As there is no absolute or even developed relative chronology for the neolithic period in China it is only possible to make broad distinctions in the early history of cereal cultivation. The exiguous evidence this far available comes in all cases from excavated levels assigned to comparatively advanced forms of neolithic culture. The initial phases of neolithic culture in its local varieties are still poorly defined and there is no argument for associating the introduction of agriculture closely with the adoption of other characteristic neolithic practices; nor, among the reported specimens, have any primitive strains been identified such as to imply an initial stage in local domestication.
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