The lack of historical data on early agricultural practices in the Yunnan area makes it difficult to understand the early cultural contacts and agricultural spread between China, Northeast India and Southeast Asia. The paper published in Asian Archaeology by Rita Dal Martello reviews the archaeobotanical evidence relating to the emergence of the first agricultural system in Yunnan, and evaluated previous theories of agricultural spread within Yunnan to provide a new chronological framework for discussing the  early regional social development. It is found that rice and millet initially spread from Central China to the Yunnan area in the third millennium B.C. and established a mixed-crop economy. The agricultural system in Yunnan became more diverse after wheat and barley were introduced in the second millennium B.C.. In the late first millennium B.C., a two-season intensification trend emerged. More evidence is needed to fully clarify the source and development of dryland cultivation of rice in mainland Southeast Asia.

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