Independent pig domestication in China
Domesticación independiente del cerdo en China
- Date
- c. 6600 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Jiahu, Wuyang, Henan, China
- Credited to
- Peiligang culture
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Remains from Jiahu show pigs with reduced dentition, a diet of human waste and slaughter at controlled ages, a sign of a domestication of the Asian wild boar independent of that in Anatolia. The pig became the central animal of the Chinese peasant economy.
A process parallel to pig domestication in the Near East (c. 8500 BCE); ancient DNA confirms distinct Asian lineages.
What it led to
- pig farming linked to the settled village
- recycling of household waste and manure
- protein base of the Chinese diet