Using flotation, a relic salvage technique, researchers have recovered microscopic plant remains from historical sites in China. Foxtail millet traces dating to around 8,600 years ago were unearthed at the Xinglong Site in Hebei and the Simagou Site in Inner Mongolia in north China; 7,700-year-old broomcorn and foxtail millet remains were found at Hebei's Sitai Site and Inner Mongolia's Yumin Site.

Stable carbon isotopes reveal prehistoric diets in north China shifted drastically. Around 9,000 years ago, residents of Bashang, a plateau region on the border of Hebei and Inner Mongolia, survived on hunting and foraging, relying mostly on C3 plants. By 7,500 BP, C4 millets became commonplace in meals, later evolving into staple crops.

Isotope signatures preserved in human and animal bones clearly record this foraging-to-farming transition. Ancient genome research suggests unbroken local genetic ancestry, indicating that millet farming in northwest Hebei likely arose through local domestication processes.

Cutting-edge scientific archaeology illuminates ancient ecological wisdom. Led by Liu Jianguo, a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences lab researcher, a team used satellite remote sensing, drone surveys and 3D site reconstruction to reconstruct prehistoric flood and irrigation control on the Jianghan Plain in Hubei, showing early communities regulated water resources to adapt to climate shifts.

Another team led by Shang Xue, an associate professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, carried out field experiments to reconstruct ancient millet farming practices on China's Loess Plateau. Ancient Chinese farmers distinguished soils by elevation, fertility and moisture, applying targeted fertilizers tailored to local land conditions. Shang's team used isotopic and botanical and soil microanalysis to confirm intentional fertilization on Yellow River farmlands starting in the mid-late Neolithic Age.

Agricultural domestication reshaped human civilization. While rice shaped global cultures, its origin story has long sparked academic debate, said Lü Houyuan from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His team set a wild rice identification standard via phytolith scale patterns, paired with optical luminescence dating. Continuous 100,000-year rice phytolith records from the Shangshan Site in Zhejiang province in east China prove wild rice survived the Last Glacial Period along the Yangtze.

Humans gathered wild rice 24,000 years ago, began pre-domestication cultivation 13,000 years ago, and completed full rice domestication with settled farming by 11,000 BP after more than 3,000 years of evolution.

Lyu Peng, deputy director of the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, combined environmental, animal and plant data from three northern sites to analyze the Yumin Culture's ancient ecosystem and subsistence. Massive wild bison, horse and ass bones recovered at Yumin reveal plentiful wildlife eased the pressure to adopt full agriculture. The Yumin people thrived in the forest-steppe transition zone with mixed hunting, foraging and limited farming as a diversified survival strategy.