Carbonized wheat grain discovered at the Haojing site in Xi'an, Shaanxi province.
Archaeologists recently discovered a large amount of carbonized wheat grains at a site in northwest China's Shaanxi province.
The site is at Haojing, one of the two capitals of the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century-771 B.C.). The grains found has been dated at 2800 years old.
West Asia and Afghanistan are generally believed to be where the use of wheat originated. In Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Gansu province, archaeologists have also found wheat grains at ancient sites, but in small amounts. The discovery of such a large amount proves that wheat had been in wide use, and planted around Haojing since at least the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Previous discoveries had proven that ancient people had begun planting wheat in the northern part of China during the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-220 A.D.).
