Millet mystery: Why staple crop failed to take root in ancient Japanese kitchens

Summary

Yayoi pottery confirm that both crops were present in early farming settlements in Northern Kyushu. Credit: Fukuoka City Education Board New research into ancient Japanese rice farming suggests that significant technological development does not always mean the abandonment of cultural practices, particularly culinary traditions. Archaeological evidence largely shows that the arrival of farming in various cultures around the world transformed society, but new evidence from cooking pot residue in prehistoric Japan shows that culinary traditions were largely unaffected, despite the uptake of farmed produce. The researchers highlight that this perspective from history shows us that not all technological developments progress society at the same rate, and some cultural practices hold steady, in some cases, for centuries. The work is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The arrival of rice farming, imported from the Korean Peninsula, marked a turning point for agricultural farming in Japan approximately 3,000 years ago. But while rice would eventually transform society, new evidence shows that its sister crop—millet—was largely left behind despite its popularity in Korean cooking. Archaeologists from the University of York, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, and the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties in Japan, studied residues found in ancient pottery and charred plant remains from this period and found that although both rice and millet were introduced to Japan together, likely carried across the sea by groups from southern Korea, they did not necessarily transform society. Dr. Jasmine Lundy, from the University of York's Department of Archaeology, said, "Organic residue analysis has been crucial to our investigation into the earliest impacts of rice and millet agriculture. It allows us to capture how these crops were actually used, offering a direct window into the culinary practices and crop int...