Rice domestication

Rice domestication was the gradual transformation of wild rice grasses into cultivated crops, especially Asian rice, through human selection and farming in East Asia.

Shangshan culture: A Neolithic culture in the lower Yangtze region, known for early rice remains and pottery. Its sites preserve some of the earliest evidence for rice use and cultivation.
Non-shattering: A plant trait in which ripe seeds remain attached instead of dispersing naturally. Selecting rice that retained its grains made harvesting easier and gradually altered wild seed dispersal.
Archaeobotany: The study of ancient human–plant relationships through preserved botanical remains. It identifies rice grains, husks, and other plant traces at early settlements.
African rice: Oryza glaberrima, a cultivated rice species domesticated independently in West Africa. Its separate domestication distinguishes African crop history from Asian rice's East Asian origins.
Pengtoushan culture: A Neolithic culture of the middle Yangtze region, associated with early rice cultivation. Its settlements document rice farming beyond the lower Yangtze.
Seed dormancy: A condition in which viable seeds delay germination until environmental or physiological requirements are met. Reduced dormancy can make cultivated rice germinate more uniformly after sowing.
Phytolith: A microscopic silica body formed within plant tissues and often preserved in archaeological deposits. Rice phytoliths can reveal plant presence when grains have not survived.
Oryza glaberrima: A rice species domesticated in West Africa from the wild species Oryza barthii. It is an independently domesticated crop, not a branch of Asian rice.
Hemudu culture: A Neolithic culture of the lower Yangtze region, known for extensive rice remains and wetland settlement. Its abundant rice finds show farming embedded in a settled wetland way of life.
Plant domestication: The evolutionary process by which human selection changes wild plants into crops adapted to cultivation. Rice domestication is one instance of this broader process.

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