Modeling the Development of Early Rice Agriculture: Ethnoecological Perspectives from Northeast Thailand

Abstract

Ethnoecological research in northeast Thailand suggests that both wedand and upland rice cultivation emerged from a common beginning in manipulation of wild rice in seasonal swamps. The field research revealed extensive variants of wedand rice cultivation that show how it can be viewed as mimicking wild rice ecology and hence as an extension of rice's natural environment. This picture contrasts with the traditional portrayal of wedand rice cultivation as necessarily labor intensive, technologically advanced, and environmentally transformative. Upland cultivation of rice would have emerged as rice was grown in increasingly dry locales, necessitating genetic and physiological adaptations in nutrient absorption and timing of maturity. It is hypothesized that upland rice was then integrated into a preexisting swidden cultivation strategy. Furthermore, it is suggested that the early subsistence strategies of northeast Thailand included cultivation of wedand rice in permanent fields using extensive strategies, cultivation of uplands (of species yet to be determined) probably using shifting field strategies, as well as collection of diverse wild resources. KEYWORDS: rice, agriculture, swiddening, Ban Chiang cultural tradition, ethnoecology, Thailand.