Professor Charles Higham - Department of Anthropology
University of Otago - Dunedin - New Zealand

3-6-1980

Dear Professor Higham,

I thank you so much for your letter and enclosure of your paper on the excavations in Northern Thailand which I received yesterday. Also thank you for the information on Miss Cave. Perhaps I may catch up with her at a later date. The information you gave proved very interesting indeed. I have not studied the paper in depth as yet and, being as I am a layman, am not conversant with some of the technical terms. However I can see from a preliminary study it should be of much assistance in research.

I gather from your letter that the chicken’s bones uncovered would date around 3500 BC. What would be most interesting would be to know whether the bones excavated belonged to a Bankivoid (Gallus Bankiva - Red Jungle Fowl or offshoots) or to the Malay (Gallus giganteus Temminck).

According to Finsterbusch (1929) who made a detailed study of Game Fowl throughout the world the Bankivoid and Malay were 2 distinct species. I agree with him entirely and would be inclined to go one step further grouping the Asiatics (Cochin - Langshan - Brahma) into another species which are so different again from the 2 forms previously mentioned. However I do not have any specific evidence of this. Darwin in his narration of animals and plants under domestication discusses skull shapes etc but does not apparently attach too much importance to the differences. However Finsterbusch on the other hand from his observations believes that the head is important when considering ancestry. There would be no doubt genetic mutations have occurred but it is hard to imagine that the vast differences existing between the Malays, Bankivoids and Asiatics (which were considered to come from China) were all caused by mutations.

Therefore I would find it very interesting to discover from what line the chicken bones at Ban Chiang spring. I am enclosing a photostat from Finsterbusch outlining his description of the bone structure differences between the Bankivoids and Malay. You may find his notes of interest. If at any time the chicken bones are given further study I would be pleased to hear the results of any findings.

I think I mentioned in my previous letter of the chicken bones unearthed on Watom Island, New Britain, the information from Mr Specht of the Australian Museum in Sydney. Unfortunately no specific identification was made regarding species with these bones. I have always felt that the discovery of chicken bone when considering the distribution of civilisation itself could play an important part in any research on the subject.

I do appreciate your assistance on this matter as it has given me encouragement to continue on with my quest on finding answers to the origin, evolution and distribution of the domestic chicken. I will continue my research whilst I am able. If you do happen to find a moment to further study the chicken bones you may like to compare them against Finsterbusch’s description.

Sincerely yours,