According to a new research reported in the open access journal PLoS ONE, ancient people on the southern coast of China about 4,500-5,300 years ago relied on sago-type palms, bananas, tubers as staple plant foods before rice cultivation became prevalent.

Little is known about prehistoric diets of those who lived in southern subtropical China, as the acidic soils and humid climate of the region cause poor preservation of plant remains.

Though previous studies have suggested that roots and tubers were the staple foods in this region, no direct evidence has so far been found.

In the new study, a team of Chinese archaeologists led by Dr Xiaoyan Yang from the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research in Beijing analyzed starch granules recovered from Neolithic stone tools used about 3,350-2,470 BC by inhabitants of the archaeological Xincun site on the southern coast of China, and found these to resemble starches typically found in sago-type palms.

“A total of 85 starch granules from palms were recovered from seven tools from three ancient living surface including three genera. Some 78 of the 85 starch granules from fishtail palm (Caryota sp.) were recovered from six stone tools,” the researchers wrote in the paper.

“Six starch granules, ranging12.1–25.8 µm in size, recovered from six stone tools are identical with modern reference talipot palm (Corypha umbraculifera).”

The team found that people at this time also relied on bananas, acorns and freshwater roots and tubers as important plant foods.

“Seventeen starch granules from banana (Musa sp.) were recovered from three tools. Ten starch granules with a sub-circular to sub-triangular shape, similar to the starches from one of domesticated banana’s progenitors, wild seeded banana (M. acuminata).”

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Bibliographic information: Yang X et al. 2013. Sago-Type Palms Were an Important Plant Food Prior to Rice in Southern Subtropical China. PLoS ONE 8 (5): e63148; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063148