Pig domestication processes : An analysis of varieties of household pig reproduction control in a hillside village in northern Thailand
Pig domestication processes : An analysis of varieties of household pig reproduction control in a hillside village in northern Thailand
复制标题
猪驯化过程:泰国北部山坡村庄家猪繁殖控制品种分析
作者:
Nakai;S
Ucko and Dimbleby (1969) noted that ‘… domestication was a process extending over several thousand years… domestication as a process still continues’(cf. Sauer 1952; Huxley 1954; Zeuner 1963; Nozawa 1975, 1986; Price 1984, 1998, 2002; Bökönyi 1989; Dobney and Larson 2006). The domestication process of wild boars (Sus scrofa) into pigs (Sus scrofa domesticusis) is estimated to have begun around 7000 BC (Reed 1969; Epstein and Bichard 1984; Clutton-Brock 1999; Giuffra et al. 2000; Albarella et al. 2006) in at least six different areas including mainland Southeast Asia (cf. Giuffra et al. 2000; Larson et al. 2005, 2010; Albarella et al. 2006; Tanaka et al. 2008). The domestication process in northern Thailand appears to have proceeded along the lines experienced in other countries (cf. Zeuner 1963; Ingold 1996), and in the case of pigs, notably New Guinea (Galton 1865; Golson and Hughes 1980; Hide 1981, 2003; Baldwin 1982; Yen 1991; Dwyer 1996; Dobney and Larson 2006; Sillitoe 2007). It should be noted that the so-called ‘wild pigs’ in New Guinea are feral descendants of introduced domesticated pigs (Sauer 1952; Larson et al. 2007; Dobney et al. 2008).Among the definitions of what it means for an animal to be domesticated is that domesticated animals are under human control, especially in terms of their reproduction (cf. Zeuner 1963; Bökönyi 1969, 1989; Mason 1973; Nozawa 1975, 1986; Reed 1984; Price 1984, 1998; Harris 1996). Using this definition I address the following questions: what were the methods by which humans controlled reproduction of pigs in the domestication process, and what were the factors determining their choices? I therefore begin by describing the data from a case study of the management of pig reproduction among hillside village smallholders in northern Thailand. I then discuss the range of factors influencing household selection of methods for pig reproduction control.