| Abstract: |
A light microscope comparison of Sumatran grass pollen grain sizes, including those of numerous rice strains, with the pollen content of surface samples from various ecological situations and subfossil grass pollen in cores from Pea Sin-sim (c. 18,500 B.P.-present) and Tao Sipinggan (c. 12,000 B.P.-present) was made to provide data on the origins of rice agriculture in highland North Sumatra. Pollen within the size range of rice was present at Pea Sim-sim from c. 18,000-17,900 B.P., at c. 17,700 B.P., c. 10,700 B.P., c. 9,750 B.P., and c. 2,600 B.P. and at Tao Sipinggan at c. 2,200 B.P. and continuously from c. 1700 B.P. to the present. Early cultivation cannot be substantiated but an SEM study of surface patterning may confirm if this pollen is from rice (wild or cultivated) or other grasses. _Oryza sativa_ L. is unlikely to be distinguishable palynologically. However, the presence of _Oryza_-type pollen and appropriate leaf cuticles, phytoliths, and spores of fungal pathogens in sediments may contribute, in combination, further circumstantial evidence for cultivation. Proof of cultivation must rest with discovery of identifyable macrofossil remains as rice field weeds of indicator value do not occur.
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