Identification of seed cotton unearthed from Yingpan and G. herbaceum in ancient West Region

Excavations at the tomb M29 of Yingpan in Xinjiang produced seed cotton with dry fragments of boll shell. The radiocarbon date gives the cotton a date of 845 ± 40 BP. The cotton is identified as specie of Gossypium herbaceum by the analysis of the boll shell,seed,and fiber and through comparison with four species of boll cultivated modern times. This is the first scientific identification of the date and specie to seed cotton in China. From the historical literature,the introduction of G. herbaceum in Xinjiang,called the West Region in ancient times can be traced back to Han Dynasty,The planting of G.herbaceum spreaded from west to east,and just to Hexi Region before Yuan Dynasty. There are many archaeological discoveries of cotton fabrics in Xinjiang from Han,Wei,Jin,Northern and Southern Dynasties,to Song and Yuan Dynasties over more than one thousand years. The identification of specie to seed cotton unearthed from Yingpan is consistent with historical records and thus further confirmed that G. herbaceum was planted in the West Region in ancient times.