The impact of intensification and deintensification of Asian rice production: transitions between wet and dry ecologies

Lead Research Organisation: University College London
Department Name: Institute of Archaeology

Abstract

Rice is one of the worlds most important crops, and it has a long history of supporting dense populations and civilizations throughout East, South and Southeast Asia. This project will reveal the history of rice cultivation comparatively across the region using cutting age archaeological science. One major aim is to reconstruct how rice was grown across the region at different times. Rice may be grown in wet cultivation systems (irrigated or flooded) and dry cultivation (based only on rainfall, often in upland areas), and in intermediate lowland, rainfed conditions. These different systems have important implications in terms of how productive rice is, and therefore how much human population it can support, as well as how labour-intensive it was. Dry systems yielded less but also cost less in terms of labour. How rice was grown has important implications for the impact that humans and rice had on environmental change. Intensive systems tend to require greater landscape modification and by supporting higher populations have knock-on effects on other resources, for example through deforestation. Another very important impact is the production of methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Dry rice cultivation systems produce little methane whereas the more productive wet systems produce a lot. It has been hypothesized by some climate scientists that methane from rice contributed to an anomalous rise in methane over the past 5000 years which is not explained by natural sources. If so, then this has contributed to global warming even before the industrial era and will need to be factored into models that hope to predict where global climate change is going. One of the aims of this project is to ground truth this hypothesis by modelling up from the empirical archaeological evidence for rice cultivation over time to assess whether this fits with explaining at least part of the methane anomaly. In order to do this we need better evidence not just for where and when rice was cultivated but also whether it was grown in wet or dry systems. Through systematic study of archaeologically preserved seeds, we can identify the weed flora associated with past rice and whether it fits with a wet or dry system. In addition we have developed methods for classifying the assemblages of phytoliths (microscopic silica from the decomposition of plants) from archaeological sites as indicating wetter or drier rice cultivation regimes. We are now hoping to apply these methods over a larger number of sites and regions, especially regions for which archaeobotanical evidence for early rice is limited or lacking, including parts of India (western and northeastern), Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, and southern China (Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangdong). By combining these new results in a GIS modelling system, together with data from other parts of the region, mostly collected by us and colleagues over the past few years, we will be better able to produce realistic spatial models of the spread of rice, the extent of wet rice, and likely methane emissions over time. We will also be able to improve our understanding of how the development of rice agriculture relates to the long-term history of human societies in this region.

Planned Impact

We expect our results to have an impact on policy makers considering climate change and greenhouse gas mitigation and agricultural policy, and within Asian countries those concerned with cultural heritage education; and we will impact a wide interdisciplinary set of academic audiences. We also hope to reach a wider public through our web-based outreach, including education and training videos.

1. Policy makers (in relation to agriculture and climate change): Rice paddies are a major source of greenhouses gases, but an active area of academic debate revolves around the extent to which prehistoric rice paddies contributed artificial methane to rises of global temperature before 1700 AD. If so, this has implications for the baseline starting point of predictive climate change models on which mitigation strategies are based, and one form of mitigation may include shifting from wetter to drier forms of rice cultivation. Our results will directly assess the likely contribution of prehistoric rice to pre-modern methane levels. Our preliminary results on this have already been cited in the Fifth Assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Stocker et al eds. 2013 citing Fuller et al 2011). A better understanding of the agricultural past, its successes in sustainability and its impacts on environmental change can only be a positive in planning for the future.

2. Cultural heritage sector. Agricultural heritage is a newly emerging sector that is increasingly taking its place alongside monumental heritage in the presentation and teaching of the past, in schools, universities and museums, but this is still an underdeveloped area of research and teaching in many countries, especially across tropical Asia. We will strive for a direct impact in this area by hosting training events in archaeobotany and rice agricultural history and its relation to climate change in countries where we work and where rice is a major staple, including India, China and Thailand. We will reach out to students and future researchers directly and by making videos from these events for online distribution we will aim for a lasting outreach to a more global audience (see Pathways to Impact Plan).

3. Interdisciplinary impact with the academic/research community. This is detailed above under "academic beneficiaries" but should be noted that the track record of related research by the PI has had an impact across geographical sciences, life sciences and humanities, by being of relevance to geneticists, rice researchers, the quaternary sciences, and linguistics, as well as its own subject area of science-based archaeology.

4. Through our website (www.ucl.ac.uk/rice), which we plan to expand and revamp, and videos we will be able to reach wider audience. As rice is such a well-known crop everywhere it can intersect with many age groups and communities as lens into considering the long-term transformation of the earth through agricultural production.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description We have established that the earliest rice cultivation in parts of Southeast Asia appear to be have cultivated as dry rice, i.e. based on rainfall rather than irrigation, and it was probably cultivated this way from ca. 2000 BC to 100 BC in Thailand and elsewhere. This differs from the earlier rice cultivation in the Yangtze basin in China, where rice was cultivated in wetland habitats going to back to at least 5000 BC. These wetland habitats are confirmed by our work on weed ecology from both archaeological seeds and phytoliths. Therefore somewhere in Southern China or norther Southeast Asia there was a transition to dry rice.

After this time, during the Iron Age (final centuries BC to early centuries AD) there is a marked shift towards irrigated rice: this is indicated in a shift in the weed flora associated with rice cultivation.

All of this early rice cultivation (in China and Southeast Asia) appears to be subspecies japonica. The long-grained subspecies indica, we hypothesize to have evolved in India from complex hybridization between introduced japonica and management of native wild rices, sometime between 4000 and 3500 years ago. What we can say with some certainly is that morphological rices that look like subspecies indica in Southeast Asia arrived more recently than 2000 years ago.

Early rice cultivation in northern India also appears to have been rainfed, while wet forms of rice cultivation and dyr rice both spread throughout the Indian Peninsula at various times between 1500 and 500 BC.

As wetland rice is a major source of methane, we currently infer that anthropogenic contribution to methane in the atmosphere that come from rice cultivation have increased markedly in the last 2000-3000 years, and earlier hypothesized sources anthropogenic methane are unlikely to come from rice. We are currently refining and testing this hypothesis, and expanding or archaeobotanical evidence for rice cultivation.
Exploitation Route Our findings should be of wide use in archaeological studies throughout South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia.

Our finds also can inform modelling of the genetic and phylogenetic history of rice, which is relevant to the preservation of genetic diversity, which in turn it relevant to breeding to improve sustainability of rice agriculture.

Our findings should help to inform modelling of past human impacts on the environment, including greenhouse gas emissions from ancient agriculture.
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Environment

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections

URL http://www.ucl.ac.uk/rice
 
Description Findings have contributed to Radio 4 broadcasts, and a New Scientist Live lecture. These are listsed under Engagement activities.Our research has also lead to interviews on various topics to do with rice history, including on the origins of black for national public radio (USA) (https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/10/05/445316722/how-forbidden-black-rice-flourished-for-millennia). Project work by Cristina Castillo is referenced in the Kmher Times newspaper (Cambodia) (http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/26973/household-archaeology-at-angkor-wat/).
First Year Of Impact 2019
Sector Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural

 
Title Data for: Early Agriculture in Sri Lanka: New Archaeobotanical Analyses and Radiocarbon Dates from the Early Historic Sites of Kirinda and Kantharodai 
Description Archaeobotanical Datasets for both the archaeological sites of Kantharodai and Kirinda 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/pp38wpjykd/1
 
Title Data for: Early Agriculture in Sri Lanka: New Archaeobotanical Analyses and Radiocarbon Dates from the Early Historic Sites of Kirinda and Kantharodai 
Description Archaeobotanical Datasets for both the archaeological sites of Kantharodai and Kirinda 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/pp38wpjykd
 
Title Data for: Early Agriculture in Sri Lanka: New Archaeobotanical Analyses and Radiocarbon Dates from the Early Historic Sites of Kirinda and Kantharodai 
Description Charts of new Radiocarbon Dating taken from the Archaeological sites of Kirinda and Kantharodai in Sri Lanka. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/9cjz48js7h
 
Title Data for: Early Agriculture in Sri Lanka: New Archaeobotanical Analyses and Radiocarbon Dates from the Early Historic Sites of Kirinda and Kantharodai 
Description Charts of new Radiocarbon Dating taken from the Archaeological sites of Kirinda and Kantharodai in Sri Lanka. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/9cjz48js7h/1
 
Title Data for: Early Agriculture in Sri Lanka: New Archaeobotanical Analyses and Radiocarbon Dates from the Early Historic Sites of Kirinda and Kantharodai 
Description Detailed Stratigraphic information for Trenches 2 and 3 from the site of Kirinda 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/gy2vjgfxpt
 
Title Data for: Early Agriculture in Sri Lanka: New Archaeobotanical Analyses and Radiocarbon Dates from the Early Historic Sites of Kirinda and Kantharodai 
Description Detailed Stratigraphic information for Trenches 2 and 3 from the site of Kirinda 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/gy2vjgfxpt/1
 
Title Data for: Early Agriculture in Sri Lanka: New Archaeobotanical Analyses and Radiocarbon Dates from the Early Historic Sites of Kirinda and Kantharodai 
Description OxCal Graphs for Radiocarbon dates 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/dcpnfdywmr/1
 
Title Data for: Early Agriculture in Sri Lanka: New Archaeobotanical Analyses and Radiocarbon Dates from the Early Historic Sites of Kirinda and Kantharodai 
Description OxCal Graphs for Radiocarbon dates 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/dcpnfdywmr
 
Title Data for: Early Agriculture in Sri Lanka: New Archaeobotanical Analyses and Radiocarbon Dates from the Early Historic Sites of Kirinda and Kantharodai 
Description Phytolith counts from the archaeological sites of Kirinda and Kantharodai 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/skpcgg8nt8/1
 
Title Data for: Early Agriculture in Sri Lanka: New Archaeobotanical Analyses and Radiocarbon Dates from the Early Historic Sites of Kirinda and Kantharodai 
Description Phytolith counts from the archaeological sites of Kirinda and Kantharodai 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/skpcgg8nt8
 
Title Data from: The rice paradox: multiple origins but single domestication in Asian rice 
Description The origin of domesticated Asian rice (Oryza sativa) has been a contentious topic, with conflicting evidence for either single or multiple domestication of this key crop species. We examined the evolutionary history of domesticated rice by analyzing de novo assembled genomes from domesticated rice and its wild progenitors. Our results indicate multiple origins, where each domesticated rice subpopulation (japonica, indica, and aus) arose separately from progenitor O. rufipogon and/or O. nivara. Coalescence-based modeling of demographic parameters estimate that the first domesticated rice population to split off from O. rufipogon was O. sativa ssp. japonica, occurring at ~13.1 - 24.1 kya, which is an order of magnitude older then the earliest archaeological date of domestication. This date is consistent, however, with the expansion of O. rufipogon populations after the Last Glacial Maximum ~18 kya and archaeological evidence for early wild rice management in China. We also show that there is significant gene flow from japonica to both indica (~17%) and aus (~15%), which led to the transfer of domestication alleles from early-domesticated japonica to proto-indica and proto-aus populations. Our results provide support for a model in which different rice subspecies had separate origins, but that de novo domestication occurred only once, in O. sativa ssp. japonica, and introgressive hybridization from early japonica to proto-indica and proto-aus led to domesticated indica and aus rice. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.7cr0q
 
Description New fieldwork collaborators since 2016 
Organisation Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
Department Department of Archaeology and Ancient History
Country India 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We carry out the primary archaeobotanical work, both in the field and laboratory work back in the UK. We also provide essential financial support for the fieldwork.
Collaborator Contribution Our partners undertake the direction of fieldwork, national permisssions for fieldwork and research on and storage of archaeological/artefactual archives within the country of research.
Impact Archaeology and Archaeobotany. Outputs are included in publications list with relevant co-authorship.
Start Year 2016
 
Description New fieldwork collaborators since 2016 
Organisation Peking University
Department School of Archaeology and Museology
Country China 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We carry out the primary archaeobotanical work, both in the field and laboratory work back in the UK. We also provide essential financial support for the fieldwork.
Collaborator Contribution Our partners undertake the direction of fieldwork, national permisssions for fieldwork and research on and storage of archaeological/artefactual archives within the country of research.
Impact Archaeology and Archaeobotany. Outputs are included in publications list with relevant co-authorship.
Start Year 2016
 
Description New fieldwork collaborators since 2016 
Organisation Silpakorn University
Country Thailand 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We carry out the primary archaeobotanical work, both in the field and laboratory work back in the UK. We also provide essential financial support for the fieldwork.
Collaborator Contribution Our partners undertake the direction of fieldwork, national permisssions for fieldwork and research on and storage of archaeological/artefactual archives within the country of research.
Impact Archaeology and Archaeobotany. Outputs are included in publications list with relevant co-authorship.
Start Year 2016
 
Description New fieldwork collaborators since 2016 
Organisation University of Lille
Department CNRS-UMR-8199
Country France 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We carry out the primary archaeobotanical work, both in the field and laboratory work back in the UK. We also provide essential financial support for the fieldwork.
Collaborator Contribution Our partners undertake the direction of fieldwork, national permisssions for fieldwork and research on and storage of archaeological/artefactual archives within the country of research.
Impact Archaeology and Archaeobotany. Outputs are included in publications list with relevant co-authorship.
Start Year 2016
 
Description New fieldwork collaborators since 2016 
Organisation University of Manila
Country Philippines 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We carry out the primary archaeobotanical work, both in the field and laboratory work back in the UK. We also provide essential financial support for the fieldwork.
Collaborator Contribution Our partners undertake the direction of fieldwork, national permisssions for fieldwork and research on and storage of archaeological/artefactual archives within the country of research.
Impact Archaeology and Archaeobotany. Outputs are included in publications list with relevant co-authorship.
Start Year 2016
 
Description New fieldwork collaborators since 2018 
Organisation Australian National University (ANU)
Country Australia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We provide specialist support and efforts at archaeobotanical sampling programs in the field during excavations undertaken by our collaborators. We then take charge of specialist laboratory work, contributing reconstructions of subsistence and agriculture for each of these projects individually, and drawing together these data with our larger dataset for reconstructing the larger picture of past rice cultivation, how it has changed and how it has impacted regional and macro-regional environments.
Collaborator Contribution Our project partners take charge of setting up and directing archaeological excavations, including necessary permits, etc. These collaborations in this list include new excavation efforts in Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan, India, and Bangladesh.
Impact Some of these have lead to publications already and many others are in the pipeline. Please see publication outputs for this award.
Start Year 2017
 
Description New fieldwork collaborators since 2018 
Organisation Jahangirnagar University
Country Bangladesh 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We provide specialist support and efforts at archaeobotanical sampling programs in the field during excavations undertaken by our collaborators. We then take charge of specialist laboratory work, contributing reconstructions of subsistence and agriculture for each of these projects individually, and drawing together these data with our larger dataset for reconstructing the larger picture of past rice cultivation, how it has changed and how it has impacted regional and macro-regional environments.
Collaborator Contribution Our project partners take charge of setting up and directing archaeological excavations, including necessary permits, etc. These collaborations in this list include new excavation efforts in Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan, India, and Bangladesh.
Impact Some of these have lead to publications already and many others are in the pipeline. Please see publication outputs for this award.
Start Year 2017
 
Description New fieldwork collaborators since 2018 
Organisation James Cook University
Country Australia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We provide specialist support and efforts at archaeobotanical sampling programs in the field during excavations undertaken by our collaborators. We then take charge of specialist laboratory work, contributing reconstructions of subsistence and agriculture for each of these projects individually, and drawing together these data with our larger dataset for reconstructing the larger picture of past rice cultivation, how it has changed and how it has impacted regional and macro-regional environments.
Collaborator Contribution Our project partners take charge of setting up and directing archaeological excavations, including necessary permits, etc. These collaborations in this list include new excavation efforts in Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan, India, and Bangladesh.
Impact Some of these have lead to publications already and many others are in the pipeline. Please see publication outputs for this award.
Start Year 2017
 
Description New fieldwork collaborators since 2018 
Organisation National Taiwan University
Country Taiwan, Province of China 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We provide specialist support and efforts at archaeobotanical sampling programs in the field during excavations undertaken by our collaborators. We then take charge of specialist laboratory work, contributing reconstructions of subsistence and agriculture for each of these projects individually, and drawing together these data with our larger dataset for reconstructing the larger picture of past rice cultivation, how it has changed and how it has impacted regional and macro-regional environments.
Collaborator Contribution Our project partners take charge of setting up and directing archaeological excavations, including necessary permits, etc. These collaborations in this list include new excavation efforts in Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan, India, and Bangladesh.
Impact Some of these have lead to publications already and many others are in the pipeline. Please see publication outputs for this award.
Start Year 2017
 
Description New fieldwork collaborators since 2018 
Organisation University of Hyderabad
Country India 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We provide specialist support and efforts at archaeobotanical sampling programs in the field during excavations undertaken by our collaborators. We then take charge of specialist laboratory work, contributing reconstructions of subsistence and agriculture for each of these projects individually, and drawing together these data with our larger dataset for reconstructing the larger picture of past rice cultivation, how it has changed and how it has impacted regional and macro-regional environments.
Collaborator Contribution Our project partners take charge of setting up and directing archaeological excavations, including necessary permits, etc. These collaborations in this list include new excavation efforts in Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan, India, and Bangladesh.
Impact Some of these have lead to publications already and many others are in the pipeline. Please see publication outputs for this award.
Start Year 2017
 
Description New fieldwork collaborators since 2018 
Organisation University of Oregon
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We provide specialist support and efforts at archaeobotanical sampling programs in the field during excavations undertaken by our collaborators. We then take charge of specialist laboratory work, contributing reconstructions of subsistence and agriculture for each of these projects individually, and drawing together these data with our larger dataset for reconstructing the larger picture of past rice cultivation, how it has changed and how it has impacted regional and macro-regional environments.
Collaborator Contribution Our project partners take charge of setting up and directing archaeological excavations, including necessary permits, etc. These collaborations in this list include new excavation efforts in Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan, India, and Bangladesh.
Impact Some of these have lead to publications already and many others are in the pipeline. Please see publication outputs for this award.
Start Year 2017
 
Description New fieldwork collaborators since 2018 
Organisation University of Otago
Country New Zealand 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We provide specialist support and efforts at archaeobotanical sampling programs in the field during excavations undertaken by our collaborators. We then take charge of specialist laboratory work, contributing reconstructions of subsistence and agriculture for each of these projects individually, and drawing together these data with our larger dataset for reconstructing the larger picture of past rice cultivation, how it has changed and how it has impacted regional and macro-regional environments.
Collaborator Contribution Our project partners take charge of setting up and directing archaeological excavations, including necessary permits, etc. These collaborations in this list include new excavation efforts in Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan, India, and Bangladesh.
Impact Some of these have lead to publications already and many others are in the pipeline. Please see publication outputs for this award.
Start Year 2017
 
Description New fieldwork collaborators since 2018 
Organisation University of Pennsylvania
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We provide specialist support and efforts at archaeobotanical sampling programs in the field during excavations undertaken by our collaborators. We then take charge of specialist laboratory work, contributing reconstructions of subsistence and agriculture for each of these projects individually, and drawing together these data with our larger dataset for reconstructing the larger picture of past rice cultivation, how it has changed and how it has impacted regional and macro-regional environments.
Collaborator Contribution Our project partners take charge of setting up and directing archaeological excavations, including necessary permits, etc. These collaborations in this list include new excavation efforts in Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan, India, and Bangladesh.
Impact Some of these have lead to publications already and many others are in the pipeline. Please see publication outputs for this award.
Start Year 2017
 
Description "Comparing the agricultural pathways of India and Southwest China" IPPA presentation 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact "Comparing the agricultural pathways of India and Southwest China: Similarities and differences between crops and agricultural practices in distinct geographies." Paper presented at the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association conference, Hue, Vietnam
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://carnetcase.hypotheses.org/4115
 
Description "Seeds of Civilization" lecture on the origins of agriculture, including rice, as part of the New Scientist live event 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Delivered a lecture at New Scientist Live at the ExCel London as part of the "Earth Stage" events, on 22 Sept. 2016.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://issuu.com/zestmedialondon/docs/new_scientist_september_2016
 
Description Discussion of research in Newspaper magazine (India) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Research results published in an Indian edited volume reported positively through a book review in a national newspaper in India (The Hindu)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/how-indians-became-farmers/artic...
 
Description Domestication and archaeobotany lecture, Institute of Archaeology, Archaeological Survey of India, Delhi 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact "Comparing plant domestication: advances in method, theory and data collection", Lecturer and seminar delivered at the Institute of Archaeology, Archaeological Survey of India, the Red Fort, Delhi
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Interaction between prehistoric populations and environments in highland Pang Mapha, Northwest Thailand 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Research seminar given in London by Project Partner, Rasmi Shoocongdej (Silpakorn University, Thailand).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description International Workshop: Current Frontiers in the Archaeobotany of Rice (2018) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A workshop/symposium was held to examine and discuss current evidence and cutting edge approaches on the study of ancient rice, including domestication, dispersal and ancient ecologies. The symposium was hosted at Peking University. Participants came from across China (including Chinese Academy of Sciences [multiple departments], Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Sichuan University, Hunan Province Institute of Archaeology, Zhejiang Province Institute of Archaeology), Japan (Kobe University, Kyushu University, and Okayama University of Science), and UCL.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.ucl.ac.uk/chinese-heritage-archaeology/international-workshop-programme-current-frontiers...
 
Description Lecture and seminar of rice project delivered at University of Hyderabad, India 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact "Rice domestication and the early Anthropocene", Lecture and Seminar delivered at University of Hyderabad, Dept of History, Hyderabad, Telengana, India. 11 Sept. 2017
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Lecture on archaeobotany of rice and the rice project, Bontany Dept., University of Baroda, Gujarat India 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact "The Origins and Archaeobotany of Rice", Lecture and Research seminar, Botany Department, M. S. University of Baroda, Gujarat, India. 1 Sept. 2017
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Oldest clove article - The Conversation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact General audience article on archaeobotanical finds from Mantai, Sri Lanka, for wider dissemination within media and general public
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://theconversation.com/worlds-oldest-clove-heres-what-our-find-in-sri-lanka-says-about-the-earl...
 
Description Podcast Interview 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I was one of the main interviewees in the program "Rice: Saviour of the World, or Destroyer?" part of the Trading Places podcast series on global commodities trade and the history of those commodities. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0RjN8ikKMrorFdEAphK92W . First broadcast 20 Jan 2022
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://open.spotify.com/episode/0RjN8ikKMrorFdEAphK92W
 
Description Radio interview on the disapperance of "virgin" landscapes 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Was interviewed by Colombia W Radio (with translation into Spanish) on the issue of past human impacts on "virgin" landscapes. This followed on from my interview with the BBC 4 The Forum program.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.wradio.com.co/escucha/archivo_de_audio/la-desaparicion-de-los-paisajes-virgenes/20160611/...
 
Description Rice in Southeast Asia - Past and Present (Workshop 2018) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The purpose of the workshop was to bring together researchers and students from various Southeast Asian countries in order to discuss issues relating to rice, agriculture, human-plant interactions and climate. The Early Rice Project group will disseminate results from previous years, but would also want to engage with local researchers from Southeast Asia or working in Southeast Asia. Their expertise will enhance the knowledge base of all those working in Southeast Asia which will lead to an exchange of ideas and know-how, as well as future collaborations. The workshop also included practical courses aimed at local field archaeologists and students. This workshop was held in Bangkok, Thailand at the Princess Siridhorn Anthropology Centre and co-organized with colleagues from the Dept. of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, Bangkok. This event included participants from National Institutes of Vietnam and Indonesia, as well as universities across Thailand, Philippines and Taiwan. It's main beneficiaries were therefore users from ODA countries.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.ucl.ac.uk/rice/Conference_2018Jan
 
Description Rice in Southeast Asia - Past and Present (Workshop 2018) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact This workshop was held at the Siridhorn Anthropology Centre in Bangkok and organized jointly with Silpakorn University (Bangkok) Dept. of Archaeology. The purpose of the workshop is to bring together researchers and students from various Southeast Asian countries in order to discuss issues relating to rice, agriculture, human-plant interactions and climate. The Early Rice Project group will disseminate results from previous years, but would also want to engage with local researchers from Southeast Asia or working in Southeast Asia. After two days of seminar presentations and discussion we had practical sessions on field sampling and laboratory work.

Participants came from Thailand, VIetnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Australia, U.S.A., France and the U.K.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.ucl.ac.uk/rice/rice-southeast-asia-past-and-present-workshop-2018
 
Description Rice project lecture, Birbal Sahni Institute, Lucknow, India 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact "Rice domestication and the early Anthropocene", Lecturer and discussion delivered at Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeo-Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. 11 Sept. 2017
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Taming Nature, BBC Radio 4 Forum program 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Was part of panel of 4 on a BBC Radio 4 program The Forum. Also aired on BBC world service.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07nmqts?imz_s=3jucj2vr5ov4agip0nhh9obn04
 
Description Workshop (in Vadodara, India) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This two day workshop addressed the evolution and impact of rice cultivation systems in South Asia, including issues relating to sustainability and long-term food security.

Key questions include:
• What are our current understandings of regional transitions to rice agriculture?
• How important was rice compared to other food types (millets, wheat, gathered foods, fauna) and how did the varied importance of rice impact on human populations and social complexity in different regions?
• How reliably can we differentiate between wet (irrigated/flooded) and dry (rainfed/upland) rice cultivation systems using archaeobotanical remains?
• Does our rice archaeobotanical database change/improve models for how rice spread across South Asia?

Participants includes archaeology practitioners, junior and senior, from across India, as well as some botanists and rice agronomists, and local Post-Graduate students in archaeology and botany from MS University Baroda. The workshop was also attended and reported on by local and national (Indian) press, e.g. The Hindu newspaper.

The symposium, funded by NERC, is being held and organised by the UCL Institute of Archaeology and the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda Department of Archaeology and Ancient History.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/news/2019/mar/rice-workshop-2019-vadodara