivated in Turpan,they were not as important as P. miliaceum because all the noodles,cakes, and porridge were made from only P. miliaceum. Further-more, the baking technology, which was considered to have origi-nated in theWest was found in the Subeixi Site, suggesting that theinhabitants in Turpan had absorbed the essence of both the Eastand the West. Our research, from the point of archaeobotany, againconfirmed that Turpan played an important role in culturalexchange more than 2000 years ago.

6. Conclusion

Our research indicates that P. miliaceumwas the principal cerealcrop in Turpan around 300 BC. It was processed into noodles and

cakes before being cooked by different methods. The implicationsof this research go beyond ancient food preparation techniques.Meanwhile, evidences ranging from the spread of P. miliaceum tovarious food preparation techniques all underscore the importantrole which Turpan played at the crossroads between East andWest.

Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. Houyuan Lu (Institute of Geology andGeophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) for supplying relevantphotographs. Hongen Jiang gratefully acknowledges the support ofthe Presidential Fund of the Graduate University of ChineseAcademy of Sciences (Y05101PY00). Moreover, this study wassupported by grants from the K. C. Wong Education Foundation,Hong Kong, the 44th China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Fun-ded Project (20080440552), and the Knowledge Innovative Projectof the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KJCX3.SYW.N12).

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