via Antiquity, 01 September 2020: Re-examination of a single rice grain from a ceramic sherd in Gua Sireh along with other MicroCT scans of other sherds suggest that the purpoted early date of rice domestication in Borneo (4960–3565 cal BP) may be an anomaly.
The earliest claim for domesticated rice in Island Southeast Asia (4960–3565 cal BP) derives from a single grain embedded in a ceramic sherd from Gua Sireh Cave, Borneo. In a first assessment of spikelet-base assemblages within pottery sherds using quantitative microCT analysis, the authors found no additional rice remains within this sherd to support the early date of rice farming; analysis of a more recent Gua Sireh sherd (1990–830 cal BP), however, indicates that 70 per cent of spikelet bases are from domesticated rice. This technique offers a high degree of contextual and temporal resolution for approaching organic-tempered ceramics as well-preserved archaeobotanical assemblages.
Source: Sherds as archaeobotanical assemblages: Gua Sireh reconsidered | Antiquity
