Irrigated paddy field
Arrozal inundado con parcelas y canales
- Date
- c. 4200 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Caoxieshan, Kunshan, Jiangsu, China
- Credited to
- Majiabang culture
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
Small excavated plots connected by channels, wells and ponds to control the water level for rice cultivation. It is the system that allowed high rice yields and sustained very high population densities in East Asia.
Somewhat earlier similar plots exist at Tianluoshan (Zhejiang); the exact date of the first controlled paddy field is debated.
What it led to
- increased rice yields and population density
- communal labour to maintain channels and dykes
- terrace and paddy-field landscape of East and Southeast Asia