Chicken is a well-known poultry, and it is the main object for people to eat meat and raise eggs. However, people don't seem to know much about chickens. How did the chicken originate? Where did the earliest chickens come from? This is a series of questions worth thinking about.

Darwin

Regarding the origin of chicken, British biologist Darwin believed that the ancestor of domestic chicken was the red pheasant, which originated in India, Sri Lanka and its surrounding islands in the South Asian subcontinent. However, some people think that the ancestors of domestic chickens are definitely not just a kind of red pheasant, but a variety of origins. Because there are great differences in appearance and physiological characteristics between Asian chicken breeds and Mediterranean chicken breeds, they should have different ancestors. Therefore, chickens in the world can't only come from red pheasants.

Most scholars believe that chicken originated in Asia, and the road map of chicken spreading to other countries in the world is: Asia-Europe-Africa-America. Most scholars think so, because many kinds of chickens in the world have Asian chicken blood. In China, wild pheasants are distributed in Yunnan, Guangxi and Hainan Island. Chickens appeared late in Europe, and no skeleton fossils of primitive chickens have been found in Europe so far.

The ancestors of domestic chickens

Both domestic chickens and primitive chickens originated from reptiles and evolved from reptiles. Chicken breast has no diaphragm, no difference between chest cavity and abdominal cavity, and only one body cavity. Chicken feet have scales and toes are claw-shaped. The earliest pheasant was very thin and could fly, belonging to a good flying bird. After the continuous selection and cultivation of human beings, today's domestic chickens have come into being.

Since modern times, Darwin's theory of biological evolution has been popular, and Darwin's conclusion about the origin of domestic chickens once influenced China people's understanding of the origin of chickens. For a long time, people in China generally agreed with Darwin that China's chickens came from India. In fact, a bone found in a small village in Xi 'an completely negates Darwin's view.

1950 Banpo site excavation site

1954, at Yangshao cultural site in banpo village, Xi 'an (5000-6000 years ago), archaeologist Shi Xingbang dug a crock in a Neolithic accumulation layer. From this big crock, Shi Xingbang found two leg bones. According to expert research, it is confirmed that this is the bone of domestic chicken, and it is the earliest domestic chicken bone found in China so far. The discovery of this bone denies Darwin's conclusion that China chicken originated in India, and advances the history of China domestic chicken for thousands of years.

A few years later, another chicken skeleton was found at Miaodigou site in Sanmenxia, Henan Province in the late Neolithic period (4000 years ago). The discovery of these two chicken bones proves that China domesticated the original chicken into a domestic chicken five or six thousand years ago. By the time of the Shang Dynasty, there were already six animals. From the earliest textual research of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and bronze inscriptions, the word "chicken" existed in the Yin and Shang Dynasties.

Unearthed chicken bones and jars

The technology of raising chickens in China is also world-class. In China's earliest collection of poems, The Book of Songs, there have been poems saying that "a chicken lives in a nest dug in the wall" and "a chicken lives in a Jie" (Jie refers to a wooden stake). As can be seen from these two poems, 3000 years ago, the ancients raised domestic chickens in wall holes and stumps. There was a man named Zhu Jiong in the Western Han Dynasty, who was the first person to raise chickens in the history of China.

This Zhu Jiong has a way of raising chickens. According to historical records, he once raised 1000 chickens, which "lived in trees at dusk and scattered everywhere during the day". Zhu Jiong named 1000 chickens one by one. Every time he hears the name of a chicken, the chicken will take the initiative to fly over after hearing the cry, just like raising a dog. Zhu Jiong wrote a book about his method of raising chickens. Later, this method of raising chickens was called "phase chicken method"

jungle fowl

During the Three Kingdoms period, the famous doctor Hua Tuo wrote a book about capon, saying that the chickens after * * * grew fast, developed easily, and had tender and plump meat. Jia Sixie, an agronomist in the Northern Wei Dynasty, recorded 1400 years ago the experience of the ancients in raising chickens in Qi Yao Min Shu, which also listed many kinds and varieties of ancient chickens. Li Shizhen, a medical scientist in Ming Dynasty, listed seven kinds of chickens in Compendium of Materia Medica and recorded several different kinds of black-bone chickens in detail.

Since modern times, China has cultivated many excellent chicken breeds, such as Jin Jiu Yellow from Hebei and Shandong. This kind of chicken is big and fat, tender and delicious, and its feathers are mostly yellow. The cock can grow to about 10 kg, and the hen weighs 8 kg, laying 80- 100 eggs a year, each egg weighs 50-60 g, and the eggshell is dark brown.

Nine catties of yellow

This fine breed of chicken was introduced to Britain in 1845, to the United States in 1847, and the appearance of nine catties of yellow in 185 1 year Boston Expo surprised western countries. In addition to nine pounds of Huang Zhi, there are Hunan Taoyuan chickens; Jiangsu Langshan Chicken, Shanghai Pudong Chicken and Liaoning Dagu Chicken are all excellent breeds.

Laihang chicken is the largest laying hen in the world. This kind of chicken originally came from Italy and was introduced to China in modern times. After being improved by China people, this kind of chicken can lay eggs five months after hatching. Generally, more than 200 eggs are laid a year, and some can produce 365 eggs a year, that is, one egg a day, which is called "ovipositor". The improved Laihang chicken has become one of the excellent chicken breeds in China.

Langshan chicken

It can be seen that domestic chickens originally originated in Asia. China has a history of domesticating domestic chickens for more than 5,000 years, with the earliest chicken bones unearthed in the world, complete domesticating experience and the best chicken breeds in the world. Based on the above indicators, the earliest origin of domestic chickens should be in China, and China is the hometown of chickens.

References: History of Poultry in China.