From Reuters:
Chinese farmers cultivated rice along the eastern coast as far back as 7,700 years ago and used fire and flood control measures to manage their fields, researchers said, citing new evidence.
In a letter published in Nature late last week, geographers in Britain and China described how they found artifacts — bone, bamboo and wooden tools used for foraging and cultivation — and high concentrations of charcoal in Kuahuqiao, a freshwater marsh about 200 km southwest of Shanghai.
“About 7,700 years ago, people started to burn woody crops and there’s a very high concentration of charcoal there and a decline of woody tree pollen,” said Zong Yongqiang of Durham University in the United Kingdom. [Full Text]