Shape of domestic chickens in the Medieval Japan, based on chicken remains from the Otomo-Funai site, Oita

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  • 中世日本におけるニワトリの形態 : 大友府内町跡出土資料の検討から
  • チュウセイ ニホン ニ オケル ニワトリ ノ ケイタイ : オオトモ フナイチョウ セキ シュツド シリョウ ノ ケントウ カラ

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Abstract

The domestic chicken, Gallus gallus domesticus, is a poultry whose main ancestor is a subspecies of red junglefowl (G. g. spadiceus) that inhabits Southeast Asia. It is deemed that chickens have been introduced in Japan in the Yayoi period. Chickens in the Yayoi period are estimated to have been as large as wild and captive red junglefowl, and to have been domesticated similarly to captive red junglefowl. Although zooarchaeological remains were found in the Ancient and Medieval Ages of Japan, the morphological change and domestication process of chickens is not well understood. Based on chicken tarsometatarsi from the medieval Otomo-Funai site (Oita City, Oita prefecture), chickens in the end of the Middle Ages were larger than captive red junglefowl, and the modern Jidori and Shokoku that were believed to exist in Japan at that time. It was also estimated that both males and females included individuals derived from two size groups and that some tarsometatarsi had different morphological proportions. It is suggested that the robustness of tarsometatarsi is developed under the domestication process. To clarify the degree of domestication of chickens at the end of the Middle Ages, in this study, I analyzed chicken tarsometatarsi excavated from the medieval Otomo-Funai site, using a generalized linear model and analysis of covariance. The results showed that "male" (tarsometatarsus with spur) chickens used in Otomo Funai Town consist of two groups: the small and delicate group, similar to captive red junglefowl, and large and robust group, similar to various breeds of modern domesticated chicken. Most "females" (tarsometatarsus without spur) were thought to consist of similar specimens to the latter. Since it is assumed that the two groups of "males" are derived from chickens that have been reared under different breeding strategies, they could have different genetic backgrounds.

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