The early Holocene archaeobotanical record from the Zhangmatun site situated at the northern edge of the Shandong Highlands, China

The transition from hunting and gathering to farming in the early Holocene is one of the focal points in the discussion regarding the emergence of agriculture in China. The current study presents new results of plant macrofossil analysis obtained from the Zhangmatun archaeological site in Shandong Province in the eastern part of China. The archaeobotanical data shows the presence of diverse wild plants together with a small amount of foxtail and broomcorn millet grains. The identification of these important cereal crops at Zhangmatun extends the record of the exploitation of early millet in this part of China, though hunting, fishing and gathering remained the common subsistence strategy adopted by contemporary residents of the Shandong Highlands about 9000-8500 years ago.