Archaeological Discovery of the Rise of Primitive Agriculture in China

There are many beautiful legends and stories about the origin of agriculture in ancient books, which are often attributed to the great Shennong, Hou Ji, Huangdi or other emperors and celebrities (1). However, to truly solve the problem of the origin of agriculture in China, it is impossible to rely solely on ancient legends, but must rely on the fruitful achievements of archaeology and ethnology. The great achievements of archaeology in China in the past half century have made us understand the basic characteristics of primitive agriculture in China, and ethnology in recent decades has made this basic characteristic clearer and more vivid.

I. The invention of agriculture

Agriculture is produced on the basis of collection. It came into being at the end of Paleolithic Age or the beginning of Neolithic Age, about 10,000 years ago. In the process of collecting wild plants for a long time, people gradually mastered the growth of some edible plants. After countless times of practice, it was finally cultivated and domesticated into crops, thus inventing agriculture. When agriculture occupied a very important position in human economic life, it entered the Neolithic Age. Archaeologists have found stone knives, stone saws, sickles, stone mills, stone rollers and other tools for collecting wild grain in late Paleolithic sites such as Zhiyu in Shuoxian County and Xia Chuan in Qinshui County. It was 28,000-12000 years ago, and its geological age belonged to the late Pleistocene, when it was in the alternation of glacial and interglacial periods. During the ice age, the climate was dry and cold, hunting was not easy, plants were reduced, and people lacked food, forcing people to collect wild plants to satisfy their hunger and deepening their observation and understanding of wild plants. About 13000- 12000 years ago, during the interglacial period, the climate became warmer and wetter, herbaceous crops grew more luxuriantly, and gramineous plants increased, so people could collect wild grains more easily and cherish them more. People pay attention to protecting it first, and then try to plant it. Once the attempt is successful, it will be promoted. Agriculture was born.

Therefore, the initial agricultural production is to completely imitate the growth process of wild grain, scatter the collected wild grain on the ground, let it grow, and pick it by hand when it is mature. This is the most primitive mode of agricultural production. Ethnological data provide us with vivid examples: Yunnan Dulong people scattered the seeds of wild rice on the grass, and then pulled down the grass, which not only cleared the weeds growing on crops, but also buried the seeds with the soil. When the crops grow up, if the nearby vegetation blocks the sun, break these branches and weeds and let the crops grow in the sun. (2)

Archaeologists have found rice remains and rice phytoliths in the strata 1000 years ago, such as Yuchanyan in Daoxian County, Hunan Province, Diaotongyuan site in Wannian County, Jiangxi Province, and Niulandong site in Yingde, Guangdong Province, which may belong to this stage. Three grains of rice were found in Yuchanyan site, of which 1 grain was wild rice and the rest was cultivated ancient rice, about 14000 years ago. The identification results of phytolith in Diaotongyuan site show that wild rice was collected as food before 12000. About 10000-9000 years ago, cultivated rice appeared. The age of phytolith in Niulandong site is 1 1000-8000 years ago. (3) No typical agricultural tools were found in these three sites, indicating that the rice planting method at that time was similar to that of Yunnan Dulong.

At this stage, the early Neolithic sites in the Yellow River valley may include the first site in Nanzhuang, Xu Shui, Hebei Province, and some cave sites in South China, such as Niulan Cave in Yingde, Guangdong Province (10000 years ago) and Zhupiyan Site in Guilin, Guangxi Province (9000 years ago). The farming method of primitive agriculture at this stage is also called "fire tillage" or "slash and burn".

About 8000 years ago, primitive agriculture entered a new stage, marked by the appearance of farm tools, which reflected the obvious progress of farming methods. With grain becoming more and more people's main food, it is necessary to expand the planting area to withstand the increasing population pressure. However, the natural land suitable for growing grain is limited after all, and new cultivated land must be opened up. In addition to burning weeds and miscellaneous trees on the ground, people have to cut down trees and dig roots on the wasteland to level the land so as to sow seeds and make crops grow smoothly. These operations can't be done by hand alone, but must be carried out with tools. As a result, agricultural tools such as stone axe, stone hairpin for cutting, mine for correcting land, stone knife and sickle for harvesting, stone mill for shelling, stone stick and so on appeared. At the same time, after long-term cultivation and domestication, wild grain gradually evolved, its quality improved, and it was initially out of the wild state, and its output also increased accordingly. Agriculture became more and more important in the economic life at that time. However, it was impossible to fertilize the land at that time, so after several years of planting, the soil fertility decreased and the yield decreased, so the land was abandoned and replanted. It's called discarding the system.

Early Neolithic sites dating from 7000 to 8000 years ago have been found in both the Yellow River basin and the Yangtze River basin, which generally belong to this stage. For example, the first phase cultural site of Dadiwan in Qin 'an County, Gansu Province in the upper reaches of the Yellow River (7800-7300 years ago), the Cishan site in Wu 'an County, Hebei Province in the middle reaches of the Yellow River (about 8000 years ago), the Peiligang site in Xinzheng County, Henan Province (about 8000 years ago), and the Beixin site in tengxian, Shandong Province in the lower reaches of the Yellow River (more than 7000 years ago). And Jiahu site in Wuyang county, Henan province in the upper reaches, Longqiuzhuang site in gaoyou county, Jiangsu province in the lower reaches of Huaihe River (more than 7000 years ago), Pengtoushan site and Badian site in Lixian county, Hunan province in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Chengbei site in Yidu county, Hubei province (about 8000 years ago), Qunan village site in Pujiang county, Zhejiang province in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River (9700-8200 years ago) and Xiaoshan Lake Bridge site in Zhejiang province.

A set of agricultural tools, such as stone axe, Shi Mao, stone shovel, stone chisel, bone chisel, wooden chisel (mark), stone knife, stone sickle, stone millstone and stone roller, have been unearthed in these sites, and carbonized millet, millet and rice (seeds or shells) have been found, which belong to artificially cultivated food crops. In addition, carbonized millet, millet and rice belong to artificially cultivated food crops. In particular, Lei and other farming tools are typical farm tools, and land preparation is the most important link in agricultural production, so the primitive agriculture at this stage is also called "farming agriculture".

About 6000 years ago, primitive agriculture entered a period. With the accumulation of production experience, the development of farmland and the improvement of output, more food can feed more people, people can settle in one place for a long time, and the scale of villages is gradually expanding. The increase of population forced people to reclaim more land, produce more food and raise more livestock, which led to the rapid development of primitive agriculture. The variety of farm tools has increased, and stone farm tools have been polished to be more refined and practical, which has improved labor efficiency. Farmland has been further improved, ditches have been repaired, and other irrigation and drainage measures have been taken to strengthen the protection and management of crops in the field (such as shoveling weeds and driving away wild animals that destroy crops). These are all important signs of agricultural development in this period. Yangshao culture and Dawenkou culture in the Yellow River valley, Hongshan Culture in the north, Daxi culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and Majiabang culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River all belong to this stage. Archaeologists not only unearthed a large number of agricultural tools made of wood, stones, bones and clams, but also found a large number of food crops and livestock bones, and even more rarely, they found farmland sites. For example, the site of Chengtoushan in Lixian County, Hunan Province, and the site of Caoxieshan in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province have all found paddy field sites 6000 years ago. In particular, the paddy fields in Caoxieshan site are made up of small pool-shaped paddy fields of several square meters to more than ten square meters in series, with nozzles connected in series and supporting facilities such as wells, ponds and ditches, reflecting the maturity of rice farming in this period. At the same time, it also shows that the farming system of primitive agriculture has been improved from the original abandoned farming system to a mature farming system, while the southern part may have been a continuous farming system, and the land utilization rate has been greatly improved. From about 5000 years ago to 4000 years ago, China's primitive agriculture was developed. The production of farm tools is more exquisite and practical, and the variety is increasing. For example, with the wide use of stone hoes and hoes, stone shovels become thinner and wider, and they are ground very finely, and shoulder stone shovels, perforated stone shovels and perforated stone knives appear. The production of stone sickles has also been improved. The appearance and popularization of Chu Jiu, a grain processing tool, and the appearance of stone plows in the later period marked a significant improvement in productivity. With the increase of crop varieties, millet, millet, rice, wheat, beans and hemp have become the main food crops, especially rice planting has expanded to the Yellow River basin, and the grain output has increased greatly. Animal husbandry has been further developed, and horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs and chickens, which were called "six livestock" by later generations, have been raised, and the status of gathering, fishing and hunting in economic life has obviously declined. The excavation of water wells has been used in life and production, which provides greater convenience for settled life and enables people to expand to areas far away from rivers and springs. Developed primitive agriculture can not only feed more people, but also start to have surplus products and accumulate wealth. It also created conditions for ceramic workers to leave agriculture and laid a material foundation for entering civilized society. Archaeological culture at this stage includes Longshan culture in the Central Plains, Qujialing culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Liangzhu culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Shi Xia culture in South China, Tanshishan culture in Fujian and many other sites in the late Neolithic period. Abundant archaeological data prove that China's primitive agriculture has formed three economic types: millet farming in the north, millet-rice mixed farming centered on Huanghuai area and rice farming represented by the Yangtze River basin, which basically laid the general pattern of Chinese traditional agriculture. Two. Planting of crops

The emergence of agriculture is marked by the cultivation of food crops. The crop specimens unearthed from archaeological excavations show that the ancestors of the Yellow River valley planted millet, millet, millet and other dry crops at least 7000 years ago and wheat 5000 years ago. The ancestors of the Yangtze River valley began to grow rice as early as 1 10,000 years ago.

Sue? Millet is an annual grass crop in Gramineae, which is native to northern China and widely planted in the Yellow River Basin. It is domesticated from wild Setaria viridis. It is not clear when to domesticate. Carbonized millet kernels, millet shells or cereal ashes have been unearthed in Neolithic sites in Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces. The earliest sites are Cishan Site in Wu 'an County, Hebei Province and Shawoli Site in Xinzheng County, Henan Province. The former is about 8000 years ago, and the latter is more than 7000 years ago. 88 pits containing grain were found in the site of Cishan. Rotten grains were piled loosely at the bottom of the cellar. When unearthed, it was slightly wet and the color was green. After air drying, it turns gray, and most of it has turned into powder. A clear shell can be seen in the powder ash, with complete particles, round and full appearance and a diameter of about 2 mm, which is basically the same as that of millet. It is proved to be millet by gray image method. In some pits, a complete clay pot was found in the grain accumulation at the bottom, which may be a container for holding grain. Some pits are neatly placed with livestock (skeletons) such as pigs and dogs at the bottom of grain storage, which may be released by holding some religious ceremony when storing grain. Dense carbonized millet grains with an area of about 0.8- 1.5 square meters were also found at Shawoli site in Xinzheng. A large number of millet remains were also found in Yangshao cultural site in Anbanpo, Xi 'an more than 6,000 years ago. Some of these grains are stored in cellar, and the thickness is 18 cm. Some are put in clay pots, jars or pots. Some of them may be preserved as seeds, and some of them may be buried in graves, which shows the important role of millet in people's lives at that time. In addition, millet grains dating back more than 4,800 years were found in Dawenkou cultural site of Sanlihe in Jiaoxian County, Shandong Province in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, with a volume exceeding 1 m3. It shows that at the latest around 5000 years, millet has also become the main grain in the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Hey hey? Millet is an annual herbaceous crop of Gramineae, which has a short growth period, likes warmth and strong drought resistance, and is especially suitable for planting in northern China, especially in northwest China. Millet is the same crop. In the agricultural field, it is generally called millet, with dense ears, curved main ear axis, branched ears to one side, hairy stems and sticky seeds. The spike is sparse, the main spike axis is upright, the spike branches are scattered in all directions, the stem is hairless, and the seeds are not sticky. The carbonized millet was unearthed in Dadiwan site in Qin 'an County, Gansu Province in 5850 BC, indicating that the history of millet cultivation in China has been nearly 8000 years, as old as millet. Millet shells dating back about 5,500 years have also been found at Jiangzhai Site in Lintong County, Shaanxi Province and Beizhuang Site in Changdao County, Shandong Province. In the cellar of Linjia Site in Dongxiang, Linxia County, Gansu Province, 1.8 cubic meters of millet ears were also found, tied together or stored as seeds, about 4000 years ago. In addition, millet remains dating back more than 4,000 years have been found in Xinjiang, Qinghai, Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. Like millet, they were the main food crops in northern China at that time.

Mai? Wheat has been planted in China for a long time. At present, only the remains of wheat have been found in the late Neolithic sites, among which the earliest carbonized grains of wheat and barley have been found in the Neolithic site of Donghuishan, Minle County, Gansu Province. About 5000 years ago. Secondly, hundreds of grains of wheat were unearthed from the ancient tomb in the lower reaches of Peacock River in Xinjiang, about 4000 years ago. Barley plants and ears of wheat were found in the ancient tombs of Kizil Kezi in Wubao Township, Hami City, Xinjiang, about 3200 years ago. In the Neolithic Age, wheat did not seem to be the main food crop.

Rice? Rice is an annual gramineous herb crop, which likes to be warm and humid. It is the most important food crop in the Yangtze River valley and its south area in China. Cultivated rice is domesticated from wild rice. The time of domestication was about 1 ten thousand years ago. Archaeologists found the wild rice plant Opal 12000 years ago in the cultural layer of Xianren Cave and Diaotonghuan site in Wannian County, Jiangxi Province, but there were traces of human intervention, indicating that people not only collected wild rice as food at that time, but also tried to cultivate it artificially. Three grains of rice 65,438+/kloc-0,000 years ago were also found at Yuchanyan site in Daoxian county, Hunan province, one of which was wild rice, and the rest belonged to ancient cultivated rice. The rice phytolith 10000 years ago was also found in Niulandong site, yingde city, Guangdong. Rice remains of 9,000 years ago were also found in Shangshan Heritage in Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province. This proves that China has been growing rice for 10,000 years. By about 8000 years ago, rice was planted on a large scale in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the upper reaches of the Huaihe River. Archaeologists found a large number of rice husk and rice remains about 8000 years ago in Pengtoushan site, Badian site and Lijiagang site in Lixian county, Hunan province. Some of them are well preserved and look like fresh rice when unearthed. Rice remains dating back about 8,000 years have also been found in the Jiahu site in Wuyang County, Henan Province, in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River. All of them were identified as ancient cultivated rice. It shows that it has crossed the stage of breeding and domestication and formed the early rice farming culture. About 7,000 years ago, rice farming in China has entered the development stage. Many rice cultural sites have been found in the lower reaches of Huaihe River Basin and the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River, such as Hujiawuchang in Linli County, Hunan Province, Fenshanbao in Yueyang City, Beixi in Yidu City, Chengbei in Hubei Province and Liulinxi in Zigui County, Luojiajiao in Tongxiang County, Zhejiang Province, Hemudu in Yuyao City and Longqiuzhuang in gaoyou county, Jiangsu Province. The history of these sites can be traced back to 7300 to 6800 years ago. It shows that rice planting has been popularized in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River during this period, and rice varieties have also been initially improved, including indica rice and japonica rice. By 6,000 years ago, the original rice planting in China began to enter a developed stage, the rice planting scope was further expanded, and the transformation of rice fields began to take shape. By 5,000 years ago, rice had been planted all over the Yangtze River valley, in South China, Fujian, Taiwan Province and even in the Yellow River valley (such as Shaanxi, Henan and Shandong). The successful domestication and cultivation of rice is one of the great achievements of primitive agriculture in China.

Vegetables and fruits In addition to staple food, primitive residents also eat vegetables and fruits. According to the data, the garden industry of planting vegetables and fruits in China was quite developed in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and it is speculated that its starting age should be earlier than the Neolithic Age. At present, Neolithic artifacts such as gourd, scorpion, sweet melon seeds, lotus seeds, peach stones, plum stones, jujube stones, chestnut shells and rapeseed have been unearthed in archaeological excavations, and the earliest age can reach 7000 years ago. But most of them belong to wild plants. It seems that people's main energy at that time was still planting food crops and collecting some wild fruits to satisfy their hunger. It is impossible to cultivate them artificially. However, nearly 7,000 years old rapeseed was unearthed in Dadiwan site in Qin 'an County, Gansu Province, and a small earthenware pot with a small mouth was found in a house site in Banpo, Xi City, Shaanxi Province, which contained carbonized rapeseed and was identified as the seed of Chinese cabbage or mustard. Putting rapeseed in a small clay pot that is difficult to take out is obviously not for eating, but for planting in the coming year. It can be seen that the history of vegetable cultivation in China has been six or seven thousand years. Chinese cabbage, mustard and rape are all originated in China, and they are still the most important vegetables among the people.

Fiber crops and sericulture? Primitive people first wore skins in winter and leaves in summer. Later, they gradually learned to make clothes with pueraria lobata and hemp fiber. After the development of primitive agriculture, people tried to plant crops such as hemp and kudzu root at the same time as grain to meet the growing demand. At the same time, people also learn to raise silkworms and spin clothes by collecting wild cocoons. This process may be later than the planting of food crops, and it developed in the middle and late Neolithic Age. Marijuana was first domesticated and cultivated. Cannabis is a dioecious plant, and the seeds produced by the female plant are edible. The ancients once regarded it as food and listed it as one of the "five grains". The fibers of male plants are delicate and soft, which can be used as textile raw materials. Primitive ancestors may have found that male hemp fiber can be used as clothing during the process of collecting female hemp seeds, and gradually cultivated it. Hemp seeds unearthed from Linjia site in Dongxiang, Linxia County, Gansu Province, hemp fibers unearthed 4,000 years ago from the ancient tomb of Peacock River in Xinjiang, and flax fragments unearthed from Xia Feng site in beipiao city, Liaoning Province are the earliest physical specimens at present. Ramie, another fiber crop, is a hermaphrodite plant, which was planted at about the same time as hemp. Some ramie cloth and ramie rope have been unearthed from Qianshanyang site in Wuxian county, Zhejiang province, which has been more than 4000 years. Pueraria lobata is a kind of wild fiber plant, but the fiber textile fragments of Pueraria lobata 6000 years ago were found in Caoxieshan site in Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province, indicating that primitive ancestors may have consciously protected and utilized it at that time, and may even try to plant it. In the process of collecting wild mulberries to satisfy hunger, primitive ancestors found cocoons formed by wild silkworms on mulberries, thus gradually utilizing wild silkworms, then consciously protecting and raising them, and finally domesticating them into silkworms. Two pottery silkworm chrysalis dating back to 5,400 years were unearthed at the Neolithic site in Nanyangzhuang, Zhengding County, Hebei Province, and silkworm ribbons, silk threads and silk flakes were unearthed at the Qianshanyang site more than 4,700 years ago. It can be seen that at least 5000 years ago, our primitive ancestors had mastered the technology of sericulture and reeling, which was a great achievement in the history of textiles, indicating that the legend of the Yellow Emperor's "Chunhua" ... moth-eaten was not groundless.

Three. Domestication of domestic animals

In the late Paleolithic period, due to the improvement of hunting tools and the accumulation of hunting experience, people's ability to catch wild animals was greatly improved. So when you can't catch wild animals, you can put some live wild animals or small animals that you don't eat for a while in natural caves or fences for later consumption. With the improvement of productivity, there are more and more wild animals in caves or captivity. Over time, the temperament of some wild animals began to tame gradually, and then they were domesticated as domestic animals. So the primitive animal husbandry began. This process usually goes hand in hand with the planting of crops. According to archaeological data, dogs, pigs, cattle, sheep, horses, chickens and other poultry and livestock have been raised at least 8000 years ago.

Dogs? Dogs are domesticated by wolves. As early as the hunting era, people have domesticated dogs as hunting assistants. In the agricultural age, some dogs will become meat targets. Dog bones from seven or eight thousand years ago have been unearthed in Cishan, Wu 'an County, Hebei Province, Peiligang, Xinzheng County, Henan Province, and Hemudu, Yuyao City, Zhejiang Province, indicating that dogs have become one of the domestic animals at least eight thousand years ago. Dog bones unearthed from Banpo site in Xi City, Shaanxi Province, with small skull, protruding frontal bone, small cracked teeth and curved horizontal edge of mandible, are quite different from North China wolves and have the characteristics of keeping dogs at home. However, the pottery dog unearthed from Sanlihe site in Jiaoxian County, Shandong Province is lifelike, which makes us see the morphological characteristics of domestic dogs in Neolithic Age.

Pigs? Pigs are domesticated by wild boar and are one of the earliest domesticated domestic animals. A 9000-year-old pig skeleton was found at Zhupiyan site in Guilin, Guangxi. Pig skeletons 8,000 years ago were found in Cishan, Wu 'an County, Hebei Province, and Peiligang Site, Xinzheng County, Henan Province. And a 7000-year-old pottery pig model was also found in Hemudu, Yuyao City, Zhejiang Province, which is between Asian wild boar and modern domestic pig and belongs to the primitive stage of domestic pig. The pottery pig belly unearthed from Sanlihe site in Jiaoxian County, Shandong Province more than 5,000 years ago is a typical domestic pig. Among the livestock bones and models unearthed in Neolithic sites all over the country, the number of pigs is the largest, and pigs are often used as funerary objects in tombs in the late Neolithic period, which shows that pigs have become a symbol of wealth. It can be seen that pigs have occupied the most important position in primitive animal husbandry in China.

Sheep? Sheep are domesticated from wild sheep. Sheep have always been the main meat target of northern residents. Therefore, there are more domestic sheep remains found in the ruins in the north than in the south. A pottery sheep head was unearthed at Peiligang site in Xinzheng county, Henan province, and a pottery cover button was unearthed at Jiangzhai site in Lintong county, Shaanxi province. Sheep bones were unearthed from Anbanpo site in Xi 'an. In the south, the earliest discovered pottery sheep is the Hemudu site in Yuyao City, Zhejiang Province, which belongs to domestic sheep. It seems that sheep domestication has been successful at least 7000 years ago. By the late Neolithic Age more than 4,000 years ago, sheep were widely raised in northern and southern regions, so many sheep bones were found in sites all over the country.

Cattle? Cattle as meat are mainly yellow cattle. Farming cattle include different genera of yellow cattle and buffalo, each of which has its own wild ancestors. Cattle bones were unearthed at Cishan site in Wu 'an, Hebei Province, bones and teeth of cattle were unearthed at Hemudu site, and teeth of cattle were also unearthed at Banpo site. More than 30 pieces of bovine gums and teeth were found at Liu Ling site in Pixian County, Jiangsu Province. It shows that cattle were domesticated as early as 8000 years ago, and cattle were raised all over the country more than 6000 years ago. Buffalo farming in the south can be traced back to 7000 years ago, and 16 buffalo skulls were unearthed at Hemudu site. Seven 6000-year-old buffalo skulls were also unearthed at Meiyan Site in Wujiang County, Jiangsu Province. In the north, buffalo bones have been found in Dawenkou and Wang Yin in Shandong, Goujian Village in Handan, Hebei and Chang 'an Hakka Village in Shaanxi. It can be seen that at least in the late Neolithic period, buffaloes lived in some places north of Huaihe River.

Horse and horse were domesticated late, and no remains of horses were found in some early Neolithic sites in China. The ancestors of Chinese horses were Mongolian wild horses living in the grasslands of North China and Inner Mongolia, and the earliest domesticated horses should also be the ancestors of this area. Only two horse teeth and 1 phalanges were found in Banpo site, but it was not certain that they were domestic horses. Horse bones have been unearthed from Longshan cultural sites in the late Neolithic period (more than 4,000 years ago), such as Chengziya, Licheng City, Shandong Province, Tangyin County, Baiying City, Henan Province, Gangzi, Mayor of Fuyu City, Jilin Province, and majiawan, Yongjing County, Gansu Province.

Chicken? Chickens are domesticated from pheasants. The remains of primitive chickens were found in the early Neolithic site of xianrendong in Wannian County, Jiangxi Province, and the remains of primitive chickens were also found in the site of Xi 'an Banpo, indicating that primitive chickens were distributed in the Yangtze River basin and the Yellow River basin, and it was possible to domesticate them everywhere. The remains of domestic chickens have been unearthed in Cishan, Wu 'an County, Hebei Province, Peiligang, Xinzheng County, Henan Province, and Beixin, tengxian, Shandong Province, indicating that the domestication of domestic chickens can be traced back to 8,000 years ago, which is the earliest record in the world. By the late Neolithic age, domestic chickens had been raised in the Yellow River basin, the Yangtze River basin and the northwest region, becoming the main poultry. In short, the so-called "six animals" in ancient times (horses, cows, sheep, chickens, dogs and pigs) were domesticated in the Neolithic Age. In addition to horses, other livestock and poultry were domesticated as early as seven or eight thousand years ago, far exceeding the legendary "Chunhua birds, animals, insects and moths" of the Yellow Emperor.