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Ancient Cultivated Rice Grains Unearthed in Japan

News January 21, 2014

(Courtesy of Nara Prefectural Archaeological Institure of Kashihara)
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Japanese Rice Discovery
(Courtesy of Nara Prefectural Archaeological Institure of Kashihara)

NARA, JAPAN—Uncooked grains of brown rice estimated to be between 2,600 and 2,400 years old, when intensive rice farming in paddies is thought to have begun in Japan, have been found. The 11 well-preserved grains, which did not have husks, were discovered in wet mud that protected them from the air. Tatsuya Inamura of Kyoto University will use DNA analysis and radiocarbon dating to identify and study the rice.

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