Timeline of cultivation and domestication in South and West Asia

South and West Asia consists of a wide region extending from the present-day country of Turkey in the west to Bangladesh and India in the east.

Timeline

• 10,000 BCE Wheat is cultivated in what is now Iraq.
• 9th millennium BCE: Barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare) is domesticated in the Fertile Crescent in West Asia. The earliest remains of barley have been discovered at Neolithic sites in West Asia, including Jericho (Palestine) and Abu Hureyra (Syria) from about 8500 years BC. Domestic barley has also been found, in the Zagros Mountains, at the neolithic sites of Ali Kosh (Iran) and Jarmo (Iraq), dated between 7000 and 8000 BC, and in South Asia at the neolithic site of Mehrgarh (Pakistan) from about 7000 BC.^[1]
• 6th millennium BCE: Cotton is domesticated in the Old World in neolithic Mehrgarh, Pakistan. In 2002, mineralized fibers found in a copper bead from Mehrgarh, in the Kachi plain of Baluchistan, Pakistan, were determined to be cotton (Gossypium sp.). These are the earliest known example of cotton in the Old World.^[2]
• 3rd millennium BCE: Rice, is introduced into South Asia from China: Rice, first domesticated in the Yangtze River valley in China 10 KYA to 8 KYA,^[3][4] is introduced into South Asia.
• 2600–2200 BCE: Chicken is domesticated in the Indus Valley. The domestic chicken is descended primarily from the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) and is scientifically classified as the same species.^[5] The traditional poultry farming view, is stated in Encyclopaedia Britannica (2007): "Humans first domesticated chickens of Indian origin for the purpose of cockfighting in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Very little formal attention was given to egg or meat production... "^[6] In the last decade there have been a number of genetic studies. According to one study, a single domestication event occurring in the region of modern Thailand created the modern chicken with minor transitions separating the modern breeds.^[7] However, that study was later found to be based on incomplete data, and recent studies point to multiple maternal origins in Southeast, East and South Asia, with the clade found in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, originating from the Indian subcontinent, where a large number of unique haplotypes occur.^[8][9] It has been claimed (based on paleoclimatic assumptions) that chickens were domesticated in Southern China in 6000 BC.^[10] However, according to a recent study,^[11] "it is not known whether these birds made much contribution to the modern domestic fowl. Chickens from the Harappan culture of the Indus Valley (2500-2100 BC), in what today is Pakistan, may have been the main source of diffusion throughout the world."

See also

• Timeline of mathematical innovation in South and West Asia

Notes

1. Badr, A.; Müller, K.; Schäfer-Pregl, R.; El Rabey, H.; et al. (2000), "On the Origin and Domestication History of Barley (Hordeum vulgare)", Mol Biol Evol 17 (4): 499–510, doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a026330, PMID 10742042
2. Moulherata, Christophe; Tengbergb, Margareta; Haquetc, Jérôme-F.; Milled, Benoît (2002), "First Evidence of Cotton at Neolithic Mehrgarh, Pakistan: Analysis of Mineralized Fibres from a Copper Bead", Journal of Archaeological Science 29 (12): 1393–1401, doi:10.1006/jasc.2001.0779
3. Vaughan; Lu, B; Tomooka, N; et al. (2008). "The evolving story of rice evolution". Plant Science 174 (4): 394–408. doi:10.1016/j.plantsci.2008.01.016.
4. Harris, David R. (1996). The Origins and Spread of Agriculture and Pastoralism in Eurasia. Routledge.
5. A genetic variation map for chicken with 2.8 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms. International Chicken Polymorphism Map Consortium (GK Wong et al.) 2004. Nature 432, 717-722| doi:10.1038/nature03156 PMID 15592405
6. Garrigus, W. P. (2007), "Poultry Farming". Encyclopædia Britannica.
7. Fumihito, A; Miyake, T; Sumi, S; Takada, M; Ohno, S; Kondo, N (December 20, 1994), "One subspecies of the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus gallus) suffices as the matriarchic ancestor of all domestic breeds", PNAS 91 (26): 12505–12509, Bibcode:1994PNAS...9112505F, doi:10.1073/pnas.91.26.12505
8. Liu, Yi-Ping; Wu, Gui-Sheng; Yao, Yong-Gang; Miao, Yong-Wang; Luikart, Gordon; Baig, Mumtaz; Beja-Pereira, Albano; Ding, Zhao-Li; Palanichamy, Malliya Gounder; Zhang, Ya-Ping (2006), "Multiple maternal origins of chickens: Out of the Asian jungles", Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 38 (1): 12–19, doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.09.014
9. Zeder; et al. (2006). "Documenting domestication: the intersection of genetics and archaeology". Trends in Genetics 22 (3): 139–155. doi:10.1016/j.tig.2006.01.007. PMID 16458995.
10. West B., Zhou B.X. (1988). "Did chickens go north? New evidence for domestication". J. Archaeol. Sci. 14: 515–533.
11. Al-Nasser A, et al. "Overview of chicken taxonomy and domestication". World's Poultry Science Journal 63: 285–300. doi:10.1017/S004393390700147X.

References

• Fumihito et al. (1996) "Monophyletic origin and unique dispersal patterns of domestic fowls," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 93, pp. 6792–6795, June 1996.
• Liu, Y-P et al. (2006) "Multiple maternal origins of chickens: Out of the Asian jungles," Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 38, Issue 1, January 2006, Pages 12–19.
• Al-Nasser A, et al. "Overview of chicken taxonomy and domestication.". World's Poultry Science Journal 63: 285–300. doi:10.1017/S004393390700147X.
• West B., Zhou B.X. (1988). "Did chickens go north? New evidence for domestication". J. Archaeol. Sci. 14: 515–533.
• Zeder; et al. (2006). "Documenting domestication: the intersection of genetics and archaeology". Trends in Genetics 22 (3): 139–155. doi:10.1016/j.tig.2006.01.007. PMID 16458995.
• Zeuner, F.E., 1963. A History of Domesticated Animals. Harper and Row, New York, pp. 443–455.