Professor
Charles Higham - Department of Anthropology
University of Otago - Dunedin - New Zealand
19-2-1984
Dear
Professor Higham,
Many
thanks for your letter of 8th February and appreciate your assistance
in the matter of chicken bone from around Ban Chiang. I will be looking
forward to study the chicken bone for although I am no osteologist perhaps I
can gain some conclusions as to what species it may be. I feel that the study
of the chicken bones that have been recovered is very important for I as do
others believe that Gallus Bankiva
was not the only antecedent of the domestic chicken.
This
is supported by authorities such as Hutt, Punnett, Finsterbusch; Freeman
(Brahma Fowl) and Jànossy recovered fossilised bone from the Carpathian Basin
in Europe. I am at the moment corresponding with Professor George Carter of
Texas A&M University (Dept of Geography) in the US, and he has given me
some interesting information on chicken bone recoveries in the Americas.
The
section of my treatise (Origin, etc) on chicken bone recovery is coming along
and as the bits & pieces I have researched when put together to me appears
to make up some sort of sense. I have quoted from your Ban Chiang paper which
I hope meets with your approval.
Tank
you for Jenny Cave’s address. I will write to her. Hopefully she will be
able to add to the material I already have on hand.
I
am sending you under separate cover a complementary copy of my book for your
private library Pekin Bantam in
Australia. In it I touched lightly on the origin of the domestic chicken.
Please
overlook the typographical errors etc as I had to type all the stencils and
print it myself, as the cost of it being published commercially was beyond my
means.
Once
again thank you for your assistance. After I see the bones I will let you know
what can be ascertained from their study.
Sincerely
yours,