中国古代家鸡起源的再研究

摘要

This article c arefully investigates shortcomings in the argument that ancient Chinese domestic chickens originated in the Hebei Province region around 10,000 years ago. It elaborates on the findings of zooarchaeologists studying pheasant remains from Early Neolithic archaeological sites and reaffirms that chickens were likely first domesticated somewhere in Southeast Asia within the natural habitat of the Red Junglefowl. Chickens then gradually spread northward through cultural exchange, reaching eastern Henan Province by at least 3,300 years ago. Morphological analyses are some of the most important research methods used by zooarchaeologists. If ancient DNA research is conducted without the input of zooarchaeologists and in neglect of zooarchaeological or contextual considerations-even going as far to use ancient DNA to overthrow previous conclusions drawn from zooarchaeological results-these kinds of scientific understandings must be thoroughly questioned.%本文认真探讨中国古代家鸡起源于近万年以前的中国河北地区这个观点的不足之处，详细阐述了动物考古学研究人员对中国新石器时代早期遗址中出土雉的骨骼的研究结果，特别重申家鸡可能最先在红原鸡的传统栖息地亚洲东南部被驯化，之后逐渐通过文化交流的方式北上，至少在距今3300年前，已经到达河南东部地区。专门强调形态学研究是动物考古学的研究方法中最为重要的工作，如果在古代动物遗存的DNA研究中没有动物考古学研究人员的参与，忽视动物考古学研究的思考，甚至单纯地从DNA的研究结果中提出推翻动物考古学研究成果的结论，这种认识的科学性是要受到全面质疑的。