稻作是东亚地区文明发展的物质基础。20世纪70年代河姆渡遗址出土稻谷证明中国是稻作起源地,颠覆了稻作起源于印度学说,确立以稻作农业为特色的长江流域与黄河流域一样,同为中华文明的发祥地。近年来中国考古取得丰硕成果,良渚古城遗址、一万年以前水稻遗存、大规模的古稻田等发现填补了中国文明史的许多空白,不断更新了稻作起源的认识,稻作起源于一万年以前的长江中下游已经成为了目前国际共识。植物考古、农耕遗迹考古等多学科考古工作在阐释中华文明进程和文明社会形成中发挥着越来越重要的作用。

Rice cultivation is the major basis for developing civilization in East Asia. A large number of archaeological remains of rice unearthed at Hemudu site in the 1970s proved that rice cultivation originats in China, which is different from the origin in India in common cognition past. It also suggested that the Yangtze regions, like the Yellow River regions, is one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization. Recent discoveries of the archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, the rice remains over 10 000 years old, and huge paddy fields have filled many gaps in the history of Chinese civilization, and constantly updated the understanding of the origin of rice cultivation, being traced back to 10 000 years ago in the middle and lower regions of the Yangtze in international consensus. Multi-disciplinary archaeologies such as archaeobotany and archaeological paddy fields play an increasingly important role in explaining the process of Chinese civilization and the establishing civilized society.